Pitching the Whale

[ABC]

Well I pitched my first large case.
I was quarterbacking the entire meeting.

I know I did a good job because the meeting lasted an hour and half. If they did not want to work with me it would have been a 20 minute meeting.

What a great experience and I learned a lot.


If anyone else has pitched a large case I would like to hear how the initial meeting went and if you saw indicators on getting to actually bid on the group.

 

[VolAgent]

Out of curiousity, what do you consider to be a large case? 20 employees, 50, 100, what?

 

[somarco]

It has been years since I worked that market, but I suppose the largest case I worked had around 4,000 lives. It took 3 years to close.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Does any get comp for these "mega" companies. What if General Electric wanted to switch carriers (assuming they don't self-insure - just an an example.)

 

[somarco]

I never handled these accounts for free and was paid very well. Worked the self funded market for 15 years. Damn good money there.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I wonder how you get your foot in the door:

"Yes, hello? Yeah, I need to speak with the president of John Deere."

 

[somarco]

It takes a lot of patience and the ability to effectively network. In the end, it is very political. More about who you know than what you know. I got so burned out I pretty much left the business for 5 years.

If I had been smart I would have taken off 6 months to a year then come back doing what I do now.

But then, hindsight is always 20/20.

 

[ABC]

For me a large case is 300+ lives.

 

[somarco]

300 lives is a nice size case. It can still be political, but usually not as many layers to go through as with larger cases.

CFO and/or HR Director are usually involved directly in decision making. Others may also play a part.

The key is to find out who has been servicing the account, how long they have been the AOR and what kind of relationship they have with decision makers.

If you don't scope out the in force agent and his/her relationship you can spin your wheels. On more than one occasion I have done a lot of footwork only to be told thanks, but we showed your proposal to our current agent and he can do the same.

I really hate those situations.

 

[ABC]

Somarco
Your are right on.
I am working with the CFO and Director of HR.

At this point of the cycle I am working on additional selling points on why my ideas and my skills will reduce costs.

Everything I am doing right now is just to get the chance to bid on the case.

I have a game plan on what issues need to be addressed and how they can have a positive impact on claims. Now I have to bounce those idea off the CFO & Director to see if they are interested.