What Do I Start with First?

I just wanted to chime in and extend my apologies for my rude comment yesterday.

I took your post completely the wrong way. I have a 12 year old that is very analytical and overthinks things way to much. She gets counseling and takes medication for anxiety. She also comes across as the expert in EVERYTHING as a safeguard for her anxiety. The last thing she would need is some asshole like me being a jerk when she was just trying to help and also get some answers herself.

I'm not saying your her, but you seem to be analyzing everything so much that your probably struggling quite a bit getting started. I get it wanting everything to be perfect, but the best thing I did when I started my P&C agency was to just jump in and not look back.

My business is completely different then the day I started. Even the name is different.

You have the knowledge and you said you like telemarketing. Get a list and start selling!


Good post. They say that the easiest way to teach somebody to swim is to throw them in the water...then they don't have time to think about it.

Mr. Zombie seems like a nice guy with some knowledge and talent, but like you said, he over analyzes everything. He can learn a lot quicker by doing like Nike says..."Just Do It".:yes:
 
Well like I mentioned before you need to learn Medicare inside and out if you are new to our industry and this comes with experience. There are hundreds of nuances with Medicare coverage and billing and this will be the main reason your clients call you after the policy is sold. You have to give correct advise on how Medicare handles certain situations. It also helps you to have this knowledge during the initial sales process as well as it shows you are competent and knowledgable in your industry and not some new fly-by-night agent. Also if your advice is incorrect and that advise puts your client into a negative outcome you can expect to get a OCI or CMS complaint filed against your license and can be a suspension or termination depending upon the severity of the error that you made. Generally license termination only happens when you commit fraud or are a multiple repeat offender.

The biggest problem recently has been with Medicare financially enticing hospitals to reduce the amount of hospitalization stays and the hospitals decided to change hospital stays to 'observation visits' which won't qualify beneficiaries for skilled nursing care once they are discharged from the hospital. The nice thing about Medicare Advantage is that some waive the 3 day hospital stay requirement that Medicare requires to qualify for SN coverage, so MA plans won't deny SN coverage if the patient was under observation whereas supplements will because Medicare will deny coverage. This is a perfect example of the government trying to manipulate how things work (entice hospitals to take better care of patients to prevent hospitalizations) and getting a totally unpredicted and unwanted outcome (the hospitals playing word games in response and meeting the requirements of the extra money while screwing their customers out of skilled nursing care coverage).

I had an OCI complaint filed against me for the dumbest reason. A client was working with a Senior Care advisor (Sr Care is a Wisconsin SPAP) and she called me at the office and was giving me hard questions about product placement as to imply that we the agency placed this person in the wrong plan. I was not even the writing agent, but I took offense to what the advisor was saying and how she worded the questions and I replied to her that she was over stepping her authority and that I wasn't going to give her answers to her questions. She later called back to the office, got my name, and called the WI OCI to file a complaint against me. I responded to the complaint and never heard anything of it ever again nor did anything negative happen to my license. This just goes to show you that you have to be careful of what you say around government employees because they understand how to grab your throat if they want to. I believe the complaint was filed through Humana and the Humana reps I spoke to about this all laughed at the situation and they couldn't even believe that that situation caused an OCI complaint.

In the early 2000s (prior to Part D), my agency I worked for used Senior Care (WI SPAP) in a telemarketing campaign to inform WI seniors that such a program existed and the agency used that as a way to set appointments to try to sell a supplement. Well Senior Care discovered what the agency was doing and they filed a complaint with the OCI and fines and a suspension was placed on the office manager. I am not kidding around when I warn you guys about compliance and knowing what you are talking about. All government agencies view us as predators and they view seniors as helpless prey and they treat us that way.

Also as far as just getting out there, I started seriously working to get off the ground since 1/1/17 and I am happy with all that I have accomplished thus far. I should be on the phone by 3/1 or shortly thereafter. I needed almost everything you can imagine minus my 10 years experience.
 
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Owwww my brain hurts. These posts are killing me.

Get out and sell. You'll do fine! Although, I'd get more than one PDP carrier. I keep about 6-8 in the quiver so there is an excellent chance the lowest cost one is something I can get paid a little bit for, rather than signing them up pro bono on medicare.gov.

You want to know your products but you're overdoing the pre-study phase. If you're in front of a client and don't know the answer to a question, just say so, and either call someone who can answer or tell them you will research it and get back to them. Seniors can sense when somebody is making up garbage to look like an expert.

And -- thanks so much for warning us about compliance. Your "ten years of experience" makes me take it seriously! I never did before. ;)
 
Well like I mentioned before you need to learn Medicare inside and out if you are new to our industry and this comes with experience. There are hundreds of nuances with Medicare coverage and billing and this will be the main reason your clients call you after the policy is sold. You have to give correct advise on how Medicare handles certain situations. It also helps you to have this knowledge during the initial sales process as well as it shows you are competent and knowledgable in your industry and not some new fly-by-night agent. Also if your advice is incorrect and that advise puts your client into a negative outcome you can expect to get a OCI or CMS complaint filed against your license and can be a suspension or termination depending upon the severity of the error that you made. Generally license termination only happens when you commit fraud or are a multiple repeat offender.

The biggest problem recently has been with Medicare financially enticing hospitals to reduce the amount of hospitalization stays and the hospitals decided to change hospital stays to 'observation visits' which won't qualify beneficiaries for skilled nursing care once they are discharged from the hospital. The nice thing about Medicare Advantage is that some waive the 3 day hospital stay requirement that Medicare requires to qualify for SN coverage, so MA plans won't deny SN coverage if the patient was under observation whereas supplements will because Medicare will deny coverage. This is a perfect example of the government trying to manipulate how things work (entice hospitals to take better care of patients to prevent hospitalizations) and getting a totally unpredicted and unwanted outcome (the hospitals playing word games in response and meeting the requirements of the extra money while screwing their customers out of skilled nursing care coverage).

I had an OCI complaint filed against me for the dumbest reason. A client was working with a Senior Care advisor (Sr Care is a Wisconsin SPAP) and she called me at the office and was giving me hard questions about product placement as to imply that we the agency placed this person in the wrong plan. I was not even the writing agent, but I took offense to what the advisor was saying and how she worded the questions and I replied to her that she was over stepping her authority and that I wasn't going to give her answers to her questions. She later called back to the office, got my name, and called the WI OCI to file a complaint against me. I responded to the complaint and never heard anything of it ever again nor did anything negative happen to my license. This just goes to show you that you have to be careful of what you say around government employees because they understand how to grab your throat if they want to. I believe the complaint was filed through Humana and the Humana reps I spoke to about this all laughed at the situation and they couldn't even believe that that situation caused an OCI complaint.

In the early 2000s (prior to Part D), my agency I worked for used Senior Care (WI SPAP) in a telemarketing campaign to inform WI seniors that such a program existed and the agency used that as a way to set appointments to try to sell a supplement. Well Senior Care discovered what the agency was doing and they filed a complaint with the OCI and fines and a suspension was placed on the office manager. I am not kidding around when I warn you guys about compliance and knowing what you are talking about. All government agencies view us as predators and they view seniors as helpless prey and they treat us that way.

Also as far as just getting out there, I started seriously working to get off the ground since 1/1/17 and I am happy with all that I have accomplished thus far. I should be on the phone by 3/1 or shortly thereafter. I needed almost everything you can imagine minus my 10 years experience.

I can see your future clients now (assuming you will actually gain clients), they are going to have a glazed over look in their eyes by the time you finish talking. It's as if you think by saying a bunch of words you think you'll come across as some expert. I assure you that most seniors aren't concerned with all the minutiae. They want to know the basics of how Medicare works and how whichever plan they choose will work.

And you really need to stop touting your 10 years of experience. There's a world of difference between servicing other agents clients and actually selling and building your own book of business. One of these days you'll find that out assuming you ever start selling.
 
My post about Medicare compliance was directed to another agent from another post in which he is an established P&C agent and was starting new into the Medicare industry. I warned him about understanding how Medicare works and that that should be his first priority as a new agent in our industry. As I said I didn't seriously try to get started until 1/1/17 and I am 2 to 3 weeks away from getting on the phone. I have 75% of my contracting in place already and just need to buy a telephone and cold call lists. My car is all ready for the brutal Wisconsin roads and the miles I will be traveling. I am very excited to make my first sale as an independent agent and don't need any motivation to get out other than me having all the tools that I need. I know not to over complicate Medicare insurance, but I am eluding to the basics that every agent needs to know. I know that confusing a client won't help me close a sale, my information I was posting was for agent eyes only and to think that I would tell all my clients this information on a sales pitch makes me question your intelligence.
 
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My post about Medicare compliance was directed to another agent from another post in which he is an established P&C agent and was starting new into the Medicare industry. I warned him about understanding how Medicare works and that that should be his first priority as a new agent in our industry. As I said I didn't seriously try to get started until 1/1/17 and I am 2 to 3 weeks away from getting on the phone. I have 75% of my contracting in place already and just need to buy a telephone and cold call lists. My car is all ready for the brutal Wisconsin roads and the miles I will be traveling. I am very excited to make my first sale as an independent agent and don't need any motivation to get out other than me having all the tools that I need. I know not to over complicate Medicare insurance, but I am eluding to the basics that every agent needs to know. I know that confusing a client won't help me close a sale, my information I was posting was for agent eyes only and to think that I would tell all my clients this information on a sales pitch makes me question your intelligence.

Seems like a very odd way to start in the biz. If I train someone I would have them on the phone on day 1. If they can't or won't set appts I'm not going past that. Once they start setting appts I would take them on a drive with me and show them the ropes. The convo of how doctors get paid and whatever nonsense you are worried about takes all of 1 ACTUAL minute.

Stop worrying about the small crap and get out there and sell. If you were in my office and you started on 1/1 and had yet to touch the phone, you wouldn't be in my office anymore.

And if you are 2-3 weeks away from getting on the phone still then you need to be honest with yourself. You have call reluctance. You're not going to make it, I'm sorry.
 
This guy started this thread over a year ago and hasn't made any phone calls yet? Weird, especially considering with the way he writes, that he must be a talker.
 
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