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If one does much digging whether here on the forums or just out in the general "interwebs" there seems to be somewhat of a consensus that a high level final expense producer cannot "add-on" Medicare Advantage successfully; that for some unknown reason it just doesn't work.
Well I ascribed to that moniker for several years until 2016 when I decided that I needed to discover for myself whether what I was reading/hearing was the truth or whether it was marketing mumbo-jumbo. So I passed my AHIP, all the certifications and druuuuuummmmmrollllllll......stopped dead in my tracks lol. While I was pretty convinced at the time that cross-selling Medicare Advantage was an outstanding idea financially for my business, primarily because it picks up where FE leaves off in building phenomenal long-term high level renewals, I just didn't have the support needed to gain any traction without my life insurance taking a big hit so ultimately I put it on pause.
Fast forward to the end of 2017 with Equita where I start hearing the success stories of many of our final expense producers selling what amounts to buckets full of MAPD policies using the same exact FE direct mail lead they've already purchased. So with that said my competitive juices started flowing and I had to get in on the action.
I completed the AHIP (again), along with the certifications, but this time I was surrounded by a cohesive team that I could use as a support structure which has really help cut down my learning curve. I immediately started selling a few per month. In fact, my friend Peter Walker aka Springbok flew into St. Louis for about a day and a half this past week to check out some of the idiosyncrasies of my local market (I gave him a hard time because I was seemingly towards the bottom of the list of dozens agents across the country that he has personally travelled to in order to train how to cross-sell MAPD with Final Expense).
With that said we wrote 10 Medicare Advantage policies in a day and a half. I want to say I couldn't believe it, but I knew I was on to something back in 2016, but I just couldn't quite pull it off all by myself. He showed me how to turn over every imaginable leaf in order to help these seniors with their Medicare. We found cases where a military veteran could keep getting his prescriptions from the Veterans Hospital, but also enroll in a special Medicare Advantage Plan Part B only, which will actually pay the insured $40 back on his Part B premium. We also found some cases where we could save the senior over $1000 per year on their drug costs and still others where a Medicaid client got a plethora of additional benefits like comprehensive dental and over the counter drugs for free!!! So if I did my math right I believe I added almost $190 per month of renewals to my income for the next seven years or so in a day and half's work.
The exceptional aspect of this whole deal is that the MAPD plan easily goes hand-in-hand with the prototypical final expense client. What that means for me is I don't have to adjust my well-developed Final Expense system one iota to add in many many MAPD sales. I've already purchase the FE lead AND I'm already out seeing a bunch of these clients week-in-week-out because I'm on a fixed price lead program only now that I know what to look for I'm confident that at least two per week will ultimately "fall in my lap". And while yes, I'll have to pass the AHIP and certifications every year, I feel like that's a small price to add in an extra $20,000 plus to my income that will only compound year after year by simply knowing the right questions to ask.
Now there are those out there preaching that Medicare Supplements fit the bill as far as some of this is concerned, but that hasn't been my personal experience at all. I would say 5% or less of the targeted final expense demographic can afford a supplement, which averages anywhere between $100-$200plus per month; maybe if you bought Medicare Supplement specific leads on top of your final expense leads, but that would be like adding on an additional/separate j.o.b., which I wasn't interested in.
Well I ascribed to that moniker for several years until 2016 when I decided that I needed to discover for myself whether what I was reading/hearing was the truth or whether it was marketing mumbo-jumbo. So I passed my AHIP, all the certifications and druuuuuummmmmrollllllll......stopped dead in my tracks lol. While I was pretty convinced at the time that cross-selling Medicare Advantage was an outstanding idea financially for my business, primarily because it picks up where FE leaves off in building phenomenal long-term high level renewals, I just didn't have the support needed to gain any traction without my life insurance taking a big hit so ultimately I put it on pause.
Fast forward to the end of 2017 with Equita where I start hearing the success stories of many of our final expense producers selling what amounts to buckets full of MAPD policies using the same exact FE direct mail lead they've already purchased. So with that said my competitive juices started flowing and I had to get in on the action.
I completed the AHIP (again), along with the certifications, but this time I was surrounded by a cohesive team that I could use as a support structure which has really help cut down my learning curve. I immediately started selling a few per month. In fact, my friend Peter Walker aka Springbok flew into St. Louis for about a day and a half this past week to check out some of the idiosyncrasies of my local market (I gave him a hard time because I was seemingly towards the bottom of the list of dozens agents across the country that he has personally travelled to in order to train how to cross-sell MAPD with Final Expense).
With that said we wrote 10 Medicare Advantage policies in a day and a half. I want to say I couldn't believe it, but I knew I was on to something back in 2016, but I just couldn't quite pull it off all by myself. He showed me how to turn over every imaginable leaf in order to help these seniors with their Medicare. We found cases where a military veteran could keep getting his prescriptions from the Veterans Hospital, but also enroll in a special Medicare Advantage Plan Part B only, which will actually pay the insured $40 back on his Part B premium. We also found some cases where we could save the senior over $1000 per year on their drug costs and still others where a Medicaid client got a plethora of additional benefits like comprehensive dental and over the counter drugs for free!!! So if I did my math right I believe I added almost $190 per month of renewals to my income for the next seven years or so in a day and half's work.
The exceptional aspect of this whole deal is that the MAPD plan easily goes hand-in-hand with the prototypical final expense client. What that means for me is I don't have to adjust my well-developed Final Expense system one iota to add in many many MAPD sales. I've already purchase the FE lead AND I'm already out seeing a bunch of these clients week-in-week-out because I'm on a fixed price lead program only now that I know what to look for I'm confident that at least two per week will ultimately "fall in my lap". And while yes, I'll have to pass the AHIP and certifications every year, I feel like that's a small price to add in an extra $20,000 plus to my income that will only compound year after year by simply knowing the right questions to ask.
Now there are those out there preaching that Medicare Supplements fit the bill as far as some of this is concerned, but that hasn't been my personal experience at all. I would say 5% or less of the targeted final expense demographic can afford a supplement, which averages anywhere between $100-$200plus per month; maybe if you bought Medicare Supplement specific leads on top of your final expense leads, but that would be like adding on an additional/separate j.o.b., which I wasn't interested in.
