The Whole Life Banking Sales Cycle
The whole life banking advisory process follows a distinct path from first contact to active client. Understanding how each stage maps to Policy Stack's pipeline helps you track prospects accurately and identify where conversations stall.
The Seven Stages
1. Discovery
The prospect has expressed interest in learning about whole life banking. Your goal is to understand their situation and determine mutual fit.
In Policy Stack: Create a new deal in the Discovery stage. Add notes from your initial conversation. Record the source (referral, directory, event) for analytics.
2. Education
You are walking the prospect through the core concepts — how whole life policies work, the role of policy loans, and what building a banking system looks like in practice.
In Policy Stack: Use scenario tools to model concepts with the prospect's own numbers. Create them with Prospect context so they stay linked to the deal for follow-up conversations.
3. Fact-Find
Gathering specific financial details — existing obligations, cash flow, current insurance, goals. This is where you collect the data needed to design a policy structure.
In Policy Stack: Record notes from the fact-find conversation. If the prospect shares documents, note the details in the deal. This stage is typically brief — one or two meetings.
4. Illustration
You present a carrier illustration tailored to the prospect's situation. The conversation focuses on premium structure, projected cash value growth, and how the policy fits their banking system goals.
In Policy Stack: Attach the illustration details as a note on the deal. Approved scenario-preview accounts can create a Cash Value Projector scenario with Prospect context so it remains linked to the deal.
5. Underwriting
The application has been submitted and the carrier is processing. Your role is to stay in contact and manage expectations about timeline.
In Policy Stack: Move the deal to the Application stage. Set reminders for 7-day and 30-day check-ins. Update notes as underwriting status changes.
6. Policy Issued
The policy is in force. The prospect is now a client with an active whole life policy.
In Policy Stack: Mark the deal as Won. Link the deal to the client's Policy Stack account. Invite the client (connect or seat) if they do not already have an account.
7. Annual Review
The ongoing relationship. You meet annually (or semi-annually) to review the client's banking system, discuss restoration progress, and explore expansion.
In Policy Stack: The client now lives in your CRM, not the pipeline. Set recurring anniversary reminders and use the review meeting workflow described in the CRM articles.
Mapping Custom Stages
If your process differs from the seven stages above, customize your pipeline stages in Settings. Common variations:
| Variation | How to Handle | |-----------|---------------| | Combined Education + Fact-Find | Use a single "Discovery" stage and track the distinction in notes | | Separate "Nurture" stage for not-yet-ready prospects | Add a custom "Nurture" stage between Discovery and Proposal | | Multiple illustration rounds | Keep in the Proposal stage and track iterations in deal notes | | Underwriting hold or delay | Add a custom "Underwriting Hold" stage if delays are common in your practice |
The goal is a pipeline that reflects your actual process — not a theoretical ideal. Start with the defaults, run them for 30 days, then adjust stages based on where you find yourself wanting more granularity.