This article is written primarily for experienced agents. These agents have already established a sales career, with a good portion being health insurance selling. The sky is already or about to fall on almost every captive insurance agent with below four years of insurance policy coverage selling. Previous statistics unveil that just 5 years back only 7 out of 100 licensed agents reaching their fourth anniversary. The present turmoil in the insurance industry forecast is not going to improve those numbers.

For an agent selling individual or group major medical policies, the forthcoming clouds of uncertainty are looming overhead. Trade magazine advertising and insurance marketing recruiting for health and group insurance brokers is taking a nosedive. Consumers and business owners are uncertain about what is yet to come. This is resulting in new sales and policy upgrades to rapidly decline. Along with this comes a plunge in many agent incomes.

Is universal health care imminent? The prospective roles of an agent selling individual and group medical health policies is experiencing uncertainty at a high level. It is a terrible time for new agents to enter this selling arena.

Universal health has the makings of wiping out many of the capabilities of highly skilled agents to provide customers with the best coverage for their individual needs and wants. Altering Medicare Part D prescription coverage is already occurring. There is a overwhelming prediction of eliminating Medicare Part D as probable for a means of providing some funding of universal health care.

Right now experienced health and medical insurance experts may still have a golden lining in their insurance future forecast. For once all the powerful insurance company lobbyists are fighting for you, and of course for themselves. They need the market to survive, and in turn need you to market their products. The insurer lobbyists will be spending massive untold amounts of money and shrewdly calling in campaign favors for past substantial financial contributions.

Your individual and group major medical clients are paying more than necessary for the cost of insurance. The direct cause is the way the Government handles Medicare and Medicaid. Doctors and hospitals only receive partial reimbursement for the benefits patients receive. In turn, hospitals and doctors charge privately insured patients more to pick up some of this balance. Medicare and Medicaid are not being managed properly, and future payment reserves are in serious jeopardy. So how can the Federal Government possibly eliminate private insurance and forcibly impose Universal Health Care?

You have a hornet’s nest bigger than the UAW or any union on your side. Should the government seriously engage on eliminating Medicare Part D prescription benefits, you are going to have the most explosive and powerful lobbyist group bombarding legislature. This well funded organization has the membership of millions and millions of people over age 50 belonging to it. Get the leadership angry and it will almost have the impact of an atomic bomb hitting Capitol Hill. Protecting the benefits of seniors is their goal, and they will run over anyone trying to stop them.

During the last forty years, I have seen many changes in the health insurance industry. Therefore, look at some positive scenarios. Right now, there are 1,500,000 life and health insurance agents in the United States. One-half of them have less than 4.3 years of experience. Eliminating a half million agents attempting a feeble attempt at selling medical insurance coverage would not hurt you. Whenever new governmental coverage is introduced, new loopholes always need to be filled. Will the government be allowed to send well over 1,000,000 additional people into unemployment by devastating the health insurance industry?

I honestly do not think so. I say the health insurance future forecast is this. If you are an experienced health insurance agent, you will adapt and maximize the new opportunities that the insurance future will bring. In the meanwhile, supplementing your income with a couple additional insurance products will help. Also look outside insurance, for easy add on products to sell.

Now is the time to hit your existing customer base hard. It is five times easier to get an additional sale off a current customer than to obtain a new one. The insurance future may suffer a hailstorm so provide your customers with a larger umbrella now.

Here are a few tips that will help you get a much better quote when applying for a fleet insurance policy.

Alarms in the vehicle: Most vehicles come fitted with an alarm, this is to protect it from theft or any kind of nuisance that the vehicle could be open to. When applying for the insurance, make sure that you mention about the vehicle alarm or if there is any immobilizer fitted in the vehicles. Once you declare these to the insurance companies they will readily reduce the premium amount on the insurance policy.

Garage: If you own a huge yard or a garage that accommodates your fleet of vehicles, to ensure that it is protected in the night, then you need to mention it in your insurance application. This again will help reduce the premium amount you will have to pay to the insurance company for the fleet insurance policy. Insurance companies are willing to reduce the premium, because of your efforts to protect it from possible damage or theft.

Drivers: All of the drivers employed by you should have the necessary valid license to drive a particular car size, as stated by the law. Also the drivers employed should not be under a certain age or over a certain age criteria. You will need to check with the insurance company for further details on this. This is because insurance companies bracket old and very drivers as high risk. Once you meet these criteria, the insurance company will help you save money on the premium that applies to you.

Vehicle Size: Try and keep the size of your fleet of vehicles small and reasonable enough for your business. This is because smaller vehicles have a smaller engine which attracts reduced costs. This will again help you reduce your fleet insurance premium. You can use the extra money in either upkeep of the vehicle or adding in other comforts.

This is why getting a car insurance quote should be regarded as a necessity that improves the quality of our lives. The sooner we have insurance cover the sooner we can drive and take care of all our responsibilities. It is true that most of us would be desperate to get insurance precisely due to our responsibilities. However, it is very important not to take the first quote that comes along. It is far more sensible to choose a premium that is as cheap as possible. You are going to be stuck with this premium for a long time and it is also important that you stay within the family budget.

The fastest way to sort your insurance dilemma is to get an online car insurance quote. This is the way for you to get a list of quotes to choose from and you get it within minutes. You don’t have to search for insurance companies. You immediately see what the premium will be. Once you have compared the quotes you can select the one that suits you and this sets the process in motion. Your request for a car insurance quote will ensure that you find a premium that you can afford without wasting time. Such a website is specifically designed to speed up the process of getting insurance so that you can be a legal driver.

Now, do not be mistaken to think that cheap automatically means of low quality. You will be able to find pretty good policies that are fairly affordable, what is important is knowing how to find them. With such an insurance policy, you will be able to enjoy your travel in relatively more comfort.

There are a number of areas where a travel insurance may come in handy. For example, you may have to pay for unexpected medical bills, either due to some type of health complication or even an accident. Without being covered, you may find it nearly impossible to foot the bills, yet in case you have a travel insurance policy, you may even be flown back to your country if need be. This may require as much as $50,000 and above.

In such situations, your regular medical insurance may not be of any help since chances are that it won’t be accepted in your destination country. It is therefore important for you to have a low cost travel insurance.

You can easily get a suitable travel insurance online by just making a simple search. When you take your time, you will be able to find a travel insurance policy that is quite cheap yet still covers you adequately. In your search for a cheap policy, you should deal with reputable insurance companies that have withstood the test of time.

One point that you should bear in mind is the fact that cheap travel insurance packages are usually provided for a short-term basis. You should compare many types of policies from different companies before you finally settle on the one to sign up for. There are some websites that are dedicated to making comparisons by providing insurance quotes from different policies and companies that you can make use of. All you have to do in order to get such services is to provide your personal details, which include your particular insurance needs. You will then get insurance quotes from different providers, which you will compare and see the one that suits you best. While there are other methods that you may use to make your comparison, this method is the most convenient and the fastest.

We all lead a hectic life. We are always under pressure to deliver. We must be the best parent, spouse, employer/employee, friend, and neighbor. Trying to live upto an impossible standard causes irreparable damage to our basic health. It is slowly and silently pushing us to early death. Yet we cannot change the way we live. However, what we can do is to buy a life insurance policy that will give financial help to our family in case we die a premature death.

If you say that paying the premium will turn out to be another source of your stress, do not worry. Look for term life insurance quotes. The term life is the cheapest way of buying life coverage. They have their disadvantages as well. Study them one by one before coming to a conclusion:

1. As the name suggests it provides protection for a stipulated term only. You can buy it for a period of 1/5/10/15/20/25/30 years.
2. If the policyholder dies within the term, his beneficiaries get the face value of the policy as death benefit.
3. If he outlives the term, he loses not only the coverage, but also the money he has paid as premiums all these years.
4. He can now buy further coverage at a higher rate or do without any coverage.
5. No request for refund of premium already paid is entertained.
6. As such, the policy does not have any cash value and is not an investment option, but purely an insurance policy.

Term life insurance rates are always lower than other forms of insurance which is why it is an attractive short term solution to family protection. With term life insurance, you can still protect your loved ones against some common dangers like auto accidents and buffer them financially against any expensive medical costs in your demise. The protection and security of knowing that they are quite financially taken care of is a huge boon for such a low premium.

Its advantages lie in its low rates. If you want to buy coverage at low life insurance rates, there is no other option. Start looking for term life insurance quotes. You can do that online. It is better to receive quotes from as many carriers as possible. Of course, you will not find much variation in the price structure or the benefits offered. However, a few dollars here and there do make a big difference in the end. Investigate the carrier as well. It should be financially strong enough to withstand all the market upheavals and survive to pay the benefits. Besides, see what kind of good will it has. Does it pay the benefits without hassle?

There is another point you should take into consideration, before you buy term life. Term life insurance rates are lowest, if you buy it for one year. This is because a healthy person has very little chance of dying within a year. However, that should not tempt you to go for it with the idea that you will renew it every year. Term life rates increase with age. As year passes and you go older, you will find that the rates are becoming steeper and steeper. Ultimately, it will become so high that it will become financially unviable to carry on.

For the same price of term life insurance rates that you have been paying for the past twenty years, you may find that you could be getting better value for your premiums for universal or whole life insurance. While term insurance pays out what you are insured for, whole life insurance pays out a little bit more from its insurance bonus. The bonus is income that comes from the investment made from your premiums into the company’s various investment assets. So while you pay higher premiums for universal or whole life insurance, you get more than what you are insured for.

Buy term life if you cannot afford the higher life insurance rates of whole or universal life. You can invest the difference wisely. After all, you look for a life insurance policy to buy coverage for your family, not for any investment opportunity.

1- A health insurance plan protects you and your family financially in the event of an unexpected serious illness or injury that could be very expensive. One can never predict when it will be needed. With health care costs constantly on the rise, and the ability to get customized, affordable health care plans, no one should be left without it. In addition, you are more likely to get routine and preventive care if you have health insurance.

2- Health insurance plans are largely classified into group insurance ( the type of insurance you get from your employer or the organization to which you belong ) , individual insurance ( which involves buying the insurance yourself from insurance companies), and government programs that operate at the national, State, and local levels ( for example Medicare, and Medicaid ).

3- Read the terms of the insurance plan carefully, and find the plan that suits you most. Be sure to carefully examine the following factors:

1. Premiums.
2. Coverage/benefits.
3. Access to doctors, hospitals, and other providers.
4. Access to after hours and emergency care.
5. Out-of-pocket costs 6. Exclusions and limitations

4- Don’t decide on your own. Before you chose the right health insurance, Consult other people, including your colleagues, family members and friends. Carefully listen to what they tell you, and learn from their advice and experience. What issues did they consider important? Which insurance companies do they recommend? How did they balance the cost/benefit of a proposed health insurance plan?

Once you have a clear picture of the sort of health insurance which is best suited for your needs, you can use web sites to get health insurance quotes and compare them, so to find an affordable health care insurance plan. If you still feel that you need to know more about health care insurance you can read more on my site.

Personally I see huge opportunities with the internet, and I’m not alone. Major insurance providers are turning to the internet and even building sales processes around internet leads. If you want to jump in and get a piece of the pie, here are 5 simple steps that can help you to be successful.

Step 1 – Do the math. It amazes me when I see how few agents actually take the time to run the numbers. Let’s say you sell all types of insurance and the average annual revenue you bring in per new client is $1000 (includes cross-sells and up-sells).

If you bought 100 leads per week at $10 each and only closed 3% of them, how much money would you have made in a year? Would it shock you to know that would produce a net profit of $104,000?

What if you could only do half that many leads, but you could increase your conversion by just 1%? How much would you make in a year? 50 leads per week at $10 each with only a 4% conversion would produce a net profit of $78,000.

Now let’s say you could only do 20 leads per week, but you are good at sales and get a 10% conversion. What kind of annual income would that produce? With the same parameters as the 2 previous examples you would produce an annual income of $93,600.

Step 2 – Develop a competitive advantage. As you can see your income is most affected by your conversion ratio. If you can increase your conversion you will make more money with less work. To increase your conversion ratio you need to develop a solid competitive advantage.

Remember with the internet there is no such thing as an exclusive lead. Even if the lead provider only sells the lead once, the consumer is likely to shop at several sites. This means you need to stand out from the crowd. You can do this by asking yourself the question, “Why me?” Put yourself in the insurance shopper’s position and ask why they would choose to do business with you over everyone else. Make sure you have a good answer.

Once you have a good solid answer, be sure you communicate that to every prospect in your email, sales pitch and every other form of communication you deliver to your prospects. If you do this right, there should be no question in the prospects mind about who you are and what makes you special.

Step 3 – Find a good internet insurance lead provider. This can be a little bit tricky. There are some good lead providers, but also a lot of shady ones. Unfortunately the good ones have been hurt by the bad reputation of unethical companies. My best advice is to only work with companies that are willing to let you try some leads for free, but watch out. Some companies claim to offer free leads, but then require a long-term contract and/or a minimum purchase. If they are asking you to buy something, then their leads are not really free. A lead company that truly has confidence in their product should let you try some for free.

Step 4 – Measure your results. This one is very important. Make sure you track every lead and keep a tally of the results. Also be sure to track the time that goes into making a sale. For example, if you get 10 leads and only 1 converts, how much time did it take to make that sale? The time would include the time you spent following up on the 9 leads that did not convert as well as the 1 that did. Next calculate the value of your time and include that with the cost of acquisition. Once you have these measurements, compare the results from your leads purchased with your results from other sales and marketing efforts. This will help you to see if leads are working for you and where you can best focus your time and resources. It is also a good idea try different lead providers so you can measure the results and see which ones are delivering the best return on investment.

Step 5 – Refine your sales process to improve results. As you begin working with leads and measuring the results, you will start to see patterns. These patterns can tell you a lot about your sales process. Are you reaching the prospects too late? Are you losing a good percentage after the first call? Look at the areas within your sales process where you see problems. Focus on improving these areas. This may sound obvious, but many agents fail to take a scientific approach to their business and suffer the consequences.

Remember developing a system that works takes time and effort. Be patient and keep working at it. By implementing these 5 steps and continually refining the processes you should see improvements and working with internet leads can be profitable and even fun.

A regular dental insurance may be good enough to cover up the regular costs of dental care but if you need more extensive coverage of your dental costs, a supplemental policy should be your best option. Some of us may even delay major dental work because our insurance policy is not good enough to cover up the high costs involved. A timely cure can save a lot of problems later.

Though a lot of employers offer a dental insurance policies as an added bonus to their employees some of them do not offer this facility. If you are employed, you should check it out if your company is offering any of such benefits. Self employed people or business owners can make use of a supplemental dental insurance to cover up high dental costs in addition to other policies they might have. It is the best way to get the needed treatment and not having to worry about the high costs involved. Before opting for any policy you should always check out its coverage first. More coverage is always better for anyone looking to save money in the long run.

They may or may not be curious by nature, but they are not nosy. They ask their questions respectfully in order to get their prospects to open up. To tell them their honest concerns.

Why do successful business insurance agents ask so many questions and why do they get honest answers more often than not? Especially when the questions are not specifically about the prospects insurance policies?

Business owners are naturally secretive, cynical and have a built in BS detector that can pick out hype and hard sell across a crowded room. Why do these people, folks who don’t tell their accountants the whole story, never actually tell their lawyer everything, and often keep everybody else in the dark – open up to their business insurance agents?

Successful business insurance agents know that this secretive business owner will answer any legitimate question they ask, if they are respectful, genuinely interested, and if they ask it at their very first meeting. The last point is critical. If they show interest, these lonely hard driven business owners will spill their guts to them the first time they meet. Later on the business owner has their defense mechanisms back up.

Business insurance agents understand this. They are masters at breaking the ice with honest questions that demonstrate their interest. They have seen how this approach results in an atmosphere of mutual respect, a relationship quickly develops around this shared information – often information they have never shared with another living soul.

Their objective is to involve the business owner in the discussion, learn what makes them tick, what keeps them awake at night – without being pushy, without the appearance of aggressiveness. Is it any wonder that successful business insurance agents are closer to their clients than virtually any other member of the business owner’s advisory team?

Successful business insurance agents don’t act like technicians. Instead they are looking for the why, the who, the when, and the where of the challenges and concerns the business owner has. Then they will work hand in glove with the business owner to determine the how. How things need to be done in order to insure the outcomes the business owner wants.

Business insurance agents never begin a discussion with 2 + 2 questions, or ask the business owner to drag out their Buy/Sell Agreement, ancient tax returns, corporate disability income policies, errors & omissions and liability coverages, or their life insurance.

Successful business insurance agents know that 2+2 will always equal four. There will be lots of time to track down all the details, if they successfully win the battle for their prospect’s trust.

And they never ask questions that have no “yes” or “no” as possible answers. They are there to draw out the feelings of the business owner, what’s important to the business and the business owner’s family. They ask questions no one else has the courage to ask, because other advisors are often afraid to put the business owner on the spot. What if they get mad? What if they tell them it’s none of their business?

On the other hand, what if the insurance agent does not ask the hard questions or they ask them in an offhanded way and don’t stick with it until they get the real answer? What if they blow off this need to get honest feedback from the business owner and something bad happens?

Successful business insurance agents know that when something bad happens, they are the only people on earth who bring cash to the crisis. No one else can do that. In the end, what matters most – the agent’s momentary embarrassment for asking a hard question, the business owner’s uneasiness for being asked a question that is hard for them to answer, or the feelings of gratitude when the business insurance agent shows up with the check that puts out whatever fires have descended on the business and the business owner’s family?

Here is a question asked probably thousands of times every day by successful business insurance agents.

“If you had died last night and your spouse went to see your business insurance agent this morning, what three questions would they ask them? How would your agent have to answer them? What would you like for them to be able to say – how would you like your agent to answer them?”

Successful business insurance agents ask questions like this so that the business owner has to think before answering them. They ask questions no one can answer for them, getting the business owner involved not only in defining the problem, it also making them a party to the solution.

Successful business insurance agents let the business owner articulate the problem because the solution, whatever it is, belongs to the business owner, not them. The business owner has to live with their solution or without it, as they choose.

Here are some tips for pitfalls that you should avoid when buying general liability insurance.

Choosing the right agent.The first place people generally go for their business insurance is the insurance agency that handles their home and auto insurance.In some cases this will work out well.But the risk is that your current agent may be licensed to sell you general liability insurance on your new company while really possessing very little experience in evaluating the hazards and risks of your specific type of company.I would suggest that you go out there and look for an agent that specializes in insuring other small businesses like yours.Ask your competitors who they used.At Clinard Insurance we have a niche specialty in small contractors and we speak their language and understand their needs.If your agent doesn’t specialize in your business, I suggest you find one who does.

Claims Made or Occurrence Policy Type:Construction claims made policies became popular in the mid 1980′s and have been around ever since.The promise of these policies were lower rates, but at what long-term damage?In some instances there is no cost savings.Claims made polices for a contractor are the worst possible policy you can buy.Let me explain:Claims made policies allow you to make claim on your policy only during the year they are in force.Contractors have claims down the road, not always just in the same year as the project is built! Also, if you want to leave that company and go to another company, you will have to purchase additional insurance to cover you for the next 10 years… that’s right, 10 years!Why?Because the law allows customers to file a lawsuit for construction problems for up to 10 years after the project was completed.

An Example:
You build a new room addition, everything goes well and you and your customer are very happy with the final outcome…4 years later your customer calls you and says that the roof is leaking and water came in the house and ruined his new $25,000 grand piano.He expects you to repair the roof, the drywall, wallpaper, carpets and, of course, replace the grand piano….
A claims made policy will not allow you file a claim 4 years later unless you stayed with that same company the whole time.If you intend to change companies after you have had a claims made policy, you must make a decision.If you want to have protection for any claims that have not occurred yet, but will in the future, you will have to purchase “tail” coverage.This coverage will extend the time in which you can file a claim.And tail coverage is not cheap.
If you decide not to buy the “tail” you will not be able to report a claim against the claims made policy.And to make matters worse, some companies do not offer the 10 year extension.
So…. When your claims made policy comes up for renewal, you must decide:

Do I leave the company and pay the additional insurance for coverage for the next 10 years, or go without protection.
Do I stay with the same company?Their prices on the new year may stay the same or go up sharply.
Do I switch to another company who has better rates and coverages?

This limits the marketplace available to you, and makes it harder to accept a better bid from another insurance company.Claims made policies may work in other industries, but for Contractors they are a disaster.Take time after reading this report to see if your current policy is either an occurrence form or a claims made form…..

Insurance Company RatingIt is up to you to do the due diligence and ask your agent about the financial health of the company from whom you are buying your general liability insurance.As the previous tip implied, sometimes the claims may be very much delayed and you need to know that your company can pay a claim for you 10 years from now.Use only A rated or higher insurance companies to protect your business.

Exclusions,Understand Them Clearly Be sure to take the time to ask your agent about the policy exclusions and what they may mean for you.Here are some exclusions that contractors should consider when purchasing a general liability insurance policy:
Pesticide, Herbicide and Fungicide Exclusion, Employment Practices Liability Exclusion, X.C.U exclusion, Contractors Warranty Exclusion, Professional Liability Exclusion, Asbestos, Independent Contractors.If you don’t know exactly what these mean for you on your policy, contact your agent and get the help you need to understand it clearly.This may change the way you run your business.

Subcontractors Be sure that you understand just how your policy treats subcontractors.Are you covered if they have no insurance or not enough for the loss? How much coverage should you require of your subcontractors?How often should you obtain certificates of insurance?How can you be sure that the certificate of insurance is legitimate.(I have seen fraudulent certs for sale on ebay before).If you are not clear about the answers to these questions vis-à-vis your business and your general liability policy, you should call your agent right away and get the answers you need to sleep well at night.

As you can see buying general liability insurance is not a simple as calling your agent and asking for a quote.You need an experienced professional that understands the policy forms and your business.At Clinard Insurance we specialize in helping small contractors navigate the dangerous waters of the insurance world.If we can help you further, or if you would like more information about Clinard Insurance Group, please visit our web site.