SALES AND MARKETING
MDRT CORNER
DI Makes a Difference
A business owner discovers the benefits of disability income insurance after
a catastrophic accident.
Your clients probably think they will
not become disabled, but they could
be wrong as no one is immune to accidents and disease, said Rosemarie Rossetti, Ph.D., during this year’s MDRT
annual meeting in Toronto. Approximately 53 million Americans—
including Rossetti—have a disability.
Rossetti, president of Rossetti Enterprises Inc., a Columbus, Ohio-based speaking,
training and consulting business, speaks about disability
from personal experience. On
her third wedding anniversary
in 1998, a tree fell on her while
she was riding a bicycle, crushing her spinal cord and leaving
her paralyzed from the waist
down. Rossetti uses a wheelchair and is learning to walk
again with crutches.
“I am here today as your advocate,” she told the audience.
“I do not sell disability income
insurance. I am here to give
you another perspective—the consumer’s
perspective. I know from firsthand experience the critical importance of disability income insurance.”
As a motivational speaker, Rossetti
said she often discusses the importance
of disability income (DI) insurance. “My
audiences know where I stand about disability insurance because I encourage
them to buy it. I’m tired of people in my
audiences coming up to me afterwards
to share their stories and to tell me they
don’t have DI. Many of them wish they
had purchased it.”
Rossetti attributes her business success to the income protection her DI insurance policy provides. “You owe it to
your clients to help them [become] successful after a disability hits them,” she
said.
Disability changes everything
When a disability strikes, life changes instantly, she said. For example, Rossetti
lived and ran her business in a two-story
house, much of which could not accommodate a wheelchair. “Imagine what life
would be like living in your home from a
wheelchair,” she said.
She put aside her business for a while
to concentrate on recovery and rehabilitation. Her husband, Mark, a salesman,
lost sales as he helped take care of her.
Eventually they hired a personal care attendant so he could work. But a two-in-come household had dwindled to one
income that was lower than it was before
the accident. Her DI insurance enabled
them to pay bills, make physical accommodations at their house and buy a vehicle with hand controls.
“That’s the reality of having a disability,” Rossetti said. “Your life changes,
your spouse’s life changes, and everyone
around you is affected by your disability.
The income stops, and one person’s disability affects the income of other people
around you who are there to help you.”
But the expenses don’t go away. “Think
about DI insurance from my perspective,” she said. “Realize the potential
power of this product. Realize the disservice that you might be doing now by not
selling more policies.”
Untapped market
Insurance and financial advisors help
people limit risks, and selling them DI
insurance is one way to do that. Still, it
is the most undersold product in the industry, Rossetti said. Few companies
train their advisors to sell DI before they
sell life insurance, although the chance of
incurring a disability is greater than the
