How to Get More Life Insurance Policies Issued (Not Just Written)

Getting it issued IS the close

There’s no money in selling — you only get paid when a life policy is issued and in force. Yet most agents write ten applications and watch only three or four actually issue. They do the whole sales process and end up with pending apps going nowhere.

The difference isn’t selling skill; it’s process. The agents who consistently issue life insurance treat themselves as the shepherd of every application — underwriting won’t do your job for you, and they don’t care whether your policy issues. The belief you have to break: your job is not done when you submit the app. People get busy, get nervous about needles, and ignore calls from companies they don’t recognize. Managing every step is on you.

The 8-step system for 85% issue rates

Run these on every application and the issue rate stops being a mystery:

• Use an underwriting trial close up front: “We don’t know the final rate yet or if you can even get the policy — is there any reason we wouldn’t see if we can get you approved?”
• Get the health interview done immediately — live-transfer to the exam company right after payment; don’t ask if they have time, just do it.
• Check status like a tracking number — morning, after lunch, late afternoon — and speed up medical-record orders yourself.
• Handle ghosting with “Hail Marys” using their real death benefit and beneficiary: “Did you still want to leave $500,000 to [name]?”
• Keep it mysterious — frame everything around “if you get approved and how much,” which motivates faster completion.
• Always take payment — 75% of policies sitting in underwriting with no money never stick. Payment also provides temporary coverage and proves commitment.
• Calculate coverage with L.I.F.E. — Loans, Income replacement, Funeral (~$20K), Education/Everything else — instead of picking a random number.
• Write more policies — with an 85% stick rate, 24–25 apps gets you ~20 issued. It’s a numbers game.

Why payment up front matters most

Of every tactic here, taking payment is the one that moves the issue rate most — no money, no policy, period. It’s also protection that’s already real: one 32-year-old client passed away two weeks into underwriting, and because payment was taken up front on a $39 premium, his fiancée received $250,000. Without payment, she’d have received nothing. Your job is done when the policy is in force and the family is protected — not a step earlier.