How to Motivate People to Buy Life Insurance

How to Motivate People to Buy Life Insurance. Most people do not want to think too much about life insurance because it forces them to acknowledge their own mortality. Because of this, CNN Money says life insurance is sold, not bought. There are ways to motivate people to buy it, especially when you get them to consider the needs of their loved ones. If you can appeal to a person's sense of wanting to take care of his family, you can motivate him to buy a life insurance policy.

Things Needed

Paper Calculator

Step 1

Show the person how many people actually depend on her financially. Most people have a spouse, children, or other relatives to whom they provide assistance. Even if someone is not the main breadwinner in the family, she may be providing a part-time income that pays for schooling or little luxuries. Her work around the household is also valuable.

Step 2

Quantify the person's worth in terms of actual dollars. Use an actuarial table to show him his expected lifespan. Tally how much money he makes each year, then multiply that by the span of years for which he plans to continue working. For most people, their work life will run into their 60s, or possibly their 70s. Determine costs for household responsibilities that the person handles now, such as tax preparation or home repairs. Use these figures to come up with a hard-dollar cost that the family would face if he died prior to the end of his expected lifespan.

Step 3

Ask the person to list her long-term goals for her family and how those goals would be affected if she died suddenly. For example, she might be planning for her children to go to college, and she might be in the process of saving part of her income to finance that. If she was gone, where would the money come from to fulfill that goal? Or, perhaps she is hoping to pay off her house within the next 10 years. If she died, could her spouse's income accomplish this alone?

Step 4

Stress the peace of mind that life insurance would provide. Using the figures and goals you discussed with the person, remind him that upon his death, an insurance policy would provide a lump sum to take care of a situation: It could be used to run the household, pay for college, pay off a house, or do anything else that might have otherwise been impacted due to his death.

Step 5

Portray the life insurance as an investment rather than as a cost. Show how investing a small amount of money each month could potentially pay a huge dividend in the case of an unexpected death. Characterize the price as an investment in peace of mind and the future of a person's loved ones. This appeals to her financial sense as well as her emotions.

Warnings

People don't like to think about their own deaths, so when you are trying to motivate them to buy life insurance, avoid using words like "died," "killed," or even "passed away." Use euphemisms like "If you couldn't be there for your family" or "if you were suddenly taken away from your family" to make the subject matter more comfortable.