[LTPC-discussions] Fw: LTC Bullet: 50 Ways to Survive in LTCI--Book Review
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From: "Center for Long-Term Care Financing" <ltcbullets@centerltc.org>
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Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 12:21 PM
Subject: LTC Bullet: 50 Ways to Survive in LTCI--Book Review
> LTC Bullet: 50 Ways to Survive in LTCI--Book Review
>
> Wednesday, August 6, 2003
>
> Orlando, FL--
>
> LTC Comment: Long-term care insurance agents struggle to sell people
> protection the government's been giving away for 38 years. We review a
new
> book full of ammunition to add to their arsenal, after the ***news.***
>
> *** Today's Bullet is sponsored by the American Association for Long-Term
> Care Insurance http://www.aaltci.org/. AALTCI is the national non-profit
> professional organization serving the needs of insurance and financial
> professionals who market LTC insurance. The Association is a co-developer
> of the new Long-Term Care Professional (LTCP) designation program and will
> be conducting three 2-day review programs in New York (October 20-22), New
> Orleans (November 14-16) and San Antonio (October 13-15). The San Antonio
> class will also be a session for potential trainers. For more information
> on the Long-Term Care Professional designation program, visit their
Website
> http://www.aaltci.org/ltcp/classroom.html or call Teri Burks at
> 866-763-3543. Thanks to AALTCI for their generous support of the
> Center. Won't you help too? Please go to
> http://www.centerltc.org/support/sponsor_bullets.htm to sponsor an LTC
> Bullet. Find out how you can sponsor other Center activities (e.g.,
> articles, speeches, conference exhibits) by contacting Amy
Marohn-McDougall
> at 425-377-9500 or mailto:amy@centerltc.org . ***
>
> *** Center for Long-Term Care Financing President Steve Moses' latest
> article, titled "Avoid the Long-Term Care Trap: Know the Truth About Who
> Pays for Long-Term Care and How You Can Protect Yourself and Your Family,"
> was published in the July/August issue of Assisted Living Today
> magazine. Reading Assisted Living Today is a good way to follow
> developments in the assisted living industry. A one-year subscription
> (nine issues) is $30 unless you're a member of the Assisted Living
> Federation of America, in which case it's free. For details, write to
> mailto:altoday@strattonpub.com . We'll be glad to send a free copy of the
> ALT issue with Steve's article to any new donors at the $150 level or
> higher. Just ask for it when you make your contribution. Contribute
> online at http://www.centerltc.com/support/index.htm or send your check to
> the Center for Long-Term Care Financing, 2212 Queen Anne Avenue North,
> #110, Seattle, Washington 98109. ***
>
> *** LATEST DONOR-ONLY ZONE CONTENT: Here's the latest Zone content
> followed by instructions on how to subscribe.
>
> LTC E-Alert #3-048--Will Medicare Coverage of Adult Day Care Crowd Out
LTCI?
> (When government pays for services people want--like home care, assisted
> living and adult day care--instead of only nursing home care, does it
chill
> demand for LTCI?)
>
> The LTC Reader # 3-035--Mayo Clinic Geriatrician Recommends Private LTCI
> (America has precious few geriatricians, so when one strongly recommends
> private insurance for long-term care, it's news.)
>
> The LTC Data Update #3-020--GAO Says Fix SS or Slash Benefits One Third by
2039
> (What better reason to take personal responsibility for long-term care
than
> the impending insolvency of America's social insurance programs?)
>
> Don't miss our "virtual visits" to major LTC industry conferences in The
> Zone. You'll find our comparison of the conferences, session summaries,
> interviews and pictures at http://www.centerltc.com/members/index.htm .
>
> Individual donors of $150 or more and corporate donors to the Center for
> Long-Term Care Financing receive our daily email LTC Bullets, LTC
E-Alerts,
> LTC Readers, and LTC Data Updates for a full year. You'll also get access
> to the donor-only zone where these publications are archived along with
> other donor-only features. If you already qualify for The Zone, you can
> click the following link, enter your user name and password, and go
> directly to the latest donor zone content and
> archives: http://www.centerltc.com/members/index.htm . If you do not
> already qualify for The Zone, mail your tax-deductible contribution of
$150
> or more to the Center for Long-Term Care Financing, 2212 Queen Anne Avenue
> North, #110, Seattle, WA 98109. Then email mailto:damon@centerltc.org
your
> preferred user name and password (up to 10 characters each). You can also
> contribute online by credit card or direct withdrawal at
> http://www.centerltc.com/support/index.htm . ***
>
> LTC BULLET: 50 WAYS TO SURVIVE IN LTCI--BOOK REVIEW
>
> LTC Bullets' review of Margie Barrie, editor, 50 Ways to Boost Your LTCI
> Sales, Wiesner Publishing, Centennial, Colorado, 2002. Order the book at
> http://www.seniormarketadvisor.com/ or look it up on
http://www.amazon.com/
> or http://www.bn.com/ .
>
> If your goal in life is to make a lot of money, you might want to consider
> a career outside of long-term care. Medicaid pays nursing homes the
> equivalent hourly rate of a baby sitter to care for the nation's frail and
> infirm seniors. Nurse's aides often make minimum wage. Nursing homes,
> assisted living facilities, and home care agencies struggle to survive
> financially. Long-term care insurers are consolidating or exiting the
> market, disappointed by low or nonexistent profits.
>
> And then there are the long-term care insurance agents. The rule of thumb
> is that companies have to recruit, hire, train and maintain ten new agents
> at great expense in order to keep one who will succeed in the business
over
> time. Despite the excellent training and professional certifications
> available to LTCI agents (e.g., CSA, CLTC, LTCP, and outstanding trainers
> like Phyllis Shelton, Marilee Driscoll, Wilma Anderson, and others), LTCI
> market penetration remains disappointing. No wonder. It takes an
> "AMG"--an altruistic, masochistic genius--to sell something the government
> has been giving away for the past 38 years.
>
> In our experience, the rare breed of exceptional people who succeed over
> time in long-term care insurance sales have one thing in common--a passion
> for the mission. Most of the successful agents have either lived through
a
> wrenching personal long-term care experience with a loved one or they have
> felt the pride and motivation that comes from having helped someone who
> suffers a debilitating illness shortly after purchasing LTCI
> protection. They fight on in the business, despite heavy negative odds
and
> constant rejection, until they finally succeed.
>
> Thankfully, America's LTCI AMGs have a new tool to help them help others
> cut through the fog of denial and obtain long-term care financial
> protection. That new tool is Margie Barrie's anthology of "50 Ways to
> Boost Your LTCI Sales." We don't usually review books on how to sell, but
> with the aging American public so out of touch with the reality and risk
of
> long-term care and with the deck stacked so much against the tiny cadre of
> LTCI agents who are trying to wake them up, well, something has to be
done.
>
> Margie Barrie's little book--a treasure chest of proven techniques to
> answer objections and close the sale--is an important step in the right
> direction. Barrie is President of LTCI Consulting Group, Inc. and she
> writes a monthly column for Senior Market Advisor magazine. If you've
been
> around the LTC insurance business for long, you'll recognize Margie and
> husband Bernie as longtime soldiers in the battle to expand private
> long-term care insurance protection.
>
> In this 198-page book, Margie compiles her own best sales practices with
> those of a couple dozen leading LTCI agents whose names anyone in the
field
> will know. Sales veterans will recognize most of the ideas and techniques
> described in the book, but will probably find the review worthwhile
> nevertheless. Agents new to LTCI sales will steer clear of numerous
> pitfalls and avoid re-inventing the wheel by reading this book. Prospects
> considering the purchase of LTC insurance might benefit from reading it
> too. Not only does the book answer many key questions and confront the
> usual objections, it would help the consumer recognize thoughtful and
> creative salesmanship.
>
> Here are a few examples of the chapters in "50 Ways to Boost Your LTCI
> Sales."
>
> Chapter 5: "Before You Knock, Be Ready to Rock!" This chapter talks
about
> the subtle details of setting up an environment for the sales interview
> which maximizes the prospects' receptiveness to the message.
>
> Chapter 7: "Powerful Stuff: Phrases to Set You Apart." What could be
> more valuable to new agents struggling to find their way in a difficult
> field than the actual words and phrases proven by successful experts to
> open prospects' minds and help them overcome sales inertia.
>
> Chapters 9 and 10: "Questions to Ask that Will Lead to More LTCI
> Sales." LTCI is complicated. New agents make the mistake of telling too
> much and asking too little. "You have two ears and one mouth: use them
in
> that proportion" is good advice. These chapters provide verbatim
questions
> to ask that will help agents understand and provide what prospects really
> want to know and achieve.
>
> Chapter 14: "Dr. Kevorkian Doesn't Make House Calls Anymore." How to
deal
> with the common objection: "Won't happen to me; I'll never go to a
nursing
> home; I'm going to shoot myself first."
>
> Chapter 21: "I Might Never Use It." For some reason, people never think
> car insurance premiums are wasted unless they have an expensive accident,
> but they feel LTCI premiums go down the drain unless they need long-term
> care someday. This chapter explains how to confront that fallacy.
>
> Part IV: "Closing Ceremonies," is four chapters on how to close for the
> sale and what exactly to say. To people not in sales, the idea of
> "closing" sounds manipulative. But closes are rightfully just techniques
> to help someone who needs a product satisfy that need in spite of their
> natural sales reluctance. If the salesperson has properly qualified an
> LTCI sales prospect medically and financially, and if the salesperson has
> identified the best possible product to meet a real, objective need, then
> closing is appropriate. Closes are simply bridges to cross the gap of
> hesitation that remains after objections have been answered and removed.
>
> There's much more to this book, such as defining benefits, getting
> referrals, tips for marketing and seminar selling, but you get the
> drift. Here's a handbook to help you succeed in LTCI sales, make your
> living helping people prepare for the risk of long-term care, and help
your
> country confront the challenge of long-term care by removing financially
> qualified people from the risk of Medicaid dependency.
>
> So much for the lather, here's the shave. Like so many other books and
> articles by people in the LTC sales profession, this one tries to convince
> people government LTC programs are only for poor people. For example:
>
> "For welfare [Medicaid] to pay, you must have very low income and few
> assets. Generally, people will qualify for food stamps before they
qualify
> for Medicaid. To qualify for Medicaid, you must spend-down to
> government-established poverty levels. This means getting rid of most, if
> not all, of the assets you've spent a lifetime accumulating." (pps.
61-62)
>
> If the foregoing statement were true, LTC insurance would not be hard to
> sell. People would flock to LTCI agents to buy protection against even a
> small risk of such a catastrophic loss. In truth, however, it is not true
> that people have to be poor to get Medicaid and, therefore, this scare
> tactic does not work to get people to insure for long-term care. The
> public doesn't know who pays for long-term care, nor does it matter to
> them. They have a pretty good idea someone pays and that's all it takes
> for most people to ignore this risk and discount even the best sales
> presentation.
>
> What is the truth? Income rarely interferes with Medicaid nursing home
> eligibility because Medicaid only requires a cash flow problem, not
> poverty-level income. Anyone anywhere in America who lacks adequate
income
> to pay for private nursing home care--which averages $5,000 per
> month--qualifies easily for Medicaid based on income. Nor are assets
> usually an obstacle because unlimited assets may be held in exempt form,
> such as a home, business, automobile, burial trust funds, and many
> others. Only people with very high assets need to consult attorneys; most
> Americans qualify with little or no spend down of assets, and such spend
> down as is necessary can be done merely to purchase more exempt assets.
>
> Because Medicaid nursing home eligibility rules are so generous, Medicaid
> is the primary payor of long-term care in the United States and long-term
> care insurance is hard to sell. "You can't sell apples on one side of the
> street when they're giving them away on the other." As we said at the
> beginning, it takes an AMG to sell something the government's been giving
> away for the past 38 years. Unless and until the LTC insurance industry
> awakens to this reality, little progress will be made to expand the market
> for their product. The solution is simple and we've covered it repeatedly
> in this space: target Medicaid to the genuinely needy and use the savings
> to fund above-the-line tax deductibility for LTCI. You'll find all the
> evidence and logic to support this position at http://www.centerltc.org/ .
>
> The main reason to purchase LTCI is to avoid the deficiencies of
> Medicaid-funded long-term care--serious problems of access, quality, low
> reimbursement, discrimination and institutional bias. "50 Ways to Boost
> Your LTCI Sales" should focus more on these risks of going bare and ending
> up on Medicaid, and spend less ink trying to convince readers that
Medicaid
> is not available without catastrophic spend-down. The latter argument has
> two major drawbacks: it isn't true and it doesn't work.
>
> A formatted version of today's LTC Bullet is available at
> http://www.centerltc.org/bullets/current/458.htm
>
>
>
> _____________
>
> *** Forward freely; encourage subscribers! ***
>
> The Center for Long-Term Care Financing is a 501(c)(3) charitable
> non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring quality long-term care for
> all Americans.
>
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>
> This e-mail is the latest installment of "LTC Bullets" - the Center's
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> long-term care financing. We welcome responses to the material presented.
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>
> Center for Long-Term Care Financing
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