Panel urges industry to innovate at NAILBA 33

Garlock: I think back to the early 80s and in that time, NAILBA was in its infancy and the brokerage business just seized the opportunity in the business where we could facilitate sales that weren't going to the primary carriers at that time. I just sense that we're at that kind of a crossroads right now. I think it's time that we spent more energy towards CREATING the sale. Our job is to create business, not wait and hope that business comes our way. That's the beauty of our business. I think this organization in particular is uniquely positioned to seize the high ground. Now's the time.

Meyer: There's also diversity — we have many generations we are serving. We need to be more aware of what's relevant to each type of consumer. What certain semantics should we use for certain situations? Maddock Douglas and LIMRA did a study on just that. All of us in the room have to educate ourselves a little better. It's so important for us to be relevant and address each age group. We can't sell the same way to the same people all the time.

Sluyter: We need to come together with some deep strategic partnerships to drive this forward in terms of centralized investments. We have to think differently around investments.

Koster: It used to be, you've got your independent distribution coming in and everything works, but now, as Melinda says, you've got to market to various consumers. Let's touch on market – the middle market.

Garlock: One of the things I think is that everyone should read "To Sell is Human" by Daniel Pink. In there, the basic premise of the book is that selling has changed. We used to use "ABC" to mean "Always Be Closing." The author takes that and, as consumers have changed, there becomes information parody. The consumer comes prepared with information now. The "ABC" has changed to "Attunement, Buoyancy and Clarity." The attunement is understanding the other side and being in service to that client. At the end of the day, if we can adjust to the new era of consumers, that is the point where our knowledge and expertise intersects with them so we can help guide them.

Kerley: The philosophy is great. The Maddock Douglas and LIMRA study focus on, among other things, the idea of collaboration. We're collaborating with commercial organizations to help spread the word. The agent is still the center of the focus for the right markets. But some want to buy at the worksite. But the agent is still important to our business. Our ability to embrace what the consumer wants and to build up new models instead of protecting old models is the key to our success.

Tessler: There's no way the consumer would say, "Oh, let's devise the most complicated product and buy it from a guy who can't explain it to me, that involves an accountant and an attorney and an actuarial person." There is no way Mr. Consumer woke up one morning and said, "Give me that, give me a product that is so unforgiving that if I pay my premium 15 minutes late, it completely deteriorates the product."

We have to listen to these people and figure out how to develop what they're actually looking for.

This isn't working that well, it's time to change.

Sluyter: We talk about the middle market being a challenge and I think that's true, but, like Michael said, the consumers are demanding simplification. And that is not what we're offering today. We can solve that. 

Kerley: You can be informed but you still may not understand. Advisors help you understand.

Meyer: Maybe we give control to the consumer and try to not sell anything. At our company, we've changed from a sales-oriented firm to a coaching and advising firm. We want to help the client get to the answer. We've seen an uptick in our sales of over 30 percent. It's doing the same thing, just in a different way.

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