Long-Term Care Insurance Pioneer Lays Out Path for Bold Growth of His Industry

KIRKLAND, Wash., May 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In the long-term care insurance (LTCi) sales field, business has been pretty flat for the past few years. But that can change dramatically "if we're willing to reinvent ourselves," said Cameron Truesdell in a keynote speech at the 2011 National LTCi Producers Summit, held in Las Vegas in April. The Summit is the nation's premier long-term care insurance sales conference. Truesdell, a founder of today's LTCi industry, is CEO of LTC Financial Partners LLC (LTCFP), one of America's most experienced long-term care insurance agencies.

Speaking before hundreds of America's most successful LTCi agents, Truesdell painted a vision of dramatically higher sales and commission income. Currently, in a good year, an experienced agent could expect to write from 50 to 150 policies, Truesdell said. But there was a new way to proceed, he said, that could produce about 1,000 policies a year -- or about ten times the volume. The new way involves a shift in focus from the consumer to the workplace.

Traditionally LTCi sales have been "over the kitchen table," to one person or couple at a time. For demographic, political, and economic reasons, now's the time to shift to the executive office or conference room, Truesdell asserted. Why? He pointed to these facts:

• Today there are 25 million caregivers in the United States, most of them relatives of the person needing care.
• 36% of these caregivers are between 51 and 64, "prime working years."
• 47% of these are employed and distracted from job focus by concerns about the loved one at home.
• 18% of the 51 to 64 year-old caregivers have had to quit their jobs to provide care.

"This has a huge impact on employers," Truesdell said. He didn't need to add that the impact was unnecessary if the affected individuals were covered by long-term care insurance, because money would be available to pay for professional caregivers.

This problem for business "offers us an enormous opportunity," Truesdell said. By shifting their prime focus from the consumer to the worksite, agents could not only help improve the U.S. economy but also multiply their own incomes many-fold, through large-group sales versus one-at-a-time sales.

A big aid to the worksite-sales strategy will be the CLASS Act, the upcoming public option for long-term care insurance, Truesdell predicted. "It will force human resources people and benefit brokers to at least evaluate their long-term care options," he said. Of the 5.7 million U.S. companies, only about 15,000 -- far less than one percent -- now offer long-term care benefits, he said. "How's that for opportunity?"

Truesdell's organization has launched the Worksite Academy to bridge the gap between companies and LTCi agents, and to train agents in the worksite-sales approach. Agents and agencies wishing to join forces with LTCFP will find more information at http://web.ltcfp.com/ltcfp/consumer.aspx. A video recording of Truesdell's address is available at http://www.vimeo.com/23163013.

The company is a co-founder and sponsor of the "3 in 4 Need More" campaign, which seeks to multiply the number of Americans protected by long-term care planning.

PHOTO 72dpi: Send2PressNewswire.com/image/11-0518-camtrusd_72dpi.jpg

Caption: LTC Financial Partners CEO Cameron Truesdell.

This release was issued on behalf of the above organization by Send2Press(R), a unit of Neotrope(R). http://www.Send2Press.com

SOURCE LTC Financial Partners LLC