Branding and Trust (2)

An agency manager who has worked for two decades in a large international life insurance company told me:

"I know that the products of my company give a poorer yield to my customers compared to other products available in the market. In many cases, the difference can be up to 20% of the projected maturity amount.

However, I am able to sell my products because I can find customers who are not aware about the difference, which happens most of the time. The customers buy my life insurance products because they trust the international brand name of my company.

If the customer knows about the difference, I can still convince some of them to buy from me, because they trust an international name better.

I do lose a small number of cases from customers who know, but there are so many customers who are ignorant or will pay more for the brand name. I ask them - can you be sure that the competitor company will still be around in 30 years time?

It is easy for me to convince the young people, because they can be easily swayed by the big international brand name".

My view
Two years ago, when AIG went bankrupt and had to be bailed out by the US government, several AIA policyholders panicked and asked for my advice. Are their life time savings with AIA safe? I told them that AIA has a separate fund in Singapore and their money is safe.

Lesson: It is important for consumers to avoid paying a high cost for an international brand name because they can also get into trouble. Why are paying more and still not get the peace of mind?

Read this letter sent by a parent to the son:
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=205

Read my book on financial planning (www.tankinlian.com/ishop) and learn a better way to save for your own future.