0:07

[inaudible] .

0:07

Hello and welcome to a sureties

0:09

podcast, tips from the insurance pros.

0:12

In this series we talk with industry experts

0:14

as they share ideas and insights you can

0:16

use today. I'm your host

0:18

Matt and I'm joined by our very own Scott

0:21

Zigerski, senior director of marketing here

0:23

at assurety . We've recently made some exciting

0:25

changes not only to our century plus

0:27

disability income insurance, but

0:30

our critical illness product as well. Scott's

0:32

here to discuss the basics of those changes and

0:34

the opportunities out there for producers to

0:36

grow their DUI and CIC sales

0:38

in the coming months. Scott, thank

0:40

you for joining us. Thanks man. Excited

0:43

about the opportunity to talk about these two products

0:45

this morning and we're excited you're here with us.

0:48

Why don't you start by telling us a bit about your

0:50

background?

0:51

Uh, well Matt , I have been

0:53

senior director of marketing here at assurity

0:56

for almost three years and

0:58

I've really been proud of our company's

1:00

growth and not only

1:03

just revenue, which has been

1:05

great over the

1:07

last several years , uh, but also in

1:09

our product development process , um,

1:12

at assurity here. I think we're very proud

1:14

that we're able to release not one, but

1:17

several products each year. And

1:19

I'm really excited about some of the changes

1:21

to either old products or new

1:23

products that we get to discuss here this

1:25

morning. And before

1:28

assurety I spent the majority of my career

1:31

in the insurance or financial services

1:33

realm , um, with about

1:36

16 years in aging myself

1:38

here , um , in insurance,

1:41

prior to arriving Cara to surety . Okay

1:43

.

1:44

Well how about we start with the disability protection.

1:47

Scott, can you summarize the recent changes

1:49

to our century plus DEI and the advantages

1:51

that offers producers?

1:53

Sure. Um, our century plus

1:56

DUI , uh , plan, you know, for disability insurance

1:59

has been a staple for us at assurety for a

2:02

number of years. It's one of the things that I was

2:04

really , um, encouraged about when

2:06

I was recruited to assurety that

2:08

this is a product that we're committed

2:10

to. Disability insurance

2:13

is one of those forgotten products

2:15

in the industry. You have

2:17

people that generally are specialize

2:20

in health insurance, senior

2:22

products, life insurance, and

2:24

you have specialized shops that definitely

2:26

have a passion for disability insurance.

2:29

And we share that passion,

2:31

but those shops, I'm here at

2:34

assurety now for the changes

2:36

to our century plus Dai , our

2:38

product has been out there for several

2:40

years. It's definitely served us well and serving

2:43

our consumers well, but we knew it was

2:45

time for some tweaks and changes. Disability

2:48

insurance in general can be

2:50

a little bit more of a difficult

2:52

sale in the fact that it can

2:54

take quite a while , several weeks to

2:57

process business. How

2:59

do we shorten the cycles on our product?

3:02

When an agent actually submits

3:04

an application and sits down with

3:06

the consumer, how do we shorten

3:08

that buying cycle? How do

3:10

we shorten that application process?

3:13

So we really looked at, well, what

3:15

can lengthen that cycle at

3:18

assure ? Do there are certain things as far that

3:21

really do affect placement that we've been

3:23

monitoring over the years in placing those

3:25

applications and issuing policies.

3:28

One of the things that comes up from time to

3:30

time is the fact

3:32

that you have to request people's

3:36

W2's , their financial background and information.

3:39

And not everybody is easy

3:42

, um, with handing over their

3:44

tax returns where it's readily available.

3:46

And for the most part we are looking for

3:49

two years of w two forms

3:51

for people who aren't

3:54

self employed and

3:56

who were looking for a benefit of

3:59

$3,000 a month. Um,

4:02

for coverage for disability insurance.

4:06

While I'm looking at the numbers and looking at

4:08

how many of those applications would drop

4:10

off due to just non-availability

4:12

or gathering those documents.

4:16

You know, we saw quite a drop

4:18

off there that affected placement. So

4:22

we revisited that benefit

4:24

amount and I'm proud to announce

4:26

that we've gone from the $3,000

4:29

a month benefit for that

4:31

requirement as a ceiling to now

4:33

$4,000 a month for that requirement.

4:37

That's a huge change for us. The

4:39

average monthly benefit amount we issue here at

4:41

assurety is just under $3,000 and

4:44

that's kinda the sweet spot for a

4:46

surety . We look at, you

4:48

know, instead of you know,

4:50

the doctor, we look at who's in the waiting

4:52

room or who's helping them. As a nurse,

4:55

we're looking at expanding that coverage because

4:57

we know the importance of income protection

5:00

and focusing on those occupation

5:02

classes. They really need to protect

5:05

their income the most. So

5:08

we wanted to make sure that this process

5:11

of getting a disability insurance policy

5:14

for maturity was as simple as possible.

5:17

So that change and

5:19

also making sure that that change is available

5:21

in the state of California. California,

5:25

as you know, as far as population

5:28

is a huge opportunity. And

5:32

in the insurance industry we're regulated

5:35

state by state and some States

5:37

just have different rules than others. California

5:39

being one of them on the health insurance side,

5:43

but we are very proud that

5:45

we've looked at that state, we've

5:47

looked at the rules and we're able

5:49

to offer this not

5:52

only in California but

5:54

in New York, in all 50 States that

5:56

we serve as here at assurety. So

5:58

that that's a huge milestone for us.

6:00

So now that we've talked about the advantages,

6:03

century plus disability income insurance

6:05

offers, where do you think producers

6:08

should look to grow their DEI sales? We

6:10

look here at assurity for simplifying

6:13

the disability insurance sale. As you know, you're

6:15

just talking about and I think

6:17

a lot of the industries sometimes can complicate

6:19

the need. When

6:21

you look at kind of the

6:23

standard stats that get thrown around,

6:26

you know that it's basically one in four

6:28

people are going to become

6:30

disabled before the retired or need

6:32

this sort of product. We

6:34

don't feel that those stats really resonate

6:36

that well. We've been playing them for years

6:39

and years. We've also seen

6:41

different carriers and we've even been guilty

6:43

of this ourselves. Try to simplify

6:46

the needs based path by

6:48

putting an acronym on it. You know,

6:50

if it's mug that some carriers

6:52

you should have market utilities and

6:54

groceries as basic needs. We

6:57

never feel, you know , when you look at

6:59

the basic consumer and have

7:01

the sales approach works, they're really

7:03

an acronyms, simplifies anything.

7:06

But we would agree with the first letter in that acronym

7:09

that protecting your mortgage, keeping yourself

7:12

in your family and your home really does

7:14

resonate well with people. And

7:16

that's why this time of year is so important.

7:19

The summer months. You know, starting when you get

7:22

out of the kids get out of school in may

7:24

to when they go back to school in August is always

7:27

prime selling and buying time

7:29

in the housing market. For

7:31

those producers that are out there, especially

7:34

property and casually producers that

7:36

are looking at, you know, homeowners insurance,

7:39

protecting that home past

7:42

just the home owner's part

7:44

if something happens to the home. But if

7:46

something happens to you and you can't

7:49

work because of an illness or an

7:51

accident, you don't really

7:53

have that coverage on homeowners insurance,

7:56

offering disability insurance and

7:59

just focusing on the mortgage, the

8:01

amount of mortgage that they would need to protect

8:03

is a great way to

8:06

get a sale and simplify

8:09

this process for a consumer because they really

8:11

do want to keep themselves and their family in

8:13

their home. And ever since

8:15

2008 when

8:18

the recession hit, people really

8:20

do identify with the loss

8:22

of income. Now . Back then

8:24

it wasn't for accident or illness,

8:27

you know, back then it was because everybody was getting

8:29

laid off. The economy was bad, but

8:31

they really felt what that income meant.

8:34

Foreclosures were real. That fear

8:36

in a consumer's mind is real and

8:40

we don't want to play upon fear. That's

8:42

not what we're about here at assurity , but

8:45

we do know that keeping

8:47

yourself in your home and how

8:49

important that is to the family and the consumer

8:52

and giving tools and policies

8:55

that can help do that. That's really what we

8:57

are about here at assurety . Another

9:00

change that we're bringing to our century plus

9:02

a product when we're looking

9:05

at improving placement and making

9:07

it easier for us

9:09

to get more people coverage is

9:12

one of the other stumbling blocks

9:15

for people are medical exams. In

9:17

the insurance application process,

9:20

our ceiling for requiring exams used

9:22

to be a $3,000 monthly benefit.

9:24

We decided to level the playing field, but the WT

9:27

requirement, so we raised nonmedical

9:29

limits to $4,000 for a monthly benefit

9:31

amount for people age 50 and under

9:34

for ages 51 to 55 the

9:36

limit is $2,000 for

9:38

ages 56 to 60 it's 1500

9:42

now that doesn't mean we wouldn't have the ability to ask

9:44

for exams. That for red flag comes up on the application.

9:47

Of course, by and large,

9:49

if you're under those amounts for your age group will

9:51

bypass the medical exam. So

9:53

Scott, what tools does surety have available

9:56

to help producers prospect and close DIY

9:58

sales? While

10:00

I'm pretty proud of our, our

10:03

work on that here in the last

10:05

12 months, one of the things

10:07

we've done is we know that consumer

10:09

preferences change all the time.

10:12

They want to be able to self-educate

10:14

on products, especially on something like disability

10:17

insurance and which they typically

10:19

associate just with, you know,

10:21

accidents and being in a wheelchair and being

10:23

off of work. They also have

10:25

no idea how much this product costs typically.

10:29

So what we wanted to do is

10:31

arm our brokers

10:33

and agencies out there with

10:36

tools that would be online, easily accessible

10:39

and could even be branded for those

10:41

agencies. So last

10:43

year we started building a

10:46

disability insurance quoter that

10:49

we would put out there

10:52

for any agency that would request

10:54

it that's actively contracted

10:56

here at assurety . It

10:58

would be set up in

11:01

the fact that yes, you enter your demographic

11:03

information in your occupation. One

11:05

of the things we're very proud of about

11:08

the occupation part of this

11:10

quarter is typically, you know

11:12

the quote systems that are out there. We'll ask

11:14

you, are you a four a three a

11:17

things to consumers really don't. Um,

11:20

they really don't relate to, they don't know those

11:22

terms. That becomes jargon very quickly.

11:25

Or if you ask them if they're technical or semi-technical,

11:28

they don't quite get that either. But

11:31

if you just ask them what type

11:33

of job do you do and they start

11:35

typing in a couple letters and

11:37

it automatically then pre-fills from

11:39

a list, which right now we're over 10,000

11:42

occupations, then

11:45

that makes it a lot easier just from the GetGo

11:47

. And for people who run these applications

11:50

and know the term you

11:54

that we issued other than applied for

11:56

happens all the time because somebody might

11:58

start as an occupation, they end up as a

12:00

different different grade. We take

12:02

the occupation class out of it by just

12:05

making you either the agent

12:07

or the consumer answered the simple question

12:10

based on job title. So

12:13

we've set up kind of that front end process

12:15

on demographics. It then does

12:17

go into a needs tool. It

12:19

asks for monthly expenses. Now

12:22

as an agent or consumer they can bypass that

12:24

and go straight to a quote from benefit

12:26

amount. But what we like

12:28

about that is getting on the self-education

12:31

the going through what are the expenses that you would want

12:33

to protect. It

12:35

allows that person

12:37

to relate more on really what

12:39

this, what this product is really

12:41

going to help them cover. And I

12:43

think again, when you just say the word disability

12:45

insurance, so you don't quite get

12:47

that income replacement sometimes.

12:50

So allowing them to self identify,

12:52

go through that calculator. We fill as a very important

12:54

process. And

12:56

then after they go through their expenses,

12:59

it gives them a quote based on their expenses.

13:02

There are a lot of places online where you can get a quote.

13:05

There's a lot of places online where you can go through your

13:07

expenses as a fact finder. There

13:09

are very few places online for

13:11

disability insurance that would tie those two things

13:13

together. So we do that

13:16

and we also allow either

13:18

the agent or the consumer if they wanted to

13:20

do add additional writers or

13:23

coverage and explain

13:25

those things in a very simple linear

13:28

basis. So we rolled

13:30

that out last year. If

13:32

those are things that people listening are interested

13:34

in, that are doing work with the surety

13:37

or would like to do work with the shirt in the future,

13:39

feel free to reach out. You know, our contact

13:41

info is all over our websites so

13:43

you can't miss us. Uh, but

13:46

after reviewing the quotes

13:48

and the data and everything coming in over

13:51

the last year, we wanted to simplify

13:53

this process even more. And

13:56

earlier we talked about,

13:58

you know, mortgage and that being a trigger.

14:01

And we all know life event triggers and buying

14:03

a home and protecting the home. So

14:05

we wanted to make that really be the focus

14:08

of the sale. So

14:10

in June we are rolling

14:12

out just a mortgage

14:14

based quote or tool and

14:17

it's going to be really simple. You

14:20

put in your address and

14:22

it actually goes out to Zillow,

14:24

the real estate site, it

14:27

pulls up the person's actual residence

14:29

, a picture of their house. It

14:32

has the amount of the house

14:34

that is estimated by that website. And

14:37

then we calculate what their mortgage would be.

14:40

So then we know what that monthly

14:42

amount would be that they would be looking to cover.

14:45

We take that amount along

14:47

with their , again, basic demographic

14:49

information cause we'd have to know how old they are and

14:51

what type of work they do and if they smoke or not.

14:54

And we take just a few fields in

14:57

just a few seconds and turn that into a

14:59

cool . And again, we feel

15:01

that simplifying the sale is the key

15:03

to the sale. In the past

15:05

I've worked for carriers and

15:07

I won't name them, if you look me up on LinkedIn,

15:10

you'll see one of them. But

15:13

in the past I've worked for carriers that

15:15

have been so desperate for the life insurance

15:17

agent to combine life

15:19

insurance with disability insurance. And

15:22

for people who sell those two products

15:25

they'll get, when I say mortality

15:27

versus morbidity and going through

15:29

an application process is a different

15:31

path for a consumer to take. So

15:34

again, we're not looking to marry these things.

15:36

We're also not gonna reject obviously any sales

15:38

that we would get from a life insurance agent cause

15:41

we know that's about half of the sales we get.

15:44

But we also know that combining applications,

15:47

lengthening processes just

15:50

makes it a lot harder for everybody

15:52

involved. So we're looking at these paths

15:55

in this mortgage quarter that we're putting

15:57

out there to just look at protecting the mortgage

16:01

in that life event trigger. How

16:03

do I protect my home after I bought it? For

16:05

those out there doing, you know, and

16:07

working mortgage leads and use

16:09

those as prospecting triggers where you really

16:12

think we have something that could help

16:14

them.

16:15

Let's shift gears to critical illness. Assurity

16:17

rolled out its new CII product at the

16:20

beginning of June. Scott, can you talk about the basics and why

16:22

producers should add it to their portfolios?

16:25

Well, I think why critical illness is

16:27

important ends up

16:29

being a couple of things. You know, we talk about disability

16:31

insurance and

16:33

some people based on occupation

16:36

based on some other factors, may not even

16:38

qualify for disability insurance for

16:42

a CTI or critical

16:44

insurance sale, replacing

16:46

a disability insurance sale. It

16:49

can really help supplement those

16:51

people who can't get coverage on disability

16:53

insurance. One of the main

16:55

factors in why people become disabled

16:59

isn't just accident. It's because

17:01

they have a serious or chronic illness

17:03

like a heart attack like cancer,

17:05

like a stroke, and these

17:07

are things that critical illness policies

17:10

have been covering for years. As

17:12

we look at the critical illness market and

17:15

we look at what's being sold today in the market.

17:18

You know, the average amount of lump sum benefit

17:21

is you know, about 22 to

17:23

$25,000 and

17:26

it's been that way for quite a while . And

17:29

most of those sales come in, in a simplified

17:31

process. And

17:33

when we look at things like covering

17:35

home, covering those expenses,

17:38

we know that those are supplementary

17:41

products. We know that they're kind of add ons,

17:44

but we also know that there

17:46

is a need that it's really changed

17:48

over the last five that is making

17:50

kind of that lump sum amount grow. And

17:53

that need stems from high

17:55

deductible healthcare plans, high

17:58

deductible healthcare plans being offered,

18:00

you know, to employer groups out

18:02

there have really changed,

18:04

you know, what lump sums mean to families

18:07

and what deductibles mean to families.

18:10

You know, before you've had go and you

18:12

know, you'd look at reaching your deductible

18:14

and you'd be okay, $500

18:17

a thousand dollars you know, for a family.

18:20

And you know, that would just be going to the doctor.

18:23

And you know, usually the family's

18:25

bout, you know with the flu once a year

18:27

kind of took care of the deductible. But

18:30

now on the high deductible side,

18:33

you know, you're looking, you're looking at things that are

18:35

five to $10,000 just for the

18:37

deductible alone, not

18:39

to mention all of the costs that would be

18:41

associated with a chronic illness.

18:44

You know, that would be covered by a critical

18:47

illness plan. So

18:49

at assurity here, you know, we're

18:51

looking at these changes in the market, we're

18:54

looking that critical illness is a growing

18:56

product definitely on the work site

18:59

side of the business where a workplace benefits

19:01

and they're seeing that need and coupled

19:03

by you know, people who sell

19:05

health insurance and we know there are

19:07

a lot of individual producers out

19:09

there that sell health insurance to , there

19:12

are one third of all

19:15

employees in the United

19:18

States right now work for small businesses

19:21

or single owner businesses

19:23

that don't have the luxury of having group

19:25

plans. They are serviced

19:27

by a great network of independent

19:30

health producers in for

19:32

those independent health producers at

19:34

assurety here we've seen great success in couple

19:36

coupling, kind of those annual plans,

19:39

those annual enrollments with

19:41

critical illness because

19:44

it is a very affordable product and

19:47

it can help bridge that gap because

19:49

once an illness

19:52

like that strikes, it can be

19:54

devastating to a family. It's

19:57

sad to me, and it's even affected me here personally

19:59

here lately, that we really

20:02

do now live in a go fund

20:04

me culture in which

20:07

something tragic happens. It

20:09

could be a death, it could be somebody

20:11

battling with cancer and you see the

20:13

medical bills just add up.

20:16

Besides that, if you're , you know, you're out of work

20:19

there , they don't have the income come in and

20:22

you'll see a family friend put

20:25

the go fund me page up, posted

20:27

out on social media and hope

20:29

that they reached their goal because

20:32

they just don't have enough money coming in.

20:34

They don't have this type of insurance to

20:36

bridge the gap. And

20:38

yeah, I , I say this because

20:40

if you go out and do a search on go fund

20:42

me, you'll see just the

20:45

tens of thousands of cases that we're talking about and

20:48

there has to be a better way. Now

20:51

I take solace in the fact

20:53

that there are a lot of generous people out

20:55

there and when it struck even my own family

20:57

here in the

20:59

last couple of weeks we had a tragedy strike

21:02

and we had the go fund me page and yes,

21:04

people just poured out, but

21:07

we shouldn't have to rely on those things.

21:09

You know, it's great that we have the generosity

21:12

of others that people

21:14

don't like, that uncertainty. People

21:17

like the fact they can have peace of mind

21:19

when they have these huge gaps of coverage

21:22

and they're seeing how much month to month

21:24

that just costs them for the healthcare insurance themselves

21:27

and people because of all these

21:29

expenses. The horrible part

21:32

of the cycle is they're not getting

21:34

their checkups as often these preventative

21:36

measures for these major illnesses,

21:39

they're just not going the doctor as much because

21:41

it costs them more out of pocket now. So

21:44

this is kind of a vicious cycle. Now

21:47

we're not saying that critical illness is going to solve

21:49

this cycle, but

21:51

it can be a safety net for those

21:53

when this type of

21:56

illness strikes that they could

21:58

really get some help with. So

22:01

I'm looking at those problems in the market

22:03

and looking at producers that are are already

22:05

servicing the market. We knew

22:07

again that we needed a very simple approach.

22:10

We needed to look at our simplified

22:12

critical illness product, which has been

22:14

doing a great job in growth for

22:16

us for a number of years and how

22:19

do we make it better? Let's not just rest

22:21

on our laurels of how do we make that

22:23

product better. One of the things

22:25

we needed to do is increase

22:27

that benefit amount on

22:30

simplified critical illness that

22:32

would not require a medical exam.

22:35

We ask you the basic knockout questions

22:38

and then process the application. So

22:40

with our new product, we are raising that

22:43

amount to $75,000

22:46

we feel that puts us right among the

22:48

industry leaders in that type of

22:50

product and process because

22:52

we want to keep things simple. The healthcare

22:56

independent agents and brokers out

22:58

there, her selling those products

23:00

have enough to deal with. If

23:02

they are going to sell this as a secondary

23:04

or third product to their client base,

23:07

it has to be really easy to do.

23:11

But what if a person really needs

23:13

more coverage? What if these

23:15

chronic illnesses, which life insurance

23:18

agents been putting on, you know, writers on policies

23:20

for years. You know what

23:22

if you wanted a greater amount of coverage

23:25

than just a simplified process.

23:28

So we're also looking at one product

23:30

that would have a fully underwritten path as well.

23:32

You know our , our process is going to be

23:34

driven by one critical illness product

23:37

that if you're $75,000 and

23:39

under, you go through this simplified path

23:42

and now if you're over that amount

23:45

and which now we are going to be able

23:47

to issue upwards to a

23:50

half a million dollars with their new critical on this product,

23:53

we can offer both coverages, easy

23:56

process for those people with the

23:58

smaller face amount benefit amounts

24:01

and the fully underwriting process

24:04

for up to a half million. The

24:07

great things that you've liked about our current call on

24:09

this product in the past are still there.

24:12

You know, we don't stop

24:15

policies just because of a single diagnosis.

24:18

You know, we know that was a show stopper for

24:20

some of the paths that yes, if

24:22

I have cancer and it recurs for

24:24

a different reason or if then I have a heart

24:26

attack a couple of years later , well why wouldn't I just

24:28

cancel my policy? You

24:31

know, we know that those coverages

24:33

are still needed and then it makes

24:35

it almost impossible to get

24:37

coverage if you just drop it after

24:39

that. So we

24:41

continue to offer that on our plan a

24:44

quick and easy process. And

24:47

also in June where we talked about kind

24:49

of quoters and tools and technology,

24:52

we will also be providing a

24:54

critical on this quoter and

24:57

kind of the same realm as our other quotas

24:59

we've offered in the past that allow

25:01

agents to educate those on

25:03

these products because we feel education is

25:05

just really important. Well

25:08

Scott ,

25:08

thanks for taking the time today to discuss the opportunities

25:11

out there for SIA and the DEI sales. Matt

25:14

, thanks for having me today. Um , I'm

25:16

really happy with all

25:18

the listeners out there. You're giving our podcasts or chance

25:21

and assured you a chance. We are going to continue

25:23

to look at improving our products

25:26

and processes. So feel free

25:28

to reach out and we'll see you next

25:30

time. And to our

25:32

listeners, thanks for tuning into

25:34

assurities tips from the insurance pros.

25:37

So learn more about our disability income insurance

25:39

portfolio. Visit assurety dii.com

25:42

as for critical illness, you can find

25:44

plenty of resources@criticaloutlookdotcomyoucanalsoemailusatpodcastatassurety.com

25:50

and we'll be happy to connect you with a representative

25:52

in your region. Thank you for listening.

26:01

For producer use only not for use with the general

26:03

public, not for use in New York, assurity

26:05

as a marketing name for the mutual holding company, assurity group

26:08

incorporated headed subsidiaries. Those subsidiaries include

26:10

but are not limited to a surety life insurance company

26:12

and a surety life insurance company of New York insurance

26:15

products and services are offered by a surety life insurance

26:17

company in all States except New York. In New

26:19

York, insurance products and services are offered by a surety life

26:22

insurance company of New York, Albany, New

26:24

York product availability, features and rates

26:26

may vary by state.