Paul Philip was 26-years-old when he got into the insurance business. Looking for a niche, the Toronto-based advisor decided on holding seminars for new graduate professionals, letting them know the importance of life insurance and living benefits. He settled on the chiropractic profession.

“I had a lot in common with these young chiropractors – I like sports, I like health, they tend to be family-oriented people…and that’s the kind of client I wanted to work with in the future,” said Philip.

Good thing for Dr. Greg MacLuckie that he went to one of those seminars and purchased a disability insurance (DI) package in his fourth year of chiropractic training. That’s because in November 2012, MacLuckie was hit by a car and was in a coma for 26 days. Among his more traumatic injuries was a major spinal fracture. MacLuckie spent six months in four different hospitals, plus months with rehabilitation at home with physiotherapists and occupational therapists. Despite all this, and the ability to increase his DI even while he was off work, he was forced to shut down his clinic two years later.

MacLuckie told the Canada Sales Congress that he decided to buy DI and didn’t even think about the price when he was in his fourth year. The most important factor, he said, was that DI ensured his family was taken care of even if he couldn’t work.

“To be a chiropractor costs a lot of money, tuition plus annual licence fees, malpractice insurance in case you get sued; you also have to have disability insurance in case something happens,” he said. “[Buying DI] was just a cost of doing business.”

Insure future income

MacLuckie told advisors that they too should be telling their professional clients about the significance of a DI policy. “Prepare your clients by having them insure their future income.”

Meanwhile, Philip, now president of Financial Wealth Builders Inc., said reaching out to the chiropractic community was part of his credo of trying to help people and why he continues to prospect.

“You know the good thing about living benefits? It gives you a good reason to stay in touch with your clients. You know the other neat thing about living benefits? If you need DI you have the capacity for savings and investments and life insurance.”

Philip said it’s important to tell clients how DI can relate to them personally. He said he tells clients that if they make $100,000 a year (plus raises and cost of living) and they work for the next 30 years, the total can reach $4 million-$5 million. “Clients need to understand how much money is at risk.”

He provided these DI sales tips:

  • Keep things simple: DI is about 2 per cent of your income which will insure the other 98 per cent.
  • Clients say it’s too expensive: be ready to explain that it’s expensive because it works.
  • People say they can’t afford it: I say you can’t afford not to have it – what will happen if you can’t work for six months or even never again?
  • Clients say it won’t happen to them: Share a story with a prospect about a true-life client who has been helped by DI.