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Lincoln Heritage Review [For Agents Only]
By David Duford - January 03, 2023 - 5 Mins Read
Disclaimer: We are not in any way affiliated with Lincoln Heritage. In fact, we are a direct competitor of theirs. This article is our personal review of their agent sales career opportunity and our personal opinions of the company. If you are looking to contact Lincoln Heritage directly, call them at 1-800-438-7180.
Most likely you’re here because you are considering a job offer or insurance sales career with Lincoln Heritage.
Perhaps you’re wondering if selling Lincoln Heritage’s career opportunity is legitimate and right for you.
If you’re scouting for an inside view of how selling final expense insurance with Lincoln Heritage works, you are at the right web page!
My objective in writing this article is to supply you with all the facts about becoming an insurance agent with Lincoln Heritage, mixed in with my perspective as an insurance agent since 2011.
As with any career consideration you’re making, you need to complete your due diligence sufficiently.
That way you can decide if Lincoln Heritage offers the best insurance sales career for you.
Without further delay, let’s begin!
PS: Check out my insurance sales jobs reviews of other agencies for more information.
NOTE: Are you an aspiring or new insurance agent looking for more insight on how the insurance sales industry works? Check out my free New Insurance Agent Resource Guide to help answer many of your questions (as well as ones you didn’t know you had!).
Overview
About Lincoln Heritage
Let’s learn more about Lincoln Heritage as an insurance company.
We’ll do a deep dive into how the company is structured, why this matters, and explain the unique selling advantages Lincoln Heritage provides agents.
Company Founding
Lincoln Heritage was founded as a family-owned business by Jack Londen in 1963.
In the truest sense, Lincoln Heritage is a mom-and-pop operation.
Lincoln Heritage was literally founded and ran inside of Jack’s home, with himself as the only salesman, and his wife Dodie as the home office staff.
How The Agency System Works
Lincoln Heritage operates a regionally-based agency model.
In other words, different agencies affiliated with Lincoln Heritage control recruiting and sales rights in defined territories and states.
This is why you’ll see the agency name listed along with the Lincoln Heritage branding when you’re reviewing various job boards.
Most agency affiliates have years of final expense sales experience with long-term partnerships with Lincoln Heritage.
Here’s a short list of the most notable Lincoln Heritage agencies (there are more than this for sure) – feel free to click on the links to learn more about each agency:
As is true in most organizations, some Lincoln Heritage agencies provide better training than others.
As you’re investigating your local Lincoln Heritage opportunity, make sure that you review job boards for feedback on the specific agency you’ll affiliate with for more insight.
I recommend using Indeed.com, Glassdoor.com, Kununu, and reviewing posts in the Insurance Forum to get a balanced perspective from agents who’ve worked with Lincoln Heritage.
Product Specialty
Lincoln Heritage teaches agents to sell one product only.
And that is final expense burial insurance.
Just as Jack Londen did at the founding of his company back in the 1960s, Lincoln Heritage agents still market and sell to seniors concerned about covering their final expenses with an affordable life insurance policy.
What Is Final Expense?
Final expense policies are small face amount policies. They are designed to cover the cost of burial and cremation.
Since most final expense concerns typically run into the $10,000 to $15,000 range, it’s rare that you’ll write on average much beyond $15,000.
However, you can write much more (or much smaller) if necessary.
A Fantastic Market
The opportunity to sell final expense is immense.
First, final expense is marketed to low-income (mostly fixed income) people 50 and older.
These prospects have little to no money in savings and cannot likely pay for their funeral expenses out-of-pocket.
And they sure don’t want to burden their kids with their expenses, either.
This is what makes selling final expense a great opportunity. There are millions of prospects for final expense.
Plus, the market grows bigger with each passing year as the average age of Baby Boomers skews older and older.
Fast Sale
Final expense is sold on one sales presentation.
Unlike advanced life insurance products, final expense is simple (but not easy!)
Simply explain what the product does, gain the trust of your prospects, and if there is a need, prospects commonly buy from you without delay.
This allows you to run an effective and scalable “selling machine,” focused on lots of sales activity and solving basic problems for the Common Man.
Leads Are King
While other life insurance markets experience more difficulty in generating leads, it’s very simple to generate leads for final expense.
While other organizations focus on other marketing strategies, Lincoln Heritage largely utilizes direct mail and television leads to keep agents busy.
Let me be clear…
Success in selling final expense largely depends on a steady and consistent flow of leads.
So there’s a little about the final expense market opportunity that Lincoln Heritage (and others like myself in my agency) train agents to specialize in.
Is Lincoln Heritage A Pyramid Scheme Or Scam?
If you’ve done some due diligence already, like attending a Lincoln Heritage opportunity meeting, you might wonder if Lincoln Heritage is actually a multi-level marketing company similar to Herbalife, Amway, Etc.
HERE’S THE TRUTH…
First, Lincoln Heritage is a completely legitimate insurance company, and so are its affiliate agency partners.
On the whole, they do an excellent job helping people nationally with their burial insurance needs.
By no stretch should you consider Lincoln Heritage a pyramid scheme or illegal “scam.”
However, if you’ve never sold insurance before, you need to understand Lincoln Heritage’s company-agency-agent hierarchy is devised similarly to a multi-level marketing company.
Picture a pyramid.
At the top is Lincoln Heritage corporate. Below, the agency affiliates. And beneath them, the smaller agencies and writing agents.
So, yes… structurally speaking… Lincoln Heritage operates in a multi-level marketing fashion.
However, don’t let this alarm you! Why?
Because this MLM structure is the norm in the insurance business.
Here’s how I mean…
The vast majority of insurance is sold in a multi-level marketing structure.
Agencies affiliate with larger agencies or directly to the companies. From there, they recruit agents to sell to insurance prospects.
Explaining it like this to understandably concerned insurance agents help cool their initial worries, instead turning their concerns to HOW the company is run.
For example, have you ever had a friend who joined a multi-level marketing company?
What was that experience like when they ask you to meet?
For many, it was an annoyance!
Not only did your friend badger you about buying something, they also pitch you on becoming an affiliate, too.
Prior to selling insurance I ran my own personal training business. One year, I needed a website redesign.
I called the Yellow Pages and set an appointment with a vendor.
Turns out what I got was a two-hour-long “join my multi-level marketing pitch.”
It totally frustrated me and ended up not buying anything whatsoever.
Moral of the story?
While the structure of insurance sales shouldn’t concern you, what SHOULD cause pause for consideration is the level of pressure put on new agents to recruit friends and family members.
With Lincoln Heritage, depending on the agency affiliate, you will see various levels of focus on recruiting and/or producing.
Recruiting Right Away
Some Lincoln Heritage agency affiliates encourage their newly-licensed agents to jump right in and start recruiting their friends and family to the organization… BEFORE they’ve sold the first policy!
Why is this a problem? Here’s a perfect example…
Would you trust a surgeon to operate on you that’s NEVER gone through training?
If not, then why should a new agent trust an inexperienced licensed agent to train him?
It just doesn’t make any sense!
And that’s the reason I think folks become frustrated with multi-level marketing operations.
The focus for many is NOT on becoming a great salesperson.
Instead, it’s about learning how to hire anyone with a pulse, without much regard to what YOU can offer the new recruit in terms of quality training.
All said and done, this “recruit-them-all” mentality will vary between Lincoln Heritage affiliate agencies.
Your job is to screen the agency. Ask about what they want you focusing on as a new agent.
How The Hiring Process Works
If this is your first look at an insurance career, you need to follow this one important piece of advice.
Unlike traditional hiring companies, which heavily screen applicants, most insurance organizations have little-to-no screening criteria to weed out applicants.
In other words, most insurance companies hiring strategy revolves around recruiting anyone and everyone.
As the old insurance recruiting joke goes…
If you can fog this mirror, you’re hired!
What you’ll experience looking for an insurance sales career is that EVERYBODY wants to recruit you… no matter what your background or experience.
You must have vigilance, and screen all insurance sales opportunities to ensure their best for you!
When interviewing with Lincoln Heritage, I recommend asking the following questions:
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- What is my starting commission level?
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- How do I increase my commission level?
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- Can I exclusively sell without recruiting AND maximize my commission to the top levels?
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- Do I need to recruit agents in order to get paid a higher commission level?
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- What’s your training program structure like?
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- Why would I want to work at your agency versus another?
How They Answer Your Questions Matter
Here’s the thing…
It’s not so much WHAT the recruiter says…
It’s HOW they respond to your questions.
These questions are earnest in nature. There is no foul play initiated asking them.
And for that reason, your Lincoln Heritage manager or recruiter should answer all questions respectfully and with full transparency.
If you get pushback, or are talked down to, that’s a big red flag!
Think of it this way. If the recruiter can’t handle basic career questions, how well will they handle your sales training questions, or support you when needing help?
New Agent On-Boarding Process
Here’s what to expect if you decide to join Lincoln Heritage.
Step 1: Get Your Insurance License
If you aren’t licensed, you’ll need to study and test for your life insurance license.
You don’t need to license for both life and health insurance simultaneously. But you can if you want to.
Many Lincoln Heritage agency affiliates will help you get access to study materials for the licensing exam.
You can also review how to study and test for your license here.
Step 2: Sign Agent Contracting
Once you’re officially licensed, you can complete your Lincoln Heritage agent appointment contract.
It’s a quick process, only taking several days before you receive your appointment.
And once completed, you can begin selling Lincoln Heritage’s insurance products.
Also, expect a background and credit check request along with completing your Lincoln Heritage agent contract.
This is customary with most insurance companies as they appoint agents.
Step 3: Coaching On Goal Setting
Good Lincoln Heritage managers will set a coaching session with you to help you set your activity and income goals.
And once your goals are established, they’ll work with you to devise a plan to achieve those goals.
As the old saying goes…
If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else.
Understand that success in selling insurance – regardless of where you work – is predicated on setting goals and working to achieve them.
Step 4: Learn The Lincoln Heritage Way
As you are devising your goals, you’ll begin to learn the sales and marketing processes, as well as how the Lincoln Heritage final expense plan works.
You’ll discover Lincoln Heritage’s unique selling proposition to its clients.
Also, you’ll learn how Lincoln Heritage endorses leveraging its affiliation with The Funeral Consumer Guardian Society (more on this later) to help you sell more policies.
Lastly, you’ll begin comprehending what I call “the craft of selling insurance” to help solidify customer rapport and trust.
Step 5: Get Leads And Start Selling
Last but not least, after you have a basic understanding of the sales process, Lincoln Heritage will have you take leads so you can start selling.
In most Lincoln Heritage affiliated agencies, you are offered lead financing.
Lead financing means the agency pays for your leads upfront, taking part of your commissions after you’ve made a sale.
In other words, lead financing is like opening a credit card that you can only use to buy leads.
Expect to sign a contract, binding you to repayment of any financed leads, regardless of whether or not you sell anything.
For many Lincoln Heritage agents, lead financing is the only way to generate leads.
Why? Direct mail lead generation is a cost paid up-front.
And with campaigns costing several thousand dollars, few new agents have the money necessary to pay out-of-pocket.
Lincoln Heritage’s system opens up many more agents to sell insurance with their lead financing program.
All About Commissions
Let’s shift gears and discuss compensation as an agent with Lincoln Heritage.
Straight Commission, No Salary
As a Lincoln Heritage agent, you are paid on 100% commission. There is no salary to help you get started.
Not unique to Lincoln Heritage, this is quite the norm in the insurance sales career world.
Few organizations pay a draw or wage with all your income dictated on how many policies you sell.
How Commission Rates Work
The basis of your pay is a percentage of what’s known as the policy’s “annual premium.”
The annual premium represents the one-time annual payment your client would make on a once-a-year payment basis, though most pay monthly.
Your actual dollar commission is determined from the annual premium.
For example, let’s say you’re paid a 70% commission on $1,000 annual premium.
This means that your first year commission total $700.
Keep in mind, using lead financing a portion of your commission goes towards lead repayment.
Additionally, you are “advanced” (or loaned) 75% (or 9 months’ worth of expected future commission) of your first-year commission.
So in this example you would receive 75% of $700 shortly after the policy is issued.
An important point. If the policy lapses BEFORE the advance period passes, Lincoln Heritage will require you to pay back a portion of the advance that wasn’t collected.
To clarify, if you are advanced 9 months, this income is not yet earned.
Why? Because the client hasn’t paid those premium payments yet.
And what happens if they don’t? Then you must repay back the difference of what they didn’t pay.
For example, if your client pays 3 months prior to cancelling coverage, you now owe back 6 months of advance debt, since the client will never pay another premium payment again.
Hopefully that makes sense. Again, this is the norm in the insurance world and not a Lincoln Heritage thing.
Most importantly, there are implications necessary to discuss regarding this arrangement, as it may have direct impact on your career.
What Is My Starting Commission Rate?
This varies by agency affiliate.
Since selling insurance since 2011, I have seen Lincoln Heritage agents start as low as 60% first year commission.
However, I’ve talked with Lincoln Heritage agents with much higher commissions.
One Kentucky-based agent told me a few years back he was in the 90% to 100% first year commission range. And to the best of my knowledge doesn’t recruit.
Bottom line, there is no way to say with accuracy how each organization’s commission schedule is designed.
Few if any agency affiliates publish commission rates publicly along with the requirements to increase commission levels.
Therefore, ask your agency affiliate for clarification on how commission works, as some incentivize recruiting over selling.
For example, some insurance sales organizations structure commission level increases on commitment to agency building.
In other words, if you simply wanted to sell final expense and NOT recruit and manage agents, you may short-change your potential earnings, relative to what other organizations would offer that attract sales agents over agent recruiters.
How Does Lincoln Heritage Commission Rates Compare?
Again, Lincoln Heritage commission rates varies wildly, and is difficult in this write-up to describe with accuracy what the commission difference is.
To know the difference, you’ll have to interview with your local Lincoln Heritage agency affiliate and ask.
However, I can tell you this. In my agency, where I focus on recruiting new agents, I put new agents at 100% to 110% starting commission levels for our primary final expense carriers.
And many times, my starting commission levels are better than what most organizations will offer.
Plus, there’s room for even higher levels of commission with my organization as you increase your production volume, or decide to recruit (your choice – I don’t ever force anyone to).
IMPORTANT: Commission is not the end-all-be-all concern.
There are other important factors to weight, including:
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- What level and quality of sales training you’ll receive
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- What access to lead program options you’ll have, and,
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- Whether or not you can see yourself long-term and a career with the organization you’re joining.
Yes, commission IS important, but not everything. You must weigh multiple factors when thinking about joining an agency.
Dissecting Lincoln Heritage’s Funeral Consumer Guardian Society Program
One very important element of the Lincoln Heritage sales process is to utilize a unique program they offer their final expense clients called the Funeral Consumer Guardian Society (or FCGS) Program.
So it’s vital to discuss how the FCGS program works as well as its benefits.
What is the FCGS Program?
Taken from Lincoln Heritage’s website on the FCGS program, the Funeral Consumer Guardian Society is:
An independent consumer advocate organization providing professional guidance to member families during the funeral planning process.
In other words, they help make sure families have the info needed to make informed decisions on funeral contracts, and price shop local funeral homes on their behalf.
FCGS Advantages
The advantage of using the FCGS program is that it may lower the costs associated with burials and cremation, more than what a consumer would get on its own.
According to Lincoln Heritage FCGS website, their program claims families save an average of $1,800 on traditional funerals, and up to $600 on cremation services.
As a Lincoln Heritage agent, using this program provides a unique way to add value to your sales conversations with your clients.
You can show them how the FCGS program in combination with purchasing your policy can help lower the cost of funerals, making it easier on the family to deal with final arrangements.
Is The Funeral Guardian Program A Scam?
However, not everyone is convinced the FCGS program is worth picking up.
As you’ll read later, some tenured final expense agents believe the FCGS program is simply a sales gimmick to help sell Lincoln Heritage’s allegedly “over-priced” final expense coverage. More on that in a little bit.
How To Quit Lincoln Heritage
There are many reasons you may want to quit Lincoln Heritage, for example, you ran out of money to invest in leads, you ran out of prospects to sell to, or you simply found that the business of selling insurance wasn’t a good fit for you.
The good news is, quitting Lincoln Heritage is easy.
Here’s how to do it.
First, start by doing your due diligence and find another insurance agency to work for. We recommend you review our Free Agent Resource Guide here for tips on finding a quality insurance agency to join.
Once you find a new agency or carrier to join, you can go ahead and switch your affiliations.
You should keep in mind that as an insurance agent, you are licensed by the state and not by the company. No insurance agency can prevent you from stopping your affiliation with it and doing business with another organization.
You may need to cancel the affiliation with Lincoln Heritage. The termination usually needs to be filed within a 30 day window, however canceling affiliation is not always mandatory.
To become properly appointed with the new insurance carrier or agency, you simply complete contracting with the new insurance carrier.
Typically, the window for companies to process affiliations is very short, with most companies approving insurance agent carrier appointments within 1 to 2 weeks on average.
Bottom line, quitting Lincoln Heritage is no big deal. Simply find another organization that’s better suited to your insurance sales career goals, submit contracting through the new organization, and within the next few weeks, you’re good to go and can stop doing business with Lincoln Heritage.
Companies Like Lincoln Heritage
Let’s take a look at some insurance agencies and companies similar to Lincoln Heritage in case you’re interested in doing a comparison.
Symmetry
Symmetry Financial Group is an insurance marketing organization based out of Swannanoa, North Carolina.
SFG specializes in several life insurance markets, primarily the mortgage protection insurance market. The company also offers final expense insurance, a type of whole life insurance designed to cover medical bills and funeral expenses after the policyholder’s passing.
Bankers Life
Bankers Life was established in 1879 in Chicago, Illinois. The company is a subsidiary of CNO Financial Group.
Bankers Life offers life insurance, long-term care, annuities, Medicare (Supplements, Advantage Plans, Part D prescription drug coverage), critical illness insurance, as well as vision and dental plans. It targets the senior market, typically people age 60 and older who are near retirement.
People Helping People (PHP)
People Helping People was established in 2009 in Northridge, California. The company serves the middle markets for insurance-based financial planning. It focuses on term insurance, index universal life insurance, and fixed indexed annuities.
American Income Life (AIL)
American Income Life, a wholly owned subsidiary of Globe Life Insurance, is a major provider of supplemental life insurance. The company was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in Waco, Texas.
American Income Life’s core markets are labor unions, credit unions, and associations for insurance solicitation. Its insurance products include life insurance and supplemental health.
New York Life
New York Life, established in 1845, is the largest mutual life insurance company in the country. It offers premium life insurance, long-term care insurance, retirement income insurance, and investment plans, including annuities, mutual funds, and ETF saving plans.
USHEALTH Advisors
USHEALTH Advisors is a wholly-owned national sales and distribution subsidiary of USHEALTH Group, one of the largest employers of health insurance agents in the United States.
USHEALTH offers individual health coverage plans and a number of related supplementary products. It specializes in marketing innovative and affordable health coverage plans. The company is focused on providing healthcare solutions to individuals and families, as well as self-employed and small business owners.
Equis
Equis is a marketing organization for independent insurance agents and agency builders.
Its main product is mortgage protection life insurance, designed to reduce or eliminate the threat of foreclosure or eviction if the insured passes unexpectedly. The company also offers final expense, living benefits, and indexed universal life insurance products.
Freedom Equity Group
Freedom Equity Group, based in Arroyo Grande, California, is an independent marketing organization (IMO) that contracts with insurance companies to promote and distribute a range of life insurance products.
Freedom Equity Group focuses on selling life insurance and annuities. Its main product is indexed universal life insurance, a form of permanent coverage that provides a cash value in addition to life insurance.
My Thoughts About A Lincoln Heritage Sales Career
So far we have covered the basics on how a career selling with Lincoln Heritage works.
At this point, I will provide my personal opinions on how Lincoln Heritage compares with other insurance sales opportunities.
I Originally Hated Lincoln Heritage
I’ll admit it.
When I first started in the insurance sales business, I despised Lincoln Heritage.
Doing any level of comparison between other carriers will show Lincoln Heritage’s prices are higher than most.
And many former Lincoln Heritage agents complain their experience focused more on the “rah-rah,” rather than a focus on sales training.
However, as I’ve matured gaining not only experience selling insurance but also training insurance agents, I’ve realized Lincoln Heritage plays an important role and helping our clientele get quality coverage, despite my belief there are potentially better ways to do so.
My point is this – your mileage will vary working with Lincoln Heritage as with all insurance sales organizations.
They do a lot of things right.
They help with lead financing and many affiliates offer great product and sales training. For many agents reading this, Lincoln Heritage provides a good working opportunity.
There Is No Perfect Agency
As with all things in life, there is no perfect agency that fits everyone’s needs. Selling with Lincoln Heritage is no different.
What follows is a list of constructive criticism that all new agents should pause to consider. So let’s begin.
Producing Versus Recruiting
It is imperative for new insurance agents to learn the art of selling insurance for a considerable time BEFORE putting effort in recruiting and agency-building.
The reason is simple.
One of the biggest problems in the insurance sales business is the multi-level marketing influence on new agent recruiting practices.
And it’s widespread across the industry. Newly-minted insurance agents are recruiting and “training” other new agents from coast to coast.
No wonder 90%+ of agents fail in the first 12 months, huh?
This system of recruiting and “training” is nuts.
If the fallout number reveals anything, there is an important need to learn HOW to sell insurance initially as opposed to how to recruit.
I can’t stress enough for you to focus on selling above recruiting. And this caveat remains for working with Lincoln Heritage, too.
Please make sure the affiliate organization you’re considering joining has a passion for developing new agents into top producers over training neophytes to recruit.
Producing Commission Should Be High
Further, you must ensure your maximal commission level is achievable through personal production and not through recruiting.
With many sales organizations in and out of the insurance business, the commission advancing system dictates priorities.
And when commission level increases are contingent on recruiting, it changes the organizational culture to focus on recruitment first, selling second.
How do you discover if your Lincoln Heritage affiliated agency is focused on producing over recruiting?
Attend a Lincoln Heritage sales opportunity meeting.
Most affiliates have regular a monthly get-together.
Observe where management’s focus is – do they talk more about selling or recruiting? And are the top income earners not just recruiters, but also producers?
Gather these important facts as you’ll discover clues to the agency’s values.
Commission Relative To Other Opportunities
Here’s the truth on commission…
In many cases, you can find better starting commissions with other agencies unaffiliated with Lincoln Heritage.
Lincoln Heritage managers address this critique ahead of time. They say commission is one component of many to consider when joining an agency.
And they are correct. And using their recommendation during your review of insurance sales organizations to join, you must determine if Lincoln Heritage’s opportunity is equivalent, inferior, or superior to alternate opportunities.
What other factors should you consider?
The most important are access to a proven lead generation model and a tried-and-true sales system.
When you compare and contrast multiple factors, it makes it easier to determine which agency you should join, and how important top commission levels rae.
How high can commissions go outside of Lincoln Heritage?
While I can’t speak for other agents, I can tell you what I offer.
Experienced agents average between 110% and 120% commission in my agency (yes, carriers DO pay more in commissions than in premiums collected during the first year).
And, if you have an interest in recruiting, my organization allows for commission levels even higher than stated above.
Concerns With Only One Product
Perhaps the most important critique I’ll make is based on Lincoln Heritage’s singular product focus.
What’s the problem with selling one product?
It’s not that it makes selling final expense more difficult.
If anything, it’s an advantage to have just one product. It simplifies the learning process versus learning multiple carrier underwriting and pricing levels.
However, no matter what company – Lincoln Heritage or otherwise – if you choose to represent only one carrier, you WILL short-change your clientele.
Meaning many will pay MORE for the same coverage they could have acquired elsewhere, or will not get the best underwriting offer that another carrier may provide.
Take for example Mutual of Omaha’s final expense product.
If you have COPD, the best offer you’ll get is a Graded Plan. This plan takes 2 years before the full natural death benefit is paid.
If your client dies from any sort of natural causes in the first 2 years, the full death benefit is not paid. Only the premiums paid plus interest is paid to the beneficiary.
However, there are multiple companies that will cover COPD first day full coverage.
Transamerica and Liberty Bankers Life come to mind.
With these companies, if your client dies at any point during the first two years of natural death, then the policy pays the full natural death benefit to the beneficiary.
What If Your Client Was Your Mother?
If you’re mother, who draws a meager Social Security check and is in bad health, is looking for coverage, would you force her to get a policy that cost possibly hundreds of dollars more a year, and even might not cover your mother fully until 2 years of passed, if you knew better options existed?
Potentially losing underwriting flexibility that multiple carriers offer you is my main gripe with Lincoln Heritage.
While some Lincoln Heritage affiliated agencies will let you partner with multiple companies, most require you to solely sell Lincoln Heritage if you partner with them on their lead program.
What’s the alternative to selling one company?
Choose to represent multiple carriers!
When you’re an independent agent like myself selling final expense, I can pick and choose from multiple companies to find the best product available for my client.
I can shop carriers for more competitive price when necessary, while also potentially offering more flexible underwriting options than just selling one carrier would allow for.
This allows me to maximize the value of coverage offered to my client, and help me sleep better at night, too.
I know my clients are getting a better deal since I’m able to shop multiple final expense carriers.
Potentially Higher Replacement Risk
When you sell a policy that is not competitively priced or has the best underwriting offer, you are at a much higher risk of getting your policy’s replaced.
If a client buys a 2-year waiting period plan from me when she qualifies for first day full coverage elsewhere, how am I going to convince my client to keep my coverage when another agent comes behind me offering a better price or better underwriting terms?
Even if she likes you as her agent, with our clientele on fixed incomes, the decision to switch isn’t personal. It’s business.
Why would she want to keep something I sold her when she now knows a better offer exists?
Remember… when you lose policies to more lapses and replacements, the more chargebacks you experience, meaning you make less money.
While not everything, selling competitively priced final expense products with comprehensive coverage helps lower the chances against replacement risk.
Take it from me. You can bet that many of your clients will visit with other final expense agents, even within 3 to 6 months of your first visit.
The True Value Of The FCGS Program
The biggest selling advantage Lincoln Heritage offers is its Funeral Consumer Guardian Society program.
As mentioned earlier, it’s designed to provide a cost savings to the client in the form of a reduced funeral expense bill.
This added feature helps sell more Lincoln Heritage policies, as the general consensus is funerals are expensive, and getting a better deal is always good.
Not everybody agrees. My friend in the business Anthony Martin of ChoiceMutual.com thinks the FCGS program is a “sales gimmick.”
Here’s what he has to say about the FCGS program:
“The whole FCGS membership and it’s “value” is nothing more than a sales gimmick. It was put in place as a sales tool to convince clients why they should pay a much higher premium for an insurance policy that many other companies offer at a much lower price”
Anthony Martin, President, ChoiceMutual.com
For full disclosure, Anthony Martin is an independent agent like me who sells a multitude of companies. Like me, he does not represent Lincoln Heritage.
Regardless, Anthony is the nation’s top producing final expense agent. In 2019 alone he wrote more than $1,000,000 in final expense business, all by himself with no help.
To better describe this superhuman feat in production, most managers agree that final expense agents who write $200,000 or more in business are top gun producers.
So I think an agent who writes 500% more policies than what’s considered a top final expense producer is worth listening to.
Like Anthony, I don’t think “the juice is worth the squeeze” when it comes to the FCGS program.
Here’s a few short reasons why:
FCGS Planning Benefits Found Elsewhere
You can easily duplicate the funeral planning resource benefits FCGS provides with a free Google Search.
It’s very simple to download documentation to give your clients for listing their final wishes, and keep it on hand for your family to follow, without buying into any sort of program.
Clients May Save Even More Without FCGS And Lincoln Heritage
Despite the alleged average savings of $1800 per funeral and $600 per cremation, I believe having insurance with a more competitively priced company than Lincoln Heritage will save you much more in premium, in addition to providing potentially more coverage.
As an independent agent, it’s rather simple to save my clients $200 to $300 a year on reduced premiums compared to Lincoln Heritage.
Added up over several years, the savings beat out the FCGS savings. Plus, my coverage typically provides more coverage per dollar of premium, meaning it’s likely my clients are also covered for more than what Lincoln Heritage provided.
For example, I have seen clients realize nearly a doubling of their final expense coverage when an agent replaces a Lincoln Heritage policy.
I’ve seen countless policies in the $5,000 range get close to $10,000 in coverage for the same premium.
Think about it. In the above example, that’s a nearly $5,000 net increase in coverage.
Even if your client loses the FCGS savings benefit, isn’t it better to have $5,000 more in benefit than an $1,800 average savings?
Funeral Homes Run A Relationship Business
Since 2011, I’ve sat with more than 3,000 people discussing dying, funeral services, and final expense coverage options.
And what I’ve discovered is that most families entrust their remains to a funeral home they’ve used for generations.
Simply put, our clients work with funeral homes they trust. The funeral home who’s done your client’s family right is the one you’re family will likely use when you pass away.
And good funeral homes will work with each person on their need.
Why? They have a reputation to maintain and there is certainly competition from other funeral homes to worry about.
I’m sure the FCGS program has helped save money on funerals for many of its members. And that’s a good thing!
But my experience is that people form long-term relationships with funeral homes who take good care of their families funeral services.
How To Get The Best Of Both Worlds
Let’s say you disagree with my analysis. You believe the Funeral Consumer Guardian Socity program is a must-have benefit for your clients.
There’s good news! Your clients do not have to buy a Lincoln Heritage plan to get the FCGS program! Instead, they can buy it separately!
While it’s not obvious when you review the FCGS website, if you reach out, they’ll happily enroll you over the phone for monthly cost around the $5 to $8 a month range (not 100% sure of the cost, but know it’s well under $10/month).
Did you know there are similar programs to the FCGS that you can represent as an independent agent?
Legacy Assurance offers a program similar to what FCGS does, helping reduce the costs of funeral and cremation costs. You can learn more about them here.
Who Is David Duford?
As you’ll discover delving into insurance sales, this business is rife with cleverly-hidden bias and unbalanced opinion.
Therefore it is critical to understand the perspective of the educator and know his background.
Even more, you want to vet the agent, agency, or organization giving you their perspective in advance to determine if the opinion is fair or unbalanced.
This is the sole reason why I want to share my background with you so you know exactly my experiences and where I’m coming from.
I’ve had my life insurance since 2011.
And very similarly to Lincoln Heritage’s insurance sales focus, I specialize in helping my clients with affordable final expense burial insurance coverage.
In addition to winning multiple convention awards for being a top producer, I also recruit and coach agents nationally to become experts in:
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- Medicare Advantage, and,
My Experience With Lincoln Heritage
So what’s my personal experience with Lincoln Heritage?
Every week I talk to dozens of agents with varied backgrounds. Many have sold or currently sell insurance with Lincoln Heritage.
From talking with more than 1100 agents since 2013, I have developed a detailed understanding as to how Lincoln Heritage operates, and what its pros and cons are.
More so, as a personal producer, I uncovered hundreds of clients who already had Lincoln Heritage, allowing me to get hands-on experience reviewing their policies.
This gave me a “inside” perspective on how the underwriting, pricing, and sales process works with Lincoln Heritage.
Aren’t I Biased?
In short, the answer is yes… but different from what you probably expect.
I am biased… in favor of the agent.
My prime directive is to help insurance agents succeed, regardless of whether or not they currently work for me.
Make no bones about it; selling insurance is a tough business. Most don’t survive past the first 12 months.
And the last thing you want to become is another statistic!
Let me be clear…
As far as I know and understand how Lincoln Heritage operates, I have never worked with or sold for Lincoln Heritage.
Why not?
Chief among them is that I prefer the “independent agent” model.
That’s where you represent a multitude of insurance carriers instead of only one. More on that later.
But is Lincoln Heritage right for you?
Ultimately, it’s right for some agents, but not for others.
The truth is this. There are successful, high-income earning agents and agencies partnered with Lincoln Heritage.
And your goal is to discover if you believe you can do the same.
More Helpful Resources
Thank you for reading my article on Lincoln Heritage careers.
I do hope it gives you pause to consider whether or not Lincoln Heritage is right for you.
My commitment is to provide perspective, measured opinions, and facts about different insurance opportunities available.
That way you can get the full picture on whether or not an insurance sales organization is a good fit for your career goals.
There’s more resources below if you want to continue your investigation of Lincoln Heritage.
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- There is a YouTube Creator name Christine El that represents Lincoln Heritage. She’s filmed hundreds of videos about her career with Lincoln Heritage and extols the value of working with them. Christine is a super nice lady, and is very helpful to her audience. You can watch her videos here.
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- Final expense trainer Doug Massi gives his perspective on Lincoln Heritage and their pros and cons here.
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- Read Lincoln Heritage career reviews from managers and from Lincoln Heritage agents at Indeed.com, Glassdoor.com, Kununu, and reviewing posts in the Insurance Forum.
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- Information on Lincoln Heritage and product design here.
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- You can learn more about how I recruit agents nationally in all states to sell final expense successfully here. Make sure to check out my Agent Success Stories and the 3 insurance sales books I’ve written.
January 03, 2023
January 03, 2023
January 03, 2023
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