By John Hilton
InsuranceNewsNet April 3, 2019
BALTIMORE -- Al Bundy would not be a good life insurance prospect,
but Jay Pritchett would be a warm one.
The two iconic
television characters played by actor Ed O'Neill represent the hot and cold of
prospecting, said Vikram Kamath, director of the LIMRA Center of Excellence for
Analytics.
Kamath shared the
results of new analytics LIMRA is using to drill deeper and more accurately
identify who makes a good prospect, and also who makes a good agent. The
session highlighted the final day of the 2019 Life Insurance Conference.
Kamath had fun
recalling the Al Bundy character with the audience. The sad-sack Bundy starred
in "Married... with Children," a Fox series that ran from 1986 to
1997. A shoe salesman of modest means, Bundy was forever losing in career,
finances and family efforts.
"Judging by
the way he was always talking about his high school football days, he didn't go
to college and it never seemed like anything good was happening for him,"
Kamath said.
LIMRA research
shows that ideal prospects are married, younger, have a decent income, have
young children, have a financial advisor, and own a home or property. Not every
strong prospect has all of those things, Kamath explained, but the more of them
they have, the better the odds they are receptive to life insurance.
But those
demographics are well known. Through its analytics algorithm, LIMRA is able to
determine how much those demographics increase the likelihood of buying. And
that is the new and fascinating piece of data, Kamath said.
#LifeConf new @LIMRA data on how much life milestones
increase the likelihood of buying life insurance.
The Jay Pritchett
character, however, lives in a very upscale California home, has a big, loving
family, and despite his senior citizen status, had a baby during season four of
"Modern Family." The ABC show is in its 10th season.
Jay Pritchett is
the kind of prospect agents want to be targeting, Kamath said.
Does that mean
success is guaranteed? Of course not. To illustrate the additional barriers,
Kamath used himself as an example. He is 31, married, owns a home, makes a
decent salary and has a financial advisor.
"I do
recognize that I have the need, but I just haven't bought yet," he said.
Who Makes A
Good Agent?
The second part of
Kamath's research sought to identify what makes a good agent. He found the most
successful agents are older, but not too old. Otherwise, those who cannot make
it wash out pretty quickly.
"If you can't
make a living selling life insurance, you're going to find something else to do
pretty quickly," Kamath said.
The top agents tend
to have about 12 years of experience on average, he explained. Once agents
reach four years of experience, the departure rate drops down to about 10
percent.
What makes a good insurance agent? #LifeConf
In what Kamath
called a controversial finding, the LIMRA study found that young agents who
receive a salary floor, or compensation apart from commissions, produce at a
lower rate.
"It's not
effective," he said. "They're more likely to leave and they're more
likely to produce less premium."
On a positive note,
Kamath found that agents who "license up" turn out to be very
productive. That includes Series 6, 7, 63, 65 and 66.
"Agents who
get these licenses early are more productive throughout their career,"
Kamath said, adding that insurers and agencies should encourage and even
subsidize agent education/licensing.
InsuranceNewsNet
Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20
years of daily journalism. John may be reached at john.hilton@innfeedback.com.
Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.
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