expand your sales in the business market your sales in the business market for producer use only. a...

M U T U A L T R U S T F I N A N C I A L G R O U P

Business Planning Concepts

PRODUCER GUIDE

Expand your sales in the Business Market

For Producer Use Only

A MTL Means Business

It’s surprisingly underserved and can help increase your revenue. Th e challenges that small business owners face create an excellent opportunity for insurance professionals, and Mutual Trust Financial Group® has the ideal products and resources to serve the business marketplace with confi dence.

For business owners, an uncertain economy can make sales sluggish, qualifying for loans diffi cult and saving money for unexpected needs a struggle. An improving economy can make holding on to key employees hard, and then there is the ever present need for a business continuation plan. What would happen to any business if the owner or business partners were to die or become disabled?

Just as you help clients prepare for uncertainty in their personal lives, do you, or have you ever considered helping business owners prepare for uncertainties that aff ect their business? Using life insurance to fund business continuation programs and provide executive benefi ts to business owners and key employees is a growing market and one worth considering. Here are some reasons why serving the small and midsize business market can help increase your revenue.

Th e business market is large and surprisingly underserved. According to LIMRA’s June 2012 study, Executive Benefi ts Arena, there are 1.2 million businesses with between 10 and 999 employees. Approximately 648,000 of these small or midsize fi rms currently don’t off er executive benefi ts and 324,000 have never even been approached about them.

Th ere are numerous opportunities for cross sell. Th e LIMRA study shows that once fi rms provide executive benefi ts, they typically off er more than one type, with three being the average. So there is a signifi cant opportunity to cross sell anything from business continuation plans, to employee recognition and retention programs. Plus, once you have sold business benefi ts to an owner, it may be possible to sell the owner and the employees of the company personal life insurance, too.

Now is a great time to get into this marketplace. Getting into the business planning market now will enable you to identify potential clients and start educating owners on the importance of business planning while the economy improves. In addition, as more and more baby boomers prepare to retire, establishing a succession plan is essential. LIMRA estimates that 75% of the 1.2 million small to midsize businesses have no succession plan in place. Th at’s a huge market that needs your help today. MTL has created a fi ve-step process to help you serve this important marketplace.

LIMRA estimates that 75% of the 1.2 million small to midsize businesses have no succession plan in place.

That’s a huge market that needs your help today.

2 MTL Means Business

Why consider the business market?

Business Planning Concepts 3

Producer GuideFive steps to success in serving the business market:

Table of Contents

1. Prospecting: How to Find Business Clients .................................................... p. 4–5

2. Understanding Goals: The Business Planning Concepts Fact Finder .............. p. 6–7

3. Exploring Solutions: Using Whole Life Insurance for Business Planning .............. p. 8• Business Continuation Plans Chart .................................................................. p. 9• Employee Recruitment and Retention Plans Chart ........................................... p. 10• Why Whole Life Insurance? Why Mutual Trust? .............................................. p. 11

4. Developing a Plan: Creating presentations and proposals .........................p. 12–13

5. Closing the Sale: Forms and Guidelines .................................................. p. 14–15


How do you find prospective clients?

You probably know more small business owners than you think.Believe it or not, through your spheres of infl uence, you probably know or are con-nected to more small business owners than you think. Here are some additional tips on fi nding business clients.

Identify a network of friends, family contacts and acquaintances that have the potential to become clients or can put you in touch with potential clients. All things being equal, most people prefer to do business with someone they know and like. If you have been selling personal life insurance for a while, start with your cur-rent client list. Some of these people may be small business owners. Th en make a list of all the people from whom you buy products or services. All of the owners of these businesses are potential clients because you have already established a relation-ship with them. Th is includes your dry cleaners, dentist, attorney, local restaurants, barber or beauty shop, your children’s daycare center, and the service that cleans your home or offi ce. And don’t forget the printer that prints your brochures or business cards, your neighbor who owns a heating and air-conditioning company, your lawn care provider, and even your plumber, or the contractor who remodeled your kitchen.

But don’t stop here. Like any networking opportunity, you need to expand your reach to include acquaintances that have potential relationships with business owners. For instance, the realtor you met at last night’s Rotary Club meeting might know the owner of a graphic arts company who needs your services. Or the father of one of your son’s friends might be an executive for a steel processing company. Perhaps he can arrange for you to meet his boss, the owner of the company.

Go where business owners go. Th is includes Chamber of Commerce meetings, trade shows, or community events. Th ey might belong to your local country club, work out at the nearby health club or advertise in your church bulletin. You will of-ten fi nd business owners featured in the business section of your city newspapers or business journals, and they sometimes are guest speakers at high schools or colleges

Most people prefer to do business with some-one they know and like.


in the area. Because they’re always looking for business too, they usually strive to be well known and well respected in their communities. You need to do this too.

Develop strategic partnerships with other professionals, especially CPAs or attorneys. Th ese professionals may be able to help you identify potential clients (and in some cases may refer their business clients to you) and can also help you work with business owners to customize business plans to fi t specifi c needs.

Purchase email, telemarketing or mail lists, or advertise in the media. As with all sales eff orts, you can also purchase lists of business owners and send emails, postcards or letters to prospective clients, or call them. You might also advertise in online or print media. Mutual Trust off ers downloadable postcards and a variety of other promotional materials you can personalize with your contact information and print or send out electronically—such materials also include our nine business planning concepts. Th ese concepts describe the benefi ts of business planning to your clients.

Share our specially designed consumer brochures with your prospective clients. Protect Your Business (Form No. 335) features case studies highlighting how Mutual Trust’s Business Planning Concepts can help owners manage the risk of lost income that threatens their business daily. Th e brochure also includes a back pocket where you can insert the two trifold pamphlets (Form Nos. 322 and 329), as well as selected personalized business planning concepts, creating a comprehensive packet to present to prospective clients.

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Available in the Mutual Trust Store on the Agent Web Site:

• Postcards that you can per-sonalize to print and mail.

• Nine business planning concepts you can personalize and then email or print:

– Cross Purchase Buy-Sell Agreement

– Equity or Stock Redemption Buy-Sell Agreement

– Wait-and-See Buy-Sell Agreement

– Key Person Life Insurance

– Section 162 Executive Bonus—Single Bonus

– Section 162 Executive Bonus—Double Bonus

– Voluntary Deferral Plan

– Matching Deferral Plan

– Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (SERP)

• Consumer brochures

– Protect Your Business (Form No. 335)

– Business Continuation Planning and Whole Life Insurance (Form No. 322)

– Non-qualified Deferred Compensation Plans and Whole Life Insurance (Form No. 329)

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mption Buy-ent

Key Person Life InsuranceCovenant II is MTL Insurance Company’s leading participating whole life insurance policy. Its design and exibility offer key advantages for individu-al as well as business use, such as Key Person Life Insurance.

Key Person Life Insurance plans protect the business from the loss of a key employee by providing additional operating funds to help the company continue as usual while the revenue and skills that are lost are replaced. The premiums are not a deductible expense to the company, but the death proceeds may be tax free to the employer as long as certain requirements of notice and consent are met.*

A key employee is generally highly paid, responsible for management decisions, has a signi cant impact on sales and has a special rapport with customers and creditors. A key employee may or may not be an owner.

Additional Ways Key Person Life Insurance Can Bene t a Business:• If the insured doesn’t die while employed, the business can access the policy’s cash value for other purposes.

• The policy can demonstrate nancial stability to creditors, or be used as collateral for a loan.

• For key employees who are owners, the policy could help fund a buyout of the deceased person’s business interest.

• If the policy isn’t needed to protect the business, it can be used to provide deferred compensation funds or retirement income for the key employee.

Take a closer look at Covenant II and discover why MTL is The Whole Life Company.”®

See reverse side for illustrations.

Questions to Ask to Determine if You Need Key Person Life Insurance:• If this employee were to die, would the business still be able to obtain nancial backing?

• Would sales and key contacts be lost?

• How long would it take to nd a replacement and have that replacement be effective?

• Where would you nd the capital to nance the cost of the replacement?

• If you are both the business owner and the key person, would your family be able to run the business?

• Could your family sell the business for its full value if you are not part of the deal?

If you don’t know the answer to these questions, you should work with your advisors and decide if a Key Person Life Insur-ance plan is the answer for your business.

* MTL Insurance Company and its representatives do not give tax or legal advice. You must consult with a tax or legal expert of your choice.

When to Use an Entity or Stock Redemption Agreement

• There are a large number of owners. An entity or stock redemption plan means there is one policy for each owner.

• There is a wide disparity in the ages of the owners. An entity or stock redemption plan is paid by the company so the

younger owners will not be forced to pay the higher premiums on older owners.

• The business wants the cash values of the policies to be available as reserve funds. (If the business uses these cash val-

ues, the death bene t could be reduced and an owner’s untimely death could create nancial distress, because unrecovered

loans or withdrawals will reduce the death bene t payable, possibly defeating the purpose for which the agreement was

intended.)The agreement establishes the price to be paid for the deceased owner’s business interest by (1) a de nite xed amount stated

in the agreement, or (2) a formula by which a de nite price can be established. Current tax law has made the second method

the more prudent choice in recent years. The diagram on the reverse side shows how the agreement works.

Entity or Stock Redemption Buy-Sell Agreements

Covenant II is MTL Insurance Company’s leading participating whole

life insurance policy. Its design and exibility offer key advantages for

individual as well as business use, such as Entity or Stock Redemption

Buy-Sell Agreements. An Entity or Stock Redemption Buy-Sell agreement is a plan in which the

business agrees to purchase a deceased owner’s interest. While there are no

xed rules for why one Buy-Sell agreement is better than another, there are

some situations where an Entity or Stock Redemption Agreement may be

preferable to a Cross-Purchase Agreement.

Take a closer look at Covenant II and discover

why MTL is The Whole Life Company.” ®

Section 162 Executive Bonus—Double Bonus

Covenant II is MTL Insurance Company’s leading participating whole life

insurance policy. Its design and exibility offer key advantages for individua

as well as business use, such as a Section 162 Executive Bonus plan. This

plan gives employers a tax-favored way to reward key employees with the

bene ts of life insurance protection and can provide numerous advantages to

both the employer and the employee.*

Advantages to Employer of setting up an Executive Bonus plan:

• Easy to establish and administer.

• Selective – pick and change participants.

• Tax deductible (under Section 162, as long as compensation is reasonable).

• Retain and attract employees.

• No maximum or minimum requirements.

• No IRS approval needed.

Advantages to Employees of being covered under plan:

• Tax-deferred cash value growth.

• Additional life insurance protection.

• Liquidity.• Supplement retirement income.

• Income tax free death bene t paid to bene ciary.

Advantages of Using Whole Life in a Section 162 Executive Bonus Plan

Using a whole life insurance policy enables a business owner to offer a exible plan that can be designed to meet the speci c

needs of employees.

The plan can be set up as a:

• “Single Bonus,” where employer pays a bonus each year.

• “Double Bonus,” where the company bonuses the premium as well as an estimate of the income taxes due by the employee.

• “Restrictive Bonus,” where the employer has some degree of control over the employee’s access to the policy during

employment.• The tax liability can be reduced when dividends are paid as cash.**

Take a closer look at Covenant II

and discover why MTL is

The Whole Life Company.” ®

See reverse side for illustrations.

* MTL Insurance Company and its representatives do not give tax or legal advice. You must consult with a tax or legal expert of your choice.

** Dividends are not guaranteed.

h


What is the best way to learn about goals and needs of the business?

Tips for Using the Business Planning Concepts Fact Finder Congratulations! You’ve identifi ed a potential business client and have set up an initial interview with the owners. Now you need to start gathering information so you can iden-tify and prioritize the owners’ needs and objectives and help provide solutions. Th e Busi-ness Planning Concepts Fact Finder makes it easy for you to systematically obtain and document the information you’ll need to make a diff erence in your clients’ businesses.

Th e Fact Finder is conveniently divided into six sections: Personal Information, General Business Information, Background & Goals, Succession Planning, Key Employee, and Ex-ecutive Benefi ts Planning. We suggest you start to fi ll it out during your initial meeting with your prospective client, and continue to add to it and refer to it throughout the sales process. Remember, the Fact Finder is for producer use only, so you don’t need to submit it as part of the application. Th erefore, feel free to record any extra informa-tion on the company and the owners that you think might be helpful.

Fact Finder Overview

Personal and General Business Information—Pages 1 through 3No matter what initial goals a prospective client has expressed to you, it is best to fi ll out pages 1 through 6 of the Fact Finder before proposing any solutions. Th ese pages cover the owners’ personal information, business goals, and background information on the business.

Why are pages 1 through 3 of the Fact Finder important? Obtaining personal infor-mation on the business owner(s), including names and ages of spouse and children, is not only helpful when selling business insurance, but it can be useful for cross selling personal insurance. Obtaining general information on the business will help you understand how it’s structured, who owns it, what percentage they own, and current fi nancial, tax and legal advisors involved with the company. Th is informa-tion is essential when selecting the most appropriate business planning concepts for the organization.

We help you identify and understand your client’s business needs and goals.


Available on the Agent Web Site under “Marketing Support/Business Planning Concepts”:

• Business Planning Concepts Fact Finder (Form No. 336)

Background & Goals—Pages 4 through 6After gathering information on the owners and business, you’ll need to identify the owners’ goals and objectives. Pages 4 through 6 of the Fact Finder include a variety of questions you should ask the owners to help you better understand their goals. Th ese questions include, “Where do you expect the business to be in 5? 10 years? How do you feel about the benefi ts you off er your employees? What is your exit plan from the business?” Finding out the answers to these questions will assist you in determin-ing which business planning concepts to propose fi rst, such as succession planning, and which ones you may want to suggest later, such as executive benefi ts planning.

In addition, questions like “How are you diff erent from your competition” or “What are your current challenges with the business?” can help stimulate conversation with the owners and give you insight into the challenges they face.

Succession planning—Pages 7 through 8 While all producers working with business owners should fi ll out pages 1 through 6, pages 7 through 10 should be fi lled out where appropriate. For example, if the busi-ness owner doesn’t have a succession plan currently in place, you may want to establish this as a primary goal. Th erefore, during the initial meeting you may want to concen-trate on answering the questions on pages 7 and 8 of the Fact Finder and address key employee (page 9) and executive benefi ts planning (page 10) at another time.

Key Employee—Page 9 Th e questions on Page 9 are designed to determine if the company has or perhaps should be considering key employee life insurance.

Executive Benefi ts Planning—Page 10 Th e questions on page 10 will help you determine if the company has or is considering executive benefi t plans. Th ey also are designed to help you gauge the owners’ need or interest in these plans.

Why Use the Fact Finder? Using the Business Planning Concepts Fact Finder during the initial meeting will:

• Help keep your meeting focused on important issues.

• Enable you to gather information necessary to make insightful recommendations.

• Provide a systematic approach for solving business owner needs.

• Establish a written document of your initial meeting and provide information for follow-up.

• Help you determine which goals are most important to the owners and which ones should be addressed at a later date.

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Mutual Trust supports a variety of Business Continuation Planning and Employee Recruitment and Retention programs, all of which can be funded with Covenant II, so the learning curve is easy.

Business Continuation Plans Business Continuation Plans help assure that a “business continues as usual,” even

after the unexpected death or disability of a partner or a key employee. Mutual Trust supports a variety of Business Continuation Plans, including buy-sell, key person, and Section 162 executive bonus plans.

Employee Recruitment and Retention Plans To help business owners recruit and retain high level

executives, Mutual Trust supports several non-qualifi ed deferred compensation (NQDC) plans. A NQDC plan is a compensation arrangement established by an employer to provide retirement income and/or death and disability benefi ts to a select employee or group of highly compen-sated employees. Non-qualifi ed plans are not required to meet the stringent rules of qualifi ed plans and can be used in ad-dition to qualifi ed plans.

What solutions does Mutual Trust offer business owners?

To view and compare the various types of business plans Mutual Trust offers, see the charts on pages 9 and 10.

ners recruit and retain high level Trust supports several non-mpensation (NQDC) plans.

compensation arrangement mployer to provide retirement h and disability benefi ts to a roup of highly compen-n-qualifi ed plans

meet the alifi ed d in ad-lans.

Business Planning Concepts BBusiness Planning Concepts 9

Solution How it Works When to Use It Benefit to Business Why Whole Life Insurance

Cross Purchase • Each owner buys a policy on life of every other owner

• Agreement stipulates deceased owner’s estate must sell the business interest to surviving owners and surviving owners will buy interest

• Small number of owners or shareholders

• Agreement establishes price or for-mula for deceased owner’s business interest

• Protects surviving business owner from interference by outsiders when co-owner dies and assures fair treatment of heirs in event of untimely death

• Produces cash for the purchase exactly when needed

• Low in cost• Results in favorable income-tax

treatment of cash value buildup in the policy and receipt of death benefits

Entity or Stock Redemption

• Business agrees to purchase deceased owner’s interest

• Each business owner is party to properly drafted buy-sell agree-ment with the business

• Large number of owners or shareholders

• Wide disparity in ages of owners

• Business wants cash values of policies to be available as reserve funds

• Agreement establishes price or for-mula for deceased owner’s business interest

• When owner dies, policy proceeds are paid to the business. Business uses proceeds to purchase deceased owner’s business interest

• Business can use cash values of policies as reserve funds

• Provides same guarantees as cross purchase and stock redemption

• Offers flexibility for changes in economy, tax laws, and owner’s circumstances


• Low in cost• Results in favorable income-tax

treatment of cash value buildup in the policy and receipt of death benefits

• Internal buildup of cash values provides a source of cash that may assist in funding a disability or retirement buy-sell agreement

Wait-and-See • Hybrid agreement that allows owners and shareholders to postpone choice between stock redemption and cross purchase until triggering event occurs

• Corporation has the first op-tion to buy decedent’s stock/surviving owners have the next option/corporation is required to buy any unpurchased shares

• When buy-sell agreement will probably not be operative until far in the future

• Provides same guarantees as cross purchase and stock redemption

• Offers flexibility for changes in economy, tax laws, and owner’s circumstances


• Low in cost

Key Person • Protects business from loss of key employee by providing ad-ditional operating funds

• When key employee’s (owner’s) death would result in significant financial loss for business

• Provides additional operating funds while revenue and skills that are lost are replaced

• If insured doesn’t die while em-ployed, business can access policy’s cash value for other purposes

• Policy can demonstrate financial stability to creditors or be used as collateral for a loan

• For key employees who are owners, the policy can help fund a buyout of the deceased person’s business interest

• If policy isn’t needed to protect the business, it can be used to provide deferred compensation funds or retirement income for key employee

• Death proceeds may be tax free to employer as long as certain requirements of notice and consent are met

• No accumulated-earnings tax problems for reasonable coverage

Section 162 Executive Bonus

• Gives business owners a tax-favored way to reward key employees with the benefits of life insurance

• Employer wants to retain and at-tract employees

• Easy to establish and administer• Employer can pick and change

participants• Tax deductible under Section 162, as

long as compensation is reasonable • No maximum or minimum require-

ments• No IRS approval needed

• Can be set up as single bonus (employer pays bonus each year), double bonus (employer bonuses the premium and estimate of income taxes due by employee), or restrictive bonus (employer has some control over employee’s access to policy during employment)

MTL Business Planning Concepts: Business Continuation Plans

A MTL Means Business10 MTL Means Business

Solution How it Works When to Use It Benefit to Business Why Whole Life Insurance

Voluntary Deferral • Non-qualified deferred com-pensation agreement between an employer and participating employee whereby employer defers part of the employee’s salary or bonus so it can be received in future tax years

• Employer wants to create attrac-tive retirement package for productive and profitable employees

• Plan is non-qualified so it doesn’t have to be pre-approved by IRS and employers can discriminate in favor of selected employees

• Can be used in addition to qualified plans or as a stand-alone plan to help retain high level executives

• Cost-effective method to help employers pay promised ben-efits with little or no drain on the company’s future earnings

• Cash value accumulation in the policy accumulates income-tax-deferred. This cash value can be used to pay benefits in the future

• Guaranteed death benefit can be used to meet death benefit obligation in the event the par-ticipant dies

Matching Deferral • Employer sponsored non-quali-fied retirement plan similar to a 401(k)

• Through a written agreement with employer, highly compen-sated employee can elect to defer a portion of income or bonuses on a pre-tax basis. Employer usually provides matching contributions

• Employer wants to create attrac-tive retirement package for productive and profitable employees


• Can be used in addition to qualified plans




• Life insurance proceeds received by employer in excess of the benefit payout will be retained by the employer and may be used to recover costs of the plan

Supplemental Executive Retirement (SERP)

• Employer-sponsored and employer-funded non-qualified deferred qualification plan

• Can be used to provide a substantial retirement, disability and death benefit to owners and key executives without ne-cessitating the costly inclusion of rank-and-file employees

• Employer can set vesting schedules on funds up to retire-ment, if desired

• Employer wants to create attrac-tive retirement package for productive and profitable highly compensated executives


• No government imposed limits on the amount and duration of the de-ferrals, although the employer can impose them. Deferred amounts can vary among employees in the plan

• Can be used in addition to qualified plans




• Life insurance proceeds received by employer in excess of the benefit payout will be retained by the employer and may be used to recover costs of the plan

MTL Business Planning Concepts: Employee Recruitment and Retention Plans

Business Planning Concepts BBusiness Planning Concepts 11

Why Whole Life Insurance? Why Mutual Trust? Th e guarantees and fl exibility of whole life insurance make it a good choice for business planning. Participating whole life policies not only provide a guaranteed death benefi t income tax-free, but they build up guaranteed, tax-deferred cash values that off er business owners fi nancial fl exibility and options.

Th ree major advantages of participating whole life insurance:

A guaranteed death benefi t, which is usually income tax free.

A guaranteed, level premium that will not increase for the life of the contract, and

Guaranteed cash values and non-guaranteed dividends that accumulate on a tax-deferred basis and can be accessed by policyholders through loans.

Although MTL Insurance Company®, a member of Mutual Trust Financial Group, off ers a diverse range of insurance products and annuities, it is best known as “Th e Whole Life Company,”® because of its long history and expertise in developing participating whole life insurance products. Th ese guarantees and fl exibility make MTL’s whole life products, especially its premier participating whole life insurance policy, Covenant II, a good choice for business planning. For more information on the business plans Mutual Trust supports and how they can help business owners, see the plans on pages 9 and 10.


Mutual Trust offers a variety of valuable resources, including personal assistance with case design. Mutual Trust provides a range of support and systems to help you develop plans, pre-sentations and proposals for business owners that you can present with confi dence.

Personalized Plan Design and Advanced Consulting At Mutual Trust, we understand that you may have questions and need assistance

in case design. Th at’s why we’ve assembled a team of experts to help you.

Rich Weizeorick, FLMI, PCS, MTL’s Senior Sales Support Specialist and Coordi-nator of the Business Planning Concepts Program, is available for assistance with case planning and design during normal business hours. You can contact him at our home offi ce at 800-323-7320, ext. 5309.

Mutual Trust also provides advanced consulting, including consultation on tax and legal aspects of the fi nancial plan that you can share with the owner’s CPA, attorney and other trusted advisors. Th is advanced consultation is available through the law offi ces of Friedman & Downey, PC. See the Agent Web Site for contact information.

Online Resources Th e following tools are available on the Agent Web Site, under “Marketing Sup-

port/Business Planning Concepts.”

• AMO: Advanced Markets Online (see screenshots on opposite page) Th is comprehensive, user-friendly library of information provides the essen-

tial technical information you need to work in the business market. Designed to meet a wide variety of user needs, AMO is fast, convenient, accurate and interactive. You can use it to fi nd a specifi c fact or browse through a network of integrated information and customize your own path to fi t your specifi c needs. AMO also includes commentaries on current topics aff ecting business planning

We provide you with a range of support and systems to help develop and present your plan to your clients with confi-dence.

How can I create presentations and proposals for business clients?


concepts. For tips on using this powerhouse of information, sign up for the MTLU course, “Advanced Markets Online (AMO), or watch it “On Demand.”

• Advanced Presentation Software Th e Advanced Presentation Software enables you to develop compelling consumer

presentations and client-specifi c illustrations using MTL products. Th e software includes 30 advanced concepts, each with built-in training on market issues, taxation and illustration procedures. MTL’s Century II illustration software feeds directly into the Advanced Presentation Software so you can create a presentation based on your client’s specifi c needs. You can download the Advanced Presentation software from MTL’s Agent Web Site.

• MTL University (MTLU) Courses Check out MTL University on the Agent Web Site for an ever-growing list of

online courses covering all facets of business planning concepts. Some popular courses include:

– BPC Business Continuation: Buy-Sell Insurance

– BPC Key Person / Executive Bonus

• Webinars Stay up-to-date on hot topics related to business planning with webinars deliv-

ered by our Business Planning Concepts Specialist and other guest presenters. Live webinars often become part of our library and are available “On Demand.”

• Vanguard Articles Find the latest articles related to Business Planning Concepts published in previ-

ous issues of our publication. (All articles are online at the Agent Web Site.)

Did you know?

Selling life insurance to individuals for personal use is similar to selling life insurance to business owners for business planning.

So you already have many of the skills you need to succeed in this marketplace!

Please note: Business plan-ning concepts and some of the uses for business insurance are different from personal insur-ance, however, and they often require that business owners have their CPAs and attorneys draft legal agreements to sup-port the concepts. Therefore, after your initial meeting with a business owner, suggest that the owner have his or her CPA and attorney attend future meetings so they can begin to draft these agreements.


Generally, the same way you close any life insurance sale, with confidence, by suggesting cross-sale opportunities, and by asking for referrals. To simplify closing business sales, Mutual Trust has created a special Business Plan-ning Concepts Checklist. Here’s a review of what you need to do after the owner has accepted your proposal and how the checklist can help.

Before meeting with the business owner to have him or her sign the life insurance application(s), review MTL’s Business Planning Concepts Checklist to ensure:

1. You have assembled all the paperwork that the client needs to sign. (Th is paper-

work will vary depending on the concepts sold.) 2. After meeting with the owner and getting signatures on all required documents,

fax in the application(s), like you do with personal life insurance, and include all the required documents and a cover letter (see the Business Planning Concepts Checklist for details).

3. Th en contact an MTL-approved paramedical organization to arrange for under-writing (see MTL’s Underwriting Guidelines for contact information). At this time, you should review the checklist again to confi rm that you have submitted all required materials.

Close your business sales with the Business Planning Checklist as shown on opposite page.

How do you close the sale?

Materials you need to submit to Mutual Trust to complete the sale:

• Cover Letter (see Business Planning Concepts Checklist for details)

• Application for Life Insurance (Form No. ICC12)


REMEMBER...

Protect your client’s business.

Visit Mutual Trust’s Agent Web Site

Call 1-800-323-7320, ext. 5309

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When the policy is available from MTL, deliver it to the business owner. At this time, you might also set up a follow-up meeting with the owner(s) to discuss how the new plan is working and to explain the additional services you can provide to both the owners and employees. Remember, business owners, like your personal life insurance clients, buy from—and give referrals—to people they know and like. Be one of these, and before you know it, you’ll be successful in the business planning marketplace, too.

For more information, please contact Mutual Trust Financial Group at 800-323-7320, ext. 5309.

Available on the Agent Web Site under “Marketing Support/Business Planning Concepts”:

• Business Planning Concepts Checklist (Form No. 333)

You do not need to submit the Business Planning Concepts Checklist to the client or to Mutual Trust.

Base Policy Form No. 331 (8/13)

1200 Jorie Boulevard • Oak Brook, Illinois 60523-22691-800-323-7320 • www.mutualtrust.com

For Producer Use Only

Mutual Trust Financial Group, like its name implies, is a mutual organization, which means it exists for its policyholders. As a mutual organization, it is not publicly held and does not have shareholders, so instead of making fi nancial decisions that produce short-term gains to satisfy the goals of shareholders, it can make decisions that position it for long-term growth and have a positive eff ect on the fi nancial security of its real owners, its policyholders.

Licensed in 49 states and the District of Columbia, MTL Insurance Company®, a member of Mutual Trust Financial Group, has steadily grown in sales and distribution since its inception in 1904 and is a strong, fi nancially stable organization with an impeccable reputation for integrity.

For additional information, about Mutual Trust or its Business Planning Concepts, please contact us at 800-323-7320. As LIMRA confi rms, the Business Planning Market is surpris-ingly underserved today, so getting in now is a strategy worth considering.

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Mutual TrustFinancial Group

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expand your sales in the business market your sales in the business market for producer use only. a...

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