May I Bare My Soul to You?

[aflac222]

Let me be real honest. I am very frustrated with my income. It seems like the last three or four years my income has stayed about the same. I have added some new business, but I am only replacing the income that I am losing.

My main practice is selling worksite benefits. Half of my income is from group health insurance. I have some very loyal clients. I have added around three small groups this past year.
The other half of my income is from worksite life insurance and other voluntary products.

My prospecting efforts utilizes a couple of approaches.
I usually mail out 10-20 letters a week to h.r. directors or administrators. I then follow up the letter with a phone call. I also try to prospect in person at least one day a week.

My questions are:
What is working for you?
Am I normal?
Are their better strategies than I am employing?

 

[pahealthquotes]

you only sell group health?

What about branching out into Medicare sales? What about individual plans?

Subscribe to sales genie and call every new business that opens up in your area.

What size businesess are you targeting?

 

[bluemarlin08]

You should be very concerned, with half your income coming from group health. I see your with AFLAC, talk to a producer that has been there awhile and is successful, see what he is doing, bring him in on cases and split the business. Quickest way to make it is to imitate another successful agent/agents.

 

[go2dnxt]

try cross selling life insurance. if you have clients MI I can help.

 

[CABenefits]

I hit a wall this year and that was needing to hire a full time assistant. I still saw an income increase of 40%. I have had 2 p/t assistants over the 4 years I've been in the business. They just never panned out. Now my volume of business is increasing again. I have consistently added 14-20 groups per year and around 60 new individual clients and 40 in Medicare. My life segment is taking off now.
I would knock on doors 3 days a week, 25-30 businesses a day, and focus on obamacare regs. Do you have a strong network for referrals? I have a small pharmacy that feeds me business and I made $2000 extra this year. This year I'm working on two more small pharmacies.
I've noticed most AFLAC agents like to push all their products but in the case of dental their are great programs out their priced less than AFLAC. If you get life referrals that are tough to write do you have other markets you can send them through?
Good luck to you this year!

Michael

 

[aflac222]

Michael,
My first appointment was with Aflac.I am no longer appointed with Aflac. I have found other companies that care of those needs.

As far as referrals, I do not have a strong base. And I know that is probably one of my largest downfalls.
What type of referrals do you get from pharmacies ?

 

[CABenefits]

Michael,
My first appointment was with Aflac.I am no longer appointed with Aflac. I have found other companies that care of those needs.

As far as referrals, I do not have a strong base. And I know that is probably one of my largest downfalls.
What type of referrals do you get from pharmacies ?

During AEP I had 3 Medicare Advantage sales and 5 PDP sales. I just got in with them 3 months ago. If I had them throughout the year I don't see any way I cannot make $3-4,000 from each pharmacy. One of their referrals referred me her neighbor which was another Medicare Advantage sale. You would be nuts to not be diversifying your streams of income. Medicare only makes up 7% or so of my income right now but I can easily grow that segment.
Something I realized early on was that most health brokers that did large group didn't care about individual health. And captive agents that didn't focus on health could't do Medicare. Get really good at knowing all products, the top plans for each segment, and as Rick says don't just sell the Plan F. I can do all aspects of health so my groups give me individual prospects, Medicare prospects, and life insurance as well. I also sit down with each employee and get to know them and ask them to call me for anything down to ordering ID cards and claim questions.

Here's what I would do:
Find 6 ways this year that you can build referrals.

1. Make a referral sheet for group, individual, and Medicare and drop it off to as many P&C agents as you can. Start buiding relationships with 10 brokers that don't do health. For example...I pay $30 for each individual referral that I can place.

2. Drop off your business cards at pharmacies and introduce yourself. Ask them what their favorite drug plans are and if there are any they don't accept. Tell them if someone comes in that has a drug plan they don't accept you'll get them into a plan that is better for the member and the pharmacy. Then call them once a month asking if they have come across anyone that needs help.

3. Get a website that includes a blog and start sharing information that people want to hear about.

4. Knock on 20-30 doors a day Tue-Thur. You will generate life, individual, Medicare, and group prospects. Just let them know you wanted to introduce yourself to the owner or HR. Use HC Reform asking if their broker has explained how their group will be impacted.

5. Call on your existing clients to ask for referrals.

6. Build relationships with a few CPAs and bookkeepers.

You just have to do all of the above during work hours. You'll create a lot of momentum.

Good luck

Mike

 

[xrac]

The cure to any production slump or plateau is to see more people.

 

[ABC]

I would say that only marketing to 20-40 groups a week is not enough. If you don't have the marketing streams and referrals in place then you need to up your cold calling.

I did not have a huge year but I was steady. I wrote 12 new groups with 2 of them being close to 50 lives. The others avg 7 lives. I did write about 30 new ancillary lines. The new group biz came from marketing. I had about 45 individual sales with higher avg premium. A few med sups and about 10 life policies.

I did lose 2 groups this year to the economy.

If you align yourself with a good ancillary carriers you could be eligible for nice bonuses. Even on small cases if you write multiple line your bonus is 5X higher than the comp.

My production really should be double this but I am hearing that few producers are actually producing right now. Everyone is sitting on what they have.

This year I think if you want to increase your comp you are going to have to work 10x as hard as you have.

 

[aflac222]

I would say that only marketing to 20-40 groups a week is not enough. If you don't have the marketing streams and referrals in place then you need to up your cold calling.

I did not have a huge year but I was steady. I wrote 12 new groups with 2 of them being close to 50 lives. The others avg 7 lives. I did write about 30 new ancillary lines. The new group biz came from marketing. I had about 45 individual sales with higher avg premium. A few med sups and about 10 life policies.

I did lose 2 groups this year to the economy.

If you align yourself with a good ancillary carriers you could be eligible for nice bonuses. Even on small cases if you write multiple line your bonus is 5X higher than the comp.

My production really should be double this but I am hearing that few producers are actually producing right now. Everyone is sitting on what they have.

This year I think if you want to increase your comp you are going to have to work 10x as hard as you have.

Thanks for the reply! I just sent you a pm.