Generic Senior Flyer for Independent Agents

[somarco]

if we are in the same market I would be hesistant to share something that works with my dorect competition.

I never understood that. I guess if you work in a very small area, say 50 miles from your home, I can see (maybe) having that attitude about keeping it a secret.

The great thing about this business, and this forum, is that some folks are willing to share. All you have to do is ask.

Some of the best idea's I have picked up over the years have come from talking to people that have figured out a better way to make a living.

Chris Westfall is a perfect example.

I emailed him earlier about online advertising. He responded in 2 minutes. Even though he was busy conducting a training webinar, he responded. And then he sent me some links to give me an idea of what he was doing.

Chris won't make a dime off me. I am not in his downline, but he has always been willing to share with anyone on this forum. All they have to do is ask.

 

[kstein]

I'm all for that and I've shared tactics and sales ideas with people on here as well as referred multiple clients to brokers as they have moved. I guess I feel a little different when it comes to specific advertising ideas. Not sure why, but that's the way it is.

 

[craig_ritter]

I've been studying the CMS marketing guidelines for a few days now (trying to memorize it!)

As far as I've interpreted it, as long as the marketing piece is "generic in nature, with no content specific to plan benefits, or any discussion of plan cost sharing or use of plan name", then you don't have to have your direct mail piece approved by CMS.

Why would attaching a BRC all of a sudden change the rules?

Sorry for the delay here! This is in the Scope of Appointment section. MMG is somewhat contradictory. One section says generic advertising is not filed with CMS. One section says BRC's must be filed in order to document consent to contact. I interpret this to mean that you can advertise generically, but you can't make up your own BRC for documenting P2C (for MA and PDP purposes). So, they can call you off a non-CMS approved generic ad, but you can't call them off a BRC unless it's CMS approved.

Again, this only applies to MA and PDP. Nothing to do with Supplements.

Here is the exact wording from section 70.9.3 (page 57 of MMG):

NOTE: All business reply cards (BRC) used for documenting beneficiary scope of appointment or agreement to be contacted must be submitted to CMS for review and approval. . Additionally, Plans/Part D Sponsors should include a statement on the BRC informing the beneficiary that a sales person may call as a result of their returning a BRC.

Since this is buried in the SOA section, it doesn't get noticed much, but it's hard to argue with how this is worded. It should be in the generic advertising section, IMO.

 

[yogooglethis]

Sorry for the delay here! This is in the Scope of Appointment section. MMG is somewhat contradictory. One section says generic advertising is not filed with CMS. One section says BRC's must be filed in order to document consent to contact. I interpret this to mean that you can advertise generically, but you can't make up your own BRC for documenting P2C (for MA and PDP purposes). So, they can call you off a non-CMS approved generic ad, but you can't call them off a BRC unless it's CMS approved.

Again, this only applies to MA and PDP. Nothing to do with Supplements.

Here is the exact wording from section 70.9.3 (page 57 of MMG):

NOTE: All business reply cards (BRC) used for documenting beneficiary scope of appointment or agreement to be contacted must be submitted to CMS for review and approval. . Additionally, Plans/Part D Sponsors should include a statement on the BRC informing the beneficiary that a sales person may call as a result of their returning a BRC.

Since this is buried in the SOA section, it doesn't get noticed much, but it's hard to argue with how this is worded. It should be in the generic advertising section, IMO.

So you think this means that if a prospect calls you as a result of an unapproved generic BRC you can discuss MA/PDP on that IB call but you cannot establish compliant PTC so therefore the prospect has to initiated every call all through the the sale cycle ? Generic BRC's marketing would seem like a waste of money if this is correct.

 

[thomasm]

So you think this means that if a prospect calls you as a result of an unapproved generic BRC you can discuss MA/PDP on that IB call but you cannot establish compliant PTC so therefore the prospect has to initiated every call all through the the sale cycle ? Generic BRC's marketing would seem like a waste of money if this is correct.

That's pretty much the gist of it. From what I understand, you can't even call your existing MA/PDP clients!

I think the most important thing is to document where the lead initially generated from. If they called you, you can write "inbound call" in the initial method of contact section of the SOA form. If you ever get audited, you have phone records to prove it was inbound.

Too much over-thinking this stuff leads to indigestion!