Considering transition from Call Center to Independent Medicare Sales

[Bevo]

The reason for my post is this: I feel like I should be making more money for how many sales I have.

Of course you do, but you did nothing on the front end to get those people on your phone line. You can feel that way, but you shouldn't. The company brought you in, trained you, and fronted every dollar for YOU to make those sales. Every call center agent who is a top producer thinks they deserve more. I certainly did when I started out in a small agency. You're currently doing the easy part. Getting those people to talk to is the difficult part.

When you put it all on the line, and acquire those clients on your own, then yes, you deserve more. Currently your low risk is giving you low pay. That's the way it goes. But as Todd said, it's not nearly as easy as it seems. Keep in mind that company that you work for might not see a profit on your sales until year 2, or perhaps even year 3 depending on their expenses. If you want to go on your own at some point (I'm all for it, but you REALLY have to want it and be prepared to sacrifice) then I agree with KGMOMMA, get yourself in a safe position financially first and be prepared to dig deep.

The upside is, if you can get to a point where you are consistently gathering say, 20 Med supp clients a month, you can look up in 5 years and be very well off. But in the real world of business you get compensated based on the value you bring to the business and marketplace. So never stop increasing your marketing, sales, and business skills and applying them and your value will also increase. Hence, more $$$$$.

 

[Loveski]

Coming from literally having 0 knowledge of medicare (I didn't even know what medicare age was half a year ago) I sold 300 policies during AEP, and have about 120 this year so far.

The reason for my post is this: I feel like I should be making more money for how many sales I have.

The first part of this is great! Coming from brand new to Medicare to 400+ sales is excellent. It proves you have the ability to sell over the phone to interested prospects.

But the most challenging part of this business is finding interested prospects to talk to. You mention you make outbound calls now but you won't be able to prospect that way for Medicare Advantage as an independent.

And if you are prospecting for Medicare supplements yourself then you need to be prepared to make WAY more calls!

As far as the second part, others have already mentioned how your employer is doing the hard part for you. So you have to ask yourself 1. if you are prepared to learn (clearly you are capable of learning) how to do the hard part of finding interested prospects consistently.

And 2. Do you have the marketing budget to make this work at this point in your life? Because residuals do take awhile to build up.

Bottom line is I would not consider leaving unless I had solid answers to both of those questions.

 

[SecureHealth1]

Of course you do, but you did nothing on the front end to get those people on your phone line. You can feel that way, but you shouldn't. The company brought you in, trained you, and fronted every dollar for YOU to make those sales. Every call center agent who is a top producer thinks they deserve more. I certainly did when I started out in a small agency. You're currently doing the easy part. Getting those people to talk to is the difficult part.

When you put it all on the line, and acquire those clients on your own, then yes, you deserve more. Currently your low risk is giving you low pay. That's the way it goes. But as Todd said, it's not nearly as easy as it seems. Keep in mind that company that you work for might not see a profit on your sales until year 2, or perhaps even year 3 depending on their expenses. If you want to go on your own at some point (I'm all for it, but you REALLY have to want it and be prepared to sacrifice) then I agree with KGMOMMA, get yourself in a safe position financially first and be prepared to dig deep.

The upside is, if you can get to a point where you are consistently gathering say, 20 Med supp clients a month, you can look up in 5 years and be very well off. But in the real world of business you get compensated based on the value you bring to the business and marketplace. So never stop increasing your marketing, sales, and business skills and applying them and your value will also increase. Hence, more $$$$$.

Bevo nailed the correct answer here.

 

[Denny Hagan]

It is hard to top the advice that has already been give, It is all true. There are pluses. And yes, there are defiantly some minuses.

Plusses include more income, More freedom, more control. The knowledge, that you are building a lifestyle of service, in exchange for money.

All of this sounds great, but without funding, a good business plan, and a way to attract clients, it will turn ugly, very fast.

The Ugly! Even if, you are taking in more money, you have to subtract your expenses. Creditors, want their money now. Supplements, will only advance 6-9 months of commissions, depending on the company and your credit rating. You will need a business license, Errors and Omissions insurance, A liability policy, and if you are smart, Incorporation Papers. Next on the list, is how you are going to get clients. Even if you retained a list of your existing clients, I am fairly sure, you signed a "NO COMPEET CLAUSE" , If so, going after any of them, will cost you lots of money! So, you will have to start out fresh.

I do not care what form of lead generation, you decide to use, A) you have to enjoy doing it, and B) you have to stick with it. Seniors, get used to being the flavor of the month. When you earn their trust, It is hard to loose it. Unless however, you do not perform what you say, you are going to do.

1) The long and shot of what I am telling you, is "BE CAREFULL OF WHAT YOU ASK FOR, YOU JUST MAY GET IT!"
2) If you do not have at least 1 year of losses, you are not ready.
3) Nobody knows you, like you. This is long hard work. If you do not have the heart or the drive, to do the right things, for the right reasons, you will not, can not, should not make it.

So, now I ask you, Does transitioning from a call center to becoming a Medicare Advisor, make sense to you?

 

[Steaksauce]

Meant to add not working from home in the con column also, with a quick explanation on both sides. I.e working from home with two young children is tough/motivation etc, but include it in the pros column also with how it gives me freedom to travel, etc. I was a nomad the last decade or so, so staying in one place makes me a little stir crazy.

Our training was based on selling as fast as possible during aep, which I guess is why we sell so much mapd over the phone. During aep I'd get an inbound call, and have the skeleton of benefits read and app done within 10-20 minutes. Think, "Hi you have reached the XYZ enrollment line. Do you have your red white and blue card? " We also get a lot of carrier overflow (UHC, Aetna) and are the first line of business for a lot of regional carriers (Vibra, Scan, Global, etc). We get a few t65, but those are rare, as most our entire outbound dialing list comes from LIS lists we get directly from carriers of people who have a pdp only. Generally we are selling on the benefits of having a mapd over just original medicare+ medicaid. We also have partnerships with few school districts/hospitals where we are the number said to contact on correspondence from their benefit administrator.

We also get a lot of paid traffic of people who filled out something online, then someone calls them and turns them to us. A lot of them are people who are inquiring about dental, and our job is literally to try to flip them into a mapd. A lot of them are simply people who are filling out some type of survey about trying to get more ss benefits (who by default would be more likely to be LIS). Another common one is someone fills something out about a cheaper supp, someone (not us) dials them, gets them on the phone and we usually turn a lot of people into mapds then. Usually there is whisper in your ear as who to answer the phone as.

There isn't really a boss to negotiate for residuals with. Everyone signs this contract, then a secondary one, (which I am on) then a legacy contract when they reach a certain amount of years which they will get small residuals on.

Just based on baseline and projection I anticipate doing about 800 apps this year, and likely getting about 80k. That is 100 per app. That seems very low...right?

I was just curious to see how your transition is coming along from call center to independent.

 

[MedicareMillionair]

Hi guys and gals.

Been lurking this forum for a bit, and figured this would be a good place to get advice. I currently work at a call center in medicare sales with about 40 other agents. I get about 25-30 calls per day, and make anywhere from 20-100 outbound dials. As is the case with paid traffic, they vary from "Hey I lost my card" to 20somethings who don't know the difference between medicaid and medicare, to sales that would be hard to miss.

Our company sells mostly MAPD's, and a few supps. During non-aep we do primarily LIS, and about 25-30% of my sales are SNP's.

Coming from literally having 0 knowledge of medicare (I didn't even know what medicare age was half a year ago) I sold 300 policies during AEP, and have about 120 this year so far.

The reason for my post is this: I feel like I should be making more money for how many sales I have.

I have compiled a list of what of what I feel like are Pros vs Cons of my employer.

PROS
1. No costs. Company pays all leads, all licenses( I have 30 states currently), E &O, and has gotten me appointed with 20+ carriers.

2. No chargebacks.

3. In house compliance/underwriting. If there is an issue, I don't have to do anything. Someone does it for me and alerts me on the issue.

4. Base pay of $20+ per hour. Benefits, pto, etc.

5. Not working from home

CONS

1. We don't get paid per policy, really. We get paid small bonuses based on the amount of policies we write per month, and a good months bonus is about 1k. They may pay a small bonus based on policies that are still on the books a few months later, since the dropout rate is huge since most clients are dual eligible.

2. We don't really get residuals. After a couple years you get some sort of legacy clause where you get $1-3 per policy, per month.

3. Bonuses are based on monthly production, so taking any sort of vacation guarantees you are going to not get a bonus that month.

4. Do not really see a very good opportunity for advancement. In 5 months of being licensed I am routinely in the top 3 in the entire company (some 10 year vets)


Basically I am asking for advice. Does this sound like a good place to work? What are my other options? How much do people tend to get per policy sold? I have 0 intention of being a field agent, but if I could sell by phone/internet and make more than I am currently I am all ears.

Hi guys and gals.

Been lurking this forum for a bit, and figured this would be a good place to get advice. I currently work at a call center in medicare sales with about 40 other agents. I get about 25-30 calls per day, and make anywhere from 20-100 outbound dials. As is the case with paid traffic, they vary from "Hey I lost my card" to 20somethings who don't know the difference between medicaid and medicare, to sales that would be hard to miss.

Our company sells mostly MAPD's, and a few supps. During non-aep we do primarily LIS, and about 25-30% of my sales are SNP's.

Coming from literally having 0 knowledge of medicare (I didn't even know what medicare age was half a year ago) I sold 300 policies during AEP, and have about 120 this year so far.

The reason for my post is this: I feel like I should be making more money for how many sales I have.

I have compiled a list of what of what I feel like are Pros vs Cons of my employer.

PROS
1. No costs. Company pays all leads, all licenses( I have 30 states currently), E &O, and has gotten me appointed with 20+ carriers.

2. No chargebacks.

3. In house compliance/underwriting. If there is an issue, I don't have to do anything. Someone does it for me and alerts me on the issue.

4. Base pay of $20+ per hour. Benefits, pto, etc.

5. Not working from home

CONS

1. We don't get paid per policy, really. We get paid small bonuses based on the amount of policies we write per month, and a good months bonus is about 1k. They may pay a small bonus based on policies that are still on the books a few months later, since the dropout rate is huge since most clients are dual eligible.

2. We don't really get residuals. After a couple years you get some sort of legacy clause where you get $1-3 per policy, per month.

3. Bonuses are based on monthly production, so taking any sort of vacation guarantees you are going to not get a bonus that month.

4. Do not really see a very good opportunity for advancement. In 5 months of being licensed I am routinely in the top 3 in the entire company (some 10 year vets)


Basically I am asking for advice. Does this sound like a good place to work? What are my other options? How much do people tend to get per policy sold? I have 0 intention of being a field agent, but if I could sell by phone/internet and make more than I am currently I am all ears.

The fundamental question you need to ask is "Do I want to own a business or be an employee. You can make a bunch of money as an independent, which I'm sure you know. The only question you have to answer is "Are you going to hammer every day when you're on your own". It's relatively easy to stay focused in a call center, but not by yourself.

I would take the dive and do it. My rational is that you owe it to yourself and to the people that are going to look up to you to step up and do something special. Just be ready to fight every day and enjoy that fight. Make it the most important thing in your life.

 

[goillini52]

When I clicked on this thread, all I could see of the title was "Considering transition from", and I thought, "Not more TransJenner crap!!!"

 

[Cdevin]

Hi,

Actually I stuck it out in the callcenter. Ended up hitting 6 figures (by a couple dollars) in 2018. I sold over 1k policies in 2018 alone, so I sort of feel like I earned it. Bigger fish started noticing how much we were selling, and one of the big carriers (their anagram would be CHU) looked to move a lot of their business to us. They requested an audit by pulling a lot of calls, and realized that pretty much to a T we were not following protocol. It wasn't necessarily willful ignorance, as we were aware of the pre-enrollment checklist, accurately capturing the scope "In your area we have a wide.." we were never forced to do it by compliance, or anyone. We'd fail call reviews and they'd say "Ok, you got 58%. Respond with what you did wrong and how it can be fixed in the future." And we'd respond, and go on our merry way because there was no punishment.

Well, sure enough once CHU starts listening to our calls things change. All of a sudden there is a big compliance push, since now CHU wants to throw money at us. Since I sold the most policies of anyone in the company, they wanted to listen to my calls first. At that point it was too late, and the companies hands were tied. I was asked to resign (a few weeks ago) and while I am still getting paid for a while longer, I no longer work there. It is unfortunate because the bosses were perfectly aware of what we were doing. We actually sat in a meeting where the bosses's boss said "I like you guys, but if it's me or you, I pick me." Which, you know, I get.

I'm still licensed in 35ish states and appointed with 22 carriers. If anyone is running a similar (albeit smaller) operation/ knows of a good place to start, I am all ears. I'm only interested in working from home/call center environment, have no desire to actually go to peoples houses.

 

[Northeast Agent]

I'm still licensed in 35ish states and appointed with 22 carriers.

Are you appointed with all these carriers under the call center? If so, will they release you? Otherwise, you know you are stuck for at least six months.

 

[Cdevin]

I feel like I should probably know that. I can still log into most of my accounts, so I am not certain. That would be a question for HR in the morning I guess.