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A small business owner working in her coffee shop.
"business owners smiling outside their flower shop"

Business owner sales strategies

As an insurance professional, if you’re not focusing some of your prospecting efforts on small business owners, you might be missing out on key income opportunities to grow your book. Small business owners need your help to protect the business they’ve worked so hard to build. Explore your opportunities here.

Small business opportunities can mean big benefits for you

Did you know that small businesses in America account for 54% of all sales?* Get to know the small business owner — an untapped market that offers these benefits for you:
Opportunities for more sales
A great referral system in your community
Fast track progress toward awards and recognition
Prospecting for small business owners
We’re here to help you connect with small business owners to create effective continuation strategies using life insurance. Our prospecting resources are a great place to begin. Plus, our conversation starters can help you guide your discussions.
Prosepecting resources
Conversation starters
two flower shop owners reviewing a business continuation offering from Protective

Help ensure business continuity with key person insurance

The value and ongoing operation of a small business may be impacted if a key employee dies. A permanent or term life insurance policy can be purchased by a business owner on one or more employees and provide funds to:
Keep the business moving forward
The policy’s death benefit can be used to keep the business in operation, or close up shop if it can’t continue.
Cover replacement costs
Life insurance proceeds can be used to pay for hiring and training a suitable replacement for the key person.
Provide assurance
Customers and creditors can feel confident that the business and level of service will continue as usual.
Grandfather enjoys working with his son and grandson in the family carpentry business knowing his estate plan will provide for them equally.
Use life insurance to equalize inheritance
When creating an estate plan, it can be a challenge for small business owners to divide assets equally among their heirs — especially for a family business. Life insurance can help provide an option for your clients to treat their heirs equally, while protecting the business they worked so hard to build. Our case study shows how it can work.
Case study

Protect business owners’ interests with buy/sell agreements

Buy/sell agreements can be a beneficial way to ensure the smooth continuation of a small business after a disruptive event, such as an owner’s retirement, death or incapacity. Life insurance is a quick and easy way for businesses to fund one of these three types of buy/sell agreements:
Cross-purchase agreement
Individual co-owners buy a life insurance policy on the lives of each other. Upon the death of an owner, the benefit is paid to the survivor(s) as payment for the deceased partner’s interest in the business. This can be a good option for businesses with fewer than three owners.
Icon Building
Entity purchase agreement
The business pays premiums for individual life insurance policies on each co-owner — becoming both the owner and beneficiary. When an owner dies, the company may purchase their company stock shares with life insurance proceeds. This option works best for C corporations and businesses with several owners.
Risk management strategies
Hybrid agreement
Using the cross-purchase and entity purchase agreements together, businesses can take advantage of the combined features and benefits of both. This can be a good choice for businesses that may be in a growth mode, or simply have unique needs to solve for.

Helpful resources when working with small businesses

When pursuing life insurance strategies with small business owners, use these tools to provide relevant examples and support your conversations about their unique needs.
cover of the Protective small business owner case study
Small business owner case study
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cover of the Protective small business owner fact finder
Small business owner fact finder
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We’re here for you

We’re ready to help you deliver the protection and security your clients deserve. Reach out to us anytime for questions and support, and we’ll get in touch with you as soon as possible.
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* www.sba.gov, Small Business Trends


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