2019 Goals......

[billyb]

Chazm your response rates are fantastic. I mailed 5000 postcards and got 10 replies. The first 3 1000 mailings were not sent far enough in advance and I got 0 replies, but the last 2000 went out 6+ months early and my returns were still awful. I have started giving a referral fee to local P&C agents and some receptionist at several doctors offices and I get more leads that way than DM.

 

[Alston]

Chazm your response rates are fantastic. I mailed 5000 postcards and got 10 replies. The first 3 1000 mailings were not sent far enough in advance and I got 0 replies, but the last 2000 went out 6+ months early and my returns were still awful. I have started giving a referral fee to local P&C agents and some receptionist at several doctors offices and I get more leads that way than DM.

I love the way you're thinking outside the box.

(I wonder if what you're doing is a license or HIPPA violation, but those are minor details. LOL.)

Did you mail something created by the carrier?

I'm not a fan of those. It's too easy for your prospects to bypass you the agent.

 

[Notts Forest]

I do primarily do DM with T65's. I get about 30 cards back per 1k sent. 30 cards will net about 12 sit downs. That will get me about 6 sales.
But I'm horrible at crossselling FE to them. I would think you could get one of them to bite if you were good at your pitch.

This is in FL and you'll need to mail 5-7 months out if you want that high of a return.

3% return rate is great!

Is there any other marketing you are doing besides that?

Specifically, what marketing has not worked for you?

 

[Alston]

Specifically, what marketing has not worked for you?

I know this question wasn't directed at me, but I couldn't get newspapers to work. I invested almost $1,000 (way too much) on a test.

I wonder if anyone else has made newspapers work.

Also, doing nothing.

"Doing nothing" has never worked for me.

 

[Philip Russell]

I know this question wasn't directed at me, but I couldn't get newspapers to work. I invested almost $1,000 (way too much) on a test.

I wonder if anyone else has made newspapers work.

Also, doing nothing.

"Doing nothing" has never worked for me.

maybe a small snippet in the mailers for any of the neighborhoods in your area. most of those places are 55+ communities anyway.

 

[Life Hawk]

I know this question wasn't directed at me, but I couldn't get newspapers to work. I invested almost $1,000 (way too much) on a test.

I wonder if anyone else has made newspapers work.

Also, doing nothing.

"Doing nothing" has never worked for me.

How hard are you working your current client base?

 

[Alston]

Not as hard or as smart as I should. For the last year and a half, I've been rebuilding and bringing on as many new MAPD and Supplement clients as I can.

I try to contact each Medicare client during AEP or just before. I do a lot of service work but also got quite a few referrals.

I'm hoping have more client contact in other parts of the year and do more cross-selling in 2019. It is part of my long term plan.

My clients do receive email and DM from me.

I need to create a system for referrals and retention, but right now other than the mailings and emails I send out in September and October for AEP, my post sale contact is more random than it should be.

I send out one postcard per year to my individual health clients unless they're aging into Medicare. I help them if they call, but I'm not trying to grow that part of my book.

Any suggestions on how best to work my current client base of MAPD and supplement policyholders?

 

[somarco]

Do these goals seem reasonable for 2019?

1) FE AP Per Month = $2500
2) 4 Med Supp Sales Per Month
3) 100 MA Plans by year end

In a word, no.

Unless you are different from most agents, sales RESULTS are impossible to control or predict.

ACTIVITY that will lead to sales is completely in your control. Effective lead generation should be your goal.

You mentioned boiler room so are you going to do phone sales or F2F? Presumably you did well selling over the phone so that should be more effective than spending time on the phone setting appointments then driving to see them.

Internet leads you generate yourself can be very good leads. To my knowledge there are few, if any, internet leads that are sold that are worthwhile.

plenty $$ to invest in marketing.

That can be a blessing and a curse.

Most agents have too little money to invest in their business. Your situation is different but it also means you can still waste a lot of money on lead generation that is not productive.

Trying to cross-sell FE, especially by phone, can be difficult.

Also the Medigap vs MA can be challenging if you don't understand the products well enough to make an effective presentation.

My suggestion would be to focus on one product and do it well before moving on to a 2nd or third product.

I offer one product. Medigap. And all sales are by phone. It is easy to explain and I make it easy for them to buy.

Everyone loves to buy but they hate to be sold - Jeff Gitomer

I am going to save some keystrokes and refer you to my post earlier today about solving a problem vs selling a product. Good luck.

https://insurance-forums.com/commun...ay-to-your-dm-leads.96275/page-3#post-1276758

 

[Newby]

I know this question wasn't directed at me, but I couldn't get newspapers to work. I invested almost $1,000 (way too much) on a test.

I wonder if anyone else has made newspapers work.

Also, doing nothing.

"Doing nothing" has never worked for me.

If you are selling regionally rather than nationally the senior focused free books work. I'm assuming every area has a Senior focused newspaper/magazine style thing that comes out monthly? Seniors pick them up in grocery stores, restaurants, etc. Ours has a featured article each month of a writer reminiscing about the old days and news events that happened locally decades ago. The other pages have articles of interest to seniors, jokes, puzzles, and ads of interest to seniors.

I've advertised in ours continually for 3- years. It pays for itself easily. And keeps our name and logo in front of every senior in our area each month. That along with my signage in front of our building on a high traffic street is about all we do for advertising in our local office. My wife probably has a dozen appointments per week in the off season and 7 or more per day in Medicare season from just that and maintaining our base. She spends less than $2000 per year on leads. Once the pump is primed which took a number of years to build, it just keeps flowing.

 

[Life Hawk]

Any suggestions on how best to work my current client base of MAPD and supplement policyholders?

I would start with a health and life review... get a set down... tailor your questions based on the information you need to uncover holes in coverage, possibilities for additional coverage, or money saving moves.

(as an aside, an small cancer plan is a good conversation starter, has effected everyone in some way)

KEY... you are attempting to find out who are the beni's to their policies (mostly family) this allows you to follow-up with them and attempt to grow your base policy holders into the family and friends unit... an agent who properly works in a family and friends unit is almost impossible to replace... done well you become their go to...