Q. I'm finding that denial is a major obstacle when selling LTCI. Many prospects refuse to admit that they will ever need this coverage. Do you have any suggestions on how to overcome this objection?
A. "It's never going to happen to me" is one of the most frequent objections that we hear during the sales process. Even the most experienced agents struggle with this, so you are not alone in trying to solve this dilemma.
To provide help with this challenge, I asked Steve Elliott, an agent in San Diego who has sold $5 million of LTCI over the last 12 years, all individual policies, sold face-to-face.
He attributes much of his success to the strategy he developed to overcome denial.
"Denial in the long term care arena translates, for most of us, as an inability or unwillingness to accept that I may one day be disabled or chronically ill to the point where I would be dependent upon others to care for me," Elliott explains.
"We associate long term care with a health issue that will develop when we are 'old,' and we tend to envision the worst case scenario where we have no quality of life at all.
Immediately we think of health issues such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and stroke." According to Elliott, the prospect needs to realize the four main truths of long term care:
1. Long term care can happen to anyone at any age. In fact, 40 percent of all long term care involves people under the age of 65.
