Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Paul Castner w/C & K Healthcare Advisors- Building Life Insurance Practices That Last

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

Paul Castner is President and Co-Founder of C & K Healthcare Advisors, one of the insurance industry’s most innovative agent-focused organizations. With extensive experience at top Medicare carriers and a passion for helping seniors navigate healthcare costs, Paul has revolutionized how insurance professionals serve their clients. Under his leadership, C & K Healthcare Advisors has grown from a regional operation to a nationally recognized organization known for its cutting-edge technology, comprehensive training systems, and unwavering commitment to agent success. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Paul continues to mentor agents while building the future of insurance services. His first book is set to launch on Amazon in the next few weeks.Learn more: http://www.ckhealthcareadvisors.com/Plans and products may not be available in all areas. Certain exclusions and limitations may apply.Our Website serves as an educational invitation for you, the customer, to inquire about further information regarding your health insurance options, and submission of your contact information constitutes as permission for a Licensed Insurance Representative to contact you with further information, including complete details on cost and coverage of this insurance. Contact will be made by a licensed insurance agent/producer or insurance company.We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. This is a solicitation for Insurance.C & K Healthcare Advisors, LLC and their agents are licensed and certified representatives of a Health and Life Insurance organization. Enrollment in any plan depends on contract renewal.Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-paul-castner-w-c-k-healthcare-advisors-building-life-insurance-practices-that-last

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of influential entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have back with us Paul Kastner, who's president and co-founder of C&K Healthcare Advisors, and we'll be talking about building life insurance practices that. last. Paul, welcome back to the program. Hey, Mike, thanks for having me back. Hey, I know in this series we're talking about how you are serving your agents, helping

them with Medicare and layering in the holistic educational approach of really taking your arm, putting your arm around your clients and making sure they're well taking care of with not only Medicare, but estate planning or security, things like that. So now we want to talk about life insurance because this is not something that people should take lightly. And I know that a lot of times life insurance agents struggle with lead generation. Also, client retention. Talk a little bit about how C&K Healthcare solves these challenges for agents nationwide. Sure. So again, Mike, we're a little different. I want to focus. And this is a little bit of a drawback on the last time that we talked. So if you haven't caught it, please check out

some of the previous podcast that I've been on with Mike. But again, let's touch base right out the way. Okay, first and foremost, we're not like most agencies. They focus on recruiting. We focus on agent profitability and retention, okay? While most other IMOs and FMOs, they disappear after contract, and we're your long-term business partners. But we've cracked the code on building sustainable life insurance practices. And the main thing here that we're going to talk about, first and foremost is lead generation.

And how does that actually work, okay? Forget those expensive, low-quality, internet leads that everyone else is buying. First and foremost, our marketing system teaches you how to generate your own high-quality referrals. Family-focused approach might creates natural referral opportunities from satisfied clients and educational marketing positions you as a trusted family protection expert instead of just some sales guy. You know, when you're talking family services, the first and foremost thing that you need to do is you need to educate on to protect what matters the most.

This resonates with every parent, every spouse, every grandparent. It's a multi-generational approach that serves parents, children, and grandparents. Life events like marriages, children, home purchases, they create natural sales opportunities. Long-term relationships, they provide ongoing opportunities for additional coverage. When you're working in the life insurance space, you should have a comprehensive support of product portfolio. Don't just be a one-trick pony. You should be offering term life for income replacement during working years, especially in the mortgage protection insurance realm. Whole life for permanent protection, guaranteed premiums and cash value. Dig a little bit into

that index universal life, especially for tax-free growth, potential for tax-free retirement income. Again, going back to mortgage protection, you know, the big slogan there is keep the roof over their heads no matter what. And then finally, one of my favorite ones in that I, in that product portfolio, is children's whole life. And if you come talk to us, we've got a very, a very exclusive plan that is a children's whole life, three pay. That means the family only pays premiums for three years and the premiums are paid in full. So if you're an experienced agent out there and you're tired of chasing leads and competing on price, we'll, actually show you how to build a referral-based practice where clients come to you. Stop selling policies.

Start protecting families. If you change your mindset, you can transform both results and satisfaction. You know, I want to go just a tad bit deeper of what you just said right there because I feel like mindset is so powerful and a lot of people don't put enough value on that because they just feel like give me more leads, give me more leads. But if you take the mindset of caring and teaching and educating, that comes through to that client. So when you're teaching your agents to do this, and definitely, I would suspect that, you know, Mr. and Mrs. Medicare or a life insurance prospect, they're talking to other people other than just yourself and the agents you're working with. So just know, you're not the only one they're talking to. But when they are talking with someone properly trained,

that cares and shows empathy, that right there elevate you above anyone else. And I would think my question is, is that one of the mindset approaches that helps set the stage to earn those introductions and referrals? Absolutely. So one of the training pieces that are in our training portal that all of our agents have access to, first and foremost is NPQ training. That stands for neuro, emotional, persuasional questioning. We built it a little bit off of Jeremy Miner's methodology, right?

but we brought it in and gave it a little C&K twist to it. And by doing that, you can build conversations that actually build trust instead of coming off salesy. Second of all, we inside our training portal, we have an advanced sales training. We built that off a Jordan Belfour's straight line selling book, again, giving that C&K touch. But we did it for ethical and effective results. But the big thing here is focus on family financial security rather than the product features. Okay. By doing that, you humanize the person that you're working with. You make them feel good. You show care and empathy and concern. And that leads to the sale. If you're just somebody that's a product pusher, okay, you're going to walk out of house nine times out of ten without that sale in your hand compared to somebody who's actually showing care and concern for that client that they're talking to. You know, we've all heard about features and benefits. And I don't know whether this is a, um,

what you just said there reminded me of something so i don't know whether it came in my readings from jeremy minor or jordan belford or whoever else but i've heard it said this way you want to talk about the futures not the features you know sell that future feeling and what it's going to do for their family and all of the things like you just said not the not the nuts and bolts and in the weeds they need that after they've kind of gotten the feel for that so um do you find that that really encapsulates that educational approach as well. Yeah, absolutely it does. Because when you were saying that, you know, I like that quote, by the way, Mike,

and I might steal that off you. Go for it. But one of the things that I like is, you know, when we're talking about, you know, dealing with the future, okay, and really getting into that holistic approach of, you know, making that connection and not being the salesy guy and really, you know, building for the future. There was a quote that popped in my head, and the funny thing is, it escaped me really quickly. And it'll come back, and I guarantee it.

And I'll interject it somewhere else in here. Yep. But, you know, you should be planning for the, not the what if, but the, what is that person's goal? Okay. There's a right product under every carrier. And it might not be with this one or it might not be with that one. But if you listen and you listen more and then take into their concerns and what their goals are, and then do a little research in all the product portfolio that you have,

you're going to find the product that fits their needs. Stop trying to pound the square peg into the round hole. Listen more and then go into fixing and guiding them to the solution that meets their needs. Yep. You know, I know that one of the aspects, like you were mentioning, Whole Life, Term Life, and there's never one cookie cutter, templated answer for every single person. Everyone's different.

but I know that mortgage protection insurance is often an opportunity that's overlooked. Talk a little bit about that and how you help agents position themselves as that kind of a protection for the family in this market. So I guess the best place to start with that question, Mike, is what is the mortgage protection opportunity for agents, right? 65% of American families have mortgages, but only 15% actually have adequate mortgage protection. That means it represents a massive opportunity for agents who,

understand how to position MPI keeping the roof over their heads no matter what that is our favorite slogan this message it resonates with every homeowner resonates with every family mortgage protection sales they often lead to other comprehensive family protection conversations what other agencies are not out there teaching most other groups treat MPI as an add-on product we try to position it in a way that it's an essential family protection other agencies, they focus again on the feature. We try to teach that emotional positioning and storytelling, right? Competitors, you know, they provide basic training on it. You know, we're going to actually show you how to build referral partnerships. You know, you might build a partnership with a real estate agent or a loan officer, just for example.

And while others are focusing on individual sales, we're going to teach you systematic market penetration. You know, building relationships with real estate agents and mortgage brokers and positioning yourself as the trusted, and that's a key word there. And like, trusted insurance partner for their client, right? You know, hosting educational seminars for first time home buyers. Those type of things like that are going to lead into organic growth through your own referral systems. You can use some advanced positioning techniques like, you know, emotional storytelling about families who lost their home. home do an unexpected death or calculating monthly cost versus monthly mortgage payments to show the actual value.

But presenting mortgage protection during home purchases when protection is top of their mind is probably one of the biggest things you can do and then integrating it with comprehensive family protection planning. Well, I want to just make a statement based on the strategic alliance you recommended with going out and developing some real estate agents and mortgage lenders. if you can create that strategic alliance with them and they realize the power of what you just described, it helps them land more business because they are holistically caring, empathetic to their clients, bringing you in as that team member.

So I would think that that would be a massive win-win. Absolutely. And you're going to bring to that relation with rising home values and the increase of protection gaps for most families and refinancing trends. it all creates opportunity to review and update current protection or if they're first time home buyers, it represents a growing market segment. So most agents, again, they're not specializing an MPI, but it is creating opportunity for those who do focus in it. And mortgage brokers and real estate agents, again, they need trusted. And I can't emphasize this enough, Mike, trusted insurance partners. You know, families appreciate advisors who understand their

complete financial picture. And MPI expertise positions you as that family protection specialist. Those long-term relationships with those real estate agents and mortgage brokers, that's going to provide you like we were talking about long, ongoing referrals. If you want to know a little bit more about how you can do that, I've got a book out on Amazon called Elite Advantage Blueprint for Agent Success. It includes a chapter on mortgage protection strategies and building partnerships with professionals. I love it. You mentioned a statistic about how many people have mortgages and what percentage, you know, have coverage. In your experience, what percent or just what's the feel of people that are looking at Medicare that still have a mortgage? Meaning that one broad statistic you mentioned might have been for people in their 30s, 40s and 50s that have a mortgage that's not protected. What about people in their 60s that are looking at Medicare have a percentage of them already paid off the mortgage?

or in this day and age with the economy doing what has been doing, do a lot of seniors still have a big old fat mortgage that this is a massive benefit for them? So there is a nice chunk out there that still have a, you know, a big chunk of a mortgage. And sometimes it's not really the mortgage. You know, it's a home equity line of credit that they're paying off or, you know, something happened to their life. Right. You get what I'm saying. Seniors, most of the time, you're seeing them downsize.

but there is that nice chunk out there that this can still play a place. I mean, it might be fewer or farther to find compared to, you know, talking to people in their late 20s, early 30s, maybe late 30s, you know, they're buying first homes or they're buying rental property. But don't snub that either. There's going to be a lot of seniors that might have a mortgage because, yeah, their home is paid off. But maybe they have rental property out there. Maybe they have a vacation. Yeah. I'm up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a lot of our seniors are what we call snowbirds.

They get out of Florida for the winter. Maybe they have a mortgage on their condo down there. And that happens all over the country. I know you're out on the other side of the country. I believe in your area, a lot of people had to Arizona. So how do we know that those seniors don't have rental property or have, you know, second home in Arizona? It's part of that conversation, that questioning, that caring.

I think that's massive. You know, when we're talking about here, building life insurance practices that last, one of the things that comes to mind is that emotional aspect of agents that struggle with bringing up the topic of life insurance. And you know, people out there like, I'm good to go, I'm good to go. But in reality, are you? And do you have the right kind? And do you have the mortgage protection? Do you have, you know, all of those things?

So how do you help agents through your training at C&K Healthcare to have agents really create that meaningful conversation regarding life insurance? No, first off, you've got to change how agents are viewing their sales. And they need to be more of that consultative approach, right? We help agents transform from product sellers into protection consultants, whether that's protecting on the life insurance side or the mortgage protection side or advancements for, you know, retirement in the future. Again, going back to our training systems, that NEPQ training and that advanced sales training really helps you position to ask the right questions that uncover the real family needs and concerns. You should always be focusing on family security, peace of mind, rather just, again, than the insurance features, right? Almost sounded like a broken record,

but I can't drive at home hard enough to make sure people understand this. You know, an emotional intelligence training, especially for sensitive family protection conversations, play a big part, right? Our agents, you know, how we set them apart a little bit, while other agents are just out there pitching product, pitching product, pitch and product. We're really teaching our agents to facilitate family planning conversations. You know, we're teaching them how to position life insurance as a loved and responsible product, not just financial products. Well, yes, it has great financial backing. You know, like I said, you can use it for retirement and tons of other things. But we really teach them to position that as a love and responsibility towards their family,

whether that's their children or whether it's the grandparent parents, down to the grandchildren, and legacy building. There's a million options there. But advanced communication skills for discussing difficult topics like death, disability, dismemberment, that's hard. Again, that comes into that NEPQ training, right? How to listen, how to position. the questions in certain ways that still show care and empathy along the ways.

And then building trust through, you know, education rather than high, high pressure sales tactics helps out a lot. Family-focused methodology is probably the number one big thing for us, understanding the family dynamics and the decision-making process with inside that family. Multigenerational planning that serves parents and grandparents and children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren plays a lot in there. And, you know, it's all done on life stage planning from young adults through retirement. You know, integration of life insurance with the overall family financial planning is super, super important. But here's where agents struggle.

It's overcoming common objections. Like we can't afford it. Well, what if you respond back with, can you afford not to have it? Or we're young and healthy. You know, your response could be, well, that's exactly when you need it the most. Or I have coverage at work. I get that one all the time, by the way. And, well, what happens when you change jobs or you retire?

We'll think about it. Favorite response? Well, we'll think about it, right? You know, well, what specific concerns can I address today? And then going that one step further, when you're working in that life space, it comes with a lot of emotion. And, you know, those emotions really, really, you have to spend time listening. You got to have empathy. And you really need to be guiding them to the product that fits.

their needs. So again, you know, talking to experience agents, you know, if you're tired of being seen as that salesperson, will help you become that trusted family advisor. Stop competing on pricing, stop competing on value and expertise. Or if you're somebody out there listening to this and you're thinking about a change in career, professional backgrounds in counseling and education or healthcare often translate well into these products and becoming that family protection and having those conversations. Your ability to build relationships is more valuable than your insurance expertise. Yep. Yeah, that's a really, really great point. And again, you know, sometimes repetition is what we need to really realize, you know, this learning point. So when you say trusted advisor,

trust advisor, it really is huge. And one of the things that you said there made me think about something you was talking about like, you know, yeah, you could buy leads, but we teach you how to get and earn referrals and introductions and leads from those strategic alliances. But also, if you do a good job becoming that trusted advisor for a senior looking at Medicare, which could lead to a lot of different things like we've talked about, who do you think is part of their family tree? You were talking about grandparents, a great-grandparents and grandchildren. Don't you think that if you do a great job, their children that are probably age 40

would need to have a great life insurance conversation, retirement conversation. And so don't just look at it like that sale of, oh, I set up another Medicare or another term life policy. And then next, look at it like that broad spoke wheel and hub and spoke, you know, opportunity there. And I know that that's part of what you would train your team on as well. That's correct. And again, not just the children, but what about their brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, neighbors, people they go to church with, people they play cards with. There's a million opportunities. And if you do this job the right way, and you become that consultant,

and we use the term, you know, value-added consultant, okay? And the reason why we use that is it's not just a, hey, I'm here to push a product. I'm so hyper-focused, tunnel vision on just one thing, but actually bringing value, right? Having that conversation, hearing what they're saying, telling you what their needs are, and really bringing value and going, hey, by the way, you said this. Well, can we talk about this real quick? What's your goal there? And again, that leads you to the kids, grandkids, aunts, uncles, brothers, cousins, sisters, neighbors,

and you can keep going, and you're correct, okay? Again, in my book that I wrote, Elite Advantage Blueprint for Agent Success, I have details in there on the psychology of family protection sales and how to have those meaningful conversations that really lead to lasting relationships that then broaden out and bring you those other. the relationships from those family members or neighbors or, you know, just social friends or keep going. And that becomes an endless stream at the end of the day of referral resource leads.

Yep, I love it. And I know we've talked a lot about the benefits C&K health care advisors bring to the agents. Any last thoughts that you have that you want to make sure people are understanding that agents can really plug into to build that sustainable life insurance practice that C&K can provide. Sure. So again, like I was saying, we're not just another IMO. We're actually your business partner in development, right? Your long-term success is our primary focus. We're not just recruiting with numbers, right? Our C&K agent legacy plan, and you can find more information on that on my website, www.cKhealthcareAdvisors.com under the agent resources tabs means that you can have a full

renewals in your retirement as an agent versus selling your book or your book of business off on pennies on the dollar. We have competitive commission structures, no hidden fees, no charges that reduce your income, multi-revenue streams from the various life insurance products. And well, let's put it this way, all of our products that are out there. So, I mean, if your passion is working with families, helping them being that ethical yet, conscientious person that really wants to do good when it comes to family protection, give us a ring, check us out. You know, we're always here to answer any questions that you might have going forward.

Yep, love it. Well, Paul, thank you so much for coming back on. It's been a real pleasure talking with you again. Thanks, Mike. Great to be here. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episode, visit

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