6 Real Stories Fraternal Producers Use in Face-to-Face Meetings

We asked NAFIC members: “What is the one specific story you use often during your face-to-face meetings?”

“I will never forget the time that I walked into the principal's office at a small Catholic grade school some years ago and met with the principal that was in his early 30's. I knew he had a young family and I could also tell that he really wasn't that interested in meeting with me. I pulled out my $1 million term policy and I said, 'I would like you to have one just like this, how much on a monthly basis can you set aside? Is it $50, $100, $250 a month?' He said $50 a month and I think he did it to just get rid of me and I got him a 10 year term for $1,000,000. On Father's Day morning about 2 1/2 years later I got a text message from a friend of mine that said this young man had died! I rushed to my laptop, saying some not so nice words, and there it was, it was still in force! I walked in sometime later and handed the widow, who didn't even know the policy existed, a $1.2 million death benefit! Not too shabby for $50 a month. We don't sell death insurance, we preserve life!”
— Peter Nelson

“Basically, especially when working with a younger person or couple (under 40), I tell them about this 25-year-old guy whose parents gave him a life insurance policy and let him know he was responsible for it now. But while the (fraternal) agent did her best to get him to pay attention to it – and pay the small premiums, he politely ignored her until it terminated. Fast forwarding 25 years, that same young man had a senior in high school and was faced with paying her first college tuition and SO wished he had another source of money he could use… realizing now that if he’d heeded that agents efforts he could have taken a loan from himself and saved a bunch of money. Then I let them know that young man was me, and while an embarrassing story my hope is that they can learn from my experience. Because experience is the greatest teacher while someone else's experience is the cheapest.”
— Jeffrey Huenniger

“Story that I tell which is true. My client MaKayla, her parents had put a 10K youth term on her at birth. Costing just 5.00 a month. It offered the ability to turn into whole life up to age 25 with no health questions and up to 5 times the current coverage amount. At age 24, nearly 25 she was diagnosed with leukemia. We all prayed very hard for her, before she turned 25 we got her that 50K whole life policy. She died right after turning 26. We paid her family 50K. Still breaks my heart, but I’ll see her again one day in heaven.”
— Beth Jones

“When selling long term care Insurance I always tell the story of my friend’s father who got Alzheimer’s disease at the early age of 57. He didn’t have insurance and had to go on Medicaid. In the process he lost his farm, machinery, livestock, cash value life insurance, and all other assets. This all could have been prevented had he owned long term care insurance.”
— Timothy Dagel

“So my wife passed away 20 years ago and I had a $250,000 term policy on her that paid out. I forgot about it so you can imagine the relief that brought. We had 9 children together, 6 girls and 3 boys. At the time she died they were 13 down to 11 months. That money allowed me to step back, look at my situation and figure out how I was going to raise these kids alone. And I did it. Today they are 34 down to 21. They are all working full time jobs, have significant others, and we are closer than ever. I tell that story EVERY TIME in every appointment to reiterate the importance of life insurance.”
— Richard Vosler

A producer once told the story of meeting a successful surgeon who carried a surprisingly large disability insurance policy. Curious about it, someone asked why the coverage was so high. The surgeon simply held up his hands and said, “These are my business.” He explained that the hospital building could burn down and the equipment could be replaced, but if his hands were injured, the income that supported his family would disappear overnight. The policy wasn’t protecting the hospital. It was protecting the thing that produced the income. The producer often shares that story with clients and then asks a simple question: “What is the income-producing asset in your household?” For most families, the answer is the same — the person sitting at the table.