How to Sell Final Expense Insurance Over the Phone
Typically, something triggers someone to start thinking about planning for their final arrangements – someone special to them dies or gets seriously injured; they become ill; or their estate planner tells them it’s time.
The right marketing strategy will inspire prospects to plan sooner rather than later and get you closer to the sale of funeral insurance.
Phone-selling has never been easier, and a screen-sharing tool gives prospects a clear picture of what final expense insurance is, why they need it, and how it can protect their family members.
Shortcuts:
Prospecting for Final Expense Insurance: Getting Their Attention
Selling the Importance of Having Final Expense Insurance
The Advantage of Screen Sharing in Final Expense Insurance
Overcoming Objections in Selling Final Expense Insurance
How Much Can You Make Selling Final Expense Insurance?
Final Tips on Selling Final Expense Insurance
Prospecting for Burial Expense Insurance: Getting Their Attention
The first rule of prospecting is to cast a wide net. After all, everyone can benefit from a funeral expense plan.
Here are four prospecting tips for final expense insurance:
1. Create attention-grabbing content.
A blog works great but there is great value in other types of content as well.
Social media is a great place for content. Talk up the benefits of burial insurance on social media and create a buzz about it. Be sure to read the comments and respond back to commenters.
Consider creating a video that explains all the ways someone could use final expense insurance to ease their family’s burden. Putting a video together won’t take much of your time as it only needs to be about 15-30 seconds.
Face-to-face contact gives prospects a chance to get acquainted with you and make a connection. Not comfortable being filmed? Hire someone to create one for you. Find talent on sites like Fiverr or Upwork.
Have you thought about making a podcast? Pew Research reports that 75% of Americans over the age of twelve listened to podcasts within the past month in 2023. Sure, a 12-year-old isn’t going to be interested in planning their own funeral, but a podcast still casts a wide net in the adult audience.
If creating a podcast is more than you want to invest in, there are plenty of podcasters out there willing to interview you. It’s a chance to educate people about the benefits of funeral expense insurance and the ways they can use it.
2. Create paid ads.
Paid ads are a worthwhile investment. Why? Because ads pop up everywhere. Paid ads can reel people in even when they aren’t in the market for a purchase.
There’s more than one way to produce paid ads to gain visibility for your brand and funeral expense products.
Consider investing in the following types of ads:
- Search engine ads – Ads that display when someone is doing an internet search.
- Social media ads – Ads that are embedded into social media sites.
- Native ads – Ads that display in newsfeeds, at the top of search results, and content recommendations.
- Banner ads – Rectangular ads that display in high-traffic areas on the side, bottom, or top of a website or other media.
3. Website optimization.
Is your website visible in the top ten results when you type “final expense insurance” into the search box? If not, you may want to seek advice from a website professional who can optimize your site to move it up.
Another strategy is to give away a free E-book on final expense insurance. Of course, you’ll want to set up a contact form so they have to input their email address to get it. As email addresses come in, add them to your newsletter list and email campaigns.
4. Referral campaigns.
Without a doubt, digital marketing is a frontrunner in lead generation, but don’t discount the value of asking for referrals. Word of mouth is powerful because people like to share news they’re excited about with their friends. And, those friends trust information from someone whose friendship they value.
Selling the Importance of Having Final Expense Insurance
When it comes to final expense insurance, the burning questions in someone’s mind are “Do I need it?” and “When do I need it?”
When developing your marketing plans, consider the thoughts that may be going through prospect’s minds.
- “Is it time to have that conversation with my children about how I want my estate distributed?”
- “My children have families and debts of their own. Would it be a financial burden on them if I don’t take care of my own funeral arrangements?”
- “Will my children or other family members be able to pay the taxes on my estate?”
- “Will I need intensive in-home care or nursing care at some point? How will I pay for that?”
- “Will the legal fees in handling my estate or final arrangements be too burdensome on my loved ones?”
The key to selling the importance of having final expense insurance is educating prospects about how final expense insurance eliminates every worry on their minds.
You could create an ad campaign or email string answering any or all of the questions listed above. Every question is a good platform for storytelling.
Also, consider the existing knowledge people have about final expense insurance. Not having learned anything about it, they may think the only purpose for burial expense insurance is to pay for their funeral. As they learn about other ways to use a burial insurance policy, they may be more inclined to purchase one.
Prospects may not be aware of the rising cost of funerals. While it was once common to have a wake for a few days followed by a funeral, the expense of it all is cost-prohibitive for many families.
The average cost of a funeral is $7,848 according to the National Funeral Directors Association. That may not even include extra fees for things like flowers, a reception, or the cost of the obituary.
The average cost of cremation with a service is only $5,390. Without a service, the costs drop to just under $2,000. About 60% of people are considering cremation over a funeral to cut down on costs. A final expense policy goes a lot further for a cremation.
These are eye-opening statistics. Statistics are worthy of putting on a slide and doing a screen-share with clients when you get an appointment, so they can see the figures side by side.
If your prospects aren’t interested in alleviating the financial burden on their loved ones, you might spark their attention by connecting a final expense policy with the need for long-term care services.
No one likes to think about having to give up their independence or being bedridden due to a chronic or terminal illness. Yet, people aged 65 and older have nearly a 70% chance of needing help in some form before they die.
Final expense insurance plans commonly cover living benefits such as:
- Nursing home expenses
- In-home care services
- Medical bills
- Return of premium rider (returns the premiums if you don’t die before the end of the term)
- Disability waiver of premium (waives the premiums if you become disabled)
Prospects will be pleased to learn they can get these living benefits later in life without having to take a medical exam.
The Advantage of Screen-Sharing in Final Expense Insurance
Seeing is believing, and a well-planned phone presentation on final expense insurance should include slides that highlight statistics, types of plans, features of plans, and riders. When you use a screen-sharing tool, you get the benefit of an in-person presentation without having to be directly in front of prospects.
Here is a list of information you could add to your slides to help create an impactful phone presentation.
- The costs associated with funeral planning – funeral service, burial service, burial plot, cremation, obituary, urns, casket, embalming, grave marker, reception, etc.
- An explanation of a death benefit/face amount
- The difference between term life, whole life, and universal life
- Definitions of guaranteed issue, simplified issue, and graded benefit policies
- An explanation of a policy that combines death benefits and living benefits
- An explanation of available riders – child rider, terminal or chronic illness rider, waiver of premium, return of premium accidental death and dismemberment rider, etc.
- Policy comparisons – death benefits, riders, coverage amounts, eligibility criteria, waiting periods, etc.
- Ratings and historical information on life insurance companies – financial ratings, BBB ratings, customer reviews, star ratings, and testimonials
- A copy of the application (to show how easy it is to apply, especially for simplified issue plans which are often a one-page application)
- Answering frequently asked questions before you ask if they have any of their own
- Outlining the next steps in applying and getting a policy issued
Once you’ve completed your phone presentation, you will often encounter some objections. Prepare for them ahead of time as best you can. Make a note of new objections you haven’t heard before. You may be able to use them to improve your phone presentation before your next appointment.
Overcoming Objections in Phone-Selling Final Expense Insurance
If you’re new to phone-selling final expense insurance, you may not know what objections may be coming down the pike.
Don’t take an objection as a final “no” to a final expense policy. Your goal is to address the objection and find a product that meets their needs. There are lots of final expense plans at every price point to choose from, each with its own features and benefits.
A mentor or seasoned professional will be happy to share with you the objections they regularly encounter. More importantly, they’ll probably be willing to share some tried-and-true strategies for how to overcome them.
Here are some of the common objections you’re likely to hear and how to respond to them:
- I don’t need it – Explain how their loved ones can use a final expense plan to pay for estate taxes or how a whole life policy can bolster their retirement plan.
- I can’t afford it – Ask if they have a premium in mind they can afford and show them policies in that range.
- I don’t want to buy right now – Inform them that the cost of the policies will increase every year they get older. They’ll have more choices when they apply when they’re younger and healthier.
- I have a group life insurance plan – Group plans go away when they leave the company. A private plan will always be there for them and their loved ones.
- I don’t want to take a medical exam – They don’t have to when they buy a guaranteed issue plan or a simplified issue plan that doesn’t require a medical exam.
- It’s too much hassle – Simplified issue plans are perfect for addressing this objection. They can get coverage by answering a few basic medical questions, and the policies issue fast, sometimes the same day.
- They won’t accept me because of my medical history – Offer them a policy that will accept their medical conditions and history or steer them toward a policy that doesn’t require a medical exam.
You may be able to head off one or all of these objections by addressing them in your presentation. Once you’ve covered the common objections, draw out any objections they may still have by asking if they have any objections of their own.
As always, empathize with their situations. Recognize that they may be experiencing an emotional pull between knowing they need a policy and working the premiums into their budget.
How Much Can You Make Phone-Selling Final Expense Insurance?
Can you make a career out of selling final expense insurance?
Yes. Whether you phone-sell final expense insurance as part of your portfolio of products or you only sell final expense insurance, you can earn a good income.
Here’s what ZipRecruiter says about how much an insurance agent selling final expense insurance makes:
| Pay Frequency | Average Pay |
| Hourly | $39 |
| Weekly | $1,573 |
| Monthly | $6,817 |
| Annualy | $81,805 |
Note that these are the average salaries. It’s common for life insurance agents to make six figures or more.
ZipRecruiter also highlights the top ten highest-paying cities for selling final expense insurance. With the benefit of technology, you don’t even have to move to one of those cities. Many final expense insurance agents manage their entire operations remotely.
Considering you can sell remotely from any location; you can keep even more of your money by relocating to an area with a low-cost economy and selling to prospects in the highest-paying cities.
Final Tips on Selling Final Expense Insurance
Every lead counts regardless of how you generated it, so don’t let even one lead slip through the cracks. You won’t close them all, but you can have a lot of fun trying.
That said, hang onto your dead leads because people may change their minds one day. Just don’t spend too much time chasing someone who isn’t ready to buy.
Finally, don’t discount the benefit of telling your own story about why you chose final expense products to sell. Did someone you care deeply about pass away and the family struggled to pay for funeral expenses? Do you know of someone who relied on final expense insurance to pay for their medical bills and nursing home expenses?
Real stories have a lot of merit, so work your own story into your presentation about why final expense insurance is essential for nearly everyone.