How did you come up with the idea for PinkPowerLadies.com?
KG: I have been in the voluntary group benefits business for quite some time and always really wanted more of an easier way to enroll people. It always seemed to be cumbersome and difficult, so after some research I came across Cary. We partnered and put together the online enrollment platform in the summer of 2011 with the concept that we wanted to reach out to brokers. I really believe in cancer and critical illness policies and what they do. I've seen them work over and over in the group benefit market.
What would you say to brokers that want to add this to their portfolio?
KG: We give brokers an easy way to promote cancer and critical illness policies to their clients, but then they can also take it a step further and do more for the community. Now, more than ever, people are going to be looking toward their broker as their adviser and this is yet another way [to help them] advise.
How does the organization help advisers give back?
KG: You can't gift commissions for breast cancer awareness or donate in that way, so we need to do something else which is [how the] second part of Pink Power Ladies came to be. We get together to do walks and other sorts of community programs. We did this to help promote wellness and the importance of having screenings done.
CR: Community outreach is such a big part of Pink Power Ladies; they want to be involved in all the events and they want other brokers to be involved.
The organization is starting chapters throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. Where else?
KG: As a national broker we have the ability to branch out coast-to-coast. . . . We want to ultimately have chapters in every state, so we're looking for chapter representatives. The Minneapolis chapter is forming right now.
CR: Ft. Lauderdale, Miami [and] Palm Beach [have chapters]. Anyone that wants to start their own chapter . . . is allowed, they just have to be a licensed agent in the state.
Let's focus on the cancer policy. How is it different from others?
CR: The insurance policy pays a lump sum of cash directly to the customer above and beyond any other type of insurance that they have. [The money can be used] for them to pay their bills: mortgage, car, electricity; the money is there for them to try experimental treatment or to travel and pay for lodging. We're helping family members of people that have been diagnosed with cancer and that have experienced what really happens when you have cancer. Brokers need to be educated just as much as the consumer. This is a pre-cancerous product. [Or] if you're 10 years cancer-free you're pretty much guaranteed issue. . . . There are success stories where customers have gotten the money and were able to get special treatments that they didn't have the finances [for] before and they actually saved a few peoples' lives that I personally know - about four people received a shot that was $8,000 or $12,000 that their insurance wouldn't cover and because they got this it prolonged their life.
How do the Pink Power Lady chapters communicate and navigate the Web platform?
KG: We have a conference call every week [with the chapters] just to touch base with people around the country. Local chapters have their own meetings and we'll be posting that information online. We have weekly training [Web seminars], because each Pink Power Lady has their own enrollment platform for them to learn about how it works, how to enroll, digital signatures, the back end of the program, CRM program, and it can track leads for agencies it can track agents. There are no dues at this time.
