2017 Sales Champion Summit Wrap-up

RBI’s Senior Sales Coordinator: James Gramp

About the Author: With his signature common sense, quiet good humor, and brilliant customer service, Jim is an integral part of the RBI team — we’d go so far as to say we’d be lost without him! An Arizona native, Jim manages agent relationships for the East Coast and specializes in the RBI agent tools, especially the Agent Market Edge. Jim has been a licensed health insurance agent for 2 years, and has worked at RBI for almost 3 years. An accomplished bassoonist, he is known around the office for his amazing musical skills. In addition to keeping busy around the office, Jim frequently contributes to our blog, bringing a new agent’s perspective to the RBI online presence.

2017 Sales Champion Summit Wrap-up

You missed it!  Do you know what we did with the brokers that missed last year’s Sales Champion Summit?  We made them take the AHIP… a second time… Okay, that may or may not be a lie.  All kidding aside, LOTS of people are busy on a Tuesday morning, so hopefully this wrap up does our Sales Champion Summit justice because I know I had a great time!  Without further ado, I give you a brief summary of the once in a lifetime a year event that you missed.

The Value of TRUST – Presenter: Charlie Ferrell

Have you ever wished you had a personal sales coach to help you with setting business goals, making sales action plans, and being more effective in home visits.  Charlie Ferrell introduced RBI’s new TRUST Training, a program designed around 15+ years of senior insurance experience.  So what does TRUST stand for?

T – THINK: Put yourself in the client’s shoesSales Champion Summit

R – RESPECT:  Build rapport

U – UNCOVER:  Needs analysis

– SOLVE:  Overcome objections

– TAKE ACTION:  Ask for the sale

The bottom line is, if people don’t trust you, they will never buy from you.

Marketing to Fill Your Appointment Book – Presenter: Justin Bever

A lot of independent Medicare brokers in the industry today see the need for marketing, but don’t know how to take that need and translate it into action.  Marketing for your business should be about building a system that fits your budget, your schedule, and is easy to maintain.  After all, the goal is to scale your marketing to fit YOUR business growth.

Usually when I say marketing, agents tend to think of $$$.  But what they may not realize is the most effective marketing/advertising is word of mouth.

7 Habits of Sales Champions – Presenter: Charlie Ferrell

If you’re like me, building strong habits that work for you is a struggle. Charlie Ferrell, broke down how to be a real sales champion by building habits like a ladder to success! My number-one takeaway from this event was S.M.A.R.T. goal setting, always focused on learning, and are passionate about their work.  (Don’t know what SMART goal setting is?  We’re just a phone call away!)

Here’s a taste of this presentation:

The most successful agents I know are masters of #7 on our list, follow-up.  Whether it’s simply following up with clients, referral sources, or returning phone calls, following-up is always my top priority when it comes to just about everything…except for maybe returning that phone call from your mother-in-law.

DSNP’s: Who They Are & Why Work Them – Presenter: Rob Bever

This presentation captured the many reasons that Dual Eligibles are a great market for any agent. A quick recap:

Most agents I talk to don’t like working with Dual Eligible beneficiaries and want nothing to do with them.  The most common reason I hear is that they fall off the books too easily.  This got me thinking, “How was RBI’s Sales Manager, Charlie Ferrell, able to build his business on Dual Eligible’s while I’m talking to agents who can’t even get them to stay on the plan for 1 year?” The answer is usually a combination of a couple things like, not following-up, and not returning phone calls.

If you ask me, working with Dual Eligible beneficiaries is more fulfilling than selling regular MAPD’s or Medicare Supplement policies, because these are people that truly need help and in a lot of cases have no one else to turn to.

Grassroots Campaign: Business Growth Through Educational Events – Presenter: Charlie Ferrell

This presentation was all about the radical idea that a truly GREAT Educational Events will pay dividends with referrals and building a reputation in your community.

Here’s the exceprt:

Imagine you hosting a great educational event every 3 months at the same location.  If you’re doing it right by, making them fun and interactive, being engaging, and of course presenting good information then the people who attend are that much more likely to tell their friends and family about a great free event (your event if you’re still following me) and even more likely to reach out to you when they have questions about their Medicare or want to switch plans.

Intentional Scheduling: How Efficiency Increases Sales – Presenter: Justin Bever

How do you ensure that you’ll have a great open enrollment?  It’s all in the preparation. 

In this presentation, we talked about managing back-end office processes like, turning in all your applications at the end of the day while making sure everything gets documented and saved along the way.  You’ll be amazed at just how much time you can save by working smarter, not harder, to stay organized and on top your crazy workload during the Annual Enrollment Period.

My bottom-line takeaway? Hire a temporary assistant (or get a family member to help for cheap labor!) to help stay organized during AEP. Even if they just call and set appointments with your clients and potential clients, you’ll be able to see more clients in a day.

How to Succeed in a Commission-only Business – Presenter: Justin Bever

The focus of this presentation was an answer to the question: how do Medicare brokers survive until late January and sometimes early February before they even see a dime from their Medicare Advantage enrollments from last year’s AEP?

Short Answer:  Burn through your savings account.

Long Answer:  Very carefully!  All kidding aside, if you don’t have a good amount of cash that you can live on for 3+ months, what do you do for the Annual Enrollment Period?  There’s a couple options:

  1. Look for an agency that will advance your commissions (usually career agent programs will offer this — call RBI to learn about this option, ask for Charlie!)
  2. Cross-sell ancillary products like Hospital Indemnity, First Diagnosis Cancer, and Short Term care that typically pay in 7 – 10 days, MUCH quicker than MA plans.

Turning Your Business Into an LLC – Presenter: Charlie Ferrell

The two major reasons ANY agent should run their business as an LLC are tax advantages and to protect you and your assets with an extra layer of liability protection. Another reason is the ability to provide for your family should something happen to you. For example, if you were to pass away suddenly and you are contracted directly with a carrier as an individual, those commissions would cease to be paid upon your death. If you were contracted as an LLC and you were to pass away, your commissions would continue to be paid as long as your entity remains in compliance with the carrier contract.

We’ve actually partnered with the ASU Alumni Law Group to get you a discounted rate when forming your own business entity.  If you  would like their contact information, please give us a call (1-800-997-3107) and we’d be happy to help. Don’t forget to tell them that RB Insurance Group referred you.

Thank You!

A special thanks to those of you that were able to attend our 2nd annual Sales Champion Summit!  We truly appreciate you taking the time out of your busy lives to attend.  Hopefully you had a lot of good takeaways from the event that will help take your Medicare business to the next level.  We hope you will be able to join us for next year’s Sales Champion Summit!  Check out some pictures below from this years event.

Sales Champion Summit

Sales Champion SummitSales Champion Summit



It’s our goal as an FMO to “Make it Happen for You”.  Read more from RBI Director of Marketing, Justin Bever, about how and why your FMO should work for you.  Interested in partnering with RB Insurance Group?  Give us a call today to get started! 1-800-997-3107



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