Update News for May 2007
Here is a quick run-down on what you will find in this bulletin:
These topics will be dealt with in more detail throughout this bulletin.
This edition of Compulife contains 3 new premium categories:
This roll out of new categories is ahead of the curve. The new categories are part of a product agenda that Compulife is actively advocating and promoting. It is fair to say that Compulife has created new product categories before they even exist.
Compulife began this process by first issuing a challenge to life insurance companies. You can read more about that by going to this discussion page at www.americaninsurancebroker.com:
Make sure you read the discussion which follows the initial announcement and feel free to add your comments.
As noted in the discussion, the challenge was initially issued by e-mail to a large number of life insurance companies.
The next step was the development of some new content (an article) that Compulife will be adding to the www.term4sale.com. We would appreciate it if those agents who are listed at www.term4sale.com would take a minute and review that article:
Your comments on the article are welcome and you can post those by clicking here:
As noted in the discussion, some life companies have contacted me to discuss the challenge. I would characterize the initial reaction as very positive. As we anticipated most can respond quickly by giving us premium information for their no lapse U/L products. A number of companies confirmed that their no-lapse products permit coverage and premium guarantees to be dialed in to give coverage and guaranteed premiums to 65, 70 and 75. The new categories in Compulife will include no lapse U/L products.
As we move forward we anticipate that life companies will actually develop level term products that fit these categories. We also anticipate that term based products, at younger ages, can be priced more competitively than no-lapse alternatives.
We have initially filled the 3 new categories with one company's new products. AIG has introduced a new product called "Select-a-Term" which allows the buyer to select a level premium period from 10 to 30 years. Compulife has gone to the trouble of manually selecting level premium periods to correspond to the age and level category for all scenarios.
For example, for level to 65 we have chosen the following Select-a-Term level periods for the following issue ages:
Age | Level Period |
35 | 30 |
36 | 29 |
37 | 28 |
38 | 27 |
39 | 26 |
40 | 25 |
41 | 24 |
42 | 23 |
43 | 22 |
44 | 21 |
45 | 20 |
46 | 19 |
47 | 18 |
48 | 17 |
49 | 16 |
50 | 15 |
53 | 12 |
55 | 10 |
In addition to the Select-a-Term products, U.S. Financial Life has already provided us with no lapse U/L premiums to age 75. AIG and U.S. Financial will both appear in the Level to 75 category.
We hope that other companies will respond by giving us no lapse premiums for coverage and premium guarantees to ages 65, 70 and 75. We also hope other companies will respond with products specifically designed to fit these categories. I want to assure companies that a number of agents have indicated a serious interest in marketing such products to the public.
On a final note, Compulife has also created ROP categories for level to 65, 70 and 75 products. Because there are no products that fit those categories, they have not yet been activated but they can be activated the month following when any company develops products for those categories.
Let the race begin. I am certain that the first companies to respond will be rewarded with immediate demand from agents and consumers.
Those using Compulife's Internet Engine (NOT those using Compulife's authorized web providers) will need to contact Compulife to get the latest copy of our Internet engine. There are two reasons you will need this new engine.
First, the old engine will NOT run the new categories.
Second, and regardless if you want the new categories, there are new state specific changes to our data that will become active in 60 days. Compulife has now added FL and MD to the lists of states which have maximum issue ages that are not the same as the generic product entries in Compulife. Currently we handle FL and MD state specific maximum ages by adding separate product entries where required. With the introduction of the new variables for FL and MD, we will phase out those separate product entries in 60 days.
WARNING: After we phase out the separate product entries for FL and MD, your old engine will quote those states for issue ages outside the accepted range. This means your internet quotes will be wrong.
This contest is now closed and our winner was: Paris Financial Group, Ltd. Congratulations - we have shipped out your Palm Zire 31 with adapter and memory card.
Compulife stock of Palm Zire 31's is now down to less than 20. Because we will be keeping a handful of these for parts (in order to service our extended warranties on these Palms), there are only about 15 left for sale. If you want one of these before they are gone on ebay, you need to act quickly.
Here's the e-mail offer we initially made to subscribers:
Last year I bought 100 Palm Zire 31 PDA's for our subscribers. The reason I grabbed the bulk lot was that the Zire 31 is a cheap, compact Palm that runs Compulife very nicely. I knew at the price that I got these for that we could retail them for $69 to $79. At that price I was certain that Compulife subscribers, who didn't own a PDA, would want Compulife in their pocket We are now closing out our stock of these units. We are now selling them individually on ebay. IMPORTANT: These PDA's are bringing the very same $69 price that we have been offering them to you for. That's how good our offer to subscribers has been.
MORE IMPORTANT: The 45 day warranty that I am offering on ebay is NOT as good as the warranty that I am offering to you. Here are the details:
Since we bought this lot of Zire 31's two things have changed. These
factors make it time to sell the majority of our Palm stock on ebay:
And of course there are a number of agents who want to wait for
better technology. And while you're waiting you are missing out on sales
opportunities that you could have enjoyed if you had used the Palm. And
look, these Palm's even double up as MP3 players. So if you upgrade to a
newer better device in a year or two, give it to one of the kids or
grandkids - they'll enjoy it.
I hate the idea that a bunch of strangers will benefit from the good deal that we got on these 100 units and that our friends and subscribers missed out.
You can find an order form for the Zire 31 PDA here.
Feel free to reply to this e-mail with any questions you may
have |
As they promised, Saving Bank Life Insurance provided us with their forms in March. These include the forms for their CT operation called Centrian Life Insurance. That brings the total number of companies with forms in Compulife to 11.
To date the following companies are now available:
Banner Life Insurance
Centrian Life Insurance
Jefferson Pilot Life
Jefferson Pilot Life (NY)
Pruco Life Insurance
Pruco Life Insurance of New Jersey
North American Company for L & H
Reliastar Life Insurance Company
Reliastar Life Insurance Company of NY
Savings Bank Life Insurance
William Penn Life Insurance
We are also well underway with our new forms categorization function. Once this is introduced, you should find it easier to break down groups of forms. To the best of our ability, we will attempt to imitate each companies own categorization system, while at the same time creating a common system of categorization that should make it easy to navigate from company to company.
If you help us convince a life company to provide us with their forms, we'll give you a Palm Zire 31 PDA as our way of saying thanks.
As we pointed out last month, there is a new generation of Windows Mobile phones which have been recently hitting the market. Compulife has completed work on a version of our program which works perfectly on these new phones. We made some additional improvements to that software last month and we believe the new program is running quite well.
Just like the PDA software that we have introduced to this point, the new phone program is included FREE with your subscription. And just like the PDA software we have introduced, the new phone software is transferred to your SD memory card when you use the Master Menu option:
Once you update your card, and place it into the Windows Mobile phone, the new program will show up on the SD file list as:
When you select and run the program you will be asked by Windows Mobile to confirm that you want to run the program - go ahead and do that. At that point the first page of the two page client screen appears. All the client screen questions are entered using the 5 way navigation button.
IMPORTANT: The new generation of phones have no stylus input and you don't need it with Compulife. Compulife's entire program is operated with just the 5 way navigation button. Think of it as the Compulife video game.
Once the first page of the client screen is entered, the right button takes you to the second page of the client screen. When that is completed a right button does the comparison. You move from field to field using the up and down arrows, and you select choices with the center button.
We have tested the new software on the following 3 phones. NOTE: Click on any of the phones listed below for more information about the phone:
These phones all run Compulife perfectly.
We have recently seen price offers on these phone below $100 in combination with phone and date package programs. As we suspected, this market is likely to continue to heat up. We also expect more versions of these phones moving forward. In this case, we are happy to be on the leading edge of the technology.
IMPORTANT: You don't have to have this data service to use the phone as a phone or as a Windows PDA. You can still have your daytimer functions, contact lists, etc - all the things you expect from a PDA.
MORE IMPORTANT: You can quote Compulife on these phones without having the more expensive data package.
NOTE: All of the above phones use the newer, smaller SD cards. The Motorola Q used a MINI SD card whereas the Dash and Blackjack use MICRO SD cards. Compulife can talk directly to any and all of these cards once they have been placed into USB adapters and plugged into the computer.
Remember, Compulife's new phone software is FREE with your subscription.
In April we announced a change to the pricing structure for QuickerQuoter. Agencies can now buy as little as 3 companies for only $225, and can now buy 12 companies. Here is a copy of the e-mail announcement:
Have you heard about QuickerQuoter for your agents? QuickerQuoter is a limited edition version of Compulife Quotation System that agencies can distribute FREE to their agents and brokers - no matter how many brokers they have. IMPORTANT: QuickerQuoter runs on your agent's desktop and laptop computers but also comes with software that runs on PDA's and PDA phones. The PDA software works on both Palm and Windows Mobile devices. This lets your agent put your companies in their pocket - ready to go - anytime, anywhere. QuickerQuoter is now available for 3 to 12 life insurance companies Agencies buying 3 companies can now get started for only $225 per year. Compulife has changed the pricing for its QuickerQuoter program and is now offering the program for up to 12 life insurance companies. Here is the pricing:
Most QuickerQuoter buyers have purchased 6 companies - therefore the price is unchanged. NOTE: Those wanting to add additional companies to their original 6 can do so for $200 per company (6-9) or $250 per company (10-12) and we will pro-rate the cost to the balance of your current QuickerQuoter subscription. Click Here to try Compulife's QuickerQuoter. There are two reasons for this change in pricing: 1. There is now NO REASON for an agency to not get and try QuickerQuoter for its agents. This gives your agents a way to run quotes their phones and PDAs for your favorite life companies. $225 gives you software you can give to ALL your agents for FREE! IMPORTANT: The QuickerQuoter program now comes with FREE Windows Mobile Phone software. The current phones running this software are the: Motorola Q Samsung Black Jack T-Mobile Dash Think about the importance of PDA/Phone software for your agents. 2. Some agencies have wanted more than 6 companies. The rational behind this new stepped pricing is that the more companies in your QuickerQuoter program, the less demand there is for the Compulife program, which we are retailing. That's also why the QuickerQuoter program is simpler than the Compulife program - we don't want this product being a substitute for agents who want all the features and benefits in Compulife. But that isn't all bad for you - there's less need for technical support, which you must do for this product. As we have indicated before, if Compulife determines that QuickerQuoter is having a negative impact on our retail sales, we will discontinue the product. But that gives an important benefit to existing QuickerQuoter purchasers who will have a 36 month service extension for service to their QuickerQuoter program (for the number of companies purchased). For complete details refer to the October 2006 Compulife bulletin: As before, buyers of QuickerQuoter are entitled to as many FREE updates per year as they have companies in the software. An agency buying 12 companies is entitled to 12 FREE updates. An agency buying 3 companies gets 3 FREE updates. Updates over the FREE number permitted are available for $100 per update. Here's Something Else that's New: Click Here for more details about Compulife's QuickerQuoter. Feel free to reply to this e-mail with any questions you may have
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