My community marketing story: Special Olympics Utah

/in /by

Community marketing was one of the easiest, but also one of the most challenging things I did when I was actively writing new business for my agency in Utah. As an agent selling Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplements, Dual Special Needs and now final expense products for the past 10 years, I’ve found that being actively involved in my community was rewarding spiritually, but also in the sense that it helped me market my business.

Community marketing is a fairly simple concept. It means getting yourself in front of as many individuals who could use some advice about their health insurance coverage options as you can. The best part is connecting your business with your interest in giving back to your community can still be compliant with the Medicare Marketing Guidelines.

It’s fairly inexpensive to market yourself to the community. You may have to pay for a booth at informal events like senior expos or join a group, but it has a great return on the investment if your volunteering leads to even one sale. Community marketing requires a bigger investment of time and energy, so be forewarned: Staying with it for the long haul can be tough, and not always having the advice and guidance you give lead to a sale can be discouraging.

Members participate in the Unified Relay Across America in anticipation of the Special Olympics World Games, held July 25-August 2. Image courtesy of Special Olympics Utah’s Facebook page

Medicare and other health coverage options for children and young adults with physical and intellectual disabilities

I volunteered with special Olympics Utah when I first got started in the business after an appointment with a parent whose son had Down Syndrome. She told me there were a lot of parents like her who had no idea what programs were available for their children for health insurance other than Medicaid. In fact, Medicare serves individuals over the age of 18 who also have a physical or intellectual disability. One thing led to another, and that Saturday I showed up for an event was a timer for the 100-yard dash. I watched the kids and teens all afternoon, and they introduced me to their parents.

I went to several Special Olympics meetups in the next few weeks and was introduced each time as The Medicare Guy because I knew a lot about Medicare and Dual Special Needs Programs that I could share. Whenever I got a phone call about “Where can I take my daughter to get her teeth cleaned?” or “Where can I find hearing aids for my son?” I had the answer. I knew which DD case managers did the best job of helping their clients manage things like adult day care and how to apply for community grants to help them pay for the cost.

I met a lot of people and listened to many stories as I helped out with events. Sometimes I couldn’t do anything for them other than listen and help them figure out what the best fit for their health and financial situations were, but the fact that I helped them breathe a little easier means a lot to me.  I never walked away without asking people to refer their friends and family to me for their own questions.

There’s nothing better than saving someone $300 per month when they make $,1000 or less or helping a family find the right coverage for their special-needs children. You will be their friend for life, and they will tell all of your friends about you.

Call RB Insurance at (800) 997 3107 or email me to learn more about serving Medicare’s many members through community marketing. Click here to subscribe to our blog for more insights on how you can build a portfolio of products to market yourself and build your Medicare book of business.

Referrals maximize your Medicare book of business

/in , , , , , /by

Probably the most effective way to find your next client is by looking to the clients you already have.

Referrals are the Holy Grail of building your Medicare book of business. The credibility and trust you have built with one client automatically transfers to your new one, so you start from a hero status, not at ground zero, if your first client is a raving fan. Closing rates on referrals have always been high, too, which means referrals maximize your investment of time and energy into your business. And yet most agents still don’t ask their clients for referrals!

When I inquire as to why, many feel they haven’t earned or warranted them.  They think they haven’t built the connection that establishes the right to ask for and expect referrals. However, communication is the key to building any relationship, and oftentimes it’s the well timed, small outreaches that make us more memorable than any over the top gestures. When you communicate to create raving fans, get repeat business and generate referrals, you are simply making sure you are on the top of their minds when a friend, coworker or relative mentions a problem you can help solve.

Getting referrals is not nearly as hard as some sales people try to make it, but you do have to have a strategy. Here are my top 10 ways to stay in touch with clients:

 1. Organize your clients. Where is your list of clients right now?  If you’re like the average senior insurance agent, they’re on the floor of your back seat, stuffed in your leather portfolio, packed in your trunk or stashed in folders.  A lot of good they are going to do you in there. Get organized — at the very least, get your clients in an Excel spreadsheet. Trust me, you will be glad you did!

2. Use a Client Relationship Manager (CRM). Once you have your clients organized and electronically archived, take the next step and upload them into a CRM. This will allow you to conduct specific outreach campaigns, set up reminders and do a host of other structured, “high touch” activities. Free CRM obviously has no cost, but the most robust and agent-focused CRM I’ve seen is the Medicare Sales Engine.

3. Send a Thank You. This is the icebreaker for all your future communications. It sets the stage for elevating your clients to raving fans status.  Write them by hand (No rubber stamps!) and include a personal note to make it memorable.

4. Call them after 30, 60 and 90 days. The best time to solidify the sale and the relationship is during the reinforcement phase after the sale. Set yourself up to respond to service issues and product problems when you call and put yourself in the position to get repeat business and referrals. Show your client you care by asking how their family is doing and remember any health issues they may have gone through and needed your assistance with.

5. Remember them on special occasions. Your CRM is fantastic for reminding you about client birthdays, product anniversaries, annual reviews and more. These contacts have to be personal in nature to set them apart from what others are doing.

As you build your year-long strategy, the key is not to saturate your client with frivolous outreach or give them a sales pitch each time. You want to make sure they know you will stay in touch! I’ll share the remaining top 10 items next week.

ICYMI: Our 2016 Aetna Medicare Advantage benefits preview was a day at the beach

/in , /by

For all of you who missed our 2016 Aetna Medicare Advantage benefits preview meeting last week, you sure passed up a great opportunity to learn about how competitive Aetna will be for this year’s Annual Enrollment Period (We also gave away a free Android touch tablet loaded with carrier enrollment tools to one of the lucky agents who registered for our event!). Don’t sweat it too much — here’s a quick rundown of what we covered.

Also, if you live in the Phoenix metro area and are interested in joining us as a presenter, read on to learn more about upcoming opportunities at our next Aetna events!

At the top of everyone’s mind was Aetna’s recent takeover of competitor Humana in a $37 billion acquisition yet to be cleared by the Justice Department. The short answer to what’s going to happen next is simply “nothing for now” — the carriers won’t be completely reorganized until next year, so all of the 2016 plans that have been filed will remain the same. The earliest anything could happen to Aetna Medicare Advantage benefits is January 2017, and even that is pushing it considering benefits are filed every year by June 1.

We all know Aetna is a well recognized brand and, for agents who work in our home state of Arizona, it has partnered with Banner Health Network to come up with a great plan with great co-pays. We have a special link for licensed agents to preview the benefits, though you do have to attest that you are a licensed agent and will not share them with beneficiaries.

Click here to preview the 2016 Aetna Medicare Advantage benefits

Marketing Director Justin Bever talked about RB Insurance’s discounted AHIP program and how agents can get a 100 percent reimbursement for their 2016 AHIP certification if they use our link.

Justin also shared how our own Senior Broker Trainer Tom O’Neil got a perfect score on his AHIP test (not the first time that’s happened) and how we can help agents struggling to get through the test. Many agents don’t realize the AHIP is an open book exam and don’t know how to best go through their study material to help them ace the AHIP on their first try.

It was like a day at the beach for senior insurance agents who got a first look at a great set of plan benefits!

Click here to get your $50 AHIP discount and learn more about RB Insurance’s exclusive AHIP reimbursement opportunity

RB Insurance and Medicare Compare will be hosting sales events for Aetna agents across the Valley this year, and we need qualified presenters to run these meetings. We have 30 scheduled so far in the east Valley, but are still looking for locations in the west Valley side as well as agents to run them. These events are being advertised by Aetna via print and other media, so we expect a huge turnout!

Call us at (800) 997 3107 or email me to learn more and sign up.

Aetna is not requiring a face-to-face certification this year for their Medicare Advantage products as they have in years past, but if you’re interested in being a part of the RB Insurance/Medicare Compare team as a presenter, you will need to attend a two-hour class on running a public sales meeting. CMS Secret Shoppers will be out in force this year, so the fairly brief training is required —no one wants to deal with allegations that the benefits were not completely explained.

Delayed retirement trends don’t have to mean less commission for senior insurance agents

/in /by

When did your parents retire? Did they move to a warm climate and cozy house in a Sun City type of community? Our folks had a much rosier view of their future than today’s 50- and 60-somethings.

Though I’d like to think we’re just much more industrious than our forebears, it looks like more of us are going to be working into the latter part of our sixth or even seventh decades. This year Northwestern Mutual Life’s annual Planning and Progress Study addressed the woeful number of U.S. adults who have neither planned for the future nor consulted a professional for retirement advice. Its findings were pretty bleak at times.

According to the survey, less than half of our citizens have set any financial goals, nor do they feel that a comfortable few decades of leisure are on the horizon. 62 percent of the working Americans surveyed said they are “expecting to delay retirement by necessity, citing insufficient savings as a top reason.”

Senior insurance agents need not worry about delayed retirement trends. There’s still opportunity to sell Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplements and other ancillary health products to seniors still earning a paycheck. Image courtesy of iStock

There is an upshot for senior insurance agents in the delayed retirement trend. Some of our affiliated agents have told me they’re finding a new niche by visiting small businesses and offering their expertise to 65-and-older employees who might want to avail themselves of Medicare Advantage, Medigap Supplements and even hospital indemnity and dental discount plans. Even final expense protection can be attractive to a senior who’s still drawing a paycheck — just remember that age 66 is the magic number for claiming full, “unpenalized” Social Security benefits this year. With that additional income seniors are more accepting of a Part B premium for better medical coverage.

LifeHealth Pro puts a more positive spin on the study, emphasizing that a majority or close enough to a majority of future retirees reported they will continue working because they enjoy their career, want some more disposable income or because they see employment as a way to maintain their social life and stay occupied.

What does this mean for the agent who specializes in senior insurance products? Many companies, especially those with less than 50 employees, are forgoing any type of sponsored medical or life insurance. The coverage that might, in some cases, be offered by the boss may be more expensive or less appealing than traditional Medicare-related plans (A precautionary note: Business owners offering a group plan are prohibited from pressuring older employees to leave group coverage).

You should see the opportunity here. Agents who make a few extra visits to the “less than 50 employee” shops around them can yield some impressive commissions.

Agents affiliated with RB Insurance Group can call (800) 997 3107 or email me to learn more about delayed retirement trends and how this may change health insurance. Not with RBI yet? Just ask about our quick contracting and how to build a portfolio of senior products. If you liked my post, why not subscribe to our blog to get a few more in your Inbox? Just click the link.

E&O: What independent Medicare agents need to know

/in /by

Chris Hidalgo of Gallagher MGA, one of our industry partners, contributed some timely information about errors and omissions insurance, affectionately shortened to E&O, for our blog this week. The majority of the producers we work with concentrate on Medicare, life and related health products, so let’s take a look at professional protection and facts related to these folks to round out Chris’ helpful post.

Click Here to Get Your E&O Discount

The $1 million/$1 m Standard Requirement

There were some premature announcements from a few Medicare Advantage carriers earlier this year that indicated mandatory coverage for 2016 would be increasing to $1 million/$3 million. Most plans have walked this back for sole-proprietor agents. However, some agencies and higher level organizations will be required to meet the higher coverage limits, so check with your carriers before the end of 2015.

My preliminary research indicates that the $1M/$1M E&O limits are being accepted by most major health plan carriers for 2016 for independent Medicare agents.

Don’t Over-Insure

What policy types do you need coverage for? I worked last year with one of our affiliated agents who was newly licensed for several product types, including property and casualty. He decided not to venture into the P&C business and to concentrate his efforts in life, health and Medicare coverage, but he unnecessarily purchased E&O coverage that included his licensure for the P&C exposure. This significantly increased his E & O policy premium. Licensure in an area you’ve never dabbled in or wrote any business for does not need protection — it can always be added later if you explore new arenas of the insurance business.

What Coverage Do I Need?
The most basic E&O plan for most of us will cover policies written for life, LTC, accident, health, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplemental and Disability Income Insurance. If you have exposure to plans written in past years that are not included in those mentioned above, it would be wise to continue your coverage for those plan types. For example, P&C policies you might have written several years ago could still be subject to an E&O claim, therefore I suggest you keep your protection up to date even if you have exited the Property and Casualty area.

This is where my editor makes me insert a shameless plug for RB Insurance’s special E&O discount offered through Gallagher MGA. Click on the link for quotes and immediate coverage. Feel free to call us at (800) 997 3107 or email me if you have any further questions about E&O — it can be pretty complex. Don’t hesitate to subscribe to our blog for more content written from the agent’s perspective!

10 ways to prevent an E&O claim from happening

/in , /by

Guest contributor Chris Hidalgo from Gallagher MGA writes about how important documenting every interaction with your client is for managing error and omission risk. Find a link at the end of the post for a special discount offer available only through RB Insurance.

As a life and health agent, it’s important to know your customer and know the process behind how you plan to enroll your customer. Is it a worksite enrollment, a visit to a home? Is your customer a direct mail or a call center lead? Each potential enrollment situation has its own set of criteria and potential E & O exposures.


Here are 10 tips for keeping you — and your business — safe from a claim.

  1.  Always document the outcomes of key client conversations, decisions made and coverages declined. No client interaction is irrelevant. Document every call or conversation, no matter how inconsequential the subject matter.
  2. Understand your customer, anticipate questions, have literature available and be patient.
  3.  Stay current on regulatory requirements by continuing to earn appropriate designations and attending professional development courses.
  4. Practice full disclosure and be totally up front about your track record, business practices, and affiliated advisors and companies.
  5. Assess your client’s risk tolerance. Take the time to fully understand his or her situation. Uncover and document all relevant acts.
  6. Send a written confirmation with a copy of the insured’s application. Be sure your customer knows what they purchased.
  7. Make sure clients understand what their product covers and doesn’t cover as well as all moving parts, fees and expenses and any underlying risk and guarantees. Include product brochures if possible.
  8. Don’t generalize what the product offers. Avoid using common statements like “This policy is just as good as the old one.
  9. Discuss payment terms: monthly, quarterly, annual, etc. Make sure your customer knows when to expect the payment to be processed.
  10. If a client is unhappy with you, do your best to promptly resolve their complaint before it turns into a regulator sanction or lawsuit.

Chris Hidalgo is currently the Mass Communication Specialist for Gallagher MGA, an international insurance brokerage company with an office in Lakewood Ranch, Fla. Chris has been writing articles for Gallagher MGA informing agents about the latest news in the insurance industry since 2012.  He has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from the University of South Florida, where he interned at Bluewater Media, LLC, and served as writer, producer, videographer and teleprompter operator for Florida Focus, a newscast that aired daily throughout the Tampa Bay area on WUSF-TV. 

Click here to take advantage of MGA and RB Insurance’s exclusive E & O discount.

Who are these Medicare Secret Shoppers?!

/in /by

Secret Shoppers attend formal and informal sales events as well as educational events and even arrange agent home appointments where they use a fairly rigid reporting system to evaluate your performance (Take at look at it for yourself here). The AARP Bulletin even added information about growing demand for senior (that’s age 50 +) Secret Shoppers in an article posted years back.

Image courtesy of iStock

One of our affiliated agents in Arizona had several interesting “Shopper” encounters last AEP. After being supplied with many compliant leads via our Medicare Compare business reply cards (BRC) we mailed in conjunction with a national carrier, Bruce went about setting home appointments. One Monday afternoon he arrived promptly at the beneficiary’s home in Phoenix and presented an MA plan. No luck on that sale.

A few days later he called a cell phone number on a new BRC that had arrived with a different name and number, but the same address as Monday’s presentation. Bruce did his thing, again with no sale, and went on his way, but not before the prospect had said something about her roommate being the first respondent and that she enjoyed hearing from Bruce herself about her Medicare options.

On to the next week. You guessed it! A third prospect arrived via BRC with a different name and cell phone number, but same address. Bruce was getting a little irked due to the amount of time he was wasting, so he just dropped off a packet with apologies that he had an emergency at home that needed his immediate attention.

Three different Shoppers were using the same house. Bruce is a a very thorough agent, so none of the Shoppers reported deficiencies. On the contrary, he got a gold star for his compliance. And it turned out that the three Shoppers were employed on behalf of the very same carrier who was co-sponsoring our BRC mailers!

As an agent, how do you prepare for being “Shopped”? Use carrier-supplied flip charts or recorded links to play back for your prospect. Doing this will cover about 75 percent of the mundane, but nonetheless mandated information. Go over all the benefit lines in the summary of benefits.

I also recommend watching out for any question a prospect may ask about the “best plan” because secret shoppers always pull out that old chestnut when they reconnoiter events. Avoid using superlatives like “best” when describing any CMS-regulated product per the Medicare Marketing Guidelines. Let attendees ask the questions and let your knowledge lead them to a later sale.

Agents can call (800) 997 3107 or click here to download a free checklist we’ve put together for Secret shopper-proofing your presentations.

Dual eligibility is your sales opportunity

/in , /by

Seniors who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, otherwise known as dual eligibles, are truly an untapped market. It’s estimated that approximately 8.3 million people in the United States are covered by both Medicare and Medicaid, including low-income seniors and low-income individuals with a disability who are 18 or older. CMS recently reported that 11 percent of these dual eligibles nationwide are enrolled in a Dual Special Needs Plan, which agents can sell year-round as part of their portfolio of products.

Dual Special Needs Plans are a type of Medicare Advantage plan administered by private carriers like United Healthcare and often include extra benefits not covered by Medicare or Medicaid such as Dental, Vision, Hearing Aids, OTC and non-emergency medical transportation. In addition to these needed extra benefits, having a Medicare Advantage Special Needs plan simplifies things for the enrollee — he or she will have to worry about just one card instead of three to access health benefits and prescription coverage, and he or she will have just one customer service line to call should there be an issue. Another selling point is that Special Needs plans offer care coordination so clients have help managing multiple or chronic conditions.

One of the best ways to reach out to dual-eligible prospects is with community marketing. Community marketing simply refers to getting yourself in front of as many individuals who could use some advice about their insurance options as you can. Whether it’s volunteering at a food bank or a Special Olympics event (something I enjoyed doing when I lived in SLC), people see that you really care and are much more likely to send potential clients to you when you give back to your community and let people know you are there to help. So many families are looking for a helpful guide because they often don’t know where to start when it comes to benefits.

You can focus your marketing efforts at key places I’ll list below if you are interested in selling dual-eligible plans. Remember I’m just giving you a starting point — I’ve known agents who have expanded their community marketing beyond what I have here. Also, some carriers expect you to let them know you are marketing to potential beneficiaries in HUD or Section 8 housing.

Here are the Top 10 places for dual-eligible marketing and Lead generation:
1. Section 8 housing
2. County housing authorities apartment buildings or HUD housing
3. Senior centers
4. Area agency on aging or counseling groups
5. Faith-based organizations or churches
6. Food banks or pantries
7. Support groups for foster grandparents
8. Thrift stores like Goodwill
9. Senior expos and health fairs (Check out Senior Broker Trainer Tom O’Neil’s post on marketing yourself at these events)
10. Non-profit organizations supporting those with disabilities (Click here to read my community marketing story with Special Olympics Utah)

For more specific information about marketing to dual-eligible seniors as part of your senior insurance business, give me a call at (800) 997 3107 or email me with your questions. I’m happy to give you more specific advice for your market.

RB Insurance offers an incredible 2016 AHIP certification discount

/in /by

Update: There’s a new AHIP Certification Discount for 2017!

Click Here to Access the 2017 AHIP Certification Discount and Save $50!

What does the “it” in “We make it happen for you,” our slogan, mean?

This time of year, “it” means 2016 AHIP Medicare Training for many of our agents and for the first time ever, we make it happen for you at no cost (or at least at a discount)!

Through direct negotiation with America’s Health Insurance Plans, we are offering an exclusive $50 discount to our partners. Pay $125 for your 2016 AHIP certification discount with our no risk, no obligation offer.

To access our offer, all you need to do is subscribe to our blog by clicking this link.

We didn’t just work to save you $50 on your 2016 AHIP certification and connect you to our blog, where we go over how to fine tune your appointments for more sales and four simple ways to power through AHIP 2016.

RB Insurance will also cover the rest of your 2016 AHIP certification cost ($125) when you submit five Medicare Advantage enrollments (submitted between July 1, 2015 and January 1, 2016.)

That’s right, AHIP for free for just your five sales. This reimbursement is independent of any carrier offer, meaning if Cigna-HealthSpring, Aetna or any other carrier offer you an AHIP reimbursement for their sales, you’ll still qualify for our reimbursement program.

Here’s what you need to be reimbursed:

  • You must complete 2016 AHIP through RBI’s link first so we can verify you took the test.
  • Make five Medicare Advantage sales with our carriers.

For every five more sales you make after your initial five to receive full reimbursement on your 2016 AHIP certification, will earn you a 1,000-piece mailer for only $300. That’s a $145 discount off of our regular price and a great way to jump start your 2016 sales with fresh direct mail leads.

Our offer applies to Agencies and not just agents as well. For example, if you are an Agency of 10 agents and want to take advantage of our offer so each agent gets $125, the agency only needs to make 50 sales and all 10 agents would receive the reimbursement on their 2016 AHIP certification.

RB Insurance truly is your one-stop shop for all your senior insurance needs. We’ve already pioneered new technology for agents and agencies with Medicare Sales Engine, and we’ve supercharged our Marketing with our in-house Massive Response Mailers. Now we’re bringing mandatory sales training to you for nothing out of pocket.

 

Get out there and market yourself! Part Three

/in /by

Here’s my last post in a series of three about different kinds of events you can be a part of to market your senior insurance business. Read Part One and Part Two.

Many agents are avoiding formal sales meetings because they’re anxious about CMS oversight, carrier rules and secret shoppers. However, they can be a compliant way to generate more Leads, and very few carriers will disallow agents from conducting formal Medicare marketing sales events.

Running one of these events can be fairly simple. Here’s how to get rolling:

Review the rules regarding formal sales events in the official Medicare Marketing Guidelines.

  • Always contact your carrier’s local Broker Sales Manager for rules and procedures for registering or reporting and conducting the event. I’ve noted lately that Humana, in some areas, will send their folks out to actually do the presentation for you while you still get the sales. Our local Cigna and Aetna broker managers in Arizona are always available to attend formal events and lend a hand at the meeting.
  • Find a centrally located meeting room. In my region, our city libraries rent meeting rooms to help balance their budgets. Don’t forget to consider the local VFW, American Legion, Moose or Elks Lodges for room rental as they also can be a good source of attendees. They’re all trying to raise some funds for their respective budgets. When all else fails, check some local restaurants and motels.

 

  • Always utilize the carrier-recorded presentation. Often these are available as a Power Point presentation or a link that can be easily replayed on screen at your event. These recordings usually cover all the points that need to be made to be CMS compliant. You almost certainly will be secret shopped, but don’t let that worry you. After getting through all that boring, but important compliant info you can start selling yourself by engaging the audience.
  • Use a voluntary sign-in sheet for your guests. Always have permission to call (PTC) and Scope of Appointment forms handy. If you’re anticipating a good crowd, take an assistant with you. They can gather PTC forms and Scopes, assist attendees to fill out enrollment forms and just be generally helpful. I doubled my sales at events when I started taking agent trainees with me. Most of those added sales were from follow-up home appointments my helpers set up.

I’ll give you a more complete rundown on secret shoppers in an upcoming post, so make sure you subscribe to our blog.  In the mean time, here is a check list
that can give you an idea of how they evaluate. It’s not rocket science. We understand that some agents experience trepidation at doing these events, that’s why we are here to make it happen for you.

RB Insurance-affiliated agents who have questions regarding the planning and execution of sales events or compliance issues can call me at (800) 997 3107 or email me. We make it happen for you, so ask how we can assist you with advertising your event.