Selling a long-term care insurance policy can be a complex and lengthy process. To maximize the effectiveness of a client meeting, here are 3 to-do items that must occur first!

1. Make sure you have state required LTC Training. Because it's the law being up-to-date on training is a must before having conversations with a client.  You can verify you are up-to-date on training by going to ClearCert, a clearinghouse of CE records. If you find you are not up to date, there are several web-based CE training firms that can help. An example of one is WebCE. (Hint: You can get a 15% discount by using this link: http://ltcipartners.webce.com.) 

   The requirements for training are typically an initial 8 hour course followed by a 4 hour course every two years. There are some states which require state specific training – you can see what is needed in your state by going to our producer education map.  Finally, if you don't want to get licensed or don't have time, you can partner with a specialist who can help.

2. Review the client’s health. There are few things worse than LTC Insurance declines that could have been avoided.  Before any kind of product discussion takes place, some type of health screen needs to occur.  Last month we published a blog post on How to Improve Your Long-Term Care Insurance Batting Average which contains key information on the underwriting process. BGA's like LTCI Partners provide valuable assistance with pre-underwriting. For example, advisors we work with can either contact clients directly via the telephone to ask them the qualifying health questions or send a secure link via email to gather the health information and decide which carrier(s) would be the best fit.

3. Understand basic LTC Insurance pricing. Once you have a meeting scheduled with the client to discuss LTC insurance, you may want to run some preliminary proposal numbers.  Getting LTC premium rates is easy.  You can do a comparative quote using a tool like Stratecision or Vital LTC (available at ltcipartners.com).  Some carriers also allow you do get premium estimates without requiring a password. One of the newest and easiest ways to run premiums is from Genworth - check out their new quoting tool here.

Licensing, health prescreen, and basic premium costs are a foundation of a LTC conversation.  What if you need more help? You can bring in a specialist firm who can help answer questions on products, underwriting, and concepts.

For example, you can do this with LTCI Partners by scheduling an assisted sales call with one of our planning team members. Once the client is ready to purchase, we are happy to take the application utilizing our Application Partner program.