Big Opportunities in Small Business

Small business owners face many struggles including balancing their work and personal life, hiring the right people, and making strategic plans. Plus, most are focused on bouncing back from last year and looking for ways to grow and plan for the future. The pandemic taught this vast market the importance of being prepared to better handle the next crisis in the face of life’s uncertainties. 

When it comes to the success of a business, their employees most likely have a huge impact. Having the right benefits in place for key employees can make an important difference in their business’ success.  Owners also should pay attention to how they might entice key employees to stay and help grow the business.

You can help your small business owner clients protect their business and keep their MVPs. Talk to them about using life and disability insurance to offer competitive benefits that will keep and attract top talent, reward performance-based incentives for motivation to achieve business goals and encourage loyalty with long-term retirement options.

A business valuation becomes important in the event of an owner’s disability or death.  Nevertheless, many small business owners do not know the value of their company. From an insurance-planning perspective, the value of a business is also an integral part of succession planning, estate equalization and even estate-tax planning. To help you assist your business-owner clients in determining the value of their businesses, MVP Financial has free resources to assist. 

DIAM: If You Are Not Offering, You Should

It doesn't matter what your primary insurance sales consist of, your clients depend on their income to pay their bills (which includes premium payments) and maintain a lifestyle. Help them keep their financial life in balance with disability income insurance. If helping your clients isn't enough incentive, advisors who offer disability insurance to their existing clients earn 30% more income than advisors who do not.

May is Disability Insurance Awareness Month (DIAM), and it's the perfect reminder that disability insurance is often an overlooked part of your clients’ financial plan. If you are not currently offering it, you should be. Not only for the reason that it will increase your income, but also because most working Americans couldn’t last a month without their paycheck; maybe six months if they have savings socked away. Nevertheless, the average length of a disability is 34.6 months, any savings they have isn't going to last long. Which is probably why medical issues are the number one reason cited for bankruptcy filings in the US as 90% of disabilities are due to illness not accidents.

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that our income is extremely important. We pay for insurance to cover many things: Our cars, pets, cell phones, vacations…So why are we reluctant to insure our most important asset that pays those premiums? 

As 67% of them do not even have long-term disability insurance through work, ask your clients what they would do if they lost their income because of an illness or injury. Get this DI Starter Kit to help begin the conversation. 

Virtual Technology: Oof!

Social distancing may be our new way of life and meeting clients where they are doesn't mean driving to their house to sit with them at their kitchen table anymore. Now it means scheduling Zoom meetings and completing applications with electronic signatures. It seems virtual technology is here to stay. The Corona-virus has changed the way we do business and we need to embrace it or fizzle out. 

Tips for working with clients virtually:

• Get comfortable with video conferencing tools like Skype, Zoom and FaceTime. Practice! 
• Be cognizant of your appearance, what's behind you and background noise. Choose a non-distracting background and turn off radios, TVs, etc. 
• Make sure your internet connection is strong and your equipment is working, fully charged or plugged in.
• Only open necessary meeting documents on your computer. This will avoid distractions and accidental sharing of another client's information. 
• Work with carriers that have drop ticket systems and electronic application and delivery platforms.
• Partner with a reputable brokerage agency with strong carrier relationships, proven experience, diverse and competitive life insurance products. 

A pandemic causes people to think about their mortality. COVID-19 has reinforced the reality that illness and death can occur at anytime. Americans are seriously thinking about life insurance, and according to Forbes, they are shopping for it. Many quoting agencies are reporting as much as a 50% increase in life insurance applications since mid-February. 

At MVP Financial, we have seen a similar increase in life insurance applications with a rise in the electronic process as the preferred method of submission. While more Americans are working from home and taking care of their families, now is the time to reach out to clients and prospects about checking life insurance shopping off of their to-do list. 

Get more tips for working virtually with clients

Panic Shopping for Life Insurance Amid Coronavirus

According to Forbes, not only are Americans panic shopping for food, water and toilet paper during the pandemic; some are also panic shopping for Life Insurance. Many quoting agencies are reporting as much as a 50% increase in life insurance applications since mid-February. 

At MVP Financial, we have seen a similar increase in life insurance applications. While more Americans are working from home and taking care of their families, reaching out to clients and prospects for a "well check" could lead to a conversation about concerns to move life insurance shopping to the top of their to-do list. 

For obvious reasons right now, electronic application submission with e-policy delivery is the quickest process. With our Quick App solutions, you don’t need to meet face-to-face with your clients to take an application or deliver the policy.

And with the accelerated underwriting possibilities, your clients may not need to meet with a paramed examiner either!

Since the coronavirus outbreak, many of our carriers and service providers are experiencing a slow down in service. We have received notices from paramedical services, APS retrieval services, contracting personnel, phone interview providers, and carriers regarding their processing lag times. Consequently, it might take an extra day or two for each step of application underwriting to be completed. If you work with us, you can be assured that we are doing everything possible to keep your cases on track for timely submission to commission!

We are committed to supporting your needs as you service your clients and are ready to assist you with solutions for peace of mind, income protection, gifting options, wealth transfer, succession plan funding, and portfolio risk mitigation. The partnership values that drive us every day will carry us through this pandemic.