When is vanilla not vanilla?

Financial advisers and coaches ask me this question on a regular basis: “If we have a ‘plain vanilla’ client – young, healthy, with no high-risk factors – should we still send them to you for life insurance?”

The answer course, is yes 🙂, for two reasons.

One is that since we can handle the “hard” cases, we can certainly handle the “easy” cases. My firm has access to all the carriers and products of the cheap term quote engines, at the same rates. And we have very strong relationships with the underwriters.

But more than that, vanilla is not always vanilla. You may think your client should just choose the product with the lowest premium, but there may be other considerations that would affect product and carrier selection. Here are three:

Underwriting factors about which you don’t know.
Your client’s health history, lifestyle, or criminal or legal record may contain information that may not have been disclosed to you, but which requires special handling by us when we speak with underwriters.

Carrier service issues.
Life insurance companies periodically experience delays in processing applications, due to volume or other reasons. This inside scoop would be critical for your client, if they are making the purchase under a timeline.

Additional benefits.
Life insurance policies can include riders that may help your client meet additional financial needs. These could include a disability premium waiver; long term care coverage; terminal illness benefits; and return of premium guarantees.

When we prequalify people for life insurance, we cover all these bases. They get the personalized, high-end treatment they deserve when buying this all-important product.