18 ID Trends NAILBA
The annuity sales process — fixing the pain points
Compared with other investments , selling insurance products like annuities often requires a more extensive sales process . Broker-dealer representatives and other financial advisors might perceive the nature of annuity sales as too onerous , thus limiting their appeal to this channel .
Fortunately , as the chart from the Secure Retirement Institute ® ( SRI ®) suggests , most advisors do not consider the sales process to be difficult . The minority of advisors who feel that the sales process is difficult or very difficult were asked to identify the “ pain points ” — what specifically makes the process challenging . The top reasons are cited below .
Difficulty level of annuity sales process
57 % Easy
32 % Difficult
9 % Very easy
2 % Very difficult
Based on 532 advisors .
Reasons why annuity sales process is difficult
63 %
63 %
32 %
21 %
20 %
13 %
9 %
8 %
5 %
5 %
12 %
Annuity product designs are too complex Require extra sign-offs , paperwork , and supervision compared with other products Variation in procedures across carriers Over-reliance on paper-based processing Lack of integration of products in platforms and financial planning software Post-sale service burden on advisors Slow resolution of not-in-good-order ( NIGO ) transactions Limited online resources for advisors Lack of wholesaler access and support Lack of client-facing materials , such as illustrations Other
Based on 179 advisors who consider the annuity sales process to be “ difcult ” or “ very difcult .” Respondents could select up to three reasons .
Annuity Trends continued on page 20