Can life insurance agents be standalone professionals?

Am I all wrong about this? Or do you feel the same way?

Can life insurance agents be standalone professionals in today’s world? Or has that ship sailed, and I am a dinosaur on the dock dreaming of days gone by? Is life insurance today merely one of the many things that financial advisors handle as a tiny part of their comprehensive work?

I HOPE NOT.

The longer I’m at this and the more top producers with whom I have the privilege to work, the more I know that, while selling the odd term insurance policy now and again may not require a lot of depth, selling like the best life insurance professionals do, is an art form. An Art Form.

Their unique and extraordinary combination of excellent social mobility, highly developed interpersonal relationship skills, genuine curiosity, deep, perceptive questioning ability, demonstrated belief in and understanding of the product and all its uses, targeted presentation skills, and true desire to help above all is unequaled in any other profession. About no other profession could the phrase “Clients want to know how much you care before they care how much you know” have been coined.

So, if that’s right, why aren’t distributors, manufacturers, and associations supporting the life insurance specialty? How could a recent interview of an association leader regarding the future of the association not even mention life insurance once in 30 minutes?

Don’t you deserve a voice as an insurance professional? Should we have a global Society of Life Insurance Specialists to help each other navigate the future?

Or is the life insurance specialty dead?