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My
Wall
By Karl Sorton
Speedy access to underwriting
guidelines and height/weight charts are essential to providing accurate quotes
to your internet clients. Many successful producers I know keep the charts and
guidelines they use most often taped to the wall or a corkboard within easy view
and reach. I like to keep the "core carriers" guidelines and weight charts in
easy view. We tend to focus on West Coast Life, AIG, and Zurich Life and you
can see their guidelines in the picture. Producers should also ask prescreening
questions of every client. I keep a copy of Zurich's prescreening questions on
my wall and often remind the producers in my office to do the same.
I also keep some of the
non-core guidelines handy near my phone. First Colony's cholesterol guidelines
often come in handy when a case gets bumped unexpectedly out of preferred by one
of the core carriers. Having their guidelines handy can help salvage some cases
for you.
Take some time to read and
memorize the guidelines you use most. Sometimes this business feels like a game
of "follow the bouncing ball" to me. As you go through your prescreening with
the customer you learn more and more about their health and family history.
Each new detail bounces the customer from one carrier possibility to another for
the best rate. At the end of your prescreening the ball usually lands squarely
with one of the carriers as the best value. For example if you have a male
customer on the phone whose mother died of ovarian cancer at 47 you need to know
that West Coast Life will be Standard at best but Zurich Life would consider for
Preferred or even Premier rates! Zurich does not hold gender specific cancers
against children of the opposite sex. West Coast does. If you have taken the
time to familiarize yourself with the underwriting guidelines you can place your
client with the right company the first time and usually deliver the rate you
quoted. If you have the guidelines handy you don't have to memorize every
detail, but you will know how to find the details quickly.
Additionally keep a copy of the
time zone charts nearby. We are located in Seattle, WA and it is an easy
oversight to call someone on the east coast after 6pm. You shouldn't be calling
people after 9pm and it is against telebusiness laws to contact people after 9pm
without their express permission. So when evening rolls around pay attention to
the time zones. The same can happen in reverse if you are on the East Coast and
get to work early. If you start calling at 9AM those Californians won't
appreciate your 6AM wake-up and buy some insurance call!
Everyone needs to keep a
picture of their family and people who mean the most to them on their wall as
well. My daughter saw me looking at this part of my office quite often and
insisted I move her drawings next to the underwriting guidelines and a picture
of my family. Its a good reminder of why we work so hard every day and the
value of the products we deliver!
You can contact Karl at
karls@termonly.com
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