Insurance Prospects and Customers: Understanding insurance Policies

The front cover page of the book

Insurance is important for both individuals and groups. Nobody knows when the unexpected will happen and because of that the need to get cover first of all becomes important. In the developed parts of the world, insurance even sells more than banking. This is because they truly understanding what insurance can do and do not want to be taken unaware.

Okwuagbala Uzochukwu Mike, P, a financial advisor in FBN Insurance having been in the insurance company decided to create the educating book “Insurance Prospects and Customers: Understanding insurance Policies”. The book has attracted many buyers and has really made many people understand insurance and how it works. It is on sale on Amazon, Goodreads, Kobo, Apple Books Store, Draft to Digital, Lulu, Barnes & Noble, 24 Symbols, OverDrive, Tolino and many other outlets. It is available in both digital and paper format.

Who is a Prospect?
A prospect is a person who has been marketed by an insurance salesperson to signup for an insurance policy. Prospects are persuaded by insurance agents on daily basis to open a policy. Some prospects can be stubborn while some others can easily be convinced to open a policy at first meeting. Some prospects keep on pushing salespersons around and end up not opening any policies at the end.

Who is an Insurance Customer?
An insurance customer is a policyholder in an insurance company. An insurance customer was once a prospect who “graduated” from that state to a higher level. And that higher level is the level of customer. An insurance customer can also be called a policyholder or insurance client. These terms are used interchangeably in insurance.
The customers are the joy of many insurance agents. When agents complete proposal forms and the customers pay their premiums for the policies, they are always happy. They are happy not just because the insurance company has new customers but because they know their earnings are likely to increase. The more customers the insurance agents have added to the lines of their customers, the more money they make. It is a commission based job and their earnings grow as they have increased number of customers who are capable of paying their premiums as of when due.

The Table of Contents of the Book 

DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Chapter 1
Introduction to Insurance Prospects and Customers
References
Chapter 2
Terms used in Insurance
References
Chapter 3
Sum Assured
3.1 Factors Affecting Sum Assured
3.2 Recalculation of Sum Assured
3.3 The use of Sum Assured in Policies
References
Chapter 4
Insincerity among Insurance Agents
4.1 Why do some Insurance Agents lie a lot?
References
Chapter 5
Buying Insurance Policies and Signing Terms and Conditions
5.1 Why you should Read Insurance Policies Terms and Conditions (T & C)
References
Chapter 6
Insurance Policies and Interest
6.1 Underpayment can be experienced
6.2 Choosing to Pay Higher Premium
References
Chapter 7
Insurance Product Design
7.1 Examples of Different Product Designs
7.2 Comparing Design Benefits
7.3 Buying Insurance from Different Companies due to Design
References
Chapter 8
Agents Attitude toward Policy Termination
8.1 Policy Termination and Agent Demotion
8.2 Termination and Loss of Earnings
8.3 Unfair Treatment during Termination
References
Chapter 9
Term Insurance
9.1 What is Term Insurance?
9.2 Who can Buy Term Insurance?
9.3 Conditions for making Claim in Term Insurance
References
Chapter 10
The Importance of Buying Insurance
10.1 Importance of General Insurance
10.2 The Importance of Life Insurance
10.3 The Importance of Insurance to Nations
References
Chapter 11
Claim Making
11.1 Insurance Companies pay Claim
11.2 Facts on Claims Paid by Insurance Industry
11.3 You are paid at the due Date
11.4 Go for Your Claim at the Right Time
11.5 Requirements to make Claim
References
Other Books by the Author

Introduction to Insurance Prospects and Customers

This is the chapter 1 of the book “Insurance Prospects and Customers: Understanding Insurance Policies”. In this chapter, the author explains in the detail the terms “prospects” and “customers”. He went ahead and described how agents see these two people and their reactions in some cases. There are good prospects and there are bad ones as well who play with the hope of the agents. Some prospects can be annoying but that is what the job entails.
Also, some customers are good and many agents pray to always have that kind of customers always. These are customers that understand what insurance is and are happy to enter into insurance contracts with insurance agents. Some of them are motivating and encourage young agents to be focussed in their jobs. On the contrary, there are some customers that are annoying. They are like bags of problem.

Terms used in Insurance

The insurance terms are also discussed in the book. This is well explained in the chapter 2 of the book. These terms appear technical and someone who does not know much about insurance may find it difficult to understand them. In this chapter, Mike really explained these terms and their usage in insurance industry.
The terms used in insurance are sum assured, cooling off period, maturity, termination, premium, risk cover, claim, direct debit, know your customer, waiting period, policy, policyholder, proposal form and the rest. All these words and phrases have where they are best used and the information they convey. Sometimes, tricky insurance agents use these terms to confuse prospects.
Sum assured for instance is the assured amount of money or benefit that is guaranteed for a policyholder or the beneficiary to get at the end of the policy. Also, it is the guaranteed amount of money that any beneficiary is to claim in the event of death of the policyholder for pure life insurance (risk) policies. Sum assured can vary depending on some factors. These factors can be age, gender, duration and the premium paid by the customer.
Waiting period is the period where the unforeseen should not happen to the life insured. At this period, if such occur, the insurance company will not pay any claim. Some insurance companies have waiting period of 6 months while others have less than that. If a customer buys term life insurance from an insurance company for two years, that customer is not expected to die six months from the start up date. If he or she dies within the waiting period, the insurance company will not pay claim. 

Insincerity among Insurance Agents

Irrespective of the fact that some people like to buy insurance for themselves, the truth is that some insurance agents that work for some companies are not sincere. Some lie because they want to make more money and increase their commission rate. We see this among many insurance sellers. Some will say “let me sell first of all and see what happens later” Many customers are disappointed when they find out that the agent lied to them.
Some are insincere when it comes to interest rate. They give high interest rate to customers just because they want to sale endowment plans and earn commission. At this point, I will like to say that insurance is not mainly for interest. Endowment plans are for saving purpose and because of that do not build your hope around the interest any insurance company will give to you at the end of your savings with the company.

Buying Insurance Policies and Signing Terms and Conditions

Any person that is planning to buy insurance policies from any insurance company should do well to read properly before going into the contracts. It is not as if there are things hidden in the documents that are killing, the only thing is that it is important for you to understand what you are going into. That will make you understand the plan you are going into.
Even if the terms and conditions guiding a particular policy are not specified in a proposal form, do well to ask the financial advisor selling the plan to you. Asking him will make him open up and tell you more including those that are not specified on the proposal form. Also, he can give you a different document that contains the terms and conditions if not specified.

Insurance Policies and Interest

Sometimes people buy endowment products from insurance companies with the mindset of having huge interest added to them at the maturity of their policies. But this is not always the case in buying such product from any insurance company of your choice. Endowment policies are designed mainly to save for a particular project. The project can be for education or to buy properties with the money saved at the end of the maturity of the policy.
Categorically, insurance policies are not mainly for interest sake. If you consider interest first before buying any endowment or savings plan from any insurance company, you will end up being disappointed at maturity. Newly designed life insurance products being sold by many companies today are mainly endowment and savings plans. You may have interest added to your total contribution at maturity but do not build your hope around interest when saving. There are factors that determine whether the endowment plan is interest yielding or not. More on this topic is discussed in the book in detail.

Insurance Product Design

As a prospect that is planning to buy any insurance service, it is important to understand products design. If you are an existing customer in a particular insurance company making plans to buy new policies, you also need to have the knowledge of products design as well. In some life insurance companies, products design varies. Different companies have different ways they design their products.
Some endowment products for example have higher risk coverage than others. What it means is that if the policyholder dies in as much that the waiting period for the policy has passed and he pays as of when due, the insurance company pays higher claim to the beneficiary. Sometimes this is usually much higher than the total money the customer has contributed before the death occurred. In this kind of endowment product, the customer does not get reasonable interest if he stays alive till maturity of the policy.
The way insurance companies design their products vary greatly. An endowment product in that same company can have higher interest at maturity with less risk coverage. Sometimes insurance agents do not disclose this kind of information to buyers until they ask. Most times, agents like to sell products with higher risk coverage because they earn more commission from such products.

Finance growth design

  

Agents Attitude toward Policy Termination

They do not want to hear that you want to terminate your policy. They will do anything within their power to make sure you do not continue with the termination attempt. A particular agent can call other agent to help talk to you for you to allow the policy to keep running till maturity.
Insurance agents do not feel happy to see their clients coming to terminate their existing policies with the company. Their reactions toward such situation are not always positive in any way. They can even frown their faces in your presence just for you to know that they are not happy because of the step you want to take. But why is it so? You can know why from the book as you read through the chapter.

Term Insurance

What is term insurance? Term insurance is a type of insurance policy whereby a customer insures his or her life against death. In term insurance, there is no survival benefit attached to it. It is until the life insured dies that some money is paid to the beneficiary of the life insured. The coverage can be for just a year or more than a year, and hence the name term insurance. The package or plan is one of the oldest forms of insurance policies.
There are some features of term insurance. One of the features of the insurance plan is that it is cheap to buy. Unlike endowment and other savings insurance plans, term insurance is much cheaper. One of the reasons for this is because it is a pure risk insurance service. That is to say that there is usually no return of premium if the life insured does not die within the period of the coverage. But this also depends on the kind of term insurance. In some term insurance services that can be entered into for 5 straight years, a year premium can be returned if the life insured does not die in the next five years.

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The Importance of Buying Insurance

No matter how cheap or expensive an insurance product may be, it is vital to consider the unique importance of insurance. Nobody usually know when the unexpected may happen in life. As a result of this, the importance of insurance has to be considered. Buying insurance services from insurance companies has really helped many people globally.
In business, civil service, banking, health and the rest, we see the importance of risk management. In this book, the author explains deeper on the importance and how it has helped many people and companies. In the recent time, many governments have mandated banks existing in their countries to have insurance coverage. It was not easy before some banks agreed with the mandate but they have no choice than to do so. Governments discovered the beauty of insurance before they took such decision. 

Claim Making 

In as much as insurance companies pay claim, policyholders have to be aware of important information before they make their claims. Claim is a request for compensation under the terms of an insurance policy. Claims can be made by a policyholder or the beneficiary depending on the type of policy.
There are some things to put into consideration before making any claim. You do not wake up one day and walk up to an insurance company to make claim without having some basic documents required of you. So, anytime you want to buy an insurance policy from any insurance company, do not forget the time of claim and what you or your beneficiary need when the time comes.
Many people have lost their money or benefit to some insurance companies because of their inability to present the needed documents by the insurance company and maintaining the appropriate timeframe. In term insurance for instance, some insurance companies consider one year grace to be notified of the death of the life insured before any claim can be paid to the beneficiary or the guardian. Anytime more than this given duration will make the beneficiary to be unable to make claim. More on how to make claim easily is discussed in the book. Claim making process varies from one insurance service or plan to the other.

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