- Thread starter
- #21
insurancechic127
Expert
- 42
Is Senior Marketing Sales different than Senior Marketing Specialist? Thanks for helping me understand all this, everyone..
Need some guidance; making the move...
- Thread starter insurancechic127
- Start date
- 29,514
- 15,319
They release upon request. That's really the most important thing to look for.
Rick
Is that the monkey?!?! Welcome back!
First of all - the Medicare market is a great choice. I landed in this a while ago and love it.
Prospecting is a little different in this market, but I have a feeling you'll get the hang of it. I've never felt the need, even from the beginning, to be married to an FMO. My contracts are all spread out. UHC under one, MoO under another, Aetna mapd under another, Aetna supps under someone else, Anthem under another, etc.
Not necessarily on purpose, per se, but it just seemed to work out like that, as I picked up new carriers over time.
If I were to start over, I'd do the following:
A - Identify the top 6 med supps in my local area. Even if you only sell 2-3 carriers, it's nice to be able to show your prospect a comparison of 6+ carriers for each specific plan. I would say FMO "support" is secondary to carrier selection. Some good FMO's push pretty crappy med supps. Pick the 6 carriers you want - then contact a few FMO's and see what comp they'll give on each one. If FMO A gives 18% and FMO B gives 20% - then go with FMO B as long as (a) they will release and as long as (b) they don't have production requirements to meet.
B - Find the top MAPD plans (look on Medicare dot gov) - get contracted with them.
C - Ignore $ on Part D for now. Don't do special Part D contracting unless they also have an MAPD plan to sell - at least not yet. Maybe next year. It's just $72/$36 yearly comp... so you aren't giving up much.
Ok, now you have 6 Med Supp carriers and you are ready to sell, and you have a few MAPD plans you can sell.
Now, the hardest part: get in front of people. Market, market, market...
Prospecting is a little different in this market, but I have a feeling you'll get the hang of it. I've never felt the need, even from the beginning, to be married to an FMO. My contracts are all spread out. UHC under one, MoO under another, Aetna mapd under another, Aetna supps under someone else, Anthem under another, etc.
Not necessarily on purpose, per se, but it just seemed to work out like that, as I picked up new carriers over time.
If I were to start over, I'd do the following:
A - Identify the top 6 med supps in my local area. Even if you only sell 2-3 carriers, it's nice to be able to show your prospect a comparison of 6+ carriers for each specific plan. I would say FMO "support" is secondary to carrier selection. Some good FMO's push pretty crappy med supps. Pick the 6 carriers you want - then contact a few FMO's and see what comp they'll give on each one. If FMO A gives 18% and FMO B gives 20% - then go with FMO B as long as (a) they will release and as long as (b) they don't have production requirements to meet.
B - Find the top MAPD plans (look on Medicare dot gov) - get contracted with them.
C - Ignore $ on Part D for now. Don't do special Part D contracting unless they also have an MAPD plan to sell - at least not yet. Maybe next year. It's just $72/$36 yearly comp... so you aren't giving up much.
Ok, now you have 6 Med Supp carriers and you are ready to sell, and you have a few MAPD plans you can sell.
Now, the hardest part: get in front of people. Market, market, market...
- 29,514
Thanks Scot.
- Thread starter
- #28
insurancechic127
Expert
- 42
Good advice, thanks everyone. I have interviewed about 4-5 FMO's, and I still like Garity. I appreciate the guidance that I perhaps don't need one, but at this point, I'm so green to the Medicare arena, I'd feel better with one to help me navigate the landscape, scrub my applications, etc.
I'm not afraid to market, and I've spent the last 18 years building a book of business that I'm going to leverage my heart out on to try and build up my prospects.
I'm not afraid to market, and I've spent the last 18 years building a book of business that I'm going to leverage my heart out on to try and build up my prospects.
I would encourage you to go for with Garity since they are on your neighborhood and because they were very well recommended by my major medical GA in the DC metro area. I met the founder and he seems like a good/trustworthy guy. Regarding the release or non competent agreement, I would try to get things in writting
Just checked out Garity's website - do they really only offer 3 med supp carriers (2 of which are not one's I'd want to place a lot of business with IMHO)?
If they limit to 3, you'll probably want to branch out once you get your feet wet - unless your market really only has 1 good med supp carrier (I've heard that of FL).
Seems like this particular upline emphasizes MAPD....
