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Life insurance firms being forced to change sales methods
(Yomiuri Shimbun, The (Tokyo) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Feb. 14--TOKYO--Increased security awareness among the public and tighter corporate security have forced life insurance firms to come up with new sales methods.
A growing number of condominium buildings are fitted with automatic locks that keep strangers away while companies no longer allow outsiders to enter their workplaces.
Life insurance saleswomen have long been the mainstay of insurance sales forces, calling on customers at their homes and offices, but are now finding it difficult to make such visits.
Life insurance firms have been searching for new ways to attract customers by increasing sales channels, including opening new offices, contracting more agents and promoting mail-order sales.
During the 2006 business year, Nippon Life Insurance Co., Japan's largest life insurer, will open five more Nissay Life Plaza offices, bringing to 45 the number it has nationwide.
It plans to further increase the number of these offices to about 60 over a three-year period.
The firm will improve its offices' functionality to deal with working married couples who are not home on weekdays, and have staff visit clients at weekends.
To win over customers, the offices will have workers with certified financial planning skills offer advice on various services, such as procedures and policy reviews.
American Family Life Assurance Co. of Columbus, or AFLAC, a major U.S. life insurer, will double the number of its agents to 800 over the next few years.
According to AFLAC, the number of customers visiting its offices near shopping arcades and stations has increased.
Newcomers to the life insurance business, such as foreign life insurance companies and companies from other sectors, do not rely on the traditional saleswomen approach, and their sales strategies have taken root.
Alico Japan, part of the American International Group Inc., a major U.S. insurance firm, is said to have spent more than 20 billion a year on advertising, including TV commercials.
Its telephone call center has staff ready to take calls from viewers during the time the commercials are aired.
Sony Life Insurance Co. and Prudential Life Insurance Co. have increased consulting services offered by their employees, mostly male, to lure clients.
Armed with personal computers, its employees visit customers, offering customized insurance products to meet clients' needs.
Hartford Insurance Co. of the United States sells its policies only at bank windows. As the market expands, sales of its major insurance product, a variable annuity insurance policy, have been brisk.
Some life insurers still believe it is better to have salespersons selling products guaranteeing large payouts, for example, in case of the insured's death.
Many salespersons are able to sell quite a number of such policies through other policyholders' introductions without visiting companies or households.
Nippon Life's new offices are intended to deal with the customers its nationwide force of 55,000 salespersons cannot handle.
An employee of AIG Star Insurance Co. said his company is offering hybrid services combining consultancy with competent salespersons.
Whether these strategies will work depends on how diversified the firms' sales methods become.
Access increasingly denied Life insurance saleswomen are fighting an uphill battle due to changes in their industry.
Autolock-equipped condo buildings and the increase in working married couples mean door-to-door sales is increasingly difficult, and more homes are empty on weekdays.
At workplaces, many companies require employees to use ID cards so outsiders cannot gain access. Salespersons can no longer approach employees directly to propose insurance policies as they once did.
Some salespersons said they had not been able to contact those who had taken out policies for more than a year.
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