Lacking Leads?

Slim · 02-06-2009, 10:40 PM

Are you new in the business or returning to it after some time off? If so...
Do you have difficulty generating your own leads right now?
Are there restrictions on how you can generate your leads? Can you afford the cost of advertising in your market?
Do you have help getting new leads?

These are questions I often ask myself.

The main reason for my lack of leads may be too little effort . The lack of funds to buy leads from an approved vendor complicates the problem. Running a Company approved ad or direct mailer is also expensive at this time . Then there is the fear factor. You see , I can't legally do any cold calling .

But my biggest blame goes to relying on my FMO who recruited me on the basis of giving/selling me leads.

There is an IMO I signed with recently who did virtually the same thing on the Life side , but he signed a different contract with me.

My close percentage was 34% the other day when I checked. ANd my FMO said I did well everytime I have worked any of his leads.

So I have been racking my brain for weeks . Months. Wanting to make some more money and help some more seniors.

And here is what I have come up with.

My MA products are excellent to offer if I can just get the leads.

Sales events are too far out to plan for right now. Especially when promise of more leads has me sitting back and waiting for the promises to come true.

Can you go sit on a city bus and offer to sign people up for LIS (Low Income Subsidy) all day? Couldn't you get some good prospects from that?

Take the Medicare and You book with you and study it . Wait on people to come to you and put them in the system. Help them apply. If they think they should qualify and if they are on Medicare A & B .

Go to the bus station and the local newspaper first and publicize what you are doing. Check it out with CMS and/or your Company if you want to.

You cannot talk about the plans. You can bring Scope of Appointments with you though. You can have the applicant say he/she allows you to call or mail . As long as you are not selling anything or educating anyone.

What about the Mayor's office? Do they get a lot of calls right now from seniors whose incomes are changing?

What about the Newspaper ? The Senior Citizen Center? Are they hearing of a lot of seniors whose income is being reduced because of job loss or because of any other reason?

Are churches more concerned about losing money now? Will any of these places allow you to help out their members by volunteering your time to meet at their location while you study ?

You might be able to set up a future seminar based on the level of interest you can generate.

Whoever comes out to see you might want to apply for LIS.
Maybe they can get on Medicaid because you help them sign up the right way.

I know Med Advantage is not the market for everyone but it is something I want to be more successful in ,and my lead generation is slow right now.

What would happen if I tried some of these ideas.

CHUMPS FROM OXFORD · 02-06-2009, 10:57 PM

Probably...you would have more sales.

Slim · 02-07-2009, 01:57 PM

I asked FMO this morning .

His answer was " be careful about that because CMS wants to know why you are signing people up and if it is just to sell them something ,... you have to be careful not to advertise too big."

Just telling him and mentioning it here is more than I care to do, but it doesn't matter much if I stop offering them altogether.

His solution is to send a contract for life and provide leads.

Tom Highway · 02-09-2009, 09:59 PM

Riding the bus for a while may not be a bad idea, but you'd have to do some talking. If you have an afternoon or two to "waste", why not give it a shot? Heck, I may even try that pretty soon and report back here.

Tom Highway · 02-11-2009, 08:53 PM

Reporting back on the results of riding the bus. It actually turned out to be a GREAT source of leads. Here's what I did, and what I learned to do differently.

I got the bus routes for my city, and picked one that went by a hospital and some decent areas where I thought I'd find some prospects (I am prospecting for MAPD plan enrollment). I drove out to the bus stop and parked, and put my $0.50 in the meter to keep me for about two hours.

I carried my bag with all my materials, and had my clipboard out with my Medicare and You book prominently displayed.

I went to the bus stop about 15 minutes early, and I talked to a few people. I got on the bus, and told the driver that I work for a Medicare health plan, and I'm trying to learn the area better and see where people are, and that I wanted to just ride one round trip today. She was really nice and turned out to be helpful.

It was sort of a rainy morning, and about 0900, so the bus was almost empty. I sat in the front (reserved for handicapped if necessary) near a suspect and a younger guy, and waited. The suspect talked a little to the driver, and turned out to be a veteran. We talked about serving in the Navy for a while, and I basically disqualified him as a prospect, but kept talking. He got off soon, and I moved into his seat because it was nearer to the driver, and talked to the driver a bit (it was only the two of us on the bus).

Next stop, an older lady got on the bus and sat near me. She looked over at my Medicare and You book and said "I just got Medicare" - BINGO!!! We talked a good bit, but I didn't give her a hard sell or anything. I didn't get a scope, but I got a permission to call and will call her. As we were talking, two more people got on, and one of them said "I have Medicare too, I have Humana" (I don't represent Humana). I talked to her a little but wasn't able to get her permission to call, so I gave her a card and asked her to call me.

Then, it was my stop, because I had some appts to run.

All in all, I was on the bus and waiting at the stop for about 50 minutes, and I got one legitimate prospect to call back, and one who probably won't call me.

I learned from talking to the driver that the best time to ride to talk to a lot of seniors is between 1100 and 1300, for lunch time. The driver was really helpful, and it was good of me to talk to her as soon as I got on.

I'm planning on doing this again Friday afternoon for a couple of three hours or so.

Oh yeah - the bus fare was $1.25, so, for a grand total of $1.75, I got one qualified lead, one (low) potential lead, and one person I disqualified. Not bad return for 45 minutes work and less than $2.00!

I'll change my approach just a little bit to fine tune it, and report back when I have some more results.

What do y'all thinK?

Slim · 02-12-2009, 08:27 PM

I was thinking something similar except I think you may not be able to give out your card unless they ask. But you may be able to anyway. I believe it is ok if I went into a Hospital or anywhere else and sat down and started reading my book and maybe have another sitting close by and then let the questions or conversations begin and if it is talk started by a stranger and then they become a suspect or prospect it is an avenue to let the suspect have the lead and if you are in a hotbead of seniors anywhere as long as you are there to study and as long as you do not have your Company materials and as long as you do not direct anything more than answering their questions with oh yes i am credentialed to sell this and this and this and this . and oh yes the page number for this is this . and oh yes the answer to that is something i am studying right now . i dont know the answer yet but i am digging into it. and oh yes part c and part d and phone numbers are all listed here . i got my book over there but i know of a better way to get a book now and it's easy too. Just as long as you are not trying to sell anything . And as long as you are not trying to educate or speak specifics to lead anyone in a particular direction , if you go out in public and carry your book and people talk to you then you may bump into a legitimate way for someone else to open the door. You may just have a stack of SOA and say oh yeah I am reviewing all my regulations to stay in compliance. And you may be able to generate a conversation or meet qualified prospects one-hundred ways a day. That is exactly why it seems ignorant , to be polite, of my manager or company to tell me they have no leads to put me on. It's more like the MA pros have said , this is not the time to break in it. If you have a book of MA clients work them instead of relying on your company or your mgr. my rant? :-)

DelmarvaHealth · 02-13-2009, 01:55 PM

Originally Posted by Slim

Can you go sit on a city bus and offer to sign people up for LIS (Low Income Subsidy) all day? Couldn't you get some good prospects from that?

Do you work for ACORN?

joeblow · 02-13-2009, 02:04 PM

I don't know anything about the product, but why ride the bus? Why not go sit in the Hospital cafeteria or something?

Slim · 02-13-2009, 06:21 PM

OK , I guess I showed my ignorance. Thanks for straightening me out. I have been concerned about breaking the rules but today I found out it is not even a sales event to do what I am wanting to do. I am going to set up a table at a few places and put out some info and read my Medicare And You Book and wait on anyone to approach me and ask questions or want free material or information . The places I asked today were receptive and a Broker Relations Dept said it is not an event I am wanting to do so I do not need to report it just do it. It is like a person stepping into your office. I didn't know that for some reason but have asked so many times it seems like my manager would have told me a year ago. Thanks for the info .

SoCalBroker · 02-13-2009, 08:59 PM

The "I Ride The Short Bus Strategy!"

J/k man - pretty damn good actually. I love it.

ACTION!

Slim · 02-13-2009, 09:06 PM

OK . I'll rename this thread Lacking Brains?

Tom Highway · 02-14-2009, 09:59 AM

Originally Posted by Slim

OK . I'll rename this thread Lacking Brains?

Dude, why? Don't beat yourself up, just get out there and do SOMETHING. Remember the old adage, prospecting is a contact sport.

My take on the whole MIPAA thing is if you're taking the lengths you are to make sure you're compliant, that shows that you have integrity and you ARE doing the right thing. You have to look at intent. You'd be amazed at the things that some people have done, and continue to do, post MIPAA. Scary.

Slim · 02-14-2009, 10:33 PM

I was poking fun at myself. Yes , It was very encouraging to DO something .

Two pharmacies that told me to come in anytime. I might have another major one for 3 days and then another I am to speak to the chief pharmacist for a decision. I never had the FMO tell me to try anything, as much as I have been asking for leads .

jhenderson99 · 07-13-2009, 12:10 PM

I think those are great ideas - I like out of the box thinking. Couple of questions:

1. How about a badge with your name on it? Badges are disarming but I would wonder what you could put on it to be compliant and not advertising. I would think your name and who you represent should be fine.

2. At the pharmacies, do you have to request NOT to be in the pharmacy area. I think you have to be in the common areas.

jhenderson99 · 07-15-2009, 03:15 PM

If you have enough leads then you would have enough money to buy yourself the turpitude you need. - or so I would think.