Fidelity Life's Connections

	Spring 2007
	IN THIS ISSUE:
	Producers Give Thumbs Up to Rapid App!
	Agency Interview: Sheryl Spears
	Did You Know?
	We're Changing the Industry
	For Producer Use Only, Not for Distribution to the General Public.

Welcome to Fidelity Life Connections

At Fidelity Life we are introducing industry changing innovations in the sale of life insurance. As we do, we want to keep you fully informed about what is new and why it is important to both your clients and you. Each quarter you can look forward to receiving the latest news from us and the perspectives of some of the nationally known producers who represent us both in the brokerage and direct-to-consumer spaces.

At the end of this issue, please take a moment to give us your feedback. We want to continually provide you the information that will make your experience with Fidelity Life second-to-none.

Sincerely,

Richard Hemmings
President and CEO

Producers Give Thumbs Up to Rapid App!

"Response from producers to Fidelity Life's Rapid App underwriting and approval process has been very positive and very enthusiastic," according to Mike Honeysett, vice president of sales and marketing, Fidelity Life Association.

"Producers love Rapid App because they can do everything online and expect approval in days, not the typical months required of other companies," said Honeysett. "They also like the fact that they can receive their commission the same week."

With Rapid App, agents electronically complete their client's Rapid Decision Term application, including answering health questions and provide Fidelity Life an e-signature. We then review their MIB, Pharmacy and MVR records. If applications are complete and the information all checks out, we usually issue a fully-underwritten policy within 24 to 48 hours.

According to Honeysett, Fidelity Life's streamlined underwriting process enables the company to quickly approve 90 percent of all pre-qualified applicants versus the industry average of just 55 percent approval.

"This means producers can save time while also serving more customers, thus dramatically increasing their sales count and commissions. We have producers tell us they've more than doubled their commissions because of our process," said Honeysett. "In fact, we had one producer tell us that, thanks to Fidelity Life and Rapid App, his business has become fun again!"

iGroup Exec Says Fidelity Life Association Has Producers Buzzing

Fidelity Life Association products and processes are generating a lot of excitement in the industry. To learn more, Fidelity Life Connections talked with Sheryl Spears, marketing vice president for Virginia-based iGroup, one of the nation's most successful insurance marketing organizations.

FLC:	Sheryl, what attracted iGroup to Fidelity Life Association?
SS:	We liked the fact that Fidelity Life is targeting an underserved niche, families that need a modest amount of life protection and want it quickly and for a competitive price. Because Fidelity Life had no prior distribution arrangements, this looked like a great opportunity for us to partner with an innovative company with great products and cutting edge processes.
FLC:	What impact have Fidelity Life's Rapid Decision Term product and Rapid App process had on the marketplace?
SS:	A substantial impact. Agents like the product because it's easy to explain, and they like the process because they can get a decision almost immediately. In fact, the entire transaction can be completed in 24 to 48 hours. And agents really love the fact that they can receive their commission in a week!
FLC:	What impact have Fidelity's products had on iGroup's business?
SS:	I can tell you that our sales were up 20 percent this past year, and we give a lot of credit for that to Fidelity Life Association.
FLC:	Where does the product fit in your organization?
SS:	We want to be competitive and today that means being innovative. Products like Rapid Decision Term help us maintain that edge. We have agents who are very much into using high tech tools, so Rapid App is something that enables us to provide a product and a process they are comfortable with and like very much.
FLC:	Who would you say are the best prospects for RD Term?
SS:	Anybody who is healthy and is looking for $300,000 or less of life protection. RD Term is an excellent product. It's extremely competitive. And even though it is fully-underwritten, it's a non-med product so there’s no waiting for results from a paramed.
FLC:	What's the buzz among producers about Fidelity Life Association?
SS:	They like doing business with Fidelity Life. They like the fact they can talk directly to the company and get fast answers. They feel Fidelity Life is very responsive. Agents know that, even if their customer doesn't qualify for RD Term, Fidelity will get them something that will meet their needs.

Did You Know?

Did you know that Fidelity Life Association was founded in 1896 as the Mystic Workers of the World, a fraternal benefit society? The company was founded in order to offer more reasonable insurance alternatives to workers in the Midwest and Northern states than those provided by the traditional old line Eastern companies. We were innovative even then, as we were the first fraternal benefit society to issue certificates to women as well as men.
Did you know that there are 109 million U.S. households of which 82 million have incomes of $75,000 or less? Additionally, 52% or 56 million households do not own an individual life policy and 35 million of those own no life insurance at all.*
Did you know that Fidelity Life's new stand-alone Accidental Death Benefit product offers a unique Family Accidental Death rider that extends coverage to the spouse and dependent children? Our Spouse Double Tragedy coverage extends the spouse's coverage to 100% of the base amount in the event both insured and spouse die due to an accident or accidents that occur within a 24 hour period. Our College Fund benefit provides an additional 10% of coverage for each dependent child ages 15 to 22 upon the accidental death of the insured.

We're Changing the Industry

How many people are uninsured because they get tired of waiting for their policy to be issued? "A lot," said Fidelity Life Association President & CEO Richard Hemmings. "And, unfortunately, these are people who need the coverage the most. They have families to think about but they just don't have time to wait weeks or months to get the policy. Our goal is to make it feasible and profitable for our producers to serve these customers. We like to think we are changing the industry."

Fidelity Life avoids lengthy delays by accessing online data bases to assess risk. "In most cases, we can issue a policy within 24 hours," said Hemmings. "We are the first and only company with fully-underwritten life insurance with competitive rates that can be issued within 24 hours. Normally, customers would wait weeks or months for a fully underwritten policy or would pay three times what our products cost for a simplified issue policy," said Hemmings.

Hemmings said Fidelity Life is also working hard to change things for producers. "It's all about how we get our products issued faster. Because we can do that, producer placement ratios are better, their case management costs decrease, and they get their commissions faster," said Hemmings. "Selling insurance doesn't have to be a laborious, time-consuming process. We expect in the foreseeable future to allow our producers to sit at their client's kitchen table, open a laptop and with a few key-strokes zap an electronic app and before their coffee gets cold we let the customer know if he or she is approved. We really are changing the industry."