Heard In The Hallways – LIMRA 2015 Conference

Question: Name a measure or strategy that will help increase the ownership of individual life insurance in the middle income market, and why?

“Leverage technology to inform consumers so they can make buying decisions and buy online. This should be combined with leveraging publicly available big data in a way that simplifies the underwriting process and provides consumer-friendly pricing. There are fewer people selling insurance today so the industry needs the tech portals to provide broader opportunity for potential buyers. Also, the big data analytics will help shorten and simplify the purchasing process, making it easier for middle-market consumers to buy, and for carriers to provide access to competitive products and pricing. The agents can be involved in marketing the portals and advising the clients, in a complementary way.”

• Brian Winikoff, president and CEO, Crump Life Insurance Services, Boston

“Make it easier to access the information that this market needs, and in a way that is understandable. That will take away the fear. Also, companies should use social media to provide education, and continue developing their electronic transaction and sales capabilities — because people want to use electronic media to study and sign up.”

• Josephine Cicchetti, attorney and shareholder, Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, Washington

“My opinion is that the single most important element to reaching the middle market is recruiting the next generation of agents. We need them to meet the needs of this market. Because recruiting is so difficult and challenging, many companies are spending a lot to energy and effort to find alternative distribution. I’d suggest that these companies are missing the most fundamental and important aspect of building their companies, which is having engaged agents who want to spend their lives helping families with their life insurance decisions and meeting their customers’ need for advice.”

• Vic Verchereau, vice president-marketing, Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan, Lansing, Mich.