NAILBA Perspectives - Winter 2018 - 12

N A I L B A ' S M E M B E R B E N E F I T S : A R E Y O U TA K I N G A D VA N TA G E O F E V E R Y T H I N G T H AT M I G H T H E L P Y O U A N D Y O U R F I R M ?

"The revised APS course enables BGA staff
to acquire the fundamental knowledge and insight
needed to review medical records from attending
physicians, clinics, and hospitals, and to identify
the essential information underwriters need to
determine an insurance applicant's insurability,"
PDC Chair Abby Milner Mann said.
The revised APS course will be
available for download at no charge
to NAILBA members and their staff
in late Spring 2018 at http://www.
nailba.org/university/aps-summarycourse. To be added to a list of members who will be contacted as soon
as the updated course is online,
email NAILBA at info@nailba.org.
New Field Underwriting Guide
The original Field Underwriting
Guide was prepared in 2006 from a
compilation of carrier and BGA input
based on information received after
outreach efforts conducted by the
PDC. Over the years, various PDCs
have made edits and revisions. "It
became clear that a complete overhaul of this guide was required, as
various sections were edited and
updated piecemeal, making them
difficult to understand," Mann
noted. NAILBA Field Underwriting
Guide Version 4.0, also written by
George, is an interactive resource
designed to identify weak spots in
application materials so applications can be completed correctly
the first time.
BGAs and producers can use the
guide to highlight key points of the
application for faster underwriting and check applications to make
sure they are complete before submitting them to carriers. The guide
will also help in setting and man12 perspectives WINTER 2018

aging expectations with the client while ensuring the right information is gathered for every case.
Finally, it will help educate producers about risk factors and how
to optimize the medical assessment process. The guide begins
with 11 sections on how to begin
the underwriting process. It then
includes dozens of forms that could
be required to gather the information needed to evaluate the potential client's health.
Designed to work with the latest
versions of Adobe Acrobat, the Field
Underwriting Guide is easy to navigate and easy to use. There is even
a users' guide to help BGA staff and
producers learn how the new guide
works. Note that this enhanced PDF
may not work well with some mobile
technologies such as iPad or iPhone.
The Field Underwriting Guide 4.0
will be available for download at
no charge to NAILBA members and
their staff in early Fall 2018. To be
added to a list of members who will
be contacted as soon as the updated FUG is online, email NAILBA at
info@nailba.org.
To request a customized copy of
the current (3.5) Field Underwriting Guide, send your agency logo
and contact information to NAILBA at info@nailba.org. Only NAILBA member agencies are eligible for
this service.

White Paper on the Value
of Brokerage as a
Distribution Channel
Newer BGAs may be unaware of how
new the brokerage business is. Until
about 40 years ago, each insurance
carrier had dedicated agents who
sold only that company's products
and that was the main way people
bought life insurance. Now independent agents can sell products
from many companies and they usually do that with the help of BGAs.
This system benefits clients, agents,
carriers, and BGAs alike by helping
clients find the policies most appropriate for them.
The PDC decided it would be beneficial to produce a white paper
explaining how the brokerage business came to be and how it continues today as a valuable resource for
carriers. It is designed to provide
BGAs with a perspective on how
carriers see BGAs as well as giving
carriers a better understanding of
the benefits BGAs provide for them.
The paper will be based largely on
an interview conducted by the PDC
with long time life insurance expert
Butch Britton. He is a former president of ING, AIG, and First Colony
who remains involved in the industry by serving on several insurance
company boards of directors and as
a longtime supporter of NAILBA.
Britton is also a past recipient of

the coveted Douglas Mooers Award
for Excellence.
"Butch told us one big value of
BGAs to carriers is their knowledge
of what customers need which helps
carriers develop products customers want," Mann said. "His knowledge is invaluable. We want to share
his wisdom with BGAs and particularly with carriers. Now is an important time to remind them of what
a BGA does and should be doing.
The information in this white paper
will remind us of what we need to
do to be relevant in insurance sales.
Those BGAs who don't supply the
major "adds" from the BGA portfolio
of services should become obsolete
and that's OK."
The white paper will be available
in late Summer 2018 through the
NAILBA website. Its publication will
be announced in Perspectives and
through NAILBA's other communications channels. To be notified as
soon as the white paper is online,
email NAILBA at info@nailba.org.
FSEdNet Discounts
For the first time, NAILBA members
can now take online courses through
the Financial Services Educational
Network (FSEdNet) at a discounted
price. This virtual, on-demand service offers more than 500 training
sessions and over 1,500 downloadable resource pages, all accessible
anytime using any Internet connected device. Each session lasts
about nine minutes and comes with
a fill in the blank worksheet.
There are four topic areas:
1. Cornerstones of Financial Services focuses on the habits and skills new associates
must understand, develop, and
put into action to succeed in
building and keeping relationships with clients and potential prospects.

http://www.nailba.org/university/aps-summary-course http://www.nailba.org/university/aps-summary-course http://www.nailba.org/university/aps-summary-course

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NAILBA Perspectives - Winter 2018