Sunday, March 3, 2013

Explaining Medicare supplement products



Seniors’ top concerns tend to be outliving their assets, maintaining their independence, as well as their own health and safety issues. For seniors over age 75, their worries center on family and friends, leaving a legacy and their reputation.

If you have been selling for very long, you have heard about the concept of “features versus benefits.”
  • Features are what the product has or does.
  • Benefits are why your prospect would want those features.
  • In other words, features are about the product, benefits are about the user: What will the product do for them?
For example, if you have something that is metal instead of plastic, metal might be a feature. But the benefit might be that it is more durable, longer-lasting, or unbreakable.

Features are the language of logic. Even people who insist they buy logically or based on features do so because that’s what makes them “feel” better.

Benefits are the language of emotion. Focus on emotions, not intellect. People buy on emotion but are moved to action by logic.

An easy presentation
A good and easy presentation would be the outline of coverage for the Medicare supplement product provided by an insurance company. You start by showing them the chart of the standardized Medicare Supplement plans. Let them know that all insurance companies now offer the same plans. Plan F with one company has the same benefits as Plan F with another company. The main difference is the premium that each company charges. You’d then go to the outline of coverage where it shows the services that are covered, such as hospitalization, skilled nursing home care, medical expenses, foreign travel and the like.

The outline shows what Medicare pays, what Plan F pays and then what the client would pay. If you’re showing Plan F you’d go over the outline for Plan F. By showing them this information it lets them know what the gaps are in Medicare and how the Medicare Supplement will pick up those gaps.

You will want to let them know that you’re an independent agent. Tell them that you’re licensed with the top carrier in their state, yet if any new plans come out you’ll let them know about it. This is very important, because if you don’t tell them about the new plans when they become available, another agent will.

Also, use the brochure that your carrier provides. Go over the fact that the plan is guaranteed renewable (meaning as long as they pay their premium they can keep their coverage regardless of claims or health issues), there is no waiting period for pre-existing conditions, and any other benefits that the brochure shows. These are the things you’ll be leaving with the client.

Highlights
  • First day coverage, no waiting period for pre-existing conditions.
  • Guaranteed coverage with no health questions (open enrollment).
  • Medical coverage that can be used with any doctor or hospital throughout the U.S. that accepts Medicare assignment.
  • Automatic claims filing, no paperwork or claims to submit.

Reasons seniors buy senior products
  • NEED – They feel a need for protection.
  • WANT – They want to transfer risk from themselves to an insurance company.
Your key to success: Establish the need and determine an affordable way to pay for the coverage. Seniors tend to focus on how a situation makes them feel. Their responses are based on their total life experiences.

How Often Should You Contact Prospects?



How often should you contact potential prospects? After all, no one wants to feel like a pest or a nag, and you don't want to be seen as desperate. I get asked that question all the time and here's my answer: much more often than you think.

You may think that calling or emailing every two weeks is reasonable. But, if you think about how crazy busy people react, you'll realize that they don't remember what they deleted even earlier in day. And, if you left a bad message, they've deleted you so fast you didn't even enter into their short-term memory.

So I suggest you think about contacting your prospects every 3 or 4 days -- unless you have a very important trigger event that happens. In that situation, you might need to contact them quite frequently within a week because you have some ideas regarding a specific situation that just happened.
So don't worry about being a pest. If you wrote a bad email message they'll delete you and won't remember you.

And finally, just keep things going. Prospects can't remember that you wrote them two days ago, or you called them three days ago. Contact often and plan many, many contacts.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Dilbert's Strategy - Cold Calling

Scott Adams Dilbert™ Comic Strip from December 6th reminded me of several of the sales managers and executives I have had the privilege of working with over these many years. This gem should bring a smile and a pucker to most everyone that considers themselves a salesmaker:

Dilbert Cold Call tactics

Despite many pronouncements that the Cold-Call is dead, I am sad to report that it is alive and well. In spite of all the new and wonderful tools that we hear about, cold-calls are being made each day in every industry.

You may be in Dilbert’s position yourself, having been handed a script with an offer not too unlike the one above. For that I am truly sorry. Cheers to your success in 2013!



Sunday, January 20, 2013

Savvy Social Security Planning for Boomers



Savvy Social Security Planning for Boomers: What Agents Need to Know to Optimize Clients’ Retirement.

• How to maximize benefits so clients get the most money for their needs. This is where agents can truly set themselves apart—by advising clients on how to optimize the inflation-adjusted, lifetime-guaranteed income that Social Security provides…

• How spousal benefits interconnect and affect decisions concerning the timing of when benefits should be taken…
• How the often-overlooked cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) will compound the growth of your clients’ monthly benefits and help improve the accuracy of your retirement income projections…
• Why extending one’s retirement date can help under-saved clients build their retirement nest egg quickly…
• Why taking early retirement may actually be the best approach for well-off clients with the right investment risk profile…
• The impact of working while receiving benefits…
• How to know when Social Security benefits are taxable…
• The outlook for the Social Security Trust Fund and the solvency of the system…

Thursday, January 17, 2013

What should the Scope of an Insurance Agent Be?

Today, Tim Smid asked me what the role of Field Representative/Insurance Agent should be in many other areas of the agency. My quick answer is simple, it depends on the size of the agency in that location. So for the sake of this story let’s assume Pro Advantage Services is an agency that has enough other personnel to handle things like marketing, software testing, or cleaning the office areas. Here is a list of the most common tasks a sales professional could be involved in. Put an "X" next to the ones that you believe an insurance agent should be doing. 

__ Lead generation
__ Proposals
__ Direct sales
__ Discovery
__ Qualification
__ Presentations
__ Applications, intake sheets & closing sheets
__ Policy delivery & post sale follow up
__ Customer Service
__ Training & CEs

Next to the right of the items that you checked, enter the percentage of time you feel an insurance agent should be spending their time on. 

Once you have labeled each item above, perform the following exercise. Multiple 2,080 by the percentage you have entered for "direct sales". For example if you believe you should spend 60% of your time on direct sales perform this exercise: 2080 x .60 = 1,248 hours should be spend each year selling. Next divide the total sales for the year you achieved by the answer above. For example, if an insurance agent closed $100,000 in written premium (sales) for the year then perform this exercise: 100,000 / 1248 = $80.13. This represents the amount of written premium you are selling per hour. This is not a perfect equation for calculating every sales professional’s productivity, but it is a decent guide to use. 

Next you need to ask yourself, "Would more time increase your written premium and sales effort?" If the answer is yes, you now have the figures and equation to use to monitor your decision. In most B2C sales environments more time will likely improve your productivity and sales, in B2B it will likely help some. The key to B2B sales audits is to understand where an insurance agent is spending his/her time. If you determine that 25% of your time is spent creating proposals, then we have a real issue. I like to see 90% of an insurance agent’s time used for selling. The other 10% is spent updating the database for us to forecast your efforts and sales projections. 

Get out from behind your desk



Do you want to know how your clients are doing? Want to know what’s working for them, what’s not working for them and what challenges they’re facing right now? Want to know how you can earn the right to a greater share of their wallets?

Want to build relationships with your dream clients in front of a deal? Want to create value now so that you can be known as a value creator when they’re ready to explore the better results you know you can bring them?

There’s only one thing holding you back, isn’t there? It’s the thing you’re sitting at. But your desk can’t really hold you back, can it? If you wanted to get out badly enough, you could. If you want to make a difference, you have to go where the action is—and that isn’t at your desk.

Break free from the bonds that constrain you! Release yourself from your prison. Get out from behind your desk, and go get into something. You know you can make a difference if you try.