Millennials are up against challenging financial circumstances, and they are looking for guidance. As consumers, they have high expectations. But with modern sales platforms, you can meet their standards while providing the guidance they are looking for.
Stressed About Money
Millennials were already behind. Previous generations had more wealth and property at the same age. Then, the pandemic happened, and it may have hit millennials the hardest financially. Their troubles continue today with high inflation and unfavorable interest rates.
It is a challenging environment. They need help. But the good news is, they know it.
Most millennials (74%) are stressed about managing their finances. They are looking for expert guidance. Millennials are more likely to have a financial advisor than older generations. They value their advisor’s input, too. Eighty-two percent of millennials say time spent with their advisor is important to their long-term financial success.
It is not hard to imagine why they want an expert’s help. Millennials watched their parents’ finances suffer during the financial crisis of 2008. And today’s tumultuous economy is not helping their confidence in their situation.
Millennials are starting to have enough money to start investing. They are beginning to enter their peak earning years. On top of this, most millennials expect to receive $350,000 or more in inheritance. They will be looking for sophisticated solutions, including life insurance or annuity products with an investment component.
All these factors put millennials in the market for professional financial advice. They have assets to manage and recognize they need help managing them. Which makes it sound easy to scoop up—and keep—clients from younger generations. But you need to account for one fact about millennials: they are hard to please.
A Tough Crowd
Millennials want it both. Help from a financial advisor and a streamlined digital sales experience.
They grew up with the internet. Most millennials communicate digitally with others more than they do in person. They are used to doing business online.
Millennials want conveniences like virtual doctor visits and free two-day shipping. They want instant gratification from their sales experience.
What do you give the digital-savvy generation that already has everything?
Exceeding High Expectations
Modern technology solutions allow you to offer the streamlined sales experience millennials want. Focus on a few key aspects to meet—even exceed—their high expectations.
Offer a Digital Experience—End-to-End
Give them an unbroken chain of digital processes. The best modern sales platforms let you manage everything inside one solution. Needs analysis, quoting, illustration, e-application, e-delivery. The entire process.
A lack of e-signature capabilities is often what breaks the digital chain. This won’t do for millennials. Scheduling meetings or mailing documents for signatures is far from the modern process they expect.
Some sales platforms have built-in e-signature. This reduces complexity for you and ensures a digital-first process for your clients.
Shorten the Time for Decisions
Picture a scenario in which you and the client hustle through the life insurance application process. Then, the client waits weeks or even months for a decision. You need to get that timeline down to a few days. Maybe even a few minutes.
Even annuity applications can see costly delays if they are not submitted in good order.
One of the best ways to speed up the time to issue is reducing not-in-good-order (NIGO) applications. NIGOs are expensive and cause delays. And they are a bad look for the advisor.
On average, 60% of life insurance and annuity applications are returned NIGO. A real problem.
Some modern insurance platforms can reduce NIGO rates to between 4% and 10%. These solutions help prevent errors due to license gaps, missing paperwork, payment errors and more. This speeds up application processing and gives your clients a painless sales process.
Recommend on a Case-by-Case Basis
Millennials have diverse values and financial needs. Some may want more guidance than others. Even among affluent millennials, only 37% feel knowledgeable about investing. Yet most millennials (63%) feel they know more than their peers about finances but are still stressed about managing money. Their top worries include saving, managing debt, and retirement.
With such diversity, you need a way to quickly and easily locate the best products for clients. The best technology solutions support multi-carrier, multi-product quoting and comparisons.
This allows you to reliably identify the products that are the best fit for your clients’ goals. It also speeds up the process. It is another way to make sure your clients receive the streamlined sales experience they want.
The Value of the Extra Mile
Millennials need guidance with their finances, and they are ready to ask for help. But you still need to deliver an exceptional sales experience to win their business.
The right sales platform can do both. Create the streamlined experience they expect. While improving your ability to find the products to meet their financial goals.
