How to Build on Your Success in 2019

We hope your new year is off to a great start! At The Standard, the outlook is bright. Here's a look at opportunities to grow your IDI business in 2019 and a quick review of 2018 sales trends.

Looking Ahead to Sell More in 2019

Focus on the Millennial market. More than one in three American labor force participants (35%) are Millennials. That makes them the largest generation in the workplace.¹ Now aged 22-37, they also have the most spending power, estimated at $200 billion.² That means Millennials will continue to be your largest target market.

Two key sales points for Millennials? Portability and protection for growing incomes. Unlike prior generations, Millennials don't expect to stay with the same employer for decades. You can appeal to them by emphasizing flexibility. They can purchase an income protection insurance policy and take it with them whenever they change jobs. Another appealing feature is the potential to increase their coverage to keep pace with their incomes. Platinum Advantage includes the Benefit Increase Rider and Automatic Increase Benefit Rider.

Find new markets for yourself. Explore reaching out to more business owners and women — two groups with a lot to protect. Check out these recent articles on business owners and women to find great sales tips.

An ongoing growth area? Employer-sponsored plans. Industry-wide, employer-sponsored plans have grown year after year. Thanks to changes in tax law, plus record low unemployment, employers are likely to invest more to recruit great talent and retain current staff. General Agents and producers may be able to capitalize on increased interest in GSI products.

Building on Platinum Advantage Successes in 2018

One big key to Platinum Advantage's success? Flexibility. In today's evolving income protection insurance market, producers want the flexibility to tailor coverage to fit each client's current and future needs. For example, Platinum Advantage offers a choice of three residual disability riders. We also built in two options to increase coverage as clients' incomes grow.

“Having that flexibility, especially in the white-collar space, has helped us retain and expand our business,” notes Jeremy Horner, assistant vice president, IDI. “We're happy to report that we're seeing the results we anticipated with Platinum Advantage. It's performing well and competing where we wanted it to.”

Another success story? Defined occupation classes for physicians. Targeting key occupation classes also helped drive IDI sales in 2018.

“With Platinum Advantage, we introduced two new, more narrowly defined occ classes for physicians and surgeons. That helped producers pick up more business from physicians in 2018,” explains Jill Frohardt, 2nd vice president of IDI sales. “We expect that trend to continue in 2019.”

These new, more defined occ classes offer competitive pricing aligned with physician duties:

• 5P includes medical professionals not performing surgery or interventional procedures.
• 4S includes most surgeons.

Competitive pricing for medical and dental occupations got an additional boost in Q4 2018 with Platinum Advantage's expanded issue and participation limits.

With a strong foundation and recent product updates, Platinum Advantage is well-positioned to offer producers a competitive edge in 2019.

Count on The Standard for ongoing partnerships. “We appreciate our strong relationships with our MGAs, Securian Managing Partners and producers,” says Frohardt. “We look forward to helping you build your business even more in 2019.”

1 Millennials are the largest generation in the U.S. labor force, Pew Research Center, 2018, pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/11/millennials-largest-generation-us-labor-force

2 How to Tap Into the Millennial $200 Billion Buying Power With Social Media, Forbes, Oct. 31, 2017, forbes.com/sites/julesschroeder/2017/10/31/how-to-tap-into-the-millennial-200-billion-buying-power-with-social-media