Has anyone Ever Had a Physical Office Space Specifically for Medicare? If So, Did You Get Many Walk-

[Bod]

I read somewhere on here about a guy selling Med Supps whose wife (who also sold Med Supps) had a physical office and got business from walk-ins. Is this possible or even likely?

If so, I was thinking it could be worth it to rent the world's smallest office and put up a huge Medicare sign.

I could have a telemarketer in the office from 9-5. Their job would be to cold call, set appointments for me and set appointments with (the theoreticall) walk-ins if I'm not there. As long as I'm getting enough extra appointments/sales to cover rent/employment, it could be worth it.

The question is, how much traffic would there be? I'm sure some towns/locations would be way better than other towns. There are agencies in my town with flag signs advertising for "auto - home -life insurance"...presumably they're getting some car traffic. Would it work for Medicare Supplements/Medicare Advantage?

P.S. This would be in addition to outbound sales/prospecting. I wouldn't ever rely on walk-ins obviously.

 

[jemelton]

Do not count on walk in business. Most seniors that are overpaying for supps don't even know they have a problem that they need solved.

 

[G.Gordon]

Our office is focused on Medicare, but we moved in after we had a nice client base in the area. Now we get walk ins and call ins due to referrals every week.

 

[Newby]

I read somewhere on here about a guy selling Med Supps whose wife (who also sold Med Supps) had a physical office and got business from walk-ins. Is this possible or even likely?

If so, I was thinking it could be worth it to rent the world's smallest office and put up a huge Medicare sign.

I could have a telemarketer in the office from 9-5. Their job would be to cold call, set appointments for me and set appointments with (the theoreticall) walk-ins if I'm not there. As long as I'm getting enough extra appointments/sales to cover rent/employment, it could be worth it.

The question is, how much traffic would there be? I'm sure some towns/locations would be way better than other towns. There are agencies in my town with flag signs advertising for "auto - home -life insurance"...presumably they're getting some car traffic. Would it work for Medicare Supplements/Medicare Advantage?

P.S. This would be in addition to outbound sales/prospecting. I wouldn't ever rely on walk-ins obviously.

That's probably me. Yes I do and yes it has worked well for me. But I don't think it would be the way to start out and have you best chance to succeed.

We market very differently than most agents and it would be an expensive way to start if you are on a tight budget.

I advertise in local newspapers.

I put on monthly educational seminars (mainly at hospitals, churches, and senior groups) for seven years.

I was in the field meeting with people every day for FE and funeral Preneed and bird dogging Medicare stuff to my wife at the office.

I ran Yellow Page ads (those were the least effective of my marketing though. )

My office is on a very busy street and my sign out front draws in walk in's every week. Had a HUGE increase when I changed the sign to a more visible one.

We have a large enough base now that we don't need to advertise at all. We still keep a few passive ads running but servicing the base as well as people who call in and walk in is plenty.

My wife is definitely not "sales minded" so I had to drive traffic to her that was more interested in doing business with us than generic leads would be. She has never gone to anyone's home. They all had to come in to her. A more aggressive and hungry agent could have sold a lot more but she has built over a 1,000 client base and that keeps her busy and happy and I don't have to be side tracked with it much at all so it works well for us.

A few years ago there were a lot of old school brick and mortars. Now there are few. That's because new school agents can build a base much quicker and with less overhead. But that has made the demand for the brick and mortar agent more desirable for many consumers. Some like to come to a physical location much better. So it works better for building trust, getting referrals and cross sales.

Her very first walk in when we opened the office was a huge premium term life case. It was around 12,000 AP and she had never sold a life policy before but she closed it. That was around 10-years ago. That's still probably the best walk in we've had.

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

Picking up on the theme you just described, witj a sales oriented spouse and a non sales oriented spouse, do you think it is possible to create a business in which the non sales oriented spouse was able to survive if the sales oriented spouse "left the scene" (read died)?

You will probably die before you ever sell policy so why does it matter?

 

[jdeasy]

Because I don't want to expend effort to get a license and spend $3k-$5k (before lead costs) committing to renting office space and acquiring technology to get to a specific objective that is unattainable in a 3 year time frame.

What Newby described is pretty much what I had come up with as the only valid reason for me to get a license and I am interested in hearing a bit more about it.

Without all the prior field work that Newby put in his office would not be successful as it is now.

There are other walk in offices in his city and they don't do very well at all.

He was 10 years or so into this business before he opened the office. He did have offices in funeral homes prior to that.

Seems people miss the part about what it took for him and his wife to get where they are now.

 

[VolAgent]

Because I don't want to expend effort to get a license and spend $3k-$5k (before lead costs) committing to renting office space and acquiring technology to get to a specific objective that is unattainable in a 3 year time frame.

What Newby described is pretty much what I had come up with as the only valid reason for me to get a license and I am interested in hearing a bit more about it.

The biggest key to success is marketing. If you can come up with a marketing plan that will drive the prospects you want to your office, then it can work. Otherwise you'll spend most of your time in the office posting on this and other forums.

 

[isaias]

I recently opened my office and so far not many walkins. I'm there only two days a week and the rest out in the field.

I got it because working out of my home office was not working out anymore, and lately I've been getting many requests to meet at the office.

It's next to a Farmers office and the agent is a good friend of mine, so she watches out for me when I'm not there. I also get lots of referrals from her when I'm there since she always tells her customers to go next door for health/medicare insurance. In return I also help out with her customers when I'm not busy (not often). I started out as a Farmers agent so I still have access to their system.

 

[Key2Success]

The biggest key to success is marketing. If you can come up with a marketing plan that will drive the prospects you want to your office, then it can work. Otherwise you'll spend most of your time in the office posting on this and other forums.

Marketing 101.... everybody knows that

 

[Warrior]

I read somewhere on here about a guy selling Med Supps whose wife (who also sold Med Supps) had a physical office and got business from walk-ins. Is this possible or even likely?

If so, I was thinking it could be worth it to rent the world's smallest office and put up a huge Medicare sign.

I could have a telemarketer in the office from 9-5. Their job would be to cold call, set appointments for me and set appointments with (the theoreticall) walk-ins if I'm not there. As long as I'm getting enough extra appointments/sales to cover rent/employment, it could be worth it.

The question is, how much traffic would there be? I'm sure some towns/locations would be way better than other towns. There are agencies in my town with flag signs advertising for "auto - home -life insurance"...presumably they're getting some car traffic. Would it work for Medicare Supplements/Medicare Advantage?

P.S. This would be in addition to outbound sales/prospecting. I wouldn't ever rely on walk-ins obviously.

I have a physical office space, but I also sale personal lines. Yes, I get people walking in all the time for med supps. But I let my community know what I do. Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club and retirement communities.

Getting involved with the community it key to get them to come to your office. Much better than cold calling or mailing them. Because most med supp sales people will do that tactic and the retired folks get bombarded with this and will not buy. That's why having an office helps because you now play on their control to come to you. If you want am office, look for P&C agents who already have one and see if they will let you rent a room or even give you a space to use. You can draw off their prospects as a cross sell. You all their customers, your customers buy from them. Win win situation.