You're Never too Young to Learn About Insurance

Commentary April 22, 2010 at 06:00 AM
Share & Print

Major life insurance organizations are providing teachers with the tools to help high school students learn about life, disability, and health insurance as part of Financial Literacy Month in April.

The Association for Advanced Life Underwriting, the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education, the Million Dollar Round Table, and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors worked together to create NextGen3, an interactive program which includes lessons, games, and videos designed to appeal to a younger demographic. And even though agents cant actually sell to high school students and, under the new health reform, most likely wont have the opportunity to offer them health insurance until theyre in their mid-20s teaching young people about financial literacy could be a great opportunity for agents looking to establish and grow their practice over the coming years.

As the agent population ages, it becomes harder and harder for producers to connect with younger generations. We recently ran a story about Gen Ys perception of insurance agents, and the results werent good. Of the five 20-somethings we interviewed including one person who had experience in the financial industry not a single person said anything positive about agents or the industry. Words like sleazy, negative, rigged, superficial, and pushy were thrown around.

Worse still, agents do think members of Gen Y are good prospects, but the numbers show they just arent marketing to them. According to the 2009 Brokerage Study by Agent Media, exactly 0 percent of agents were marketing their products or services to consumers in their 20s.

So what can you do to reverse this? First, start young. Use tools like NextGen3 to educate up-and-coming 20-somethings about the importance of protecting their assets. Second, dont dismiss the power of young prospects. Even if they only buy small policies now, you are creating a foundation for a long-term relationship. Finally, make sure that you can connect to them on their level. That might mean making some changes to your technology or marketing. Do your research, but dont talk down to them. Theyre not kids. Theyre just 20-year-olds.

Heather Trese is the associate editor of the Agents Sales Journal.

NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Related Stories

Resource Center