LIFE has numerous tools you can use to educate and market your products to clients and prospects.

By Jeffrey J. Taggart, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF

The marketing materials developed by the LIFE Foundation can be a great help in our business. I myself didn’t have a full understanding, until recently, of the breadth and depth of LIFE’s marketing tools, such as the online calculators and the all the resources available for Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM). As a third-party trusted advisor, LIFE provides resources for use in educating and marketing insurance to prospects and clients, so check them out.

• Life Insurance Needs Calculator
"How much is enough?" The key question that comes up in every life insurance conversation can be answered with the Life Insurance Needs Calculator, now available as an iPhone and iPad app. Clients and prospects can calculate their life insurance needs based on two key points: How much will they need to satisfy the immediate obligations when a loved one dies, and how much future income is needed to sustain the household. It’s a user-friendly way for clients to evaluate their insurance needs and make adjustments based on the results.
• LIFE Lessons
The LIFE Lessons College Scholarship Program assists college-bound students who are impacted by the loss of a parent or guardian. Over $100,000 in scholarships is awarded to qualified entrants who provide the winning essays or video entries. The winners’ compelling stories and videos (posted on the LIFE website) provide producers with a starting point for conversations with parents about the need for adequate life insurance.

• realLIFEstories
RealLIFEstories depict accounts of people who have experienced firsthand the value of insurance. These stories showcase a variety of insurance sales scenarios: individual, group, disability, long-term care, advanced planning and business insurance. These are great to use in video or in print form to reinforce the need for insurance.

• NextGen3
An interactive educational program targeted at high school students and available to educators and parents at no cost, NextGen3 uses lessons, games and videos to educate the next generation about life, health and disability income insurance and financial-planning basics. To date, NextGen has reached more than 64,000 teachers and 26 million students.

• Small Business Planning
The small-business planning offerings discuss the insurance products available to small-business owners and the benefits they offer. These benefits range from buy-sell agreements and key-person insurance to employee benefits and executive compensation. The small-business planning materials include videos that provide additional background information.

• Multicultural Marketing
Sensitive to the cultural diversity that makes up our population, LIFE Foundation has materials and resources available in Spanish and other languages to reach multicultural target markets.

• White Papers
Keeping up with the trends and actively promoting the importance of insurance nationwide, LIFE Foundation is on the cutting edge with information that can be used as a third-party trusted advisor.

• Awareness Campaigns
September is Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM), which is supported by LIFE Foundation’s campaign to promote the importance of life insurance. Other awareness campaigns include Insure Your Love and Protect Your Paycheck (promoting the importance of disability income insurance). These campaigns run at other times during the year.

This year, the LIAM spokesperson is Lamar Odom, a basketball player for the L.A. Lakers and reality TV star. Odom has a touching story about growing up in a single-parent home and the importance life insurance played in his life. In addition, realLIFEstories winners will be highlighted as a special section in both O and Parents magazines for September. This information, along with myriad producer resources, is available in the producer toolkit at www.lifehappens.org/liam-producer-toolkit.

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Jeff Taggart, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF, is a third-generation agent with UNIFI and lives in Cody, Wyoming. He is a life member of MDRT and past president of NAIFA.