Corrected: Changed to fixed universal life insurance, not fixed annuities, throughout piece.

The Hartford is hoping to parlay its success at selling fixed universal life insurance through banks and wirehouses to the independent agent distribution channel.

Bob Primmer

Within two years, the company would like to see more than half of its life insurance business being written through the independent agent channel, said the initiative’s leader, Bob Primmer, senior vice president of independent distribution and marketing for The Hartford.

The shift to the independent agent channel comes after The Hartford realized the growth of fixed universal life policies in the last few years.

“This is a huge opportunity for us to shift our strategy to gain market share in an environment that is getting f­ractured in a lot of ways,” Primmer told IFAwebnews.com. “The fixed market will grow exponentially in the next few years and it’s done well.”

The insurer hopes to build on its name recognition, as well as the ease with which it can service independent agents, whose sales are similar to its what it provides its 200 life insurance wholesalers at banks and wirehouses, Primmer said.

Initiative’s ‘anchor’

While most of its competitors have focused on increasing fixed-universal life insurance sales through brokerages and managing general agencies, The Hartford is hoping to carve a niche similar to that of Pacific Life, which has strong ties to its independent agents.

The Hartford has put more than 200 account executives on the ground across the country and has trained them on how they can help independent agents.

Primmer said the insurer hopes to have about 400 agents enrolled in its Monarch program, a personal producing general agency arrangement, that he called the “anchor” to the initiative.

Beyond those agents, Primmer said, The Hartford will need some of the more than 100,000 life insurance agents operating independently to consider the company’s products. Its account executives will generate much of that awareness, he said.

The Hartford plans to better support agents with illustrations and other marketing pieces, while trying to keep its policy turnaround time of 18 days in place.

This story originally appeared in the May 2010 print edition of Insurance & Financial Advisor.