Update News for November 2009

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

• • Compulife On-Line PDA Software Almost Complete

     

     

  • Compulife is NOW an Authorized Web Provider

     

     

  • Get Web Quotes for FREE for 4 Months

     

     

  • Compulife Can Set Up Your First Web Site

     

     

  • Just Another Authorized Web Provider

     

     

  • More No Lapse UL Variations

     

     

  • What’s Next?

     

     

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

Compulife On-Line PDA Software Almost CompleteAs you will know, if you have been reading our past bulletins, Compulife has been working hard on significant improvements to our Internet Quoting engine. As we have already announced, each and every Compulife subscriber will be entitled to a personalized, on-line web quoting version of our software intended for use on their own online PDA.

There are so many new operating systems for all these new PDA/smart phone devices that we have decided to offer quotes on-line which will take care of all mobile PDA’s, no matter what brand or operating system.

Most who have been buying these devices are getting web services to go with them and so our solution is one that will work for all. Therefore, no matter what mobile PDA you have, if it can browse the web you will be able to use it to quote. And remember, unlike the current service that we have for on-line PDA’s, your new PDA quote system will have an Administration Panel that lets you personalize it and include only those companies that you want to quote.

The new PDA quoting service is for your personal use only. It must not be used by others or made available on your web site. To ensure that, we are implementing features to track who is using your PDA quote system. We will be able to monitor the specific PDA’s visiting your PDA quote site, and if more than the allocated number are doing so, we will be notified and your PDA quote site will be shut down. So don’t pass out your personalized address to anyone else.

Once the new PDA service is ready, the current service at www.termcomparisons.cc/blackberry will end.

Compulife is NOW an Authorized Web ProviderIf you want to add quotes to your web site, so that anyone can do quotes on your web site, then you must buy that optional service from one of our authorized web providers.

In that regard we have some good news.

Compulife is now one of those web providers. If you elect to do so, you can get an on-line quote service for your web site directly from Compulife. Compulife is offering the web quoting option for only $99 per year, and that’s quotes anyone can access and use.

That’s right, you can add personalized quotes to your web site for only $99 per year. Click Here for complete details.

You can see some examples of the look and feel of the new and improved quoting software by visiting this page:

Sample On-Line QuotesIMPORTANT: When reviewing the sample web site please note that we have deleted a number of the popular brokerage companies using the administration option. If you order the on-line quote option, you will also have your own personal administration panel where you select those companies that you want to quote on your web site.

Compulife has reduced the number of companies in our Sample On-Line Quote system because we don’t want it used as a cheap alternative to the software which subscribers pay for and support. If you want to set up a web site that includes the companies that you want to quote, then you can do so for only $99 per year (that is the optional cost in addition to your normal subscription to Compulife).

NOTE: The web quoting option is not available to term4sale agent edition subscribers.

The purpose of the Sample Site is for you to see the look, feel and options available. All the companies, products and categories that are in the PC version of Compulife are available for quoting using the internet version.

Get Web Quotes for FREE for 4 MonthsIf you are a current subscriber to Compulife, and have never before had our web quotes on your web site, you can have the option for 4 months for FREE – with no obligation to purchase the service at the end of 4 months. This is a standing offer.

First time trial users of Compulife, who qualify for 4 free months of service, can also add quotes to their web site for FREE for 4 months.

To obtain your 4 months of free quotes for your web site, first complete the application here:

Application for Web Quotesand then call Jeremiah at (800) 798-3488 or email him at jkuhn@compulife.com and tell him you want 4 free months.

A Number of Looks and Styles to Choose FromWhen you visit our Sample On-Line Quotes web page, we have given you some things to play with which will let you see the various looks, styles and options that you can choose for your version of the web quote system.

The first option on the page is a drop down menu where you can choose from multiple templates. These control the look and feel of your comparison results page. This is NOT something that you will let a user do on your web site, it is a choice/decision that you will make for your web site and once you set that it can only be changed by you. Our Sample site is designed as a place where you can play with the various styles available. We expect the number of styles to expand as we move forward. If you don’t see what you like, let us know what it is you need.

The actual selection of the style for your web site will be specified in the “quote.html” page which we will email to you when you request the online term quote option from Compulife. The quote.html page is the first page that a client sees and it is where they enter their birthdate, sex, face amount, etc. That page, which you will have complete control over, will be placed on your server. If you are not able to do that keep reading to learn about our $50 per year quote site web hosting option.

Once the client information is entered, and the “Compare Now” button is clicked, your quote.html page will pass the data to our server at compulife.net which will then use the template that you have specified in the quote.html page. When the results are displayed for your web site visitor they will be in the style that you specified with the companies that you selected.

So once again, the ability to change templates on our Sample site is so you can try the different styles that are available. Once you settle on the style that you like, you specify that in your quote.html page which goes on your site (unless you host that with us – keep reading). If you change your mind later, just edit the quote.html page. Remember, that is your page on your site.

As you review the different styles that we have already created, and if you see something that is close to what you want but not exactly what you want, please give us a call. We will be happy to work with you to add to and extend the list of default styles that are available.

The colors used in the various style pages are actually another option that you will be able to control from your administration page – so color is not the key element to be concerned about. If the colors that you need to use are different, again give us a call and we’ll add those to our color chart.

IMPORTANT: You can only select from the default styles that Compulife offers. While we intend to add to the number of style options, Compulife will NOT be doing any custom styles. If we like a style that you are recommending then we are happy to create it at no charge to you and add it to our list but anyone and everyone using our online system will also have access to that style once it is on that list. If you want a custom style that is unique to you, and you don’t want anyone else to have it, then we suggest that you talk to one of our other providers who may offer the ability for you to customize styles. And if none of our providers can give you what you want, you can always purchase the internet engine to place on your own server. That option will give you complete autonomy and control over the on-line quotes that you are producing.

Request Application or More Info ButtonsIncluded in the new templates are two new features that we have built into the internet engine. These are the “Request Application” or “More Info” buttons. You can read the difference at this webpage:

More Info versus Request ApplicationAs we note: “The Request Application will gather information from the client and email that information to you at the email address that you specify on your control panel.”

If you want to see what the email will look like, simply use a “Request Application” template at the sample site, press the button and fill in the information. Make sure that you enter in your email address. When you send it to us we will turn around and forward it back to you so you can see what you will be getting from YOUR VERSION of the web site.

Administration PanelThe email address(es) are entered and controlled by you at your Administration Panel. Compulife will NOT be getting those emails and we don’t want them. The web link for “More Info” is also entered by you at the Administration Panel and any of this can be changed or modified anytime that you want.

The other thing that is controlled from your Administration Panel are the list of companies that you quote. You can edit/change/modify that list anytime that you want and the changes are updated immediately in the internet software.

Income and Retirement CalculatorsFor a one time $50 charge you can add either or both of our calculators to your web site. The first is the “Income Replacement Calculator” and the second is the “Retirement Calculator”. Both are options on your Compulife program and work the same way.

You can play with the web versions of these calculators which we have sent up on the Sample Web page. Here is that link again:

Sample On-Line QuotesThe calculators should be self explanatory but if you have questions you can give us a call. Both calculators are on our list of future video tutorials which we will be back to creating later in the winter. New Video productions will follow once we have completed adding the on-line PDA quote options which we are now working to wrap up.

Compulife Can Set Up Your First Web SiteOne of the options for online quoting is that Compulife can create a quote web site for those agents who do not already have a web site. We have done some of these with our first beta installations of the new service.

Setting up a second, separate quoting web site works well from some subscribers because their existing site is not easy for them to change or modify. By creating a separate web quoting site, you can then just link your existing web site to your new quoting site.

For the $50 per year Compulife will register a domain name for you (that is included in the $50) and we will set up a site with that domain name. Note: the domain name will be your property.

If you do not have any web site, then for $50 per year you can have a web site that provides a personalized on-line quote system. In the future, should you wish to establish a more significant site using that same domain name, the domain name is YOUR PROPERTY and we are happy to transfer it to you.

Once again, for those who already have a web site, and who buy the basic $99 per year service, you will be sent the client information page which must be added to your existing web site. If you are able to do that, there is no need to pay the extra $50 per year.

If you take advantage of the 4 month free option, the 4 free months does not apply to the $50 new web site option. If you elect to pay the $50, you can still have a 4 free month look at the quote engine itself, and if you do pay the $99 at the end of 4 months, we will stretch the $50 option to match the $99 option (you will in effect get a 4 month bonus on the web site option.

NOTE: All annual fees for online quoting services will be adjusted to come due at the exact same time as the basic subscription to Compulife. So, if you have 6 months left to go on your basic subscription, you will be charged $99 times 50%, and then on renewal will be billed for both the basic subscription and web option at the same time.

Compulife Forms LibraryOne of the options not on the Sample On-Line Quote web page is the on-line Forms Library. That option, which is $120 per year, will only make sense for those using on-line quotes to serve their agents as opposed to consumer. If you want to see a sample of that, you will need to give us a call. We keep a copy of that at a hidden location.

For a complete list of all the on-line quoting options from Compulife, and a further description of those options, click on the following link:

How to put Instant Life Quotes on Your WebsiteJust Another Authorized Web ProviderThe fact that Compulife is now doing our own web providing does that not change the relationship that Compulife has with our existing web providers. If you are already using Compulife’s web quoting engine through an existing web provider, that relationship continues as it did before. We think our web providers are doing a great job and we would not have established a relationship with them otherwise.

Further, all Compulife web providers, and any purchasers of our internet engine, have access to ALL the templates, options and features that Compulife is implementing in conjunction with our own web quoting service and our new and improved internet engine. Therefore, if you are already using Compulife’s web quote system with one of our providers, we would encourage you to remain happy with your current provider. Remember, at the end of the day it is still Compulife technology that is powering those sites.

On the other hand, if you are a subscriber and you are not already using Compulife through one of our providers on your website, you can get a 4 month free subscription completing the application here:

Application for Web Quotesand then call Jeremiah at (800) 798-3488 or email him at jkuhn@compulife.com and tell him you want 4 free months.

Trial users of Compulife, who qualify for the 4 free month subscription, are now able to get 4 months of on-line quotes for free as part of that deal. That is why we are offering the 4 free months to any existing subscriber who is not already using the web quoting engine now.

More No Lapse UL VariationsDuring September, as promised in our last bulletin, Compulife added a number of new no lapse UL categories to our software. Here is what we told you in the midmonth bulletin:

• • 6. New Categories Added

September 24th – Our thanks to West Coast and Protective Life who met our challenge to provide no lapse UL premiums for a “to age 65, 70 and 75” scenario. We said that if we got such rates, we would move forward and add “to age 100” and “to age 105” categories.

But West Coast and Protective went above and beyond the call of duty and provided us with a complete range of additional level coverage options in between and above. We have responded by adding all of them to our categories. Here is the complete list of new categories.

• • • • Age 80 Level Guaranteed

 

• • • • Age 85 Level Guaranteed

 

• • • • Age 90 Level Guaranteed

 

• • • • Age 95 Level Guaranteed

 

• • • • Age 100 Level Guaranteed

 

• • • • Age 105 Level Guaranteed

 

• • • • Age 110 Level Guaranteed

You will notice in the category list, these all follow the term categories:

• • • • Age 65 Level Guaranteed

 

• • • • Age 70 Level Guaranteed

 

• • • • Age 75 Level Guaranteed

The reason is quite simple. It is possible for your client to outlive the coverage, as the guaranteed premium/coverage ends at the age specified. Policies in the new categories do NOT become paid up at the age specified, they effectively lapse – or at least the guarantee does. So if you sell the age 90 no lapse variation, the guaranteed premium/coverage is gone at 90. If your client is still alive, the policy is over, or will cost a great deal more.

If you are selling these policies to your clients, speculating that your client WILL die before the benefit is paid, then your speculation may backfire. The only way certain to ensure that your client is going to have guaranteed coverage for life, is to go to age 121. And it is surprising how many 121 plans are highly competitive when you select the “pay to 100” option.

Having said all that, premiums are clearly less expensive for ages 100 and 105 and it appears a number of agents, and a number of companies, are recommending these premium/guarantee solutions. While we don’t think it is good idea to speculate about how long you may live (as an outside number), it is not our place to do anything other than warn that your mileage (or in this case mortality) may vary.

And now that we have introduced these new categories, we are more than happy to work with other companies to get their no lapse UL products into those categories.

As I like to say to companies:

“What part of free advertising don’t you understand?”And in case you didn’t know, Compulife does not charge life companies to add their products to our system. The only time a life company pays Compulife anything is if they subscribe – just like any agency.

And on a final note, Nationwide Life had also given us rates to age 100 and those are in that new category.

What’s Next?Once our work on the web engines and PDA/Phone software is complete, we will be turning our attention to some important maintenance work that is needed to the data entry systems. Those programs have not been updated for quite some time, and some need to be converted to take advantage of the newer programming compilers that we have been using for the Windows software that we already distribute to you. Our goal is to make it easier to program future software, which will ensure that we can roll out changes and improvements more efficiently.

Further, having reviewed where we are heading over the next few years, and the changes that we would like to be able to make in the future, we have decided to stop and do a much more extensive overhaul than simply changing our data entry software. We have determine that we would also like to implement a better data storage structure that will make maintenance easier on both a data entry basis, as well as a programming basis.

To achieve our goals in this regard, we will be spending a fair bit of time reviewing our new data storage needs, and then building conversion software that will convert our existing data files into our new data file structure. Once we have done that, we will then introducing new comparison software that does exactly what it does now, but which derives its results from the new data structure. In other words, you will end up with a new program that does exactly what the old program did/does.

Once this first stage is completed, we will have both old program and old data, with new program and new data. Moving forward we will use the old data entry systems to maintain the old version, then converting old data to the new data forms for general distribution.

The next stage is to create the new data entry systems that talk to the new data format. Once we are satisfied that the new data entry system give us everything that we have now, we will then switch to the new data structure alone. We will only do this once we have thoroughly tested the new software to ensure it gives us no problems in maintaining the date. This may take several months. As far as the part you use, by the time we make that transition, you will have been using the new software for several months.

The point of sharing this with you is that the process will be quite lengthy and so from this fall throughout most of 2009, you will not be seeing many changes and improvements to the software that you use, even though the underlying foundation will be going through a massive change. Once the foundation has been reconstructed, and all the tools to work on the foundation have been built, the program will be in a position to make some substantial moves forward.

Think of it as transplant surgery, where you need to keep the patient alive and well, at the same time as you are swapping out the organs.