First Year agent wrote 40 MA plans

[Common Sense Ins]

This is a very important question for a first year Medicare agent. We all ask ourselves, from time to time, how well am I really doing in this business? I suggest we take what others tell us about their success with a "grain of salt". Don't worry too much about what others are producing as long as you have vision and belief. In my estimation, 40 is a good start. Good job! Be patient with yourself, be consistent with working at it everyday and service your book, especially during AEP! Keeping and retaining the book is key in my view and good business sense. As your book grows, so will referrals!!! Always, Always, Always put your Medicare members needs first...before personal needs, carrier wants or governmental pressure. Before you know it, you're 40 per year will be 65 and then 80 per year. In 10-12 years, you will have at least 600 on the books. Do the math! Good Luck!

 

[sshafran]

This is a very important question for a first year Medicare agent. We all ask ourselves, from time to time, how well am I really doing in this business? I suggest we take what others tell us about their success with a "grain of salt". Don't worry too much about what others are producing as long as you have vision and belief. In my estimation, 40 is a good start. Good job! Be patient with yourself, be consistent with working at it everyday and service your book, especially during AEP! Keeping and retaining the book is key in my view and good business sense. As your book grows, so will referrals!!! Always, Always, Always put your Medicare members needs first...before personal needs, carrier wants or governmental pressure. Before you know it, you're 40 per year will be 65 and then 80 per year. In 10-12 years, you will have at least 600 on the books. Do the math! Good Luck!

Absolutely 100% spot on.

Some "big producers" would say I took "way too long" to hit 1,000 clients which was a long term goal.

But they're not me running my life, and I don't answer to them. I took as long as I took. I worked 2 jobs, we lived below our means (still do), my wife stayed home with the kids (high priority for us). Life is more than sales and business.

For the OP - wanting to know if 40 is good - absolutely yes.

My only "pushback" is the OP seemed to want an atta'boy and bonuses and more $ than the production merited.

Sorry, they're not flying the corporate jet out for 40 MAs.

There has got to be more than a thanks??? I realize that I get paid my commissions from the carriers, but seriously shouldn't I get some kind of bonus from my Upline, or is that not a thing in the Medicare Ins world?

 

[pogo]

UHC sent me a pen and pencil set when I sold my first 10 Medigap plans for them this year. It's not even a good pen and I haven't used a mechanical pencil in years. Sigh. I'd rather receive nothing at all than a token acknowledgement like this. YMMV

40 MA plans in your first year is a great start! I'm at 20 enrollees in my first year and proud of what I accomplished starting from nothing.

 

[DonP]

As I said 40 is good but it gets you little from carriers . I've said 1000 times dont worry what others do . I think too much is made about what you write and not what you keep . Mapd is the most competitive insurance out there . The amount of money being spent to acquire clients is eye popping .Call centers will stop at nothing to steal your client .Tantalizing direct mail and Facebook ads in front of your clients every min . You can hardly go in a Walmart, Walgreens or cvs without seeing an agent . Even at your drs office or clinic you might see agents or brochures.

Every client of yours will think in their mind " am I getting all the benefits I'm entitled too"? Human nature is too always want more . With your clients under attack every day this business is about what you keep . If you wrote 40 or 100 this aep 80-90% of those people had a mapd .You just became the Aor . So you took that from another agent or call center or whoever .It's just moving the jello around the bowl. The important question is how much of your jello was taken ? How much of the jello is in your bowl year after yr ? My example is mapd because the vast majority of new agents and most seasoned agents now are geared to that . Most mapd is still sold to middle income to low income . More and more higher middle income buying now . Lower to middle income shop for deals more . Thus your mapd book longer term will not be near as persistent as med sup was .Part of this is the carriers fault coming out with tons of new products yearly . These new products create lots of opportunities for clients to be moved .

 

[KRobby]

Every client of yours will think in their mind " am I getting all the benefits I'm entitled too"? Human nature is too always want more .

Including our OP, who feels a simple thanks is not adequate.

 

[Common Sense Ins]

There are ways to protect ourselves from MAPD losses. Death and moving away to another state are normalcies of the business. The question is, why are some agents more affected by Call Centers, clever mail pieces and agents replacing their business? The answer can be several different things. First of all, we all have our fair share of stupid people we come across that can't understand or appreciate what a good agent can offer. We can't help them. Secondly, I feel that two of the most important things we can do, to keeping our book, are making a solid impression when we first talk to them and service them during AEP. What I mean is that when we first meet them, there are ways to communicate that you always have their back. They can always rely on you, the local agent. Leave no doubt in their minds that responding to a TV commercial or talking to another agent at CVS is not very smart because you will always do what is right. This is far more important than anything you say about a co-pay or an eye wear vendor. This is exactly why FMO's are worthless and carriers have no clue what is important to the Medicare population. Why? Because most don't understand what it takes to be a successful broker.
We can take one of two approaches to AEP. Be a "wood chipper" and grind your way through AEP looking for new prospects for eight weeks and neglect your current book... or... you can decide to make AEP the time to service your book. The latter demands patience and self control. It requires vision and belief (I mentioned this earlier). The belief is in a thoughtful, careful approach to building a LOYAL, book of business throughout the year. If you spend every year communicating to your Medicare book (there are millions of opinions on how many times- birthday cards and blogs/newsletters...but for me...I take the CPA approach and contact them ONCE A YEAR DURING AEP) you will get exactly that. All get an email, letter in the mail and phone call before AEP. As a result, I end up seeing 20% of book to service. A lot of those just come in and talk about grandkids and golf game. 80% of book is fine and don't want any changes. What I have discovered is that you will typically visit a percentage of these people every 2-3 years. Most are happy you stay in touch, but don't want to change. As a result, your business will grow with T65 referrals throughout the year like wildfire!!! Isn't that what we really want to begin with?... T65's... calling you.... to introduce them to Medicare?

 

[DonP]

There are ways to protect ourselves from MAPD losses. Death and moving away to another state are normalcies of the business. The question is, why are some agents more affected by Call Centers, cleaver mail pieces and other agents rewriting their business than other agents? The answer can be several different things. We all have our fair share of stupid people we come across that can't understand or appreciate what a good agent can offer. We can't help them. I feel that two of the most important things we can do, to keeping our book, is making a solid impression when we first talk to them and service them during AEP. What I mean is (no time for detail) when we first meet them, there are ways to communicate that you always have their back. They can always rely on you, the local agent. Leave no doubt in their minds that responding to a TV commercial or talking to another agent at CVS is not very smart because you will always do what is right. This is far more important than anything you say about a co-pay or eye wear vendor. This is exactly why FMO's are worthless and carriers have no clue what is important to the Medicare population. Why? Because they don't understand what it takes to be a successful broker in the real world.
Secondly, you can take one of two approaches to AEP. Be a "wood chipper" and grind your way through looking for new prospects for eight weeks and neglect your current book... or... you can decide to make AEP the time to service your book. The latter demands patience and self control. It requires vision and belief (I mentioned this earlier). If you spend every year communicating to your Medicare book and do it every year, your business will grow with T65 referrals throughout the year like wildfire!!!

And I 100% agree with this and spend massive time on my book . 75 plus referrals this past aep attests to the loyalty I've gained from clients . I'll call every client every year . I send out 4 letters a yr . I answer all client calls in a hr . Retention is job 1. Your correct the referrals build and build .I send a $15 Starbucks or Chick-fil-A to all people who refer with a nice hand written note . It builds and builds more and more .

 

[Common Sense Ins]

Note: If your Medicare book is loaded with Medicaid and other lower income market business, the above method will probably be a waste of time. In that case, you must be a "wood chipper".

 

[DonP]

Note: If your Medicare book is loaded with Medicaid and other lower income market business, the above method will probably be a waste of time. In that case, you must be a "wood chipper".

I would have said your correct a yr ago . But after really staying in touch with my dual/lis book and answering all calls in an hr I only lost 1.5% of my book aep . I know people who lose 20% plus of low income aep . So I'm estatic. But yes initially it's a ton of work . That said 80% plus of my sales this aep were non dual / lis . Going forward I'm looking for a 90-10 to 80-20 non low income to regular

 

[PCBI]

So this is my first year being a Medicare Agent, I was able to write 40 plans all MA. Not sure if this is a decent amount to write as a single agent, but I hustled it. That being said, my FMO (AP) seems like they can care less about the work that I have done. I received one phone call this entire AEP, basically patting me on the back to say good job. Got a call this morning from my rep at Agent Pipeline saying that I was his top agent.....thanks! There has got to be more than a thanks??? I realize that I get paid my commissions from the carriers, but seriously shouldn't I get some kind of bonus from my Upline, or is that not a thing in the Medicare Ins world?

That being said, what is the process for switching FMOs?

I still get bonuses from 2005 MA sales. Be careful though this cookie jar could be shut down at any moment since this product is subsidized by Govt funds. Ive noticed alot of in house agents seem to be growing and brokers will be first to get the renewals axe