From Complexity To Clarity: Digital Solutions That Make Annuity Sales Easier For Independent Agents
In the financial institutional space, multi-carrier Annuity Order Entry (AOE) platforms are commonly utilized by wire-houses, clearing firms, and independent broker-dealers. These platforms support end-to-end annuity transactions, including integrated suitability workflows, product selection tools, and DTCC connectivity for seamless premium funding from client brokerage accounts and commission netting to broker-dealers. While some of these solutions have been adapted for use in the independent life brokerage channel, they still fall short in fully addressing the digital point-of-sale needs of independent life and annuity agents.
Today, many agents are selling annuities remotely, but the mobile-first lifestyle of most Americans presents challenges. With clients constantly on the move and relying on smartphones, launching a virtual meeting like Zoom isn’t always practical. While remote collaboration is essential, many tools aren’t fully optimized for mobile use, making it difficult for agents to seamlessly conduct annuity and other insurance or financial service transactions with their clients.
The Reality of Annuity Sales
Total annuity sales posted $432.4 billion in 2024, the third consecutive year of record high annuity sales, per LIMRA. With the backdrop of the best interest rate environment in nearly 20 years, and more than 10,000 baby boomers retiring every day, it’s easy to understand why the annuity market is so hot. Bryan Hodgens, Head of LIMRA Research, puts it best – “Since the pandemic, we have seen a significant rise in consumer interest in investment protection and guaranteed retirement income solutions.” More than 70% of the marketplace is in fixed, indexed, and income annuities, meaning the opportunity for insurance professionals to expand their business and work with a wider swath of clients is rich.
Despite the boom in the annuity markets, it’s estimated that only about 10% of retirees own annuities. This is in the face of research that suggests the average American would be interested in the protection and guarantees afforded by annuities. For example, American Century Investment’s Annual Retirement Survey found that 92% of Americans would be interested in using a portion of their retirement plans to generate guaranteed lifetime income.
The most likely reason for this disconnect? Annuities are seen as complex solutions by advisors and retail clients alike, and carriers can make it difficult to compare different products. It’s difficult to act in your client’s best interest when you can’t easily compare all of the solutions in the marketplace.
Annuity Quoting and eApplication Designed for Independent Agents
There is a multi-carrier eApplication platform that is now supporting Annuities. This system was developed by and offered through BackNine Insurance & Financial Services which is called Quote and Apply. It has allowed agents and their clients to find the best coverage for their dollar in all manners of life insurance, from term life to IUL to long-term care. With their most recent enhancement, Quote and Apply can now help agents to easily find the best lifetime income annuity for each client’s unique case.
As an example, let’s imagine you’re working with a 60-year-old client who plans to retire at age 66 whose only source of guaranteed lifetime income is Social Security. You discover in your meeting that the client has $200,000 eligible for rollover into an annuity. By answering just five questions, you’ll be shown the highest lifetime income solution out of more than 100 different products. You can easily find key details, such as fee rates, liquidity provisions, and surrender schedules, and you can download client brochures or advisor guides. You can also compare the contract to other top options, allowing you to show clients that you’re acting transparently in their best interest with your recommendation.
Financial planners can also use this tool to solve for a client’s income gap—if you know the difference between the client’s expected retirement expenses and their other guaranteed income sources, you can find the most efficient income product for their plan. Once you know your product of choice, you can easily bridge into BackNine’s online order entry portal, allowing you to complete forms digitally and collect signatures electronically. This process saves valuable time, reduces new business errors, and makes writing annuity business much easier. While you may have utilized other quoting and comparison engines, what sets BackNine apart is the ability to solve for all insurable needs in one place. As the first multi-product line consumer-facing quote and application system, Quote and Apply empowers agents and their clients to get quotes in seconds and apply in minutes. The tool is offered free. BackNine’s President of Annuity Sales, Matt Gozdecki, sees Quote and Apply for annuities to get back to the basics, “Study after study shows us that the appetite for guaranteed retirement income amongst Americans is significant, but the insurance industry has unnecessarily complicated that conversation. Quote and Apply lets you take the conversation away from confusing riders, roll up rates, bonuses, and deferral credits, and put the focus back on what matters—protecting lifetime income as efficiently as possible!”
Agent – Client Realtime Collaboration
For insurance advisors, client experience is everything. Most agents pride themselves in building strong relationships, providing tailored advice, and ensuring every form and application is done right the first time. Yet in today’s digital world, many of us are still relying on clunky workflows—emailing PDFs, sending online links, and waiting (sometimes forever) for clients to complete and return forms. It’s time-consuming, error prone, and quite frankly, frustrating. Also, when completing information online like client financial intake forms or filling out an Annuity eApp, it’s difficult to just ask questions over the phone or ask a client to fill it out without collaborative assistance.
There is a simple tool called Kollab that can help agents become more efficient while improving how they engage with clients—no matter where they are. It’s like you are sitting “next to” your client, working together on a form as if you were in the same room—even if they’re miles away. This is real-time collaboration made simple. KollabRT (short for collaboration in real time) is a new browser extension designed to transform how advisors engage with clients. It allows both the advisor and the client to view and complete Web or PDF forms together—live, in real time, from anywhere. You send the client a simple link via text or email, and with one click, they join you in your browser session. Yes, you read that right. Both the agent and their client are looking at the same PDF or Online Webform like an Annuity eApp. They can take turns filling it out, checking for accuracy. If it is a PDF document then the agent and the client can sign and submit it together. Think of it as a shared digital workspace, optimized for agents and their clients. And the best part? It works with whatever system you already use—no need to switch platforms or learn new software.
The agent starts with a phone call to their client. Right from the agent’s laptop, tablet, or smartphone sends the client a link via email or text by clicking on the “K” in their browser. Then with just one click on the link by the client the real-time collaboration begins. Both the agent and client see the same Web form or PDF. They can fill in fields together, pass control back and forth, and walk through each section live.
Originally posted at: Broker World Magazine