Home Office Direct Sales

somarco

GA Medicare Expert
5000 Post Club
36,601
Atlanta
I was talking with my GR rep last week . . . covering a lot of ground. Trying to get some insight into new things on the horizon.

We started talking about HO direct sales. While GR still handles direct sales (call in) they cranked the numbers and found it was actually less profitable than agent generated sales.

The number of sales per phone rep were not as high as expected.

They missed a lot of sales due to "limited" hours, but staffing on weekends and PM was not profitable.

The big thing was persistency. HO direct sales stayed on the books 6 months compared to 2+ years for agent direct.
 
I was talking with my GR rep last week . . . covering a lot of ground. Trying to get some insight into new things on the horizon.

We started talking about HO direct sales. While GR still handles direct sales (call in) they cranked the numbers and found it was actually less profitable than agent generated sales.

The number of sales per phone rep were not as high as expected.

They missed a lot of sales due to "limited" hours, but staffing on weekends and PM was not profitable.

The big thing was persistency. HO direct sales stayed on the books 6 months compared to 2+ years for agent direct.

That's good news. I hope that someone in management for BCBS Tx. reads this forum. They have just done a mass mail out (Nice piece as well). Only the main office number of course.
 
I hope that someone in management for BCBS Tx. reads this forum. They have just done a mass mail out (Nice piece as well). Only the main office number of course.

A lot of this is farmed out by BCBSTX to contracted call centers, along with their "sister companies" Blue of Illinois, Oklahoma and New Mexico, I believe.
 
A lot of this is farmed out by BCBSTX to contracted call centers, along with their "sister companies" Blue of Illinois, Oklahoma and New Mexico, I believe.


I didn't think of that, I'll bet that you are right. One can only assume that they will have the same results as GR. At least I hope that they do.
No doubt they keep up with the statistics, but what the hell, anything to screw the agents.
 
Bob,
I too talk with the folks at GR and sometimes I come away with the feeling they were just feeding me a line. If what they told you was really true, you would think they would start handing off their phone in business to agents. I know I would be more than happy to help out. I think they speak with fork tongue.
 
BX writes more direct than any other carrier due to name recognition. It's like some folks will always drive a Ford (or Chevy) because they make great cars (trucks) . . . in their opinion.

Ned, I am very close to some of the folks at GR and they will tell me things they don't normally share. I usually get a phone call from one or more contacts about changes that are coming, so I don't think they were feeding me a line.

You may or may not recall, but a year or so ago GR made a big deal about new plans for young singles. They tried to compete with Tonik by promoting their "Belay" plans complete with young hard bodies rock climbing.

They only did this in 1 or maybe 2 states and quickly withdrew the project after a few months. Nothing sexy about the product. Just a Copay Saver with a different skin.

They lost money on that venture and quickly folded their tent.

I have never had a referral from GR but I do get them from Humana on a regular basis. They (GR) will still take all the call in business they can get but they are no longer making a concerted effort to capture this business. Their efforts are mostly passive now.

Jesus in Long Beach. Elvis in Tampa.

What a country.
 
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