In my files, I recently ran across a letter on a yellowing sheet of paper that my wife and I had written to our son. It’s dated November 21, 1989; and my son, who is now in college, was just four months old at the time. As I read the letter again, 20 years later, I realized something: Although I was telling my son about the life insurance policy my wife and I had just purchased for him, it was, in fact, a love letter.

During my service on LIFE’s board of directors and now as its chairman, I’ve learned to further embrace the view that people buy insurance because they love someone. It’s that simple, but also that powerful. If you have used LIFE’s realLIFEstories in which real Americans tell their accounts of personal tragedy, but how insurance saved the day, you’ve witnessed how these true stories help your clients make an emotional connection with what you are offering. LIFE gives you tools like its realLIFEstories program, and marketing platforms like Life Insurance Awareness Month in September, to help you approach your clients and have a conversation about what life insurance does, not just about what it is.

Often in our business, we need a reminder that it’s not about product, it’s about people. When selling life insurance, you can’t just use your head; you have to be able to apply your heart. As you read my letter to my son, you will see that for my wife and me, buying insurance for our son was about our love for him. Read the letter and see if you don’t agree.

I hope my love letter to my son will prompt you to explore what the LIFE Foundation offers to help you effectively engage consumers in a conversation about what insurance does.

July is a great time to start planning and preparing to take advantage of Life Insurance Awareness Month. With major carriers and top producers reporting record applications during the 2009 campaign, LIFE was asked to carry forward last year’s “Wonders of Life” theme to maintain that momentum this year. Go to www.lifehappens.org/liam to learn how you can access LIFE’s campaign tools to help you quickly pull together a Wonders of Life marketing effort in September.

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Author's Bio
Jack Dewald, CLU, RHU
is president and owner of Agency Services, Inc., a life and health brokerage agency founded in 1962. Dewald is currently chairman of the LIFE Foundation. In addition, he is on the board of directors and vice chairman of The Marketing Alliance. He served as chairman of the National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies in 2003 and is a past officer of NAILBA's charitable foundation. He has also served as president of the Memphis NAIFA chapter and the Memphis Health Underwriters Association. Dewald can be reached at Agency Services, Inc., 8275 Tournament Drive, Suite 350, Memphis, TN 38125. Telephone: 901-767-4271.