Let’s be honest. Successful business people don’t pick the providers of critical support like CPA’s, attorneys, suppliers and financial advisers by looking online for cheap and easy. So why would they look for an honest, efficient and hard working support person on something like frugalmama.com?

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I want to continue pointing out the critical difference between a life insurance agent who knows what it takes, and isn’t afraid to expend the time and effort to get you the best business life insurance approval you can possibly get. If you are looking for the best bang for your business buck, you have to be able to recognize and avoid those agents who just want a paycheck and put their bottom line way ahead of yours.

A Good Life Insurance Agent Puts You Before Them

I’ve been helping the CEO of a thriving company on Maui for several years with his life insurance. He contacted me after being declined several times because he has prostate cancer. If he had chosen one of several treatments, all with side effects, he might have been approved before finding me. But, because it is a low stage and grade, he took his urologist’s recommendation and is doing active surveillance, sometimes called watchful waiting- which nixes any thought of an approval with most life insurance companies. Even though statistics show watchful waiting is prudent and reasonable in slow growing prostate cancer, most life insurance companies throw it in the ‘untreated cancer’ bucket and won’t approve it.

With the CEO’s help, we put together a package of biopsies and a history of his PSA levels since diagnosis as well as over his years of watchful waiting. It not only showed medically that the cancer was, in fact, slow growing, but also showed that he was taking his situation seriously and keeping all of his semi-annual checkups.

He understands that the whole premise of active surveillance is that if anything does change, whether it is a higher PSA or a change in the size or feel of the cancer nodule, if he’s seen regularly, nothing gets out of control, and, in the best case, nothing changes. The worst case then, is that a change is caught early and all of the other treatment options are still available. We shopped his life insurance needs and got two offers, followed by an approved policy to meet his business requirements.

A Good Life Insurance Agent Keeps in Touch

I stay in touch with my clients at least once a year, not to sell anything, but just to let them know I’m here and available for whatever they need. It might be a change of address or beneficiary form that they have been meaning to bring up, but often often clients wonder if they can get a better rate. To put that in context, I specialize in impaired risk life insurance. These are clients who may never see a preferred plus rate, ever. Each year I update their health information and shop it again.

With this particular client we didn’t gain any ground until this year when a company who had not been a player in previous years took a new underwriting stance. Even though he was 60 when he got approved for the first policy and was now 66, we got him a new 20 year term policy with a higher death benefit for slightly less money- a home run by any measure.

Bottom Line

There is no substitute for good customer service and for intentionally trying to improve a client’s (your) position as often as we can. If you have been declined or approved for life insurance and don’t have an agent who will go the extra mile, call or email me directly. My name is Ed Hinerman. Let’s talk.