Health Benefits Direct...BEWARE!

[TXINSURANCE]

I agree Internet lead retention is not good, and is not going to get better for reasons you mentioned such as the economy and other reasons I do not even have space for on this post. Unless you are selling face to face , rural, or small business - the retention is the killer.

We are key broker with GR but we do not offer advances, it is too risky in my opinion. We offer good 22% contracts and free leads, but the advance is high risk business for the type of client we are selling and non face to face.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

For all you HBD fans...

Their stock is down to 30 cents a share today. Lost 16 2/3s percent of it's value. 52 week low.

 

[CT Insure Guy]

For all you HBD fans...

Their stock is down to 30 cents a share today. Lost 16 2/3s percent of it's value. 52 week low.

I can't even begin to say how much this saddens me...almost as sad as I get when I imagine a weekend with Jessica Alba and Rachel Bilson and lots of Patron.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

To be fair, ehealth is close to the 52wk low as well...

Uncertainty over the future of health insurance in America is supposedly the culprit...

 

[Guest]

I can't even begin to say how much this saddens me...almost as sad as I get when I imagine a weekend with Jessica Alba and Rachel Bilson and lots of Patron.

Not sure you need the patron there!

 

[Guest]

I've said it before, some guys at HBDC are the best salesmen I've ever seen, the ones who ripping investors off continuously to keep them going.

 

[bill3173]

I agree Internet lead retention is not good, and is not going to get better for reasons you mentioned such as the economy and other reasons I do not even have space for on this post. Unless you are selling face to face , rural, or small business - the retention is the killer.

We are key broker with GR but we do not offer advances, it is too risky in my opinion. We offer good 22% contracts and free leads, but the advance is high risk business for the type of client we are selling and non face to face.

When I read posts like this, its as if there are two different worlds that health agents operate. I've heard this before and have no clue what people are talking about. The old way and the retention rate was worse. Retention on internet business is for me the highest. Anybody can write an application, Being able to pick which applicants to write and work on is the main thing. I still have well over half of my original internet clients, including the first health internet lead that I ever wrote an application.

The referrals off of these clients are excellent as well. The great thing about internet leads are a few very important basic criteria are satisfied:

1. The person owns or has access to a computer.
2. They can read and write and navigate some lengthy forms to receive a quote.
3. They have a phone, email and physical address.

Additionally, You can filter for specific items.

None of this was possible in a timely fashion pre-internet.

Face to face, what a freakin joke. Yea that builds client loyalty.

 

[bill3173]

Just to clarify, there is nothing wrong with face to face, but there's not a whole lot right about it. It is time consuming and could still result in a decline or NT. Some of my worst memories are when everything was face to face and all the time wasted. I couldn't(don't want to) imagine going back to that way of doing business.

I did a face to face meeting today, and took a Cancer app and am going to do the first health app in years f2f tomorrow, because the client is insisting. The girl I took the cancer app on today was beautiful, and offered me a drink, not water or tea. If were single, I would like face to face much better on days like today.

 

[TXINSURANCE]

The old way and the retention rate was worse. Retention on internet business is for me the highest.

Well a lot of this depends on your operation. Most single person shops cherry pick clients pretty hard.

My retention also varies amongst carriers, some just flat out do not have their billing and membership side together.

A lot of variables, but I agree the Internet model is certainly more efficient and in line with todays times. Agreed.

 

[bill3173]

Well a lot of this depends on your operation. Most single person shops cherry pick clients pretty hard.

My retention also varies amongst carriers, some just flat out do not have their billing and membership side together.

A lot of variables, but I agree the Internet model is certainly more efficient and in line with todays times. Agreed.

I do cherry pick clients, but better than average volume, due to the systems that I have in place, and a full time assistant that is terrific. I took a health app face to face today because they wanted to see me personally not my assistant(she's licensed), and while going through the health questions, some unpleasant memories were resurrected. They don't stand a chance of getting coverage, and this could have been done over the phone. I drove 10 miles one way and wasted half my morning.