It’s no secret that there is a gap between financial services and the younger professionals who are beginning to accumulate assets and wealth.

However, that gap is starting to narrow as financial advisors begin to take notice of millennial clients. The demographic makes up the largest workforce in the country, and as they begin to have children and put down roots, there’s a critical need to protect their families should the unforeseen and unspeakable happen.

That’s where life insurance comes in, but there’s a disconnect between clients’ needs and financial advisors’ priorities.

Financial advisors have historically been hesitant to offer life insurance to their investment clients for two primary reasons.

First, the potential return to compensate the time it takes to go through the life insurance sales process usually isn’t worthwhile. Advisors find that, from beginning to end, the process takes too long and requires too much of their time. Applicants themselves can also be turned off by the process of having to undergo invasive medical tests and provide blood and urine samples.

Second, advisors can be uncomfortable asking clients personal questions about their health and lifestyle.

However, accelerated underwriting, a new development in the life insurance industry, solves both of those problems and will actually make it easy for advisors to sell life insurance, especially to younger clients.

Accelerated underwriting allows financial advisors to sell a policy to clients within seconds of completing the questionnaire. It uses information like motor vehicle records, pharmaceutical records and general information sources like LexisNexis to score the applicant and collect personal data in real time. This advanced pool of data allows for a policy to be generated without the need for an underwriter and/or medical tests.

What kind of data are we talking about? Resources like LexisNexus house a plethora of information about the applicant’s lifestyle, such as cigarette purchases and gym memberships. This detailed information is compiled together into scoring data that allows life insurance companies to make offers to applicants without requiring them to go through the full medical underwriting process.

Accelerated underwriting was designed specifically for younger, healthier consumers, which makes it the perfect tool to build a relationship with millennial clients.

In order to be eligible for accelerated underwriting, individuals must meet certain criteria. For instance, applicants must be under the age of 60, need life insurance that maxes out at $1 million and not have had a parent or sibling die from certain kinds of cancer prior to age 60. Also, the person’s stated blood pressure when asked must be less than 135/85, and they should not have a history of heart disease, cancer, sleep apnea, melanoma, alcohol abuse or drug abuse.

Accelerated underwriting offers reflexive questions and calibrates answers. For example, if a client answers yes to a question about a family history of cancer, more questions might pop up that delve deeper into that potential health issue.

Speeding Up The Timeframe

There are three possible outcomes to the accelerated underwriting process. The first is an immediate decision. Assuming advisors do their due diligence before proceeding with the application and take into account the type of person that accelerated underwriting was designed for, as high as 70 percent of applicants could get an answer after completing a questionnaire. In all, the process usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes, which sometimes can include an immediate interview with a tele-underwriter.

The second outcome is that the person could be eligible for accelerated underwriting, but further review of their application is required before making an offer. That could take a couple days, but it is still faster than a regular application period and does not require any invasive physical examinations or blood and urine tests.

The third outcome is the person does not qualify for accelerated underwriting, so they have to go through the full underwriting process. That might take three to six weeks and requires blood and urine tests, as well as a physical.

Clearly, the first two outcomes will benefit advisors who don’t believe the returns generated from selling a life insurance policy are worth the often-lengthy process that comes along with getting a client coverage. Assuming you pre-screened your client, chances are that you will be able to sell them a policy in less time than it takes to grab lunch from the corner deli.

Avoiding The Tough Questions

But what about the second problem many advisors have, which is that they don’t want to ask medical questions? Accelerated underwriting has a solution for that too!

By utilizing a drop ticket, the advisor asks the client a few basic questions (i.e., name, address and Social Security number) and then turns the client over to a tele-underwriter to handle the rest, either right then and there while the client is in your office or during a scheduled call.

You as the financial advisor have the ability to begin the process and solidify your relationship, but you don’t have to ask questions about the client’s health, beneficiary designations and other sensitive topics.

Of course, involving a tele-underwriter is completely optional, so if the advisor is more comfortable personally guiding the client through the questionnaire, they can certainly handle that solo.

Selling Accelerated Underwriting

We always teach our agents to under-promise and over-deliver on accelerated underwriting. We recommend explaining the process but not promising they will get a policy immediately following the questionnaire.

Even if you pre-screen the client and are confident they will receive a policy quote at the end of the questionnaire, you still want to temper their expectations by saying it’s possible they could skip the blood and urine analysis or doctor’s visit.

However, if they are eligible for accelerated underwriting and end up receiving the policy quote at the end, imagine how appreciative they will be and how it will help strengthen your relationship with a client. This could pay dividends down the road as they accumulate and generate more wealth!

Craig Simms is senior vice president of Vantis Life Insurance Company.