LIDMA Aims To Help Members Reach Consumers

By Haley Hanson

July 02, 2007 at 01:11 PM

Share & Print

The Life Insurance Direct Marketing Association is trying to give life insurers and producers the tools they need to protect Americans from financial catastrophe.

LIDMA hopes to "get some standards and guidelines that will make business more expeditious, more consumer friendly and more profitable for everyone involved," says Gina Grantham, executive director of LIDMA, Woodstock, Ga.

LIDMA, formed in 2006 to serve individuals and companies that are involved in the direct sales of life insurance products to consumers, held a meeting in Chicago in June. It now is planning to hold another meeting, starting Sept. 10 in San Diego, to build on the ideas generated during the June meeting.

LIDMA wants to push for improvements in the processes used by producers, underwriters and other business partners, executives say.

The tools LIDMA is trying to support and improve include electronic signature arrangements, electronic policy delivery systems and systems that enable consumers to pay premiums with credit cards, LIDMA executives say.

"We want to help the industry, and we want to sell more life insurance," says LIDMA President Pat Wedeking, who also is president of InsuranceOnly Inc., Denver. "We see a gap in a number of areas, and one of them is technology."

One idea that came up at the June LIDMA meeting is that LIDMA needs to find ways to create standards, Wedeking says.

NOT FOR REPRINT