LTC Bullet: Covering the First
Virtual LTCI Conference from Overseas
Friday, May 23, 2014
Toulouse, France—
LTC Comment: Minor glitches aside, it was great fun to monitor the 2014
LTC Solutions Summit from afar.
*** CLTCR Premium Membership:
Center for Long-Term Care Reform premium members receive our full
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knowledge of the critical issues and challenges we face in the field of
long-term care service delivery and financing equals improved professional
success for you and better LTC services for your clients and for those who
have no choice but to rely on scarce public resources. Premium Membership
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LTC BULLET: COVERING THE FIRST VIRTUAL LTCI CONFERENCE FROM OVERSEAS
LTC Comment: When Jesse Slome and the
American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance set
the date and place for their 2014 LTC Solutions Summit in Kansas City, I
had already booked a conflicting vacation in Europe. Bummer!
Then came the news that I could watch the keynote address, the CEO Forum,
and several of the best presentations on three successive days by logging
in online. Terrific, I thought, I don’t have to miss my first LTCI Summit
conference after all.
And it worked . . . mostly. In Europe to visit my soon-to-be
niece-in-law, who is studying economics in Toulouse, France, Molly and I
were on a side trip to the high Pyrenees on May 18 when the opening
session took place.
Ensconced in a cozy
AirBnB apartment ($35/night) with all the conveniences including
excellent Wi-Fi, I followed the link repeatedly provided by AALTCI to the
event. At first, the image and sound flickered in and out. The program
was “on air,” then “off air.” But after a while, it persisted nearly full
time.
Jesse Slome opened the session with a welcome and some encouraging words
about a less-than-exuberant LTCI market. Damon tells me Jesse actually
announced that I was tuning in from France. But I must have been “off
air” when that particular tidbit was shared.
Harley Gordon’s Keynote
I captured nearly all of Harley Gordon’s excellent presentation. I’ve
come to think that Harley has nailed the secret to selling LTC insurance .
. . at least as long as the public-policy-induced obstacles to the market
remain in place. Eliminate those obstacles and the traditional sales
approach might work better.
In the meantime, Harley and his Certified in Long-Term Care (CLTC)
training and certification assess the key to selling LTCI as ignoring risk
and statistics while focusing on consequences for loved ones.
People who’ve already been through an extended care experience sell
themselves on LTCI. They fall in your lap, but there just aren’t enough
of them. (CLTC prefers the term “extended care” over long-term care,
which connotes getting old and going to a nursing home.)
It’s the people who haven’t experienced extended care who don’t understand
it, don’t think it will ever happen to them, and absolutely don’t want to
speak with you about it. They are the folks you have to reach.
Harley spoke for an hour with humor, wit and a little good-natured
effrontery on just how to talk to such people.
Women naturally get the idea of nurturing and caregiving, so it’s mostly
guys who shut down at the mention of aging and care needs. You reach
those guys by appealing to their sense of responsibility for the people
they love and are committed to protecting.
“Tom,” Harley said (in paraphrase) to a potential prospect, “it will never
happen to you.” He said that over and over again. In other words, never
mind the risk and statistics. “But if it did happen, what would that mean
to the people you’re committed to protect? You raise your children to
leave home, not to come back and take care of you.”
Counter-intuitive? For sure. But “it works!” And evidently it does
work, because thousands of CLTCs all across the United States testify to
the fact by keeping the wounded LTCI market alive until better economic
and public policy conditions heal it.
Congratulations, Harley, on a fine keynote, but more especially for what
you and your Corporation for Long-Term Care colleagues and graduates have
achieved.
More on the Online Conference
By the time Harley finished, it was getting kind of late, seven time zones
later than Kansas City to be precise. The Armagnac I’d imbibed was taking
its toll. So, while I’m sure Scott Olson’s presentation was terrific, I
called it an evening at that point. Apologies also to my old friend and
former colleague Kent Wise who spoke after Scott. He’s a dynamo and it
would be great to see what he’s become since I knew him years ago as the
boy wonder of long-term care.
I had every good intention to monitor Sam Morgante’s presentation on
public policy and the CEO Forum on May 19th, but as
circumstances would have it, I was not able to be where I could capture a
good Wi-Fi signal at the right time. We’ll just have to leave coverage of
those parts of the program to Damon who was on site in person.
The May 20 Online Program
As I write this I’m in a McDonald’s restaurant (free Wi-Fi) in Toulouse
sipping a café au lait and waiting for the next live stream to begin.
Here’s the billing:
Top Tips From The Trenches - The Best Sales and Prospecting Ideas Shared
By Conference Attendees
The New Opening Conversation: Five Questions To Ask Every Prospect - Larry
Moore
Selling Combo LTC - A Whole New Approach To Benefit Clients and Close
Sales - Shawn Britt
If the reception is adequate, I’ll be watching and listening with
interest. Whether I get the program online or not, however, I will
definitely buy full conference coverage offered by Virtual Insurance
Conferences & Expos for $29. Such a deal!
…………………
All right! I’m on. Music is playing. Slides with facts and statistics
are running. Sponsors’ banners are scrolling. Congratulations to those
sponsors for making this experience possible.
Jesse Slome opens the May 20 program: “Live from Kansas City, welcome to
the 2014 National Long-Term Care Sales Summit.” This is the first
national insurance conference ever streamed live for free. People have
signed in from Russia, the Ukraine and 10 other countries. “If Steve
Moses is watching in France, Bon Jour, Steve.” Right back at you Jesse.
I’d drop you a note, but the chat screen isn’t working for me tonight.
Session 1: Today’s program began with Jesse presenting on how to
use LinkedIn as your personal LTCI sales storefront. If you missed it,
this presentation alone warrants getting the $29 version of the full
conference.
Session 2: “The New Opening Conversation” by Larry Moore. Five
key questions.
Have you ever had an experience with long-term care?
Based on your experience, how does this impact your thinking about LTC?
If you personally experience a long-term care event tomorrow, which assets
would you liquefy first?
What planning solutions can you think of that can help you manage this
risk?
What would you prefer? A traditional plan or one that combines death
benefit and a long-term care solution in one package?
Brief break for a message from Transamerica and Mutual of Omaha, the
conference’s platinum sponsors.
Session 3: Keynote presentation by Shawn Britt from Nationwide.
She provides advice for financial advisors on how to help people plan for
long-term care by using popular hybrid products. If you missed this
program in person or online, read Shawn’s guest LTC Bullet from
last September: “LTC
Bullet: Guest Column on Linked Products.”
Alas, at this point my laptop’s battery is giving out. McDonald’s gave me
free Wi-Fi, but no electrical connection.
One last time, thank you Jesse, Mindy, AALTCI and all you wonderful
sponsors and attendees who made this such a fine program—in person and
online—and who make this such a proud profession with which to be
associated. |