L&HA: If whole life is a classic product that has fallen out of the spotlight, should agents be taking a new look?
MWP: We never moved our spotlight away from whole life. We sell a lot of other products, but whole life is the product our agents believe in and talk about the most. The issues of the last two years make whole life resonate a little more. Yes, for a time, agents, including ours, looked more at universal or variable universal or other products. To be sturdy, a structure has to have a strong foundation, and that is how we have always viewed whole life because of its guarantees, its stability, and the well-rounded way it provides protection.

L&HA: Are the living benefits associated with whole life and cash value life insurance especially useful today?
MWP: Living benefits include having your cash value grow on a tax-deferred basis. You can tap into your cash value, taking all or some of it, borrowing against it, rolling it over, or you can let it grow. Some agents present whole life as your "personal bank" because you have a full range of options for emergencies and opportunities that pop up. You don't need to fill out applications, or get people's approval, or be subject to background checks. You can pull money out up to the cost basis and not pay any tax on it, or you can borrow against it. You can tap into it if you have long term care needs. Savings rates for Americans are going up as people realize they have to do their own planning, protect themselves, and in some cases, rebuild their wealth. One of the things whole life has always done for people, particularly early on, is give them a structured,forced savings program. The living benefit not talked about enough today and unique to whole life insurance, is waiver of premium. With this rider in place (the cost is nominal), if the policyholder becomes permanently disabled, or more correctly, fits the description of disability, the insurance company pays to keep the coverage in effect and continues the cash value buildup.

L&HA: Who should buy whole life?
MWP: Anyone who has a permanent life insurance need. That could be a 70-year old who wants to be sure burial costs are covered, or someone whose estate is in real estate or in a business. People today fear outliving their assets. With whole life, as you get older you can do a 1035 exchange into an annuity product. You can annuitize and get a stream of income for life. Taxes are deferred. Additionally, if you are terminally ill and have bills to pay, you can access some of the death benefit.

L&HA: September is Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM); how can agents capitalize on that?
MWP: Life Insurance Awareness Month is all about what we do for a living. Agents, no matter what company they are with or if they are independent, should look at themselves, their goals, why they came into this business, and the good they do for people, and make a personal commitment to do something different in September. The times demand it, the country needs it, our clients need it, and ultimately good things come out of it.

For the last few years, every one of our offices has run a phonathon. They start early in the day and everybody makes a commitment to call as many people as they can. In September our agents do more community events, seminars, child-ID events within community events, and more mailings. LIAM raises activity which ultimately raises sales. It works. Every awareness campaign, whether it's for cancer, safe driving, or life insurance, causes people to think. In this economy people need to think about insurance planning.

From an agent's perspective, the biggest month of the year is December. I'm always telling our agents and managers that a big December doesn't magically happen on December 1. There are things you have to do in September and October to have a big year end or make Million Dollar Round Table. Set some activity goals: "Let me get in front of as many people as I can and tell my story." If agents do that, they will find great things happen.

L&HA: With unemployment up, is recruiting new agents easier?
MWP: One of the things critical to the vibrancy of an insurance company is bringing in new people and developing and training them. In 2006 to 2009 we emphasized recruiting from the top of the organization, and we have had four consecutive years of strong recruiting numbers. We think it's the best time to come into the industry. People need safety, they need guarantees, and they want something they can believe in. Major life changes, like marriage, graduating from college, taking a new job, buying a new house, or crises, like seeing a portfolio drop by 30 percent, are times when people say, "Whoa, I've got to step back and take a look at this." We're finding Americans want to sit down with financial advisors more than ever.

L&HA: Is your sales force changing?
MWP: With a great environment in which to recruit, we can do a better job of selecting people with sales ability, access to markets, and people skills. We want people who understand that this is a difficult job, but one in which they can find success. Within agency support we have six cultural markets as well as the women's market. For each of the last two years, 35 percent of our hires nationwide have come from a cultural market background and another 35 percent are women. With the cultural markets, we are seeing higher case rate, with a focus on life insurance as an immediate sale.

L&HA: How do you define cultural markets?
MWP: We support six cultural markets: African American, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Asian Indian, and Hispanic. We simply mean someone who works in the market, not necessarily that that is their heritage or background.

L&HA: Has your agent training changed?
MWP: Not for new people coming in. We need to rely on the basics; good, solid fact-finding, needs analysis, and better understanding of people and their situations. For our established agents, yes, we have made changes. Our biggest national marketing push this year has been "Call your Clients." We say it's your moral obligation in this industry in this environment to sit down with clients whether you have good news or bad. We teach our agents to review their accounts, talk about the strength of the company and share what they are hearing in the marketplace. Then ask four simple questions:

1) In light of what has happened in the last one or two years, how are you doing?
2) What has been the impact on you?
3) What changes have you had to make?
4) How can I help?

We tell agents to listen carefully, nod affirmatively, and take notes. Agents who do generally find opportunities. A client might say his wife lost her job with its insurance benefits. All of a sudden we're rolling over 401ks or buying term insurance to back up what she lost. Or a business owner has had to let three sales people go because business is down 15 percent but he can't afford to lose the remaining two because they bring in 85 percent of the business. There's a sale of key man insurance.

L&HA: Are people confident that insurance companies will be around in 20, 30, or 40 years?
MWP: I think so. We're thinking long term and making decisions for long after I retire. Every client makes a significant commitment to an insurance company with his savings and insurance portfolio. If he runs into a problem 20 years from now, his health may be different, the cost of insurance may be more expensive, and he may be limited by whether or not he can get coverage somewhere else. This is why we sell a significant amount of term insurance, which provides the ability to convert if someone needs permanent life insurance. It's important today that people look at the long term decisions insurance companies make.