The Tale of My First Death Benefit Delivery

They say you never forget your first:

Your first Love, your first kiss, the first time you get behind the wheel of a car, and for a life insurance agent, your first death benefit cheque delivery. 

I have been licensed as a Life Insurance and Health Benefits Advisor since 2006. In all this time I had yet to deliver my first benefit to a client or their beneficiaries/estate. Many advisors were surprised when I would mention this, especially considering one colleague received a call from the estate of his client within one week of being licensed and qualified to sell insurance. 

I would ask other advisors what it was like to deliver their first benefit and, in particular, the death benefit. How did they prepare? What did they say to the beneficiaries or family members? 

I eventually grew anxious at the thought of having to deliver my first death benefit cheque to a client’s beneficiary. My insurance business was growing and clients were getting older. I sought out seminars that would discuss this part of the process, but I couldn’t find any to attend. Finally, I attended a presentation hosted by an advisor at Desjardins Alberta (who is no longer with us as he recently passed away) and his special guest speaker. 

His guest speaker talked about loss, death, grief, what to say and what not to say, and things to do that demonstrate support for the grieving person. She used the example of her son Jordon passing away and I remember how deeply impacted I was by her shared story. I purchased several copies of her book—The Little Black Funeral Dress—in the hopes that I could share this with clients who were working through grief. I used it as a tool to help me prepare for the day when I would have to deliver my first critical illness, disability or the death benefit cheque. 

Even still, I’m not sure anything can fully prepare an agent for their first time. Words that came to mind as I envisioned the event included: nervousness, fear, sadness, and apprehension. Shock was not a word that I would have used, nor thought that I would have felt. After all, as life insurance agents, this is what we do: sell life insurance policies to clients. Our goal is to help our clients prepare for navigating financial risk throughout a variety of potential situations and occurrences that may come to pass. At the same time, we certainly are not facilitating life insurance in the hopes that someday we will be delivering the cheque. 

But pure, mind-numbing, body-numbing shock is exactly what I felt when I had to help my now deceased client’s beneficiary make a claim—thereby delivering my first death benefit. 

In some rather sick twist of fate, the first death benefit I was responsible for was in fact that of my own sister’s policy. 

What could I say to the beneficiary that would help? Where would I start? All my “compassionate” knowledge went out the front door. 

I did what my deceased sister would have expected me to do. I went on autopilot and just got ‘er done—I managed and confirmed the digital/electronic transfer of the death benefit proceeds to the beneficiary. And although the amount was sufficient, from the bottom of my heart I stated directly to the beneficiary: “I wish it was more.” (Bloody tax…)

This is certainly at the top of my list for the saddest thing I have had to do in my career. But now I know how important we are as insurance agents. Now I believe in what I do more than I have ever before.