Update News for January 2019 

Here is a quick run-down on what you will find in this bulletin:

• Happy 2019
• January 14, 2018, 12pm EST
  The Zip Code “Land Rush” Begins
  Don’t Miss The Opportunity! 
• The Starting Time is 12pm EST  NOT A MINUTE EARLIER 
  
• Do Some Preparation In Advance
  
• Table Ratings Are Close
• Table Ratings For Web Quotes
• Our Current Plans for 2019

These topics will be dealt with in more detail throughout this bulletin.

 

Happy 2019All of us here at Compulife wish you and your family a very Happy 2019. We see our objective for 2019 as simple, produce a product and service that has a positive impact on your success and profitability. We hope 2019 will be a prosperous year for you and your business. Wishing you the best of health.

January 14, 2019, 12PM EST
The Zip Code “Land Rush” Begins
Don’t Miss The Opportunity!The next important date for subscribers participating at term4sale.com, is January 14, 2019.

Subscribers who purchase additional zip codes from Term4sale, Inc., over and above the LOCAL zip codes purchased as part of a subscription to the Windows PC software, are invoiced for those zip codes on a calendar year basis. Each year a certain number of zip codes, which were previously purchased by subscribers, become available. Here are some of the typical reasons zip codes come back into the market:

• • • 1. Subscribers die
    • 2. Subscribers retire
    • 3. Subscribers quit the business
    • 4. Subscribers stop subscribing
      5. Subscribers cut back on the zip codes they are buying

 

The 2019 renewal invoices for additional zip codes were sent mid-November. Subscribers have until Friday, January 11, 2019, to pay those renewals. If the renewal is not paid on or before that date, the un-paid zip codes are taken out of the new zip code listings which are then published the morning of January 14, 2019.

Leaving the ability to pay until the end for the first full week of January permits subscribers to decide in which tax year they will expense the advertising cost.

If zip codes are not paid by January 11th, the unpaid invoice will be automatically credited from our books and the zip codes will become available to other subscribers.

The Starting Time is 12PM EST
NOT A MINUTE EARLIEREvery year someone is disappointed because someone else beats them to a zip code that they wanted. To keep this fair and equal for all we have a HARD starting date and time to ensure fairness.

IMPORTANT: Do not call or email zip code purchase instructions before 12pm EST on January 14th. If you do your email will be ignored. We will likely be too busy to even respond and tell you that you jumped the gun. If you call early, and you get through, you will be told to call later.

Because the phone lines will likely be busy that day, and a lot of the early part of that week, it is BEST to do your homework in advance and email your instructions for new purchases or changes. Use this emai:

service@compulife.comNOTE: Both Jeremiah and I get emails sent to that email address.

You have two basic options for acquiring new zip codes. You can either ADD zip codes to your current list, or you can trade/exchange zip codes you already have for zip codes you think are better.

Available zip codes (ANY Zip Code with less than 3 agents listed) will be available on a first come, first serve basis. The new list will be published here on January 14th:

Zip Code AnalyzerAny additional zip codes purchased on January 14th must be paid as soon as they are invoiced. The cost of the zip code will be 11 X the monthly fee ($1.50 for the first 75, $2 for zip codes over 75; standard licenses only). Once your new zip codes are added, the remainder of the month of January is free.

NOTE: 75 is the new limit for total “additional zip codes” that are available to personal use Windows PC subscribers. The previous limit was 80. If you currently have 80, you can keep 80 and exchange any of the 80 for a different zip code. If your total of 80 falls below 80 you may not buy back to 80.

Our problem continues to be more demand than supply for zip codes and this new limit is just another effort to cap totals. Further, standard license subscriber are now capped at 300 additional and so the same principal applies if you have over 300. Standard license subscribers can buy additional sub-licenses to avoid the higher $2 charge but the 300 total still applies. We do not want any one subscriber going over 300 additional zip codes; PERIOD.

If you are switching existing zip codes for better zip codes we will need specific instructions. Tell us what zip code you want to add, and which zip codes you want to give up. If you don’t know what zip codes you have, email and ask for a list of those zip codes ASAP.

Do Some Preparation In AdvanceOnce again, you can research zip codes at:

Zip Code AnalyzerIf I was you, I would print a list of zip codes in states/areas that you are interested in, IN ADVANCE of the 14th.

TIP:  You can use the column titles to sort the list of zip codes.

Typically, when I am assisting subscribers in finding great zip codes, I will sort by the 4th column: “Zip Code Income (Millions)”. The number in that column is a result of multiplying column 5 times column 6 (Number of Households times Income Per Household). You will need to click that column heading twice. The first time you click it sorts from smallest number to largest. The second time you click it sorts from largest to smallest.

TIP:  In densely populated, urban areas, increase the “Number of Listed Zip Codes” from the default number of 100. This will enlarge the area of the state that you are looking at.

Once you have the list that you want, print that list. I would then highlight the zip codes that you would really like to get. Once again, make sure that list is done in advance of the 14th.

On the morning of the 14th you will want to replicate the list again, doing the same search and sort. Check your old list with the new list to see if zip codes that previously had 3 subscribers Listed, now have 2 or less. If that happens, and it’s one of the zip codes that you want, fire off your email to:

service@compulife.comTIP:  Don’t wait too long after finding zip codes you want. You can send multiple emails. Remember, first come first served. I promise you, if you wait too long, some zip codes that you want will be gone by the time you ask for them.

Make sure we have your name and phone number in the email. Once we get to you in time order, we will call you and ask for your credit card information.

IMPORTANT:  Compulife keeps no credit card records for subscribers. If we don’t have your credit card number, they can’t be stolen from us. Every purchase by credit card requires that you give us the credit card information again.

Table Ratings Are CloseRolling out the Table Ratings option has taken longer than expected, largely because we have been busy dealing with bugs that have turned up in the new Batch Analyzer. As more and more life insurance companies subscribe to that option, different batch scenarios have turned up different issues that we did not previously encounter. One by one we have been knocking those off and for the past couple of weeks it has been peaceful and quiet. We think we have it completely sorted out and that it is now working quite well.

Table Ratings are tricky because not all companies apply table ratings as simple as most agents think. A typical, simple table rating will apply an additional 25%, 50%, 75%, etc. to a premium. Unfortunately that is not the way it is done for all companies and all products, and building a system that can and will handle all scenarios is much more complicated. Permanent products, and some term products, require that we actually store rate tables for each and every table that the company offers. In those cases there is no percentage added to the premium. The trick for those products is to choose the correct product from multiple product entries. To do this correctly, we have to be able to handle both types of pricing at the same time.

We think that we should have the first roll out of this in January. Once it is ready for you to work with we will introduce a special update to our windows program that that will give those who want to manually download it access to the Table Ratings. The announcement of the “special update” will appear at the top of the regular midmonth update bulletin. Those who want to try it first will be given a special location to do the manual download of the special midmonth update. Once you save and process that update you will be able to try the new Table Rating option. If you then find and report a bug, and are first to report it, we will fix the problem and replace the previous special update with another. The first subscriber to report a bug will receive a 10% coupon (our standard reward for problems reported).

There will also be a number of 10% coupons awarded to customers who are able to coax other life insurance companies to provide the necessary information to Compulife, in order to place their products in to the Table Rated database. We have ONLY been adding companies who have been cooperating with this new option. Not all companies have sent us instructions about their table ratings. Once customers start using the new feature, and identify companies that they want added, we will encourage them to chase those companies to get the information to Compulife. It always works better when our subscribers make those requests, which is why the first table ratings database will have about 10 companies.

Once again, and once it is available, the location of the special midmonth table rating update will be shown at the top of the normal midmonth update notepad. From there you can copy and paste the link that we give to you into your browser. We know that some subscribers are eager to have this new option ASAP, while others rarely do table rated quotes. Therefore, those who read bulletins and want it will be the first to try it. Only after it has settled down, and proves to be working well, will we turn it loose for everyone.

Table Ratings For Web QuotesThe data files from which we do table ratings will be separate from the data files for which we do our routine individual quotes. The reason for this is simple, separate data files will keep the likelihood of confusing products and what is available much simpler.

There is another benefit to keeping these files separate. Those who subscribe to our Internet Engine will be able to use those separate rate tables to set up their own web based tabled rated quotes.

IMPORTANT:  Compulife has decided that we will NOT be providing table rated web quotes in the near future, but we will assist those internet engine customers who want to offer these to understand how our table rating quote system works.

Further, Compulife is willing to provide access to the data file that contains the product percentages for table ratings which will be something that we will give our internet engine customers permission to use. The combination of the product files and table rating percentage file should allow those customers wanting to use our data for this job a relatively easy thing to program. However, the customer will need to do their own programming in order to get this done. The benefit, once the programming is done, is that Compulife’s routine maintenance of these files should make it easy for you to keep your table rating option up-to-date.

Some internet customer already do table ratings using the existing software. For those customers conversion to our files will offer two benefits. First, it should be relatively easy to reprogram. Second, they will have access to product rate files previously not in our software, in particular the permanent products. The ability to access this should happen quickly, about a month after we have introduced the PC version of Table Ratings.

Our Current Plans for 2019At some point Compulife will introduce table ratings into our “Compulife Basic” product but that will only follow the introduction of the Pick 12 option to Compulife Basic. That is the first, and next objective for that web based version of our software. As we have mentioned before, other than Windows PC software, there are just oo many different operating systems competing for market share, for Compulife to chase each one. Long term you either have a Windows PC, the ability to run Windows PC software, or you will have to run Compulife Basic.

When the Pick 12 option is ready for Compulife Basic, that will also mark the introduction of a new version that we will be calling Compulife Basic Plus. Compulife Basic Plus will be sold at a higher price than Compulife Basic, which is currently available for $96 per year. Agents who ONLY buy Compulife Basic will be allowed to upgrade to Basic Plus. Those that don’t want to upgrade will be able to continue to use the existing Compulife Basic which is a bargain at $96 per year.

Subscribers buying the Windows PC version of Compulife continue to receive Compulife Basic for FREE. If you don’t have it, and would like to activate it, just call or email Compulife. Once it is available, Windows PC subscribers will also be upgraded (for FREE) to Compulife Basic Plus. We have no plans to change the prices for our PC product line.

Compulife Basic Plus will not be available until after 2019. There is a lot of work in front of that, and the current order for new work is:

• • Table Ratings in the Windows PC software

• • Upgrade Internet Engine to Introduce Internal Quote Volume Counters

• • Compulife API Web Quote Option

• • Overhaul Of Current Product Data Files

• • Introduction of New PC Version: CQS.EXE

•           Introduction of Compulife Basic Plus

Anyone with questions about any of these upcoming projects can call Bob Barney to discuss: (888) 798-3488. Please don’t email me essay questions, just call. If I’m not in, email me your phone number, I’ll call you.

These planned objectives will easily consume our programming time during 2019 and into 2020. The good news is that once the product data files have been converted, and we have introduced the new CQS.EXE, and upgraded our internet engine to use the new data files, Compulife will be turning it’s full attention to our web based, Compulife Basic software. The long term goal is to have a web based product that does everything our PC based software does.