FMO Advice

[Todd King]

Yes, that's the same as us at FexContracting. We don't usually bring on agents who want to lead with Medicare unless they are already doing it successfully and just want to learn to add FE. We think the lead with FE and cross sell the Medicare makes MUCH more sense.

Dave was with us at FexContracting during his early years and thinks in similar ways about a lot of this. Except the part about not selling Med Sups. I'm not sure why he would chose to not sell those. They are the easiest ones.

The biggest obstical for Medicare Advantage agents is getting in front of people compliantly. FE agents are in front of the right people all year long. They already have the base.

And here I have been thinking the exact opposite for years. Please explain this in a way that makes sense. Is this how you built your book of business. If not, do you wish you would have done it this way? I'm really not trying to put you on the spot, but at the same time, I'm putting you on the spot !

 

[DonP]

And here I have been thinking the exact opposite for years. Please explain this in a way that makes sense. Is this how you built your book of business. If not, do you wish you would have done it this way? I'm really not trying to put you on the spot, but at the same time, I'm putting you on the spot !

Again there’s going to be compliance issues . I assure you few fe agents in the house will get a scope signed and come back 48 hrs to write . There the exact same leads so interchangeable. I’d highly advise any fe agent selling Medicare to make sure the person has no active agent . I go back and physically contact every disenrollment and see what happened . 90% of the time it’s a phone center . We do 3 way call to cancel the pending app . I’ve had many clients blurt out the agent lied to them . The rep takes a complaint. That fe agent will have to show the lead card . It looks bad selling mapd using a fe card . Next yr complaints sent to cms .Cms could sanction the agent . If I run into active Medicare agent I walk .

 

[Newby]

And here I have been thinking the exact opposite for years. Please explain this in a way that makes sense. Is this how you built your book of business. If not, do you wish you would have done it this way? I'm really not trying to put you on the spot, but at the same time, I'm putting you on the spot !

Absolutely. I have always led with life. Much of it pre-need. Later adding FE and Medicare. I rarely mailed any Medicare leads. When I did they were age 67+ not turning 65. I hated the turning 65 leads. I loved working my own base of life clients that were turning 65 though. I also did informational seminars for Medicare but those had a LONG tail. Very little would come right after the seminar but people still call from those years later as they retire and go off group.

Selling life and cross selling Medicare, annuities, etc. is a great way to sell insurance. Works fine also in reverse. But in today’s environment, getting in front of Med Advantage prospects compliantly is tougher than in the past. But if you sell life to low income seniors all year long, you have a built in base that already knows, trusts, and does business with you.

So I’m not clear n what your question was. But I think it was, did I prefer to sell the life and cross sell the rest. The answer is yes. That was always my method.

 

[WinoBlues]

But if you sell life to low income seniors all year long, you have a built in base that already knows, trusts, and does business with you.

So I’m not clear n what your question was. But I think it was, did I prefer to sell the life and cross sell the rest. The answer is yes. That was always my method.

As an IMO, do you see that many agents cross sell or add coverage to their existing clients.

Seems to me most don't. It is off to the next new person.

 

[Newby]

As an IMO, do you see that many agents cross sell or add coverage to their existing clients.

Seems to me most don't. It is off to the next new person.

Yes quite a few do. More with adding coverage than cross selling.

 

[Todd King]

Absolutely. I have always led with life. Much of it pre-need. Later adding FE and Medicare. I rarely mailed any Medicare leads. When I did they were age 67+ not turning 65. I hated the turning 65 leads. I loved working my own base of life clients that were turning 65 though. I also did informational seminars for Medicare but those had a LONG tail. Very little would come right after the seminar but people still call from those years later as they retire and go off group.

Selling life and cross selling Medicare, annuities, etc. is a great way to sell insurance. Works fine also in reverse. But in today’s environment, getting in front of Med Advantage prospects compliantly is tougher than in the past. But if you sell life to low income seniors all year long, you have a built in base that already knows, trusts, and does business with you.

So I’m not clear n what your question was. But I think it was, did I prefer to sell the life and cross sell the rest. The answer is yes. That was always my method.

Ok, there's the difference. You were in pre-need and regular life. You did add-ons when it was needed.

I do promise you though, going after FE clients hoping to do their Medicare is not the best way to do it. Half of the FE clients aren't even on Medicare yet.

If an agent is going to do both Medicare and FE, then they will find a lot more Medicare when they target that. FE as a cross sell is greater this way than going with FE and trying to cross sell Medicare.

I'm sorry, but I have to adamantly disagree with the method of selling FE and trying to cross-sell Medicare. That just won't work that great. And, as far as trying go any further with things like Annuities, LTC, etc.....that dog just won't hunt either.

 

[Todd King]

Again there’s going to be compliance issues . I assure you few fe agents in the house will get a scope signed and come back 48 hrs to write . There the exact same leads so interchangeable. I’d highly advise any fe agent selling Medicare to make sure the person has no active agent . I go back and physically contact every disenrollment and see what happened . 90% of the time it’s a phone center . We do 3 way call to cancel the pending app . I’ve had many clients blurt out the agent lied to them . The rep takes a complaint. That fe agent will have to show the lead card . It looks bad selling mapd using a fe card . Next yr complaints sent to cms .Cms could sanction the agent . If I run into active Medicare agent I walk .

Are you saying that FE leads and Medicare leads are exactly the same? Well, I guess you can set your demographics for the same, but it doesn't make them the same. But why would you set the demographics the same anyway. That doesn't make sense.

 

[Newby]

Ok, there's the difference. You were in pre-need and regular life. You did add-ons when it was needed.

I do promise you though, going after FE clients hoping to do their Medicare is not the best way to do it. Half of the FE clients aren't even on Medicare yet.

If an agent is going to do both Medicare and FE, then they will find a lot more Medicare when they target that. FE as a cross sell is greater this way than going with FE and trying to cross sell Medicare.

I'm sorry, but I have to adamantly disagree with the method of selling FE and trying to cross-sell Medicare. That just won't work that great. And, as far as trying go any further with things like Annuities, LTC, etc.....that dog just won't hunt either.

Well Todd I’d just have to say you are wrong. For many reasons.
One, I sold a LOT of Medicare from FE clients on FE leads. Never found that hard to do at all. If they were not on Medicare, who cares? You don’t sell Medicare that one. I don’t get the problem.
I think one thing that is different in your mindset is you used the words “they will find a lot more Medicare when they target that”. Of course you will find more Medicare when you target Medicare. No one would argue that. I never cared how much Medicare I was selling. I ended up selling a lot of it. Enough that I convinced my wife to quit her very high income job to come work with me and handle the Medicare. I wouldn’t have done that if it wasn’t going very well.
But my focus was on the life sales. I never ran an annuity lead in my life, yet I sold 2-million dollars in annuities one year and around 1-million several years and many of those were from lowly FE leads. In fact most of those were FE leads.
Here’s the huge advantage of newer agents targeting FE and cross selling the Medicare over the other way around.
1. Agents who start out selling zero premium plans with no underwriting are WEAK agents. They don’t develop sales skills. There are exceptions of course, but as a general rule, they never get out of that rut and develop as an agent.
2. Cash flow is much better with FE. They make their living expenses and more much quicker.
3. Compliance. It’s way easier to gain client compliantly with FE. Once you have clients you are set for cross sales.
4. Follow up work- If an agent has 1,000 FE clients he is free to go out and sell more. He has little maintenance work to do for his base each week. With 1,000 Medicare clients you have hours and hours of touches needed with your clients weekly. It’s high maintenance. And it gets 20x worse during annual enrollment when you would most like to be selling.
5. Retention- FE clients get older and less healthy. They are less and less likely to drop off as they age because they can’t qualify for as good of rates. Not so with Med Advantage. Their clients always qualify for the same rate that everyone gets no matter how old or unhealthy they get. This means your competitors are always trying to steal your clients forever. If you ignore them they go away.

There is more than one way to sell insurance. All I can say is that I prefer selling life and cross selling the rest. It makes the most sense to me.

 

[goillini52]

Well Todd I’d just have to say you are wrong. For many reasons.
One, I sold a LOT of Medicare from FE clients on FE leads. Never found that hard to do at all. If they were not on Medicare, who cares? You don’t sell Medicare that one. I don’t get the problem.
I think one thing that is different in your mindset is you used the words “they will find a lot more Medicare when they target that”. Of course you will find more Medicare when you target Medicare. No one would argue that. I never cared how much Medicare I was selling. I ended up selling a lot of it. Enough that I convinced my wife to quit her very high income job to come work with me and handle the Medicare. I wouldn’t have done that if it wasn’t going very well.
But my focus was on the life sales. I never ran an annuity lead in my life, yet I sold 2-million dollars in annuities one year and around 1-million several years and many of those were from lowly FE leads. In fact most of those were FE leads.
Here’s the huge advantage of newer agents targeting FE and cross selling the Medicare over the other way around.
1. Agents who start out selling zero premium plans with no underwriting are WEAK agents. They don’t develop sales skills. There are exceptions of course, but as a general rule, they never get out of that rut and develop as an agent.
2. Cash flow is much better with FE. They make their living expenses and more much quicker.
3. Compliance. It’s way easier to gain client compliantly with FE. Once you have clients you are set for cross sales.
4. Follow up work- If an agent has 1,000 FE clients he is free to go out and sell more. He has little maintenance work to do for his base each week. With 1,000 Medicare clients you have hours and hours of touches needed with your clients weekly. It’s high maintenance. And it gets 20x worse during annual enrollment when you would most like to be selling.
5. Retention- FE clients get older and less healthy. They are less and less likely to drop off as they age because they can’t qualify for as good of rates. Not so with Med Advantage. Their clients always qualify for the same rate that everyone gets no matter how old or unhealthy they get. This means your competitors are always trying to steal your clients forever. If you ignore them they go away.

There is more than one way to sell insurance. All I can say is that I prefer selling life and cross selling the rest. It makes the most sense to me.

You mentioned MA at the end, I got the impression that Todd was talking about Med Supps.

 

[DonP]

Well Todd I’d just have to say you are wrong. For many reasons.
One, I sold a LOT of Medicare from FE clients on FE leads. Never found that hard to do at all. If they were not on Medicare, who cares? You don’t sell Medicare that one. I don’t get the problem.
I think one thing that is different in your mindset is you used the words “they will find a lot more Medicare when they target that”. Of course you will find more Medicare when you target Medicare. No one would argue that. I never cared how much Medicare I was selling. I ended up selling a lot of it. Enough that I convinced my wife to quit her very high income job to come work with me and handle the Medicare. I wouldn’t have done that if it wasn’t going very well.
But my focus was on the life sales. I never ran an annuity lead in my life, yet I sold 2-million dollars in annuities one year and around 1-million several years and many of those were from lowly FE leads. In fact most of those were FE leads.
Here’s the huge advantage of newer agents targeting FE and cross selling the Medicare over the other way around.
1. Agents who start out selling zero premium plans with no underwriting are WEAK agents. They don’t develop sales skills. There are exceptions of course, but as a general rule, they never get out of that rut and develop as an agent.
2. Cash flow is much better with FE. They make their living expenses and more much quicker.
3. Compliance. It’s way easier to gain client compliantly with FE. Once you have clients you are set for cross sales.
4. Follow up work- If an agent has 1,000 FE clients he is free to go out and sell more. He has little maintenance work to do for his base each week. With 1,000 Medicare clients you have hours and hours of touches needed with your clients weekly. It’s high maintenance. And it gets 20x worse during annual enrollment when you would most like to be selling.
5. Retention- FE clients get older and less healthy. They are less and less likely to drop off as they age because they can’t qualify for as good of rates. Not so with Med Advantage. Their clients always qualify for the same rate that everyone gets no matter how old or unhealthy they get. This means your competitors are always trying to steal your clients forever. If you ignore them they go away.

There is more than one way to sell insurance. All I can say is that I prefer selling life and cross selling the rest. It makes the most sense to me.

That’s total BS scott . I’d bet you a dollar to a dime 50% min of all the policys fex has sold the past 5 yrs have been replacing coverage . Jd’s said 1000 times he prays they have ins as he can replace it . So when you replace your not getting anymore premium . There ALREADY paying for it . Your just playing slight of hand and “ giving them a better deal “ I’ve been a $300 k plus fe producer several times . I find mapd 100 times more challenging than fe . Selling is 5% of the total sale . 95% is keeping it on the books .It takes yrs to develop loyalty and touch after touch . Your right anyone can right a dual/lis but few few few can keep them on the books