Last year one of the major themes from a number of insurance companies was the plan to target the middle market.  You know the ones we are talking about, they are young, make good money, and are really, really busy.  For them, some of the issue with addressing their risk management needs is finding the time rather than the cost.  Remember, by and large, these people are young and still pretty healthy.

We even talked about one of the platforms that are part of this effort coming on line from MetLife a few weeks back, and if you recall the conversation, one of my issues with the whole idea of carrier driven processes is that it requires the agent to learn the intricacies of each carrier's platform.  Further, there are already third party platforms that make this possible, at least theoretically, on a multi-carrier basis.  As I said at the time, acceptance by both the carrier and producer community was a bit underwhelming, but it was only a matter of time until we all either retired or were doing business using an entirely different process.

That time may be approaching, and there is a way to dip your toes in the water rather than take the plunge.  One of our carriers has a developed a way for you to road test one of the electronic application platforms to access a line of simplified issue term and permanent products.  As much as product pricing and all of the other product related details are important, there is a much more subtle, yet hugely important opportunity here - the opportunity to impact the development of the platform. 

That's right, we want you to use it, and we want you to pick it apart! 

Now, to be fair, this is not something that this provider has asked us for.  What they all ask us for is help furthering the acceptance of their platform in the field as well as at the carrier home office.  What better way than to let all of you kick the tires and give them some feedback?  So what is in it for you?  How about the possibility of actually making a profit on those smaller cases?  How about having a legitimate choice to give a client of this price with an exam or that price with an electronic app and possible phone interview?  One thing I am sure of is that these clients will never pick the easier, slightly more costly route if it isn't offered to them!

Today's last comment is on profitability.  Try this on - if the client selects the path of least resistance, you make more money and do less work.  I'll do that deal all day long!

Interested?  Click here to learn more about electronic application processes and how they work.