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You really can generate 6 figures in the senior insurance industry. Here’s how.

“Sales professionals needed to earn $10,000 a month!” We’ve all seen the ads before, right?

I have to admit that early in my sales career, I was wooed by these kinds of classifieds.  The great paradox about them is that in sales, incomes in the coveted 6-figure range are possible, particularly in the rapidly growing senior insurance advisor profession. As I mentioned in last week’s post,  what sets someone earning this type of income apart from someone struggling to earn, is their knowledge of and adherence to a proven system.

Sales is truly a process, and as professionals we need to understand it to be successful.  While an ad like the one above can be misleading, it does do something that every successful sales person does for him or herself: It sets the objective.

Laurence J. Peter, an educator, once said “If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.” I think this is a perfect illustration of the need to understand the opportunity. This also means knowing the number of people who need your product, who can buy your product and, yes, how much you will earn in commission when it all comes together as a result of the sales process.

Oddly, many agents don’t fully understand their commission structures and how to maximize their product portfolio to generate higher income.

Commissions are a complex and sensitive topic because they are vital to a senior insurance advisor’s business model. Be aware that commissions may vary from company to company, product to product and agency to agency. Any discussion on commissions will invite debate and send agents looking for “a few dollars more.” You should view commissions as a total package and not just from a single-product perspective, and you should review commission much like a mutual fund manager views a stock portfolio.

In my 6 Hours to 6 Figures training program, I outline the three-product approach that can help you generate 6 figures for your income:

  1. Life Insurance. Specifically, Final Expense. It provides insurability and affordability to a large segment of the senior population.
  2. Medicare products. Sell Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplements with a best-fit approach for each client.
  3. Hospital Indemnity, a powerful tool of offset the potentially higher copay of many Medicare Advantage plans or as a stand-alone product to help defray the costs of hospitalization under Original Medicare.

While each product can stand on its own and there are one-product agents earning great incomes, the power of this portfolio will help you achieve a higher revenue target with less effort.

Next week, I’ll show you what exactly it takes to generate 6 figures in the senior insurance industry in 12-18 months, even if you are new to the industry.

Medicare agents: You can master the sales process

When I think back to my college days and the success of my friends who graduated with law degrees and MBAs, I feel proud of them and admire the hard work they put in to complete intense curricula. Part of me wishes I completed my degree with them.

I left Georgia Institute of Technology (Go Yellow Jackets!), the MIT of the South, in the middle of my junior year as a dual major in electrical engineering and information and computer sciences. I was and still am a nerd of the highest order, but when I entered sales as a profession shortly after I left college, many of my friends questioned my decision.

“Sales?!” they would always ask in bewilderment. “But Brandon, you had so much promise!” Rather than take offense, I was focused on becoming the most excellent sales professional I could be, regardless of whether I was selling security systems, high end jewelry, car service or insurance.

Image courtesy of Georgia Tech Facebook page

Georgia-Tech-courtesy-of-university-Facebook-page

Want to know what the reward of that hard work was? I was soon earning more money than all my friends — including the lawyer — and still do almost 30 years later.  In most organizations, the top sales professionals can make as much as or even more than company VPs and the CEO.

And yet there are sales professionals who barely make a living.

While there are many factors that influence whether sales professional earn 6 figures or struggle to get by, the fundamental difference between these two extremes is mastery of the sales process.

There are only a few university programs that teach students to think of sales as a process they can master. You’re lucky if the organization you work for provides actual sales training. The insurance industry expends most of its time and energy on licensing, continuing education and carrier product training for agents, but offering training on the actual sales process is hard to get from Broker Support. As a result, many agents are Ready To Sell, but not knowledgeable on how to sell.

I want to introduce you to the sales process with this post. You may have heard of a similar sales process from a different trainer because there are multiple versions of it. Here is my outline of the process that can make you a successful insurance professional:

This process likely covers what you’ve been doing instinctively, but refining how you do it will make better use of your time and make you more effective at finding and closing more prospects. That increase in effectiveness will increase your income and allow you to grow your business to 6-figure earnings and beyond.

Stay tuned next week for more on the sales process and RB Insurance’s special offer for FREE access to my 6 Hours to 6 Figures training program.

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How to overcome fear of rejection in Medicare sales

I was taught by my high school psychology teacher that we’re born with only two fears — the fear of falling and loud noises. The rest of our fears are learned. From my experiences as a senior insurance advisor and personal sales mentor, there’s no doubt what the No. 1 fear is in our profession: Fear of rejection.

Sales professionals measure minutes between rejections: The phone calls to secure appointments, the “No thanks” they hear before they demonstrate their products and the “I changed my mind” even after what seemed like a successful sale. And yet fear of rejection creates a conundrum, a paradox, dare I say a contradiction for those of us whose very living depends on hearing the word “No.”

Read my last sentence again if you have to. If you analyze the sales process, you will find that “No” is often the gateway to “Yes.” It’s a necessary obstacle for us to overcome to achieve our ultimate goal: Leaving the appointment with a sale.

If unchecked, fear of rejection can turn into call reluctance.  Call reluctance paralyzes us and keeps us from prospecting, going on sales calls, following up on prospective clients and asking for referrals. Most of us have faced call reluctance in our careers, and we know the damaging effects it can have.

For sales people, fear of rejection is like the common cold.  If you have some or all of the symptoms, take two of these and call me in the morning:

Don’t take rejection personally. Rejection in sales comes in many forms.  It often manifests as buyers’ anxiety about whether they can afford your product. Sometimes presenting the right product at the wrong time to a potential buyer results in rejection.

Think of the last time you declined an offer and the reason you gave for turning it down. Your lack of interest was most likely concerning the product, not the person talking to you. Maybe you were simply too busy to learn more about a special offer. Recognize that “No” is the easiest way for people to avoid a discussion, even if the end result would be to their benefit. You can’t take any of these rejection scenarios personally!

Understand the difference between a rejection and an objection. A rejection can shut a sale down, but an objection breathes life into the sales process. Rejection means “to refuse to consider.” A rejection shuts down the sales process before buyers even know if what’s being offered is beneficial to them or not.  Objection is “a viewpoint offered in opposition.” Do you see the difference?  In sales, we actually need the objection.  As evidenced by SPIN Selling and other notable sales training programs, most sales only occur after several objections.

For example, “I don’t want to buy a car” is a rejection, but “I would never buy a white car” is an objection.  You can proceed to counter an objection by demonstrating the benefits of your product, “How does titanium silver strike you?” or “Many people love white cars, but are concerned with maintenance. What if I offered free weekly washing and once a year detailing?”

In the next few posts, I’ll review the sales process because when it’s properly executed start to finish, you can mitigate the effects of rejection and properly handle objections.  For now, realize that sales requires a thick skin and the ability to live in oblivion to the fear of rejection!

The easiest (and most effective) Medicare marketing practice? Staying in touch!

Last week I wrote that referrals maximize your hard-earned Medicare book of business and shared just five of the best ways to stay in touch with your clients as part of your Medicare marketing. This week I’m sharing five more tips that should get you thinking about marketing your Medicare business the way big companies think about their campaigns.

Why do you think big companies spend millions of dollars on TV commercials, newspaper inserts and other promotions? They know that building a successful brand requires a consistent approach to reaching consumers. In our world of information overload, you may not notice most of the ads on the sides of your favorite web sites, print magazine pages or even the ads before the latest viral YouTube video, but some of them are bound to capture your attention. My wife just bought a 20 oz. Coke simply because it had my name on the bottle — part of  Coca-Cola’s instantly effective Share A Coke campaign.

Balancing innovation with consistency in messaging is vital to any brand’s success, and that includes your senior insurance business. Having a great product for sale is only a beginning — you  have to reach out to consumers with advertising to succeed. It also takes continuous messaging to enter consumers’ consciousness. What if a big brand like Coca-Cola stopped its marketing efforts after the first try? It would have wasted precious time, energy and money. So will you if you don’t commit to marketing your Medicare business!

It’s possible your clients have forgotten you just three weeks after giving you apple pie and ice cream at the kitchen table when you went over Medicare Supplements with them. It’s much more likely they have forgotten about you if the last time you contacted them was your initial appointment last AEP. That’s why you have to conduct your business like the big corporations do — stay in touch! 

Think of your business, your products and your clients.  What types of ongoing communications yield greater client satisfaction, repeat business and referrals? Here are the next five in My top 10 ways to stay in touch with clients:

6. Hold educational sessions. Depending on your industry and product, your current clients might benefit from additional education.  If you’re in insurance or financial services, the list of topics is endless. These meetings are not designed to be sales events, but are set you up to let your clients know you’re there for them as a trusted advisor.

7. Connect with social media. OK, so your clients probably shouldn’t be adding you as a friend on Facebook, but they can follow your business and “Like” it.  There When used effectively, social media can help you reach clients in innovative new ways.  Of course, make sure to keep these outreaches strictly business!

8. Video messages. YouTube, Vimeo and other services make it possible for anyone to present relevant information to a worldwide audience.  You can make a message or series of messages that provide greater insight into your products and your services.  You can even create your own channel that your clients can watch and refer people to. I know a life insurance agent that does short, information-packed videos to teach his clients about the different forms of insurance.  This establishes his credibility and allows new clients a way to get to know him prior to calling.

9. Send emails. We all get more emails than we can read each day.  You could use form emails to send to your entire client base through a CRM, but a personal email is more effective.  You could send a “thinking of you” email that contains an interesting article.  You can also send new product information that attaches all the company bells and whistles to make it compelling and interesting.

10. Conduct a survey. Do you really want to know what your clients think or what they want? You should, because that’s the key to determining how to get them to buy more or refer more people to you.  Several online survey platforms like Survey Monkey will allow you to send a simple, short survey and even offer an incentive for their feedback.

As you stay in contact with your clients, not everything you do will be a hit. Some things will miss.  What matters is being consistent and being motivated to serve. The effort is worth it, so stay in touch!

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Referrals maximize your Medicare book of business

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.

Multiply your revenue just by organizing your Medicare book of business

Last week I encouraged you to build and organize your Medicare book of business. This week I want to show you how a well-organized book of business is the best way to maximize your return on that investment of time and energy.

Let’s be honest — gathering up all of your clients’ information and entering it into an Excel spreadsheet or CRM is tedious and time consuming.  For the DIY crowd, I suggest breaking your Medicare book of business down into small pieces by entering 10 clients a day until you’ve included everyone. For agents with an expansive clientele, think about paying a college student or your industrious child a fair hourly rate to do the data entry.

No matter how you do it, your Medicare book of business needs to be organized in order to have the most value to your senior insurance business. The investment of of time, energy and even money you make to get it that way will be returned many times over.

Let me prove it to you:

Did you know that Medicare Advantage carriers can pay you up to a $100 referral fee if you allow them to market to your clients? You don’t have to certify or actually sell the product — just compliantly give them access to your Medicare book of business, and they will do the rest. If you have 300 clients and they sell 100, that’s $10,000 for you.  Not bad for no more than a day’s worth of work, right?

What if you leveraged your own Medicare book of business and your “Existing Business Relationship” — defined as such by CMS because you have sold them a legitimate product like final expense or life insurance?  If you did compliant outreach to these clients and sold the same 100, your first-year commission could be $30,000 (a combination of initial payments and like-plan changes).  That’s three times what you would get for the referral fee!

Want to make it even better?  Those 100 people would now be worth about $20,000 a year via annual servicing renewals.  Most carriers now pay lifetime renewals, but over the first six-year cycle, your clients would now be worth an additional $120,000 for a total of $150,000 in seven years!

Yes, you still have to complete AHIP (RB Insurance is offering an incredible discount program) if you decide to add Medicare Advantage to your portfolio of products. And yes, you have to complete carrier certifications and learn which products best fit your clients’ needs. That’s all part of running a successful business. It takes time and energy, but you already have the most important element: Clients!

Leverage the hard work you’ve put into securing your clients.  Organize your book of business and look for ways to maximize your revenue.

Call RB Insurance at (800) 997 3107 to learn more about quick contracting opportunities for Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplements, Hospital Indemnity and Final Expense. For a limited time, agents can receive 100 percent reimbursement on their 2016 AHIP certification when they make five sales with any Medicare Advantage product this AEP. Learn more here.

 

 

Build, don’t buy your Medicare Book of Business

The No. 1 request I would hear from agents during my many years working for senior health insurance carriers, especially as AEP crept closer around the corner, was “Can I get a list of the clients I’ve sold to?”

Sure, it seems like a reasonable request, but it always astonished me why agents didn’t already have this information at their fingertips. When I think of how easy it is to keep up with clients versus how hard it is to get their contact information from a carrier, I see that it should be a top priority for agent s to manage their Medicare book of business. Read more

Inject AHIP discount and other AEP prep savings into your senior insurance business

Ever since the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 created the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP), I have viewed October 15 to December 17 as a season of harvest.  Sure, the savvy agents among us know there are plenty of year-round selling opportunities, but the surge in enrollments in mid fall definitely constitutes a harvest.

What do you need in order to bring it in? The right tools!

You can wait for carriers to release their special AHIP discounts and be obligated to sell their product during AEP. Or you can take advantage of RB Insurance’s impressive series of special offers that support agents in every step they must take in order to get Ready To Sell.

Discounted E&O insurance, a no-strings-attached $50 AHIP discount and the chance to have the rest of your 2016 AHIP certification costs reimbursed for making five sales with any of RBI’s products all represent real savings for agents. And, as always, RB Insurance’s experienced staff is available for free advice over the phone or in a one-on-one setting.

The immediate $50 you save on the 2016 AHIP training is real cash, and it’s yours whether you’re contracted with RB Insurance or not! On top of that, contracted agents who make five sales will receive a full reimbursement of their $125 fee for AHIP. If the carriers you have chosen to represent have a reimbursement program, you’re not excluded from signing up for them! Factor in the commission you’ll earn from those five sales, that’s a few hundred dollars in your pocket, just for taking care to prepare for for AEP.

What can you do with that money?

Sure, you could go out to eat, play a round of golf or go to the spa with the savings, but let me make a few suggestions that would actually help that money make you more money:

  • You could conduct your Annual Review Letter Campaign (Something I’ll go over in a future post)to alert your clients you will be contacting them October 1 about potential changes to their plan.
  • You could do a 1,000-piece mail drop and secure new clients for life insurance or other products you sell. You can go back to these people during AEP to help them with their senior health insurance decisions.
  • You could mail a hospital indemnity brochure to your current client base and conduct an educational review of that product. Remember, hospitalization is more often than not a matter of when, not if, for seniors.
  • You could prepare branding elements for your company such as business cards, brochures and other tools that can help establish you as a go-to resource for your clients.

Money is your best tool. When properly used and directed, it has the uncanny ability to multiply. Consider the offers I’ve mentioned here today and put that money to work for your business!

 

Four simple ways to power through AHIP 2016

When are you going to start your 2016 AHIP certification?

While the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period, AEP, is still months away, I consider right now to be decision time for the training agents must go through in order to be Ready To Sell. What you do in the next few days and weeks will set the tone for how things will go over the next several months and into 2016 for your senior insurance business.

Want to be ready to preserve your current book of business and write new opportunities?  Then today is the most important date on your calendar.

Start your 2016 AHIP certification now, not later to avoid stress and to concentrate on scoring at least 90 percent. Image courtesy of Wikipedia

AHIP

Here are four simple ways to keep October 1st from becoming crunch time by deciding to act now:

1. Consider paying for your AHIP 2016 training. For me, nothing says commitment like spending my hard-earned money on something.  Yes, I understand some of you will wait for the carriers to launch their own training for a discount, and that is a great idea (In fact, my wife does this). However, don’t let the one or two weeks’ difference turn into one or two months before you actually begin your 2016 AHIP certification.  As I looked at my upcoming schedule, I saw the early start was worth more than the savings I would get if I had waited for a carrier discount. I looked up my login information from last year, filled in my credit card information and just a click later, I got immediate access to AHIP 2016.

While I have not yet finished, I have done something that makes most people feel almost as good — I started. You may want to pay for your AHIP up front to avoid stressing out about it later.

2. Download the slides and start reading. Did you know you can download the AHIP slides as a PDF? If you have a slow Internet connection, downloading AHIP 2016 content can make studying much faster than accessing it online. Personally, I don’t like reading while sitting at my computer, so I downloaded all five modules and put them on my iPad.  Over the next three days, I’m planning on reviewing the downloaded slides while riding the stationary bike at my gym. When I’m listening to ’80s music and wiping sweat off my brow, AHIP doesn’t seem as tedious!

3. Pace yourself. If you are a seasoned senior insurance advisor, then the material on the 2016 AHIP is more of a refresher.  If you are new to the business and this is your first AEP, then it will feel more like a university course. Break the five different modules into smaller, more manageable pieces to make it go down easier. You will retain more information this way and score higher on the test!

4. Take the test.  My strategy is simple: I take the test four days after I pay for the course. Because I have already gone through the material at the gym, I allocate two hours for one final review of the modules online. At the end of that session, I take the test (By the way, it’s open book!).  Even if you are a 20-year industry veteran like myself, don’t take the test until you have read all the material! With three attempts to score 90 percent, you have none to waste.

Yes, even for me, hitting the “grade now” button is a little unnerving, but then the passing grade comes.  I will print out my certificate with a sense of satisfaction knowing that one major part of the process is complete.  I can’t celebrate too much as there’s still much work to do when it comes to senior insurance sales.

Agents who subscribe to The Agent’s Advantage can save $50 off their 2016 AHIP certification. Click here to learn more about this offer and how to get your entire AHIP cost reimbursed by RB Insurance when you make five Medicare Advantage sales.

Medicare Advantage sales success is still possible!

Each AEP I encounter a wave of new agents who want to know if there is still success to be had in the Medicare Advantage industry.  My answer to each of them is an enthusiastic “Yes!”

I understand there have been changes and challenges as the industry has evolved, but  I believe they have actually created an even greater possibility of success for the senior insurance advisor who has the right perspective.

I believe you need three things to be successful: The right opportunity, the right timing and the right people.

We’ve all heard that 10,000 people a day are turning 65. This represents people who will need someone to help them navigate the complex healthcare and insurance options.  They will need a trusted advisor. and that could be you. Take the opportunity!

We’re in a period of corporate consolidation as plans acquire other plans.  There are changes coming to Medicare Supplements that will govern consumer choice.  Marketing guidelines are ever-evolving and agents have to be compliant.  In spite of the changes, the timing is still right.  Beneficiaries are still faced with making choices, and they will have more questions than ever as things continue to change. You can be the one they turn to for advice!

The days of the “lone wolf” producer are numbered.  Partnerships are now more important than ever to be successful in senior sales.  You need the right contracts with the best products.  Not only that, you need the right training and marketing approaches that can help you get in front of prospects and convert them to clients. That puts a premium on the type of marketing organization you get involved with.  Do you currently have the right partners to help you become successful?

The rewards are great for those that will are willing to do what it takes to have success and build their business. Don’t let success pass you by!

Call RB Insurance Group at (800) 997 3107 to learn more about opportunities to sell a portfolio of senior products year-round to earn top commission. Request a copy of our fast-track appointment application to take on Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplements, Hospital Indemnity and final expense plans in less time.