Can a Commodity Become a Concept in the Consumer’s Mind?
“When a product becomes indistinguishable from others like it and consumers buy on price alone, it becomes a commodity.”
The tiny market share captured by immediate annuities has been the subject of numerous articles, academic papers and countless meetings within insurance companies. Even an informative interview at this blog http://davidmacchiablog.com/?p=26.
Many reasons for the underutilization of this valuable product have been offered. Here’s my own take on why the immediate annuity continues to languish: no emotional context has been attached to it in the minds of both advisors and consumers.
Over the years I’ve too often heard a SPIA described as “a commodity.” I’ve been told that there’s no viable strategy to present a SPIA in a needs-based or conceptual manner. Well, let me prove that particular conventional wisdom wrong.
Take a look at this 3-year old multimedia presentation on SPIAs created by Wealth2k. After watching the presentation let me know if your own view on how effectively “commodities” can be expressed to consumers has been transformed. See the presentation at http://www.wealth2k.com/SalesPresentations/flash_assets/spia_05.htm.
©Copyright 2007 David A. Macchia. All rights reserved.