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|
November
15, 2000 Edition |
| Extra!
Extra! |
|
A
QUESTION GOES UNANSWERED. A CUSTOMER GETS FRUSTRATED. A SALE
IS LOST. NOT PRETTY.
Lightning
Rod Software offers real-time customer interaction solutions that
allow Web site visitors to get their questions answered at the moment they
need assistance. Click
now for more info. |
|
| Industry
News |
| POSITIONING CAMPAIGN
The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (formerly
the National Association of Life Underwriters) will spend $850,000 ($10
per member) in a public relations campaign designed to "brand and reposition
NAFIA among past, current and future members." In the past, most NALU conventions
were devoted to association business, but the first convention under the
NAIFA banner had 25 educational breakout sessions. Look for more educational
support from this organization as it works with MDRT, The American College
and LUTC to increase its value to members.
NYSE LISTING
As predicted in the last E-News, German insurance giant Allianz AG is
now listed on the New York Stock Exchange (stock symbol AZ). The
move is designed to enable Allianz to "build a war chest for takeovers
and raise its profile with U.S. consumers."
INTEGRITY FIRST
AWARDS Congrats to Berkshire Life, SAFECO and John Hancock for winning
top honors in the ACLI's inaugural Integrity First competition. This
new annual awards program "recognizes member companies that demonstrate
outstanding achievement in promoting integrity in their business operations
and product marketing."
INDUSTRY CHALLENGES
A new Tillinghast-Towers Perrin study queried CEOs of the largest life
insurance companies in Europe, Canada and the U.S. about the most significant
issues facing financial services companies in the near future. The
results revealed broad agreement that distribution effectiveness and productivity
is the biggest industry concern by far, followed by technology issues (primarily
as related to use of the Internet in sales and service).
Q3 '01 While
many industry analysts and observers expected Prudential to go public early
next year, it now appears that the company's IPO won't take place at least
until July 2001, in what could be one of the largest IPOs ever.
FLYING HIGH
Former Florida Insurance Commissioner and astronaut, Democrat Bill Nelson
has won his bid for a U.S. Senate seat.
SNOOPY WALKS!
The court case by the Cohoes Police Department against MetLife was dismissed
October 30, 2000 in favor of MetLife. Met really keeps up with this
type of stuff. We first mentioned it in our May 1, 1999 issue and they
sent us a notice of the favorable ruling. Congrats, Snoopy. Live free!
|
LEGAL
COVERAGE:
Pre-Paid Legal Services
has stayed the course for 28 years and really made a market for this product.
Active memberships have reached 1,000,000 and the company hopes to reach
2 million in the next two years. Pre-Paid Chairman Harland Stonecipher
said, "With more than $48 million in cash and investments, a high percentage
of recurring revenues, no debt and a fixed-cost business model coupled
with a tremendous market for our legal service plans, we continue to believe
very strongly that the best is yet to come." For details on this "idea
whose time has come," check out their website at http://www.prepaidlegal.com/go/direct. |
The National Association
of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies (NAILBA) wrapped up its 19th annual
meeting in Washington, DC this past Sunday. It was the largest and most
successful annual meeting ever for this relatively new industry group.
A few highlights follow here and at the end of the Marketing/Tax section:
LIFE MEMBERSHIP
NAILBA has joined with all the major life and health insurers, as well
as other industry associations, in supporting the Life and Health Insurance
Foundation for Education (LIFE). LIFE (http://www.life-line.org)
is a non-profit organization designed to inform the public about life,
health, and disability insurance and remind people of the important role
agents perform in helping families, businesses, and individuals find the
insurance products that best fit their needs.
ASSOCIATION SYNERGY
NAILBA and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors
(NAIFA), the nation's largest financial advisor group, announced plans
to establish a closer relationship between these two premier associations.
Great move for members of both organizations!
GE FINANCIAL
Jack Welch, the CEO of GE and considered by many to be one of the best
business managers of the later 20th century, is striving to make GE an
e-company, with a "kill the paper campaign." GE Financial Assurance, with
the recent Traveler's acquisition now the largest company in fixed products
premiums, will be following the parent company's lead...by early next year,
60% of all issued business will be done without a human touching a piece
of paper.
ING INTEGRATION
ING, the giant Dutch company, having acquired Southland, Life of Georgia,
Life of Denver, Reliastar (Security of Connecticut) and Aetna, will now
begin to consolidate its gains. The pure brokerage channel will be served
via ING Security Life and the BGA, MGA and PPGA channel will conduct business
as ING Reliastar. The acquisitions have given ING 10,500 registered reps
and made it the largest life and annuity premium company in the U.S. |
|
| Extra!
Extra! |
INSURANCE
CAREERS, TRAINING, RESOURCES
AND
MORE!
insurance.ce.com
is the industry's premier online careers and learning resource. Everything
for the insurance professional in one place - job listings, industry courses,
seminars, certifications and licensing, career planning resources, and
industry news and tends. Plus, insurance.ce.com
is home to the Internet's leading career and education technologies - use
our resources to chart a successful career path or match yourself to potential
opportunities. All insurance.ce.com
features are free to site visitors - visit
today and let us help you advance your insurance career. |
|
| Marketing/Tax
Update |
| FEW
OPTIONS According to Weiss Ratings, the nearly 1 million seniors
who are being dropped by their Medicare HMOs this year will have difficulty
finding an alternative HMO to accept them. Of the original 237 Weiss-rated
HMOs that accepted Medicare beneficiaries, there are only 90 left, and
37 of those are losing money.
THE
COMPETITION Much can be learned from the competition. If you
haven't visited some of the insurance e-commerce sites lately, you might
want to do so. Check out Quotesmith,
InsWeb
and Ebix. Ebix just signed a big deal
with AltaVista to be their "exclusive online insurance services provider
for AltaVista's millions of unique users."
LOWER
FEES Approaching the end of his long tenure, SEC chairman Arthur
Levitt is said to be "pushing mutual fund directors to reduce commissions
that funds pay to brokerages, much of which are being passed on to investors."
THANKSGIVING
IDEA Howard Wight suggests you send out Thanksgiving cards "to give
thanks to people who have done business with you. This might differentiate
you from those who send out Christmas cards." How about Thanksgiving
e-cards? They are simple and free. Try http://www.egreeting.com.
Don't have your clients' e-mail addresses? Better make a resolution
to get them soon!
PARTNERSHIP
OPPORTUNITIES New York Life has launched its "Partnership for Professionals"
program through which CPAs can receive compensation when working with New
York Life agents. The compensation can be either in the form of referral
fees or commissions (if the CPA is properly licensed).
NEW
NO COMMISSION PRODUCT TIAA-CREF is now offering "low-cost single-life
and survivorship life Universal Life insurance products to the general
public." The products feature no commissions, sales loads or surrender
charges and are "just the beginning of our entry into the broader retail
life insurance market."
MULTIPLE
TAXATION Just in case you've forgotten, we still have an estate tax...if
you have clients with a reasonable size estate and a large qualified retirement
plan, they could face pretty rough taxation at death. For example, if a
client has a $4,000,000 estate with a qualified plan of $1,000,000, his/her
heirs will only net 38.8% of the dollars in the qualified plan. A good
advisor should have some options to a 62% tax!
| FREE MARKETING
NEWSLETTER - How to improve your direct mail results, get more attendance
at seminars, have people calling you from a direct response newsletter,
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To get your free
subscription, click here: http://www.nfcom.com/promo.cgi/fmenews?h=freemonthly.htm |
CONSOLIDATED
SITE Internet Pipeline, one
of the oldest Internet companies devoted specifically to the insurance
and financial services industry, has launched myAgency.
Among the benefits for producers is a "consolidation of services"; information,
services, status, apps, etc. from virtually all the companies and MGAs
that a producer represents will be available at a single site. Check it
out at http://www.myagency.net.
EAT
MO' FISH! Despite what the Chick-fil-A cows say, Banner Life underwriting
gurus (Jim Landino and Dr. Bob Quinn) cited recent studies from the Mayo
Clinic that suggest fish might be better for you. Omega 3 fatty acids,
better known as fish oil, may have "come of age." The underwriters
for the 6th largest term writer in the U.S. didn't promise lower rates
if you eat fish...but who knows, maybe they will someday! Also reported:
Good news is on the horizon for diabetics...stem cells transplanted in
mice have created a source of insulin and thereby reversed diabetes in
the mice.
WHO
IS ON FIRST? Any confusion between Midland National (South Dakota)
and The Midland (Ohio) should soon be put to rest. The North American
Company for Life and Health Insurance (Chicago) has made an agreement with
Swiss Re (the owner of the Ohio-based Midland) to take over The Midland's
brokerage sales. While the entire Midland staff in Ohio will be retained,
policies will be issued on North American paper. Incidentally, Sammons
Enterprises in Dallas owns both Midland National and North American.
MORE
NAME GAMES Robert MacDonald continues to exert his influence on the
insurance industry. Now that he is CEO for German giant Allianz Life
of North America, he is changing the name of the company he built, Life
USA, to Allianz Life and organizing for a new marketing thrust. |
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