Marketing Medicare Supplements to Age 66 - 68

[axeman462]

Can a person make a living selling Medicare and Medicare supplements in their first year? Should they add other products, like Life or Dental? Is, buying leads, and cold calling the best way to prospect? Is an FMO a good option? Have you heard of Berwick? They are all over the internet right now. Sorry for all the questions. I'm just trying to be specific. Thanks

I personally only market medicare to T65 (I dont like having to worry about underwriting) there are 10,000 people a day turning 65 , and probbly about 2000 of them are in florida. down here we have a big enough t65 market, where I dont have to worry about marketing to T66+. I know, Im probbly leaving alot of money on the table, but there is alot of money to go around...

cross selling is always a good idea. I personally do life, and LTC as cross sells. Leads aint a bad idea, I personally do mostly cold calling on a T65 list for medicare, and save my lead money for Life insurance.

never heard of berwick.

I contract most of my medicare contracts through Todd King, he is very fair. but if you need hand holding and training find someone else, he dont provide training

 

[Iowa77]

I personally only market medicare to T65 (I dont like having to worry about underwriting) there are 10,000 people a day turning 65 , and probbly about 2000 of them are in florida. down here we have a big enough t65 market, where I dont have to worry about marketing to T66+. I know, Im probbly leaving alot of money on the table, but there is alot of money to go around...

cross selling is always a good idea. I personally do life, and LTC as cross sells. Leads aint a bad idea, I personally do mostly cold calling on a T65 list for medicare, and save my lead money for Life insurance.

never heard of berwick.

I contract most of my medicare contracts through Todd King, he is very fair. but if you need hand holding and training find someone else, he dont provide training

Do you get your leads through mailers? Thanks.

 

[axeman462]

Do you get your leads through mailers? Thanks.

Mostly cold calling. I also do seminars about once a month for medicare

for life, I do mailers

 

[steveadlman]

I have been marketing to T65 for several years with some success. I have a questions for those of you who are marketing to the Age 66 - 69 crowd.

What percentage of that age group is new to Medicare? As in finally retiring and losing group benefits.

My state has a very high percentage of MA Cost plans which makes it very difficult to sell Medicare Supps. I was trying to figure out if more people are actually working to full retirement age (66) and then retiring.

You may want to consider marketing to turning ages 65-67. Many people I call on my T65 list are continuing to work for at least another year or two.

 

[germanwine1]

This is a great thread has helped me greatly. I am new to insurance and the senior market.
Unfortunately Frank Statsny passed about three months before I got my license. He offered to train me and get me started in Medicare Supplements, has anyone used Frank's training on Medicare Supp101. Should I go ahead and make the 50 investment?

 

[tins]

This is a great thread has helped me greatly. I am new to insurance and the senior market.
Unfortunately Frank Statsny passed about three months before I got my license. He offered to train me and get me started in Medicare Supplements, has anyone used Frank's training on Medicare Supp101. Should I go ahead and make the 50 investment?

I am a member of that site and think it's pretty helpful.

 

[Daytona_Guy]

As a focus I do not market to T65's, but specifically to those age 67 and up. Each year I run into more & more 67 & 68 year olds who have not taken Part B as they are still working and receiving group bennies. Couldn't say a %, but definitely a growing number.

There are a number of really good questions in this thread...

I started by doing final expense two days per week and Med Supps the other four (worked six days). Had a family of six to feed and failure was not an option.

This kept a very good income, while building my Medicare block at the same time.

Unfortunately, many people look at this as either a "Get Rich Quick" opportunity or a hobby. They expect to invest nothing, chase continual offers of "free leads", etc. and cannot for a minute fathom putting money into their own business.

This is just like a franchise opportunity, except that there is a much smaller barrier to entry. You can start small and stay small, eventually quit like 80% do, or you can treat it like the business that it is and put money into it, expecting a result.

Unlike a franchise, you can be profitable and doing very well in this industry in under two years without mortgaging your entire future. That is, unless you've taken one of those "free leads" deals and sold your future renewals by way of a smaller contract on the back end.

As for ages, I have found the most success by fishing in the blue ocean. By that I mean that there is a red ocean, where all of the sharks are pouncing on, in this case, the Turning-65 senior. Everyone has the same plan and they're all tripping over each other to fight for the same, finite group of people.

Meanwhile, I'm in the blue ocean calling on people who have not heard from their agent in two, three, or more years. These people are frustrated with their rate increase and do not know where to turn. I don't have agents coming right behind me or competing for the same client in the same space.

So, I would encourage you to diversify your business to survive today and still build your Medicare supplement renewals at the same time. It is simple to do both, as neither are complicated.

As to the geography of being limited by plans, that is only in your mind. There are no geographical limitations to where you can sell medicare supplements.. so find a market where you can sell entirely by phone to an under-served market.

You can even get good at locating where the major player are announcing significant rate increases, and a new carrier is launching in that same state. I call that the perfect storm.

Lastly, do not give your contract to someone that you know, up front, is not offering training. Yes, you can pay to get training elsewhere, but that is the quid pro quo for having given your contract in the first place.

Best of luck... remember to treat it like the business it is. It requires relentless persistence on your part, taking care of your clients continuously, and beginning with the end in mind. You could find yourself five years from now with a very significant residual income and a constant flow of referrals to new clients.

 

[moretrax]

Addressing the original question. What % age group 66-69 new to medicare? Does that really matter? Are not 100% of that age group the market for MS, MA and PDP? I'm new the medicare arena, so maybe I'm not seeing something here.

I would also wonder why someone would limit themselves to only MS? Why not be able to offer MA and PDP? I'm on the front end of the certification process and I'm sure it will be a pain in the &@$. But you got to do what you got to do.

Why wouldn't any agent also have FE in their bag? Why not SPWL and annuities as well?

Having typed all this, why not market to the age group 66-78 as a whole as I have seen one of the gurus state in another thread?

 

[Daytona_Guy]

why not market to the age group 66-78 as a whole

You certainly can be "all things to all people" or you can focus on a niche. A long time ago, I heard a phrase that has now made me a lot of money. "The riches are in the niches."

Some are natural add-ons that you'll want to offer to your existing clients, and they work congruently with what your focus is. Other things are outside the scope and do not work together as smoothly.

A lot depends on your comfort level. I do think it's great that you have chosen to offer Medicare Advantage, too. I agree that you should also have resources for cross selling with your new client base into things they'll need, like life insurance.

However, when you get too diversified, you become a "jack of all trades and a master of none." That's a dangerous trap, to become so dilluted that you have too many offerings and do not have a client-gathering focus niche.

 

[moretrax]

You make a good point about becoming diluted. My original question, when I found this thread, was determining an age range for MS.

If I were to do a direct mail campaign, would 66-78 be a good range to request?