How To Sell Long Term Care Insurance

Many people want to know what their chances are for needing long term care. Truthfully it's zero or a hundred percent. An organization that I've been fortunate to be a part of since 2003, the CLTC, teaches their advisors to stay away from speaking about statistics when speaking about long term care, the CLTC organization has trained over 20,000 advisors in the United States how to properly and proactively discuss long term care to their clients, friends, and contacts.

It seems like everyone wants to know what their chances are, except that it can lead to debate or worse, argument. Why? Well, because people think that the worst thing is always going to happen to someone else, right? If you're debating with friends, clients, and prospects, no one gets helped. One thing that, as a CLTC instructor, we train our advisors on is how to create that air of consultative engagement. You do this by being able to answer any and all relevant questions.

In our experience, the best way we help clients is to get these three agreements from them. This is predicated on people being reasonable. Agreement number one is simply, is it your expectation that you'll live a long life? Well, there are many ways to get to the answer. And a lot of things that suggest living a long life is almost an afterthought. Want some insight? Look at longevity in your client's family. Are their mom and dad living a long time? Brothers, sisters, grandparents, in-laws? look at how medicine has transpired.

40 years ago, if you had a heart attack or a stroke, you died. End of story. Now, in many cases, a full recovery from either is almost expected because of the progression of treatment and our medical expertise in general. Cancer? 40 years ago, your neighborhood whispered about the person that got it. And then in many cases, shortly after that, the person died.

Now, cancer in many cases is considered a chronic disease. How about client habits? Do they work out? Do they have a trainer? Take the stairs rather than the elevator? Information, eat this not that, watches and devices that tell us how many steps we're taking and how many calories we are burning. There are even strategies around hydration, water intake, electrolyte intake. These things that can affect your workouts and wellbeing in general.

Translation? You're going to live a long life. When agreement number one is solidified, then we proceed to agreement number two, which is if you live long enough, is it reasonable to say that you may need some assistance at some point as a result of becoming frail? Who can argue with that? The longer a client lives, the more likely they are to need some assistance at some point, because they may experience more health issues or matters.

If agreement number two is secured, then we proceed to agreement three. Agreement Three is, when the long term care issue and its associated challenges present itself to you, do you realize that it's no longer about you because your life doesn't end someone else's does. It's about the emotional and physical consequences that those have to pick up the pieces have to endure on your behalf.

And there's a secondary set of consequences. Ready? Someone has to pay for it. So there are financial consequences in addition to the emotional and physical consequences and these expenses can exceed $250 per day or $90,000 a year, depending upon the level of care that is required. Here's a cost of care instrument that may help you get more informed on the potential cost of long term care in your area. What are your responses to the three agreements? Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment and let me know if there are topics you'd like me to cover in upcoming videos.