Gen Z: Selling term products and a plan

Information has never been easier to get while misinformation has never been more prevalent. This is the environment your Gen Z prospects grew up in. They have an eight second attention span and a strong desire for simplicity.

Concepts like financial security are also eroding for this cohort – disappearing for prospects like Rehan Syed’s 19-year-old gym friend.

At the most recent Canada Sales Congress hosted by the Insurance Portal, Syed, life insurance specialist at Orooj Financial Group, described for those listening, just how he goes about attracting clients like his friend and what he does with them once they’re interested, as many products that excite the insurance representative are still largely beyond the means of such prospects.

“Most advisors, when they look at this situation, they probably tell themselves, ok, this is probably not going to happen,” Syed told those gathered.

Let them have term  

After drip marketing his friend at the gym, where over time he got his prospect’s attention with his talk about his love for whole life, he met with him on a weekend to discuss the prospect’s needs. At the meeting, Syed sold him a term policy.

“I told him about how locking in insurability is smart – and I told him ‘come back to me when you have money and we’ll convert that into a plan that you like,’” he says. “He felt more motivated than ever before. What motivated a 19-year-old to buy a life insurance policy? He had a financial dream and I gave him a clear roadmap on how to get there.” 

Syed also says concepts like financial security are fading for this generation. “The true essence of what financial planning and security is all about, it’s fading away. Concepts such as security and also growing wealth the most tax-effective way and how you transfer that – people don’t know anymore,” he points out. “That means we need to educate. We need to teach,” he says. “This generation is very lost. As advisors, we need to be able to teach them, resonate with them, tap into their mindset, understand them and be that helping hand.” 

Do it simply too, he says. In his case, Syed uses a financial “one-pager” of questions for his clients which ask them to respond yes, no or not applicable to inquiries about their need for insurance coverage (“it is important for me to assure the financial security of my family or investments in case of death or critical illness” – yes, no, not applicable), their need for retirement planning and their understanding of tax deferral strategies. “This allows you to go through each and every single concept, see what kind of answer they give and then go into more detail. It doesn’t seem as exhausting as just bombarding them with question after question in a different way.” 

Bring the future into the present 

Following that, he says it is an advisor’s duty then to bring the future into the present for Gen Z prospects, “making it sound so interesting that they at least think about it,” he says, again referring to the eight-second attention span. (In marketing, he says short form content is your friend – use those first eight seconds to create a hook so compelling that your prospect can’t turn away.)

“Your prospects, especially Gen Z, they’re not financially ready to achieve the goals they want to achieve. So what? Create a roadmap. This industry is based on serving and servicing clients. You don’t just sell and say have a good life, right? So build that connection with them,” he says.

He agrees too that a lot will not have huge estates, but they’re still motivated to get started. “Show them the importance of buying young and buying while they’re healthy,” he says. “It’s your responsibility, with your expertise, your confidence, to give them that roadmap.”