Difficulty of Selling FE Vs Med Supps

[jdeasy]

Really? That's where you want to go with this? You might want to rethink that.

 

[Glen Shelton]

As far as I know you haven't written a book on selling med sups or present as an expert.

I think it's important to know how successful the ones giving advice really are.

As Travis likes to say, "I'm not buy buying a book by Peter Dinkledge on the fine art of dunking a basketball".

Here is my bio from the book -

After years of working in the retail sales sector, Glen Shelton decided to leave the corporate grind and build a sales-focused business of his own. He became an independent insurance agent, initially selling mortgage protection life insurance before he found his niche selling Final Expense life insurance to seniors.

As an independent insurance agent, Glen noticed a lack of quality and service among telemarketed lead providers in the industry—and saw an opportunity. He launched Lead Heroes in 2015 to provide agents with quality leads and attentive service, specializing in telemarketed Final Expense life insurance and Medicare Supplement leads.

In his role as president of Lead Heroes, Glen actively manages a call center with real people generating quality telemarketed leads at affordable pr"ices. By streamlining his processes to improve efficiency, Glen lowers lead costs for agents while maintaining service and quality, which helps agents maximize their ROI.

I never claimed to be an "expert" at Medicare Supplement sales (maybe marketing though? ).

This is why I co-authored the book with Justin (and collaborated with 35 other agents).

 

[jdeasy]

Here is my bio from the book -

After years of working in the retail sales sector, Glen Shelton decided to leave the corporate grind and build a sales-focused business of his own. He became an independent insurance agent, initially selling mortgage protection life insurance before he found his niche selling Final Expense life insurance to seniors.

As an independent insurance agent, Glen noticed a lack of quality and service among telemarketed lead providers in the industry—and saw an opportunity. He launched Lead Heroes in 2015 to provide agents with quality leads and attentive service, specializing in telemarketed Final Expense life insurance and Medicare Supplement leads.

In his role as president of Lead Heroes, Glen actively manages a call center with real people generating quality telemarketed leads at affordable pr"ices. By streamlining his processes to improve efficiency, Glen lowers lead costs for agents while maintaining service and quality, which helps agents maximize their ROI.

I never claimed to be an "expert" at Medicare Supplement sales (maybe marketing though? ).

This is why I co-authored the book with Justin (and collaborated with 35 other agents).

I also asked how may med sup clients Justin has and got no answer.

I also know some of the people that you used in the book for advice and some of the ones I know couldn't sell ice cubes in hell.

Others told me they were misquoted. And some told me they didn't know they would be quoted.

But it still comes down to knowing if the person has been successful with the methods being taught. Hence the Peter Dinkledge quote about dunking a basketball.

I like that the first time I heard Travis use it and I still do.

If you don't understand that the advice should be vetted then I am not the one with a comprehension problem.

 

[Glen Shelton]

I also asked how may med sup clients Justin has and got no answer.

I also know some of the people that you used in the book for advice and some of the ones I know couldn't sell ice cubes in hell.

Others told me they were misquoted. And some told me they didn't know they would be quoted.

But it still comes down to knowing if the person has been successful with the methods being taught. Hence the Peter Dinkledge quote about dunking a basketball.

I like that the first time I heard Travis use it and I still do.

If you don't understand that the advice should be vetted then I am not the one with a comprehension problem.

- Never had a single agent reach out to me to say they were "misquoted" - the only changing that would have been done to the survey responses would have been to clean up formatting and/or grammatical errors.

- Everyone who completed the survey was then emailed prior to publishing asking if they would like to be removed from the book prior to publishing.

- I don't know how many Med Supp clients Justin has - I'm sure a hell of a lot more than me though. This is his site - Ohio Medicare Plan Options in Your Area

- I am not an up line, nor am I am privy to every agent's production track record. The agents who collaborated in this book could have an annual production anywhere from 5K to 500K, the goal was to share ideas (what works for them) not 1099's.

Different folks, different strokes - what works for one agent may not work for another (for example - selling over the phone vs. selling face-to-face).

 

[ExProgrammer]

I also know some of the people that you used in the book for advice and some of the ones I know couldn't sell ice cubes in hell.

Have you ever actually been to Hell, JD? I got close to it in 2002 but didn't get to go. The port authority folks in Grand Cayman wouldn't let the cruise ship dock. They said it was too windy and the waves would have made it difficult to dock. It didn't seem that windy to me. But what do I know? Anyway, it definitely wasn't hot enough out on the ship for me to think that much ice would have been necessary over there. That would have made it harder to sell.

On Wednesday we were in Jamaica,
On Friday we were in Cozumel,
But because it was a windy Thursday
We weren't able to go to Hell.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell,_Grand_Cayman#/media/File:Hell_Grand_Cayman_(1).JPG

 

[Todd King]

Medicare sales are a lot harder today because of the competition. People start receiving flyers 9 months before turning 65. Big companies like AARP, Anthem, etc. send out tons of flyers. And, there are free lunches with seminars. Also, major companies send mail to their clients turning 65.

The direct mail response, according to the regional sales mgr at Anthem Blue Cross in Los Angeles, is terrible. He told me an agent can not make a living from direct mail in L.A. because of the poor response.

Mail out 1,000 at 1% return = 10 leads. At $450 per thousand, you're lucky to make $1,000 in first year gross commission.

Also, my prospects are telling me they are not only getting a stack of flyers but a ton of phone calls.

So, don't be deceived into believing that Medicare sales will be lucrative. It's harder than final expense because the competition now is so much greater. How many calls does someone get for final expense? Very few.

And this is the very reason I tell new agents NOT to target the turning 65 market to begin with. Seems that's the main market you're referring to. You can't make a blanket statement like this about the whole market.

 

[TDFnCali]

And this is the very reason I tell new agents NOT to target the turning 65 market to begin with. Seems that's the main market you're referring to. You can't make a blanket statement like this about the whole market.

His statement about the T65 market isnt even correct, at least not here in Socal where he's representing....but maybe he'll quit & go away, more T65 for me then!

 

[Chazm]

And this is the very reason I tell new agents NOT to target the turning 65 market to begin with. Seems that's the main market you're referring to. You can't make a blanket statement like this about the whole market.

To each his own. I'm trying my second go around on selling med supps to other states for clients 67-75 and I can tell you thus far it's been an utter failure.
T65's are so much easier. The initial call is 10x smoother, the F2F appts are a sinch.
Phone calls for 67+? I just can't figure it out. So far every lead I've received is on a mapd plan, on a group plan, on a med supp with a Plan G and a great rate.
I know I just need to keep plugging away and train my TM's more and more but man I have 150 DM t65 leads that are just an easier sell, waiting to be seen.

 

[KOC Agent]

Easier to sell? Medicare by a LONG SHOT! I started with FE, then moved to medicare primarily now, and its night & day. FE takes real sales skills, and a lot of ppl really don't wanna pay for insurance, but they want it....you also got to collect a voided chk.

I dont ever have to collect $$ with medicare, and most ppl NEED it at 65, not just want it. Medicare is more of a trust thing....if they trust you know what youre talking about, and you offer good plans, its pretty much a done deal. Plus Id guess 40%+ of your sales have a "built referral" when spouse T65.

Going by memory, Id close around 50% of my FE sales, give or take 10%....I close 85-90% of my Medicare appts. But youre right, FE will make you more $$ in the beg, medicare will take 2-3yrs to really start to see the effect of it.

I attached a comparison sheet I made a few yrs ago....

Nice comparison, thanks.

 

[Todd King]

To each his own. I'm trying my second go around on selling med supps to other states for clients 67-75 and I can tell you thus far it's been an utter failure.
T65's are so much easier. The initial call is 10x smoother, the F2F appts are a sinch.
Phone calls for 67+? I just can't figure it out. So far every lead I've received is on a mapd plan, on a group plan, on a med supp with a Plan G and a great rate.
I know I just need to keep plugging away and train my TM's more and more but man I have 150 DM t65 leads that are just an easier sell, waiting to be seen.

There are always exceptions to the rule. I wouldn't think that either T65 or over 65 is that easy in FL, but I can understand how T65 might be easier there. When I said earlier that over 65 was easier one of the factors is the length of time you have to take to write a T65, unless you can catch them at the right time and write them on the 1st visit. I would imagine that CA isn't that easy either since MA is king there, just like FL.