Finally Jumped Ship- Now What?

[Jimbo45]

I've just recently left the brokerage firm I was working for and I'm certain I don't know what I don't know.
I worked for a Fairly large brokerage firm. They had good and bad points. I enjoyed all the benefits of being under the umbrella of a large company. They were contracted with a large number of carriers... and they handled all the licensing, contracting and certification mess. So I know nothing about doing those things on my own.
I've been in the Health/Life/Medicare biz for 4yrs. Not very interested in selling Health any more. The best part of my job was Medicare. Loved it. Did pretty good with it. So... I'm thinking I want to focus mainly on Med Supps and then offer Ancillaries. Life, LTC, FE...

So, I have a few questions.

1. I want to focus on selling Med Supps, mainly over the phone, but I'm only Licensed in Texas for now. What other states should I add to my list for starters? I assume some have lower licensing cost than others.

2. I want to try and avoid getting tied down to an FMO and end up being a "captive agent" again. It took me 4 months to get my contract terminated so I could move on. NEVER want to go through that again. Not sure going TOTALLY independent is the best course for someone with my knowledge base.Any advice on that subject would be greatly appreciated.

3. Licensing and Contracting? Any suggestions on what company might offer the most carriers with minimal contracting and still allows me to be fairly independent. Meaning, when I leave... assuming I have no debt... I'm released right away. I've heard of getting an up front release letter, but would rather go with a company that doesn't require that. Do those even exist?

As I said. I don't know what I don't know. So I'll listen to any and all advice the vets here have to offer.

Thanks

Jim

 

[Chazm]

"and they handled all the licensing, contracting and certification mess"

So they just handled the easiest part of the biz!

There's plenty of people on here that can give you contracts I'm sure but I would advise you not to get too many people that you get contracts from. I've had to consolidate in the last couple of years because I could never remember who my upline was for every plan if I had a question.

I use a few now but my main FMO is Premier Senior marketing. They handle a lot of the business you will need and they pick up the phone right away with any questions you might have. If you write a lot of medicare and can do at least 5 pieces of biz per month you get a discount on lead programs from places like lead concept and others.

I will tell you to stay away from agent pipeline. I contracted with one company from them and I can never get them to answer the phone or call me back. I've left maybe 3-4 messages.

 

[Newby]

I've just recently left the brokerage firm I was working for and I'm certain I don't know what I don't know. I worked for a Fairly large brokerage firm. They had good and bad points. I enjoyed all the benefits of being under the umbrella of a large company. They were contracted with a large number of carriers... and they handled all the licensing, contracting and certification mess. So I know nothing about doing those things on my own. I've been in the Health/Life/Medicare biz for 4yrs. Not very interested in selling Health any more. The best part of my job was Medicare. Loved it. Did pretty good with it. So... I'm thinking I want to focus mainly on Med Supps and then offer Ancillaries. Life, LTC, FE... So, I have a few questions. 1. I want to focus on selling Med Supps, mainly over the phone, but I'm only Licensed in Texas for now. What other states should I add to my list for starters? I assume some have lower licensing cost than others. 2. I want to try and avoid getting tied down to an FMO and end up being a "captive agent" again. It took me 4 months to get my contract terminated so I could move on. NEVER want to go through that again. Not sure going TOTALLY independent is the best course for someone with my knowledge base.Any advice on that subject would be greatly appreciated. 3. Licensing and Contracting? Any suggestions on what company might offer the most carriers with minimal contracting and still allows me to be fairly independent. Meaning, when I leave... assuming I have no debt... I'm released right away. I've heard of getting an up front release letter, but would rather go with a company that doesn't require that. Do those even exist? As I said. I don't know what I don't know. So I'll listen to any and all advice the vets here have to offer. Thanks Jim

1. Subscribe to Chris Westfall's and Rick's Medicare Sales training. Rick goes by Greensky.

2. Don't be afraid to jump in with a good IMO that is focused on what you want to do. For Medicare I recommend Chris Westfall. Other good ones are Ritter, Senior Market Sales and Todd King.

3. Of these, I know Todd will release any time you want. Ritter usually does too. You will need to verify with Chris and SMS about their release conditions.

 

[GreenSky]

You will likely get the highest contracts through Todd. He also will release you without having to jump through hoops.

And of course, I think the training from my site is superior to others. And that's unbiased, of course.

Rick

 

[sman]

1. Subscribe to Chris Westfall's and Rick's Medicare Sales training. Rick goes by Greensky. 2. Don't be afraid to jump in with a good IMO that is focused on what you want to do. For Medicare I recommend Chris Westfall. Other good ones are Ritter, Senior Market Sales and Todd King. 3. Of these, I know Todd will release any time you want. Ritter usually does too. You will need to verify with Chris and SMS about their release conditions.

I would recommend any of those with the exception of the one that rhymes with Shenior Shmarket Shales. Long story, but I placed a ton of business with them over the years and I was more or less threatened by them for posting here about them. And it wasn't even a negative comment. Just stating something a carrier rep said regarding certification last year. I have moved most contracts away from them now.

Their loss too because a very popular MAPD carrier terminated their plan this year. I'm having to move all of those people to new plans. Ritter is reaping the benefits.

 

[GoPokes]

I would recommend any of those with the exception of the one that rhymes with Shenior Shmarket Shales. Long story, but I placed a ton of business with them over the years and I was more or less threatened by them for posting here about them. And it wasn't even a negative comment. Just stating something a carrier rep said regarding certification last year. I have moved most contracts away from them now.

Their loss too because a very popular MAPD carrier terminated their plan this year. I'm having to move all of those people to new plans. Ritter is reaping the benefits.

Ive had good experiences with my contracts with that company that you mentioned that rhymes with.... But i guess ill forgo mentioning their name in effort to deter any possible threats.


Todd K has been very helpful as well.

 

[Todd King]

Thanks for the kudos from all that have mentioned us!

 

[Jimbo45]

Just got off the phone with Todd King. Sent him an email with a couple questions and he called me back in less than an hour. Great guy. Answered all my questions and forwarded me links to everything I need to get set up. I'm off and running!
Thanks again Todd.

Jim K

 

[Todd King]

Just got off the phone with Todd King. Sent him an email with a couple questions and he called me back in less than an hour. Great guy. Answered all my questions and forwarded me links to everything I need to get set up. I'm off and running!
Thanks again Todd.

Jim K

You're quite welcome Jim! Great to have you on board!

 

[az0821]

Which legal entity could help me get released from a unlawful FMO contract?

My FMO didn't disclosed in my contract that ONE of his carriers wasn't under the same IMO contract I signed up with to get me on board. And after almost a year of being producing mostly for that ONE carrier that was only his, the IMO terminated me for lack of enough production for their carriers. The FMO handled my re-hiring with the IMO but only giving me the option to do it if I agreed to reset my contract vesting period, in other words I would be loosing all my production renewals with the IMO and starting from zero again. The IMO production quota was $7500 a quarter and I produced over $46K within my first 3 quarters altogether for this FMO who never told me all along the last 11 months that I was jeopardizing my contract with the IMO by focusing on his carrier only. Please help.