“Life insurance is really a women’s issue,” a friend of mine who sells life insurance said to me recently. My puzzled look invited him to continue.
“If you think about it, women tend to live longer than men. What happens when a husband or father dies? What happens to the wife and her children?”
Good points, I thought. He continued.
“All too often, the conversation about life insurance that needs to take place has not taken place. The husband assumes one thing, the wife another, and because they haven’t discussed life insurance honestly and openly she loses out after he’s gone.”
Instead, my friend helps couples have the right conversation. He skillfully addresses husband and wife individually to get at the root of different viewpoints, needs, and assumptions. As a result, I imagine he’s become quite the marriage counselor! More importantly, he has prevented difficult outcomes from occurring.
As a historian, and even as someone whose mother is now widowed and in her 80s, I have read too many stories about how financial decisions made at various points in a woman’s life profoundly impacted her life later on – and not for the better. Too often, women abdicate responsibility for their own financial welfare by not asking questions, assuming they will be taken care of and that “everything is fine.”
My friend is doing very important work, and I hope his clients listen to him!
Our conversation also made me think about how he could find more women clients, and my thoughts naturally turned to women’s history. Here is a PERFECT example of how a professional service provider who wants to reach women can do so by finding ways to support women’s history.
He could set this in motion as easily as wishing his existing female clients a Happy National Women’s History Month (March) in some way, or offering a free 15-minute consultation to new clients. My friend (obviously a man) could be the most charming person at any networking event he attends during March by handing out a single flower to all the women there for Women’s History Month, or by making a donation to a women’s history-related site or project and sending out a press release. He could sponsor a women’s history talk, or invite someone to speak at his place of business where he could host a small “get to know us” reception.
See how easy this can be – for a very small investment?
What about your business? Do you have a special approach to women? This could work for you as well! Let’s brainstorm together!
