How Many Med Sup Apps Can I Write?

[carlomillenti]

New to the forum, I've been in the Health insurance business last 5 years and averaged ours about 2 or 3 deals a week. I want to move to Med supps, I use to cold call 4 days a week 6 hrs to get my deals.

Are med supps harder to generate business or same or easier. It seems like a great market with all the baby boomers.

Just looking for feedback!

 

[Bob_The_Insurance_Guy]

What separates the Medicare Supplement market from all other markets, is it's members. They are not applicants, not customers, but members.

They have lived and experienced more in their lifetimes than any other generation before or after. They have worked the hardest, been duped the most (by unscrupulous agents), and therefore have a mistrust for all those who come knocking.

They live and die by referrals. This can be a doctor, a mechanic, grocer, barber, and yes - agent. In no other realm of medical insurance sales is empathy, sympathy, patience and understanding more needed.

I say all this to tell you that you can write as many as your ability to understand and gain the trust of the members of this growing, but distrustful group.

Know your product (just by reading Frank S.'s posts and giving him a call to pick his brain). Know your members.

I'm sure Frank can give you a clearer picture on the app numbers. Don't make the assumption that the large numbers are going to yield you large numbers of apps.

 

[somarco]

You missed one Bob.

Medicare clients do not buy "deals". This is not the used car business where you trade for anything they can ride, roll, chase or drag on to your lot. They do not subscribe to fast talking pitch med offering to beat any deal, even if you are upside down in your current Medicare ride.

 

[medx]

New to the forum, I've been in the Health insurance business last 5 years and averaged ours about 2 or 3 deals a week. I want to move to Med supps, I use to cold call 4 days a week 6 hrs to get my deals.

Are med supps harder to generate business or same or easier. It seems like a great market with all the baby boomers.

Just looking for feedback!

Not too difficult if are dedicated enough to cold call on a regular basis, and you either have very few Bills, or enough of a savings account to help with those Bills to make it through the first (hardest) year.

The benefit you have is your ability to cold call, as it is almost next to impossible to make it selling medicare supplements, with having to buy leads.

The other obstacle is your abilty to pay your current Bills for the length of time it takes you to build up a good renewal in medicare supplements.

Also I would not be surprised to see health Insurance renewals on grandfathered polices get cut also, once profits drop on current plans from the new mandates going into affect in September. So don't only count on your current health insurance renewals to pay your current Bills during the first year, you will need some savings, if you have quite a few current Bills.

Lastly, I would also recommended getting licensed to sell Final Expense and LTC, as I would not be shocked to see commissions cut on medicare supplements in the next few years as well.

 

[sman]

It's a terrible business to get into. Especially if you do business in Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina. Outside of those states you may have a chance.

New to the forum, I've been in the Health insurance business last 5 years and averaged ours about 2 or 3 deals a week. I want to move to Med supps, I use to cold call 4 days a week 6 hrs to get my deals.

Are med supps harder to generate business or same or easier. It seems like a great market with all the baby boomers.

Just looking for feedback!

 

[Frank Stastny]

The advent of the "baby boomers" will help but that by itself isn't the main reason I'm still in the Med Supp market.

I have sold many different insurance products in the last seventeen years but my primary emphasis has always been Med Supps. Several years ago I made a very conscious decision to only sell Med Supps and cross sell FE. I even stopped selling LTCi.

There are numerous reasons why I made that decision but the main reason is that Med Supps are the easiest kind of insurance to prospect for, get appointments for and to sell of anything else I have sold.

The commissions, in my opinion, are superior to other kinds of insurance. Individual health, LTCi and FE all have great first year commissions, however, by comparison renewals are almost nonexistent. Med Supps typically pay first year commission for the first six years. If you move them to another company it starts all over again. I still have seniors as clients who I sold Med Supps to in 1993, my first year as an agent.

I somewhat disagree with medx in that I don't see it taking you a year to get established. Med Supp companies allow the agent to take a twelve month advance. When sold properly charge backs are not an issue. I have helped many agents get started who didn't have twelve months of expenses in the bank who are doing very well.

In my experience it is the agents who are not willing to make a commitment to this business and treat it like a "real job" who are the ones who need lots of "backup" money.

Medx is spot on when he said your strong suit will be your experience in cold calling. I do not purchase leads and would not recommend that an agent spend their money that way. It is not necessary with selling Med Supps. Prospecting is so much easier than say selling individual health insurance.

Sman is also "spot on". Missouri would also be a "terrible" state for you sell Med Supps in.

Every state is a "good" state to sell Med Supps in and there are more than enough seniors to go around. Seniors are the same nation wide. They have the same concerns regardless of where they live.

I could keep typing all night but it would be a lot more informative and a lot easier for you to give me a call. There is no bad time for you to call me.

Typing does not replace talking.