Marketing Med Supps in California

[MedicareBear]

I'm in NJ. I can understand NJ being a difficult state to market in for med supps, but I've heard also California being a rough state to market in as well. What makes Ca such a difficult to state to market in?

The reason I ask is that I work during the days 7-3 at a local warehouse and I am calling from 4-9 in a few eastern states, but thought I can possibly call until 12am EST due to the DNC laws and be able to call m-f for another 3 hours. Any feedback would be helpful. Thank you in advance.

 

[sman]

I can't speak for California, but you may want to get in touch with Rick (GreenSky on the forum). He's in California and also has a Medicare Agent training site.

And that folks should be my 5,000th post. Now my forum check will increase.

 

[MedicareBear]

I can't speak for California, but you may want to get in touch with Rick (GreenSky on the forum). He's in California and also has a Medicare Agent training site.

And that folks should be my 5,000th post. Now my forum check will increase.

Congrats! I already am a member of Rick's site as well as Chris's site but I always hear that it's tough just never hear why. I've heard why NJ is normally tough, to the point that some marketers simply refuse to work NJ and have heard Florida tough, I've heard why for them as well... but never heard a reason for CA.

 

[socal401]

I'm in NJ. I can understand NJ being a difficult state to market in for med supps, but I've heard also California being a rough state to market in as well. What makes Ca such a difficult to state to market in?

The reason I ask is that I work during the days 7-3 at a local warehouse and I am calling from 4-9 in a few eastern states, but thought I can possibly call until 12am EST due to the DNC laws and be able to call m-f for another 3 hours. Any feedback would be helpful. Thank you in advance.

I belive you cannot telemarket past 8 pm anywhere, I read that rule somewhere before I started, could be wrong though.

I'm in CA and don't sell in CA at all. The reason it's tough is because CA makes it really hard for companies to get approved and do business here, so there aren't as many carrier choices. It can be hard to switch someone and save them money unless you move them to a plan N, which I believe is what Rick does. We do have the birthday rule so that's a plus. (Could also be why carriers don't want to do business here?)

 

[MedicareBear]

I belive you cannot telemarket past 8 pm anywhere, I read that rule somewhere before I started, could be wrong though.

I'm in CA and don't sell in CA at all. The reason it's tough is because CA makes it really hard for companies to get approved and do business here, so there aren't as many carrier choices. It can be hard to switch someone and save them money unless you move them to a plan N, which I believe is what Rick does. We do have the birthday rule so that's a plus. (Could also be why carriers don't want to do business here?)

I went through federal DNC laws and read 8a-9p so that would mean 12a EST would work for me since you guys are 3 hrs earlier than us. Right now it's 11:48a so I imagine it's 8:48a over there. I wanted to get more time to call so I can eventually make it a full time thing selling medicare over the phone. I've heard you guys have some tough laws like something about door knocking even if it's with life insurance where you can't just door knock. You need to door knock and then get a signature stating you can return 24 hrs later.

So it's difficult change them from a plan F from one carrier to another plan F? Is there a law that states you can only get them a plan N? Just curious. I would also market to Oregon, Nevada or Washington since I know they are also 3 hours earlier than us. Thanks for the input btw.

 

[wln417]

How many carriers do you think you need? Go to the insurance.ca.gov website and get a listing of all the Med Sup carriers approved in CA.

 

[socal401]

I went through federal DNC laws and read 8a-9p so that would mean 12a EST would work for me since you guys are 3 hrs earlier than us. Right now it's 11:48a so I imagine it's 8:48a over there. I wanted to get more time to call so I can eventually make it a full time thing selling medicare over the phone. I've heard you guys have some tough laws like something about door knocking even if it's with life insurance where you can't just door knock. You need to door knock and then get a signature stating you can return 24 hrs later.

So it's difficult change them from a plan F from one carrier to another plan F? Is there a law that states you can only get them a plan N? Just curious. I would also market to Oregon, Nevada or Washington since I know they are also 3 hours earlier than us. Thanks for the input btw.

I've heard from a few people it can be diffucult to find someone a cheaper plan F, the savings on N make the most sense.
No law on that, the birthday rule states you can only go to the same or lower plan though, plan f to plan f or plan f to plan n, but not plan N to plan f with the bday rule.

 

[mickeyma]

It's tough to sell anything in Calif because of the competition. It has nothing to do with the government or regulations.

The IRS says Southern Calif is the scam capital of America. We have more people but we also have more competitors doing more phone calls, sending more direct mail and knocking on doors more.

Calif residents are sick of being bombarded by sales people. I get calls all the time saying the sales person talked to me 6 months ago & I was interested in doing some work on the home in the near future. I call them a F------- liar, tell them my son and I are general contractors so why would I talk to them about work on my house when I can do it. Then, there are the robo calls.

I bet I get 10-15 sales calls a week. And I get these even after I have blocked 50 phone numbers I know are sales calls.

On my lead programs, I'll be lucky to contact 25-35%. The rest hide behind caller Id and answering machines (55%). Sending a letter with a copy of the card almost never results in a phone call.

Our local tv stations have investigative reporters always talking about the scams and warning viewers to be careful when dealing with strangers (which we agents are).

I just had a lady tell me that her friends said not to deal with anyone who calls you because "ALL of them are crooks trying to cheat you." She believed this 100%.

Even when selling med supps to ages 67-75, women are terrified to change despite showing them how to save $500 or more each year on their premium with a well-known company like Blue Cross.

If you're selling med supps to T-65 crowd, that means night time work. Most people don't want to stop watching tv to answer a call from someone they don't know.

 

[DS4]

How many carriers do you think you need? Go to the insurance.ca.gov website and get a listing of all the Med Sup carriers approved in CA.

This will depend on the area you market.
In my part of California, there are no MA plans.
In fact, we just got electricity a few years ago.
I sell med supps and about 99% of my business goes through 2 companies, Blue Shield of California, and, AARP/United Healthcare.

 

[RookieYankee]

It's tough to sell anything in Calif because of the competition. It has nothing to do with the government or regulations.

The IRS says Southern Calif is the scam capital of America. We have more people but we also have more competitors doing more phone calls, sending more direct mail and knocking on doors more.

Calif residents are sick of being bombarded by sales people. I get calls all the time saying the sales person talked to me 6 months ago & I was interested in doing some work on the home in the near future. I call them a F------- liar, tell them my son and I are general contractors so why would I talk to them about work on my house when I can do it. Then, there are the robo calls.

I bet I get 10-15 sales calls a week. And I get these even after I have blocked 50 phone numbers I know are sales calls.

On my lead programs, I'll be lucky to contact 25-35%. The rest hide behind caller Id and answering machines (55%). Sending a letter with a copy of the card almost never results in a phone call.

Our local tv stations have investigative reporters always talking about the scams and warning viewers to be careful when dealing with strangers (which we agents are).

I just had a lady tell me that her friends said not to deal with anyone who calls you because "ALL of them are crooks trying to cheat you." She believed this 100%.

Even when selling med supps to ages 67-75, women are terrified to change despite showing them how to save $500 or more each year on their premium with a well-known company like Blue Cross.

If you're selling med supps to T-65 crowd, that means night time work. Most people don't want to stop watching tv to answer a call from someone they don't know.

HA! New Jersey is the same way. I received my leads from Jenmarco a while back when I was doing Final expense and was able to reach 7/21 leads. I've written two sales on that and possibly one more next week, so I've reached approx. 33% of the people. NJ is the same way, man. When I first got into the business I thought (and I was right) I was that awful and couldn't get leads to save my life as I was cold calling but then I read up about NJ, FL, and CA and found out people refuse to work these states and I felt a bit better. I don't mean to sound like I'm making an excuse. I was green but I see NJ is a tough market as well which made feel a bit better.

There are some marketers that refuse to work NJ. I've told the guy I order TM leads from to call into NJ but if he had issues to just call Virginia. He said he would try but when I got my order the entire order is from VA.