By: Mark Milbrod, CLU, CLTC
March is here, and with it, the annual College Basketball phenomenon, March Madness begins. Every year the sports world goes crazy as this gets under way. But we in the Insurance and Financial Services Industry have our own March Madness (and every other month for that matter). With what we have all experienced this past year, the word MADNESS has never been more fitting.
If you follow college hoops or you simply get caught up in the hype, it can get pretty exciting. We are all familiar with the visual of “the brackets” that start at the beginning of the tournament. 64 teams start off and we follow the brackets as they wind down to the infamous Final Four.
When it all starts, I find the brackets to be overwhelming and a sensory overload. There is so much happening on one sheet of paper and in the actual tournament, similar to our industry. So here’s a look at Our March Madness and how it looks in my head…
Wow! That’s a bit much, but it is the MADNESS that we face every day, every month and throughout the year. This has been especially relevant over the last several months for all of us. We have experienced an unprecedented pandemic, a crazy election process and enough psychological changes that will permanently alter the way we conduct our practices.
What carrier do we choose? Why one over another? From our perspective, each of the carriers have their own niches, whether it is product related, an underwriting strength or a particular feature or benefit that sets them apart.
What product design do you choose? There are so many to choose from; a dwindling Guaranteed Universal Life (GUL) market, Indexed Universal Life (IUL), Whole Life, Term or Hybrid Life to name a few. Each has its own bells and whistles which make them so unique and adaptable to a number of planning and individual client needs
On the political landscape, we don’t know what’s going to be. Will there be a drastic change to the estate planning world? What will come of the existing exemption limits, etc?
That all leads us to knowing where the Sales Opportunities are. In the center of our brackets, there are four areas where all of these opportunities converge, Asset Repurposing, Estate Planning, Policy Audits and Legacy Planning.
It is easy to be overwhelmed by the “brackets” we call “Our March Madness.” We scratch our heads as we try to sort it all out. It is truly overwhelming and it fosters that sensory overload I mentioned earlier. Where are the Sales Opportunities? They are all there, staring us right in the face.
Surely, we will continue to face challenges as we enter this new stage of the pandemic. But one thing that I have learned over this last year is that we, as an industry, continue to be resilient and as strong as ever. We have many resources available to us to succeed.
Having a partner that can guide you through all of this is key. At Agent Support Group, we have the expertise to walk you through it and help you Make Sense Out Of All The Madness.