D-SNP and U65 ACA New Agent

[DVGeorgia]

Good morning insurance fam,

Medically retired from the Army after 16 years, then went into mortgages. I'm 100% disabled from the VA and can't keep up with the constant nights that are required doing mortgages, (I would have to go to parties, attend dinners, etc.). I decided to get into mostly tele-sales insurance. As I spent most of my time in mortgages cold-calling realtors. Who get calls from mortgage bankers like every other hour. I ended up being successful doing 1.5-2 million a month in mortgages. All my business was from referrals and not purchased leads. So I have a healthy referral network and yes, I could get into property but the competition is brutal and it still ties me with realtors.

However, like I said, I want to slow down. At least physically by converting to tele-sales and directly selling to my buyers rather than working on just referrals.

I've noticed there seems to be one sector of insurance that seems to be more easily penetrable than most. That is D-SNPs and ACA U65 health. I could be absolutely wrong but in researching starting this, I found a lot of agents will just refer out D-SNPs.

On July 4th, the kids were at their moms and I woke up bored. So I started pre-licensing for LAS and took the test that night and passed. Pending finger prints here in GA.

My question is, are D-SNPs that much of a hassle? It seems that they can move plans quarterly, so you just have to touch the clients every now and then to keep them. I'm sure that they have complaints, but seriously. I would have realtors call me at 1 AM to run an app on someone in Cali at 10 PM. While calling me about approvals etc. all hours of the day and night. I just can't see anyone being more needy than realtors. Not to mention a 30-45 day sales cycle where someone can snipe or a deal can break day 28 because of something not disclosed etc.

Lastly, just to pile on, I am looking at a couple of IMOs. Any recommendations on an IMO that can meet what I'm looking for up there? So I have a healthy referral network and yes, I could get into property but the competition is brutal and it still ties me with realtors. I will get my P&C eventually for when my realtors need a quote at 1 AM which I'm sure happens, but I need to get away from those insane people. lol

 

[somarco]

I found a lot of agents will just refer out D-SNPs.

Do you know WHY that happens?

 

[DVGeorgia]

I'm assuming it's because from my searching this forum and other places is that people don't like dealing with the hassle of phone calls, clients switching carriers with different agents, etc.

Again, none of that can be any worse than a drunk realtor calling me at 1 AM asking me to fill out an app and if I don't do it she'll refer people elsewhere.

In my sales experience, people are people. I did a 57K mortgage no one else would touch on a very income limited person. No one would touch him because it wasn't worth the time. He referred me 13 clients. I've always treated my least commissioned sale the same as my most commissioned sale and I got more referrals from lower-middle class than I did upper class.

 

[Yagents]

There are always agents that are willing to take a beating to gather business. Over long run, you'll regret how you built your book of biz. I would recommend that you match up the products to your current leads profile. I'm happy with my low service book (few calls), and consistent renewal income by building an ACA and Medicare Supp book ONLY.

 

[DVGeorgia]

So serious question, do agents not like when your clients call you? Anytime my phone rang from a client I got excited. 1. there's a problem and I can help. 2. this is a prime time to get referrals.

In the end I hired a part time assistant and she basically just took phone calls, wrote down the issues, sent them to me, I handled the issues and then returned my clients calls.

I want to sell to the next person as much as anyone else, but solving servicing problems (mortgages have lots of servicing problems) is just a prime opportunity to cross sell and get referrals.

Again, I'm speaking with mortgages, but from what I've seen just skimming forums, why are agents so adverse to clients calling them after a sale? I know how "needy" certain classes of people are as I've dealt with them. I also made more money than others chasing those good credit 250-500K mortgages.

And I apologize if I come off as argumentative, I'm really not trying too. I am just trying to understand. I've seen a lot of people here are older and I completely understand not wanting to deal with certain things past a certain point. However, if I can sell, service and get referrals for a certain product in a niche market, (that no one seems to like to sell too) why wouldn't I build a book of business off that and then scale appropriately?

 

[Yagents]

No calls.....means you have happy clients, or they figured out problem themselves.
No calls.....means you put them in right plan to begin with.
No calls..... means you don't have to hire an assistant, keeping your high margins
No calls.....means more time for selling and finding new clients.
No calls = more vacation time

But, when they do call, they get an immediate response from me. Clients don't know otherwise, and most don't follow the news. I've learned to not "poke the bear" with "breaking news", and to let them come to you if they have questions. Or, wait until your open enrollment yearly discussions.

I've also learned that 10% of your clients can drain 50% or more of your time, avoid them if possible. Referrals will come, as long as you quickly respond, and know your market and products.

 

[DVGeorgia]

I mean, I get it. Why is insurance different than any other sales job referencing referrals? For every mortgage I delivered, I got on average 3 referrals from clients with an average of one doing a refi or purchase within 6 months.

I made my living solely off referrals. Just trying to see why that is a bad business model in the insurance field? Because if you scroll these forums, it's people dooms-daying receiving phone calls unless it's to sell.

I guess my question is why are D-SNPs not a good plan to sell?

 

[Yagents]

Look in senior insurance forum here for DonP posts. I think he regrets building a dsnp book.

 

[somarco]

. I did a 57K mortgage no one else would touch on a very income limited person. No one would touch him because it wasn't worth the time. He referred me 13 clients.

FWIW, a few years ago I took a short sabbatical and did VA streamline mortgages. Not a bad business model but it only took a few weeks for me to figure out the company was on the shady side, taking advantage of Vet's and their "loan originators" (me). I bailed after a few months, running away as quickly as I could. Not too long afterwards the company had legal issues and went away.

Got a few referrals and the sale was a one-off . . . no service work.

D-SNP seems to be a relatively easy sale, especially if you are churning policyholders, but if you are churning so are other agents. How long before your "book" starts to evaporate?

@Yagents and I have similar business models. No pressure sales, hi retention, easy referrals, very few complaints, steadily growing renewal based.

 

[ICACharleston]

One of my first clients (not a Dual) became an agent after having a surgery and seeing how the plans worked. He just felt that he knew a lot of low income people who would benefit from an MAPD - we didn't have a D-SNP at the time. He didn't need the money, just felt he was doing the Lord's work. He wrote a lot of business and is still amazed at the persistency of his book. You might do well with a similar approach. That said, Duals can be fickle and change plans for this year's shiny object. I know another agent who did a hard sell on Duals and wrote a lot and had a high turnover. Good luck!