September 1, 2010 was the deadline for Life insurance companies to ensure that their Unit-Linked insurance policies (ULIPs) are compliant with the new norms announced by the regulator, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).
The new policy structure includes limitation on margin, a five year lock in period, Life cover of at least seven to 10 times the value of the First Year Premium on the policy, a 4.5 per cent guaranteed return in the case of a Pension policy, lower discontinuance charges, among others. Over 60 new ULIPs have been cleared by IRDA and slowly companies are launching them.

The view that marketing or selling is misrepresentation is a widespread one. It is a burden that the profession has to bear and its members have to overcome before they meet with success.
However, the customer has rights. The law has to guarantee and protect them. And the Government has to help uphold them.
In fact, only if this entire system works to the satisfaction of the customer will it be sustainable. And only then can the seller, sell, says K Nitya Kalyani in this instalment of the Sales Skills series.

Many critical outcomes depend on successful and sustained insurance selling. From financial security of a society to investments for business and for public infrastructure, they all depend on the ‘yes’ that some insurance agent, somewhere in the country, manages to get from his customer after much effort. What does this success depend on asks K Nitya Kalyani.

For selling insurance, first comes trust, and then comes knowledge. Supporting                       and underwriting these two is a strong system of regulation. Today, customer confidence is based on the level of knowledge and ethics of the seller and this has been repeatedly driven home in countless insurance training sessions and [...]