Long-term Care Insurance Sales Playbook: Strategies & Scripts for Agents
To sell long-term-care insurance, agents must effectively address the financial concerns, motivations and care expectations of their prospect.
We asked three financial professionals with extensive experience to share conversations and strategies that agents can use to close a sale. We’ve used their sales wisdom to create the Long-term Care Insurance Sales Playbook, which provides sales strategies for four common demographic groups:
- 45-year-old female
- 50-year-old and a 56-year-old couple wishing to buy LTCI together
- 65-year-old retiree
- 70-year-old grandparent interested in LTCI
The experts contributing to the Long-term Care Insurance Sales Playbook include:
- Tom Riekse, managing director of LTCI Partners LLC
- Gabe Yoder, Long-Term Care Marketing for Nationwide
- Craig Roers, head of marketing at Newman Long Term Care, a Thrivent Company
Key Motivators & Scripted Openers
GROUP 1: 45-YEAR-OLD FEMALE
Conversation Priority: Education + Empowerment
Women at 45 are early in retirement planning and often misunderstand what Medicare covers. Many discover LTC needs only through:
- Family caregiving experience
- Workplace benefit offerings
- Financial-planning discussions
Your Goal
Educate, normalize planning early, and connect LTC with control, independence, and affordability.
Suggested Conversation Flow
- Start with the Motivation
Ask:
- “What motivated you to explore long-term care planning today?”
This identifies whether the driver is family experience, work benefits, or retirement planning.
- Clarify Misconceptions
Reinforce:
- Medicare does not cover long-term care.
- Costs surprise almost everyone—even those exposed through family caregiving.
- Use Real-Life Framing
Talking points:
- Women are more likely to be both caregivers and eventual care recipients.
- Early planning ≠ committing to a big policy; it’s simply locking in health and lower premiums.
- Demonstrate Value with Targeted Questions
Use the Roers questions:
- “Is there longevity in your family?”
- “Would you agree that living longer increases the chance of needing some assistance?”
- “How would a sudden care need—now or decades from now—affect your savings?”
- “What are your values around independence and family involvement in your care?”
- Practical Close
Offer the “start small” strategy:
“If this feels too far away, we can secure affordable starter coverage now while your health and age work in your favor—and you can add to it later.”
Quick Agent Tips
- Lead with education, not urgency.
- Use caregiver stories; they resonate strongly.
- Emphasize control and future flexibility, not fear.
- Show how workplace riders compare with individual LTCI plans.
GROUP 2: COUPLE, BUYING LTCI TOGETHER
Conversation Priority: Shared Goals + Protecting Each Other
This is the LTCI “sweet spot”:
- Good health
- Approaching retirement
- Thinking about aging parents and legacy
- Cost-effective underwriting
Suggested Conversation Flow
- Identify the “Driver” Spouse
Ask:
- “Who first brought up the idea of planning for long-term care?”
Often the female spouse drives the discussion—verify without assuming.
- Connect to Life Stage
Use:
- “Now that your kids are nearly independent, many couples start planning the next phase—how they want care handled later.”
- Explore Future Care Preferences
Ask:
- “If one of you needed help, what would your hopes be—care at home or in a community?”
- “Would you want to act as the hands-on caregiver or more as a care manager?”
- Bring Parents and Friends into the Conversation
Roers insight:
- “How are your parents doing?”
- “Have you seen friends or coworkers rearrange their lives to care for someone?”
These open powerful emotional doors.
- Highlight Planning Advantages for Couples
Talking points:
- Shared-care riders
- Joint policies with one shared pool
- Discounts for couples
- Even modest coverage for one spouse reduces cost for the other
- Protecting caregiver health and retirement assets
- Introduce Creative Solutions
From Riekse:
- Joint LTCI designs (OneAmerica, Nationwide, NGL)
- “Performance” products (indexed/variable life with LTC benefits)
- Self-funding strategies paired with LTC leverage
Quick Agent Tips
- Use a team-based framing: “Protecting each other.”
- Show how one spouse’s care need impacts the other’s health and income planning.
- Emphasize discounts and the 50% chance one spouse will reach age 93.
- Use shared-care and linked policies to dramatize leverage.
GROUP 3: 65-YEAR-OLD RETIREE
Conversation Priority: Asset Protection + Retirement Stability
At 65, LTCI is more expensive—but still doable. Many retirees wrongly assume Medicare covers LTC.
Suggested Conversation Flow
- Tie LTC Directly to Medicare & Retirement Security
From Riekse:
- Explain what Medicare doesn’t pay for.
- Introduce short-term care plans if underwriting becomes an issue.
- Evaluate the Financial Impact of Needing Care
Roers approach:
- “If you needed $6,000–$9,000 per month for care, where would that come from?”
- “Which assets would you use first?”
- “Have you considered the tax implications of liquidating them?”
- Compare Self-Funding vs. Insurance Leverage
Ask:
- “Do you expect your investments to consistently outperform the leverage LTCI provides?”
This reframes LTCI as smart financial engineering, not an added expense.
- Emphasize Flexibility
Yoder notes this group values:
- Staying at home
- Understanding care likelihood
- Linked-benefit policies (LTC + death benefit)
- Show How LTCI Preserves Independence
Reinforce:
- LTCI supports staying in preferred settings
- Protects surviving spouse from financial strain
- Provides predictable costs vs. disruptive withdrawals
Quick Agent Tips
- Use numbers and scenarios; this group responds to data.
- Highlight Medicare misconceptions.
- Compare withdrawal risk vs. LTCI leverage.
- Present linked-benefit solutions as versatile and practical.
GROUP 4: 70-YEAR-OLD GRANDPARENT
Conversation Priority: Legacy, Family Protection & Independence
Many people at 70 think LTCI is “too late” or unaffordable—but specialized products exist.
Suggested Conversation Flow
- Validate Their Concern
Start with:
- “Many people your age think LTCI might be out of reach. But newer products are designed specifically for this stage.”
- Connect to Legacy and Family Burden
How to frame the issue:
- Emphasize avoiding burden on children or grandchildren
- Show how LTCI prevents difficult caregiving decisions
- Position coverage as a gift to family
- Protect Financial Goals
Connect with questions:
- “Are you hoping to leave an inheritance?”
- “How might a long-term care event impact those goals?”
- Reframe What ‘Long-Term Care’ Means
Clarify:
- It often means help with bathing, dressing, or mobility—not being bedridden.
- It can support independence, not take it away.
- Introduce Product Solutions for Age 70+
- Short-term care plans
- Annuity-LTC hybrids (2–3x leverage on single premium)
- Tax-free LTC benefits via Pension Protection Act rules
- Ability to fund with cash or existing annuities past surrender period
- Use Illustrative Examples
- Active retiree moved to assisted living for arthritis yet remained highly engaged thanks to LTCI.
- Use similar narratives to connect LTCI to autonomy, dignity, and life purpose.
Quick Agent Tips
- Lead with family legacy and reducing burden.
- Offer simplified-underwriting options.
- Reinforce independence, not decline.
- Use annuity-LTC leverage to show financial efficiency.
Please let us know what you think of the Long-term Care Insurance Sales Playbook at editor@innemail.com
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