NAILBA Perspectives - Spring 2018 - 24

life happens

and "we never thought this would
happen to us." But as we know,
life happens.
This Can Change Your Agency
This program also has the power to
change your agency. Through this
program, a company or agency can
choose to sponsor a scholarship
recipient, and then put the power
of their story to work in their business. By having the staff choose
the scholarship recipient (automated and managed by Life Happens, including finding a local student) they become invested in the
student. Many times the agency
has the student come to speak with
staff or send a video. Their story
can also be used in client outreach
and prospecting.
I'd like to share an example of an
agency that chose to fund a scholarship for Tony O'Halleran and how
it's changed both Tony's life and
those who work at this agency.
Tony lost his mother tragically at
the age of 7, and while his maternal grandparents tried to raise Tony
and his brother, they just couldn't
afford to do it-there had been
no life insurance-and the boys
were put up for adoption. If you'd
like to see his full story, you can
watch his video application at
www.lifehappens.org/ohalleran.

24 perspectives SPRING 2018

Below is an excerpt from an
email the client relationship manager at the agency sent to staff:
"Tony has come a long way since
his visit to our office last summer.
Please see his email update and prepare your tissues-it's very heartwarming! Please let this email serve
as a reminder of how important our
roles are in the lives of our clients;
let it inspire you to practice empathy
and display ownership when a case
gets tough. Tony's message should
create within you a sense of pride
for the significant role we play in the
smart financial planning of hundreds
of thousands of families, as well as
the opportunities we have to help
the loved ones who weren't fortunate
to receive life insurance proceeds.
Thank you all for your dedication!"
That is powerful. But even
more powerful is how this scholarship helped Tony. When I read his
update, I knew I wanted to share it
with you, too:
"I am emailing you to give some
insight of what I have been working hard on and how your generous
support has opened more opportunities for me. I'd like to emphasize
again that your scholarship has given me the ability to focus on my studies and career without worrying about
my finances.
"I am currently in Singapore for
this semester taking 2 CS and 3 math

Right-Sized for Your Agency
Life Happens powerful online marketing platform is now right-sized for
your agency! Life Happens Pro Agency gives you all the benefits and
resources of Life Happens Pro-from branding and personalization of
resources to drip email campaign capabilities to social-media scheduling-with the benefit of it "fitting" your exact needs. With it you get:
■■ The ability to buy discounted licenses
■■ Transparent pricing-drag your cursor and select the number of licenses, select monthly vs. annual, and see the price immediately
■■ Ease of adding or removing licenses or upgrade subscriptions
■■ Reporting capabilities that show what your producers are using, and more!
Learn more at www.LifeHappensPro.org/Agency
courses at Nanyang Technological
University-one of the top schools in
the world for engineering/computer
science. Being in Singapore gives me
access to a total new set of smart professors, students and employers that
I hope will further my success.
"I am not sure if you remember about my goals after graduating
school. I said that I hope to work at a
big tech company then perhaps leave
and start up something my own. Well
I try to keep my word and I am excited to tell you that I'll be interning at
Amazon this summer 2018. I start on
June 19th, so right after I come back
from Singapore I'll be going straight
to Amazon. Most of their interns get
return offers as full time and I make
sure that I will get that return offer.
"Can you please share this email
with others at [the agency] as I want
them to see that all of their support
has not been in vain. You all have
no idea what an impact you have
made on me. Meeting you guys has
given me more drive to work harder
because I picture all of you behind
me wanting me to succeed. Thank
you again for all you have done for
me and I hope we keep in touch."
Wow. Those last couple of sentences show how we touch lives
every single day-something that
we can often lose sight of in the
day-to-day work of applications and
emails and phone calls.

If you'd like to explore sponsoring a scholarship for your agency,
please reach out to Andrea Englert
at Life Happens at aenglert@
lifehappens.org, who oversees this
incredible program. Even if you
don't sponsor a scholarship, you
can still take advantage of these
powerful stories through all the
Life Lessons resources that Life
Happens creates, including "In
Their Own Words" videos and flyers, quote graphics for marketing outreach or social media, and
so much more. See the box for
more information.
Storytelling may be a buzzword
these days in the world of marketing and social media, but for the
work that we do, it's really the lifeblood. We help families avoid the
devastation that comes from that
"one catastrophic event." And
that's something we can be very
proud of. I'd love to hear how you're
using Life Lessons or other Life
Happens programs.
Robert N. Garneau, CLU, ChFC, is
chair of Life Happens. A Life and
Qualifying member of MDRT, he is
in his 41st year in the life insurance
Industry. He has served as state
president of NAIFA-New Hampshire
and the New Hampshire Society of
Financial Services Professionals. He
resides in Manchester, N.H.

http://www.LifeHappensPro.org/Agency http://www.lifehappens.org/ohalleran

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NAILBA Perspectives - Spring 2018