Glossary
The terms your manager uses, in one line each
What the terms on your pay plan, your pipeline review, your commission statement and your clients' cover mean, with the formula or rule behind each one.
Terms, A to Z
A
- Activity pointsA score for each sales activity, such as 1 for a call and 3 for a meeting, added up to rank the work before the sale.
- Agency managerA financial advisor who leads a team of advisors, recruits and coaches them, and is paid partly on their business.
- Annualised income (AI)Income for part of a year scaled up to a full year, or on some statements a payment set by the firm's contract.
- ANPAnnualised premium: a new policy's premium expressed as a full year's worth, however the client pays.
- APFOn a life policy, an advance premium facility: premiums paid ahead that the insurer holds and uses as they fall due.
- Appointment settingGetting a prospect to agree to a sales meeting. Each meeting booked is a set.
B
C
- CareShield LifeSingapore's long-term care insurance scheme: monthly cash payouts for life if you develop severe disability.
- Case sizeWhat one closed case is worth to you on average, usually in FYC or first-year premium.
- Cash valueThe savings part of a whole life, endowment or investment-linked policy, paid out if the policy is ended.
- ClosingAsking for the client's decision. In advisor sales, the meeting where you present your recommendation and they decide.
- Conversion ratioHow many tries at one step of selling it takes to get one result at the next, written as 1 in 5 or 20%.
- COTCourt of the Table: MDRT's middle level, at three times the MDRT figure.
- CPF nominationNaming who gets a CPF member's savings when they die, and in what shares. A will can't do it.
- Critical illnessA lump sum paid on diagnosis of a covered illness, if it meets the policy's definition.
E
F
- Fact-findThe information you collect from a client about their finances, family and goals before you advise them.
- Free-look periodAt least 14 days after a new policy arrives to read it and cancel for a refund.
- FYCFirst-year commission: what the insurer pays you on a policy's first-year premium.
- FYPFirst-year premium: what the client pays on a policy in its first year.
H
I
- Ideal customer profileA short description of the customers who buy soonest and stay longest, used to decide who to go after.
- ILPA life policy that combines cover with sub-funds the owner picks, and guarantees no returns.
- Integrated Shield PlanMediShield Life plus a private insurer's extra cover, for higher ward classes or private hospitals.
M
- MDRTThe Million Dollar Round Table: a one-year membership you qualify for on a year's production.
- MediShield LifeSingapore's basic health insurance for large hospital bills, which every Citizen and PR has for life.
- MQL and SQLA marketing qualified lead has shown interest. A sales qualified lead has been checked by sales and is worth a sales conversation.
O
- OpeningThe first meeting with a prospect after the appointment is set, where you agree what they want and start the fact-find.
- OTEOn-target earnings: base pay plus the commission a sales job pays if you hit 100% of quota.
- Override commissionCommission a manager is paid on the business their team's advisors write, on top of their own.
P
- Persistency ratioThe share of policies, or of their premium, still in force a set time after they were sold.
- Personal accidentCover that pays when an accident causes injury, disability or death, and not for illness.
- PipelineEvery prospect between a first contact and a signed case, sorted by the step they've reached.
- Pipeline coverageThe value of your open pipeline divided by the target it has to hit, written as 3x, 4x and so on.
- PledgeThe calls, sets and meetings a rep commits to for the week, worked back from their goal and shared with the team.
- Premium waiverA rider that stops the premiums, and keeps the policy in force, after a covered event.
Q
R
- Ramp timeHow long a new rep takes to sell as much as the rest of the team, often on a lower quota until then.
- RecruitmentFinding, selecting and contracting new financial advisors for an agency, then getting them licensed.
- ReferralA prospect a client or contact introduces to you, usually a friend or relative with the same kind of need.
- RiderAn add-on to a base policy that adds cover or a benefit, for an extra premium.
S
- Sales cadenceA planned run of calls, emails and messages to one prospect, each on a set day.
- Sales KPIA sales number with a target and a date, so you know if you're on pace.
- Sales velocityHow much revenue your pipeline brings in a day, from open deals, deal size, win rate and cycle length.
- SDRSales development representative: the rep who finds and qualifies prospects and books meetings for the closers.
- SPIA line on some advisors' commission statements whose name, basis and rate are set by the firm's contract.
- SPIFFA short-term bonus for selling one product or doing one thing, paid on top of commission until an end date.
- Sum assuredThe amount a policy is written to pay on a covered event such as death, before bonuses, loans or riders.
- Surrender valueWhat a policy pays if its owner ends it before it matures or pays a claim.