Still no word on 2009 MA commissions

[patch36]

Medicare Advantage Plans are nothing more than Major Medical Plans, group coverage if you will, for those on Medicare. How difficult is that to explain?

Before people got on Medicare:

They paid a copay for a doctor visit, just like a MA

They paid a copay for a bottle of medicine, just like a MA

The had a maximum amount each year they pay for hospital/lab/surgical procedures, just like a MA

Now, I agree with you 100% about CMS. In my opinion, they won't release the commissions until the night before AEP, on November 14th, and their won't be anything we who choose to sell MA's can do about it.

I also think that MA's are viable products for those that can't afford $150-$200 a month for a premium. Most Medicare beneficiaries are on fixed incomes, and this is a large chunk for them.

I've had several people on MA's for two years now, and only one has wanted to go back to a Med Supp. As for commissions, I'd like to get paid as earned, just as I do with Major Medical.

Sorry to be the dissenting vote here.

I agree completely Bob, I just don't trust the direction this is heading. I have a lot of folks on MA's, and for many of them they are a godsend for financial reasons. Many seniors are on a very limited income and in the areas where the MA's are competitive and have PPO or HMO options they are working great. I have almost no complaints about the PPO MA's.

I do know that Obama is going to target the reimbursement rates and that we will see drastic changes in copays, premiums and availability of many of the plans in the near future.

In the rural areas where I live the Med Sups are competitive and usually affordable. That is all I will be recommending in those areas, but when confronted with a client of limited means, decent medical health, and a mindset that can deal with co-pays, I will offer the MA plans. In the city the MA plans are so good right now I have to offer them and as AEP and OEP progress I will sell quite a few of them.

But...when they are a viable option the Med Sups will be the first recommendation.
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As for commissions. They are what they are this year. Because of the rules and the limitations on marketing activities I will have an advantage over the newbies and MA specialists since I have a lot of existing clients and contacts from the last 6 years. I have turned down the TM leads from a regional carrier and am only working my own client base, self generated, and internet leads. My wife is my appt setter and she has me already booked 3-5 appts a day thru mid December, and we will get quite a few internet and self generated from reply mailing leads, sooo....I don't have time to worry about commission rates....this year, but next year my focus will change.
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Paid as earned and eliminate the enrollment periods would make most of the bad stuff go away.

 

[dmeofgainc]

Currently, the government negotiates with drug companies to get lower prices on drugs it provides to veterans, but the government is banned from negotiating drug prices for seniors on Medicare. Obama favors lifting the ban, a measure his analysts say could save $30 billion. Obama also supports closing the "doughnut hole" in the Medicare part D plan, a gap in coverage which forces many people to pay thousands of dollars for their medications out-of-pocket, until an upper spending limit is reached.

 

[Frank Stastny]

I agree completely Bob, I just don't trust the direction this is heading. I have a lot of folks on MA's, and for many of them they are a godsend for financial reasons. Many seniors are on a very limited income and in the areas where the MA's are competitive and have PPO or HMO options they are working great. I have almost no complaints about the PPO MA's.

I do know that Obama is going to target the reimbursement rates and that we will see drastic changes in copays, premiums and availability of many of the plans in the near future.

In the rural areas where I live the Med Sups are competitive and usually affordable. That is all I will be recommending in those areas, but when confronted with a client of limited means, decent medical health, and a mindset that can deal with co-pays, I will offer the MA plans. In the city the MA plans are so good right now I have to offer them and as AEP and OEP progress I will sell quite a few of them.

But...when they are a viable option the Med Sups will be the first recommendation.
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As for commissions. They are what they are this year. Because of the rules and the limitations on marketing activities I will have an advantage over the newbies and MA specialists since I have a lot of existing clients and contacts from the last 6 years. I have turned down the TM leads from a regional carrier and am only working my own client base, self generated, and internet leads. My wife is my appt setter and she has me already booked 3-5 appts a day thru mid December, and we will get quite a few internet and self generated from reply mailing leads, sooo....I don't have time to worry about commission rates....this year, but next year my focus will change.
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Paid as earned and eliminate the enrollment periods would make most of the bad stuff go away.

I agree with everything you say especially about not having time to "worry about commission rates".

I do have one question though. You said that your wife has set appointments for you through the middle of December. It has been my experience, especially when working the senior market, that it is unproductive most of the time for me to set appointments more than two or three days in advance. Most seniors don't remember it and generally will either not at home or too busy when I arrive.

How can you set an appointment even two weeks in advance, let alone 6 or 7 weeks ahead, and be certain that they will be home when you get there? You must know a secret that no one has ever shared with me. Do you just show up and knock on the door?

My appointments generally are to go over everything we discussed on the phone, get a signature and pick up a check. I have found a long time ago that driving all over the state is unproductive unless I know that I have at least an 80+% chance of making a sale when I go on an appointment.

PS Three to five appointments a day through the middle of December. At an average of four appointments a day, five days a week that is 120 appointments during the next six weeks? WOW! She must be dynamite on the phone. I have never been able to do that for that length of time.

If you do a presentation at each appointment how can you do five a day. Counting driving time four is a real full day for me even when they are relatively close together. Three is about all I want to attempt in one day.

My average Med Supp appointment will take about an hour and forty-five minutes.

 

[retread]

I agree with everything you say especially about not having time to "worry about commission rates".

I do have one question though. You said that your wife has set appointments for you through the middle of December. It has been my experience, especially when working the senior market, that it is unproductive most of the time for me to set appointments more than two or three days in advance. Most seniors don't remember it and generally will either not at home or too busy when I arrive.

How can you set an appointment even two weeks in advance, let alone 6 or 7 weeks ahead, and be certain that they will be home when you get there? You must know a secret that no one has ever shared with me. Do you just show up and knock on the door?

My appointments generally are to go over everything we discussed on the phone, get a signature and pick up a check. I have found a long time ago that driving all over the state is unproductive unless I know that I have at least an 80+% chance of making a sale when I go on an appointment.

PS Three to five appointments a day through the middle of December. At an average of four appointments a day, five days a week that is 120 appointments during the next six weeks? WOW! She must be dynamite on the phone. I have never been able to do that for that length of time.

If you do a presentation at each appointment how can you do five a day. Counting driving time four is a real full day for me even when they are relatively close together. Three is about all I want to attempt in one day.

My average Med Supp appointment will take about an hour and forty-five minutes.

Yes, Med Sups take less time to present. If you dutifully follow all requirements for a MA plan, it will take you about 2 hours if you talk fast and are not interrupted. I don't do this. I take my time, and sometimes take up to 3 hours.

Also, most of my appointments recently have been about an hour's driving time. An hour there, 2+ hrs presentation, an hour back and I have 4 hrs invested. That only leaves me 2 appointments with this driving time. If I have prospects closer to home, I can easily squeeze in a third, but haven't done this this year yet.

 

[patch36]

I agree with everything you say especially about not having time to "worry about commission rates".

I do have one question though. You said that your wife has set appointments for you through the middle of December. It has been my experience, especially when working the senior market, that it is unproductive most of the time for me to set appointments more than two or three days in advance. Most seniors don't remember it and generally will either not at home or too busy when I arrive.

How can you set an appointment even two weeks in advance, let alone 6 or 7 weeks ahead, and be certain that they will be home when you get there? You must know a secret that no one has ever shared with me. Do you just show up and knock on the door?

My appointments generally are to go over everything we discussed on the phone, get a signature and pick up a check. I have found a long time ago that driving all over the state is unproductive unless I know that I have at least an 80+% chance of making a sale when I go on an appointment.

PS Three to five appointments a day through the middle of December. At an average of four appointments a day, five days a week that is 120 appointments during the next six weeks? WOW! She must be dynamite on the phone. I have never been able to do that for that length of time.

If you do a presentation at each appointment how can you do five a day. Counting driving time four is a real full day for me even when they are relatively close together. Three is about all I want to attempt in one day.

My average Med Supp appointment will take about an hour and forty-five minutes.

She schedules them by zips and areas close to each other. Yesterday I did 4 full appts. One was a totally new client, Husband and Wife, and the other 3 were existing. I moved 3 policies from Todays Options to a regional PPO, set 2 followups because they want to call Drs, confirm network issues and think about it, but they will sign up for new PPO's (no brainer in their cases), and I am returning with 2 FE quotes in a week. It was a long day. Many of my appts are to go over changes in their existing plans, so these are not all full blown presentations. This year I still have some PFFS plans to convert to PPO and Med Sups, but much of the groundwork has been laid. These are not, for the most part, new clients and full presentations, but many will result in the sale of a new plan or product.

My wife has firm times set to the 1st of the the month and has some of the first 2 weeks of December done, but the calendar is far from full after Thanksgiving week. There are still a few holes in the schedule in November, but not many. I am not doing many appts Thanksgiving week. The kids and grandkids will be here then most of the week.

She tells the appts we will call to remind if they want, plus we always send a postcard reminding them a few days in advance. Remember, most of these people know me and I have been prepping them for the AEP in my newsletter for a couple months as well as an additional mailing of postcards a few weeks ago telling them we were going to call to set an appointment and to not panic, I will not forget them. We have over 100 must see clients and about that many should see clients during AEP.

I was told yesterday by a client that my wife is really nice on the phone and aggressive to get the appointment set. ...and that they appreciated that because otherwise they would put it off. She was the primary appt setter at our seminars. Anyone who has done seminars know that the only purpose of the seminar is to set appts at the time of the seminar, so she honed her assumptive techniques there. She is not a salesman or a licensed agent so she never talks insurance. She sets appts for them to see me.

I can do as many as 5, but I prefer 4. Only this time of year do we stack so many. I ran an hour late at my last 2 yesterday. I was in the last home until nearly 7pm.

I looked at the calendar and I exaggerated about firm set appts in December. Our appts for December are only about 10% done, but there are 50+ folks expecting a call and will set. There is a lot to do in a short period of time. Frank is certainly right about setting too far ahead with Seniors, but this time of year we bend that rule because may can not set in the next few days and rather than call them back the wife sets them out a week or two, a occassionally more.

I am not going to talk about how I am handling the scope of appointment forms. These are all existing contacts and clients. She discussing with each of them what I am coming to see them about. I do have signed forms for everyone I sign up to a new or different plan.

I am running into problems with a few of the internet lead sources and may have to shut them off. I am getting new leads I don't have enough time to see if she is able to set them. I generally handle those myself because of the questions they all have, but this month she is calling them and setting about half without me talking to them. I email them when I get the lead if I can, but she is calling and setting. Outside of AEP season this generally will not work without me talking to them, but the last half dozen it is working.

I work hard this time of year. On top of medicare I am doing annual reviews of annuities, and I am getting referrals and running into some annuity business at appt where I look at the situation and then have to have the wife set a followup appt. The 48 hour rule is followed out of necessity and time so it has not been an issue so far.

I set NO appts. I refer all to my wife. My calendar is the Gmail/Google calendar. I get appt reminders via email and I can see my calendar on my iphone. I check email after each appt and generally call my wife for a short chat about any updates I need done from my previous appt. We work hard this time of year, but as you may notice I have pleny of time to post and play in the summer. I work year round, but not what I would call full time year round. I have been a salaried executive who worked 50-70 hours a week in the past. This job is not like that, but this time of year I work full time.
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2009 MA Commissions. I recd an email from Humana yesterday stating that 2009 commissions are awaiting guidance from CMS.

 

[Frank Stastny]

She schedules them by zips and areas close to each other. Yesterday I did 4 full appts. One was a totally new client, Husband and Wife, and the other 3 were existing. I moved 3 policies from Todays Options to a regional PPO, set 2 followups because they want to call Drs, confirm network issues and think about it, but they will sign up for new PPO's (no brainer in their cases), and I am returning with 2 FE quotes in a week. It was a long day. Many of my appts are to go over changes in their existing plans, so these are not all full blown presentations. This year I still have some PFFS plans to convert to PPO and Med Sups, but much of the groundwork has been laid. These are not, for the most part, new clients and full presentations, but many will result in the sale of a new plan or product.

My wife has firm times set to the 1st of the the month and has some of the first 2 weeks of December done, but the calendar is far from full after Thanksgiving week. There are still a few holes in the schedule in November, but not many. I am not doing many appts Thanksgiving week. The kids and grandkids will be here then most of the week.

She tells the appts we will call to remind if they want, plus we always send a postcard reminding them a few days in advance. Remember, most of these people know me and I have been prepping them for the AEP in my newsletter for a couple months as well as an additional mailing of postcards a few weeks ago telling them we were going to call to set an appointment and to not panic, I will not forget them. We have over 100 must see clients and about that many should see clients during AEP.

I was told yesterday by a client that my wife is really nice on the phone and aggressive to get the appointment set. ...and that they appreciated that because otherwise they would put it off. She was the primary appt setter at our seminars. Anyone who has done seminars know that the only purpose of the seminar is to set appts at the time of the seminar, so she honed her assumptive techniques there. She is not a salesman or a licensed agent so she never talks insurance. She sets appts for them to see me.

I can do as many as 5, but I prefer 4. Only this time of year do we stack so many. I ran an hour late at my last 2 yesterday. I was in the last home until nearly 7pm.

I looked at the calendar and I exaggerated about firm set appts in December. Our appts for December are only about 10% done, but there are 50+ folks expecting a call and will set. There is a lot to do in a short period of time. Frank is certainly right about setting too far ahead with Seniors, but this time of year we bend that rule because may can not set in the next few days and rather than call them back the wife sets them out a week or two, a occassionally more.

I am not going to talk about how I am handling the scope of appointment forms. These are all existing contacts and clients. She discussing with each of them what I am coming to see them about. I do have signed forms for everyone I sign up to a new or different plan.

I am running into problems with a few of the internet lead sources and may have to shut them off. I am getting new leads I don't have enough time to see if she is able to set them. I generally handle those myself because of the questions they all have, but this month she is calling them and setting about half without me talking to them. I email them when I get the lead if I can, but she is calling and setting. Outside of AEP season this generally will not work without me talking to them, but the last half dozen it is working.

I work hard this time of year. On top of medicare I am doing annual reviews of annuities, and I am getting referrals and running into some annuity business at appt where I look at the situation and then have to have the wife set a followup appt. The 48 hour rule is followed out of necessity and time so it has not been an issue so far.

I set NO appts. I refer all to my wife. My calendar is the Gmail/Google calendar. I get appt reminders via email and I can see my calendar on my iphone. I check email after each appt and generally call my wife for a short chat about any updates I need done from my previous appt. We work hard this time of year, but as you may notice I have pleny of time to post and play in the summer. I work year round, but not what I would call full time year round. I have been a salaried executive who worked 50-70 hours a week in the past. This job is not like that, but this time of year I work full time.
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2009 MA Commissions. I recd an email from Humana yesterday stating that 2009 commissions are awaiting guidance from CMS.

WOW! I am super impressed, you are, without a doubt, the most organized agent I know. Even better than me.

I especially like the idea of sending a post card reminding them of the appointment. I have never tried that but will in the future. Thanks for the idea.

I can see how you can do 5 a day if a couple of them are with existing clients. That does make it a little easier but five is still a long day.

You said you work "hard" this time of year. "Hard" is an understatement. You are kicking ass and taking names.

Have you ever thought of putting on a seminar for agents? Your wife should definitely be there. Most agents I know and have worked with don't know a thing about doing their own telemarketing. They call a prospect, tell them they are "going to be in their area next Wednesday" and ask if they can drop off some information. They consider that an "appointment".

I was originally taught to do that when I first got into this business. I can say from experience, that is NOT an APPOINTMENT! All it does is just make the agent feel warm and fuzzy until they get to the house and no one is home.

Thanks for sharing what you do and how you do it. I'm sure you are one hell of a salesman but a lot of credit has to go to your wife and her dedication. We all know that the best salesman in the world can't sell a thing if they can't get in front of a qualified buyer. Kudos to your lovely lady.

 

[GreenSky]

WOW! I am super impressed, you are, without a doubt, the most organized agent I know. Even better than me.

I find that if you use a good CRM it helps with organization. Let me know if you want information on the one that I use.

By the way Frank, I can't keep helping you for free. Pretty soon I'll need to be paid for my time!

Rick

 

[patch36]

We use ACT. My wife notes the accts and enters the names. I use it to research and organize lists to give her to call and for mailing lists.

I am not nearly organized enough. I get by, but there is a whole lot more I should be doing and am constantly frustrated by the fact that I didn't note the clients enough, because memory starts to erode the moment I leave the clients home.

We have a system, but I am like most men. I am lazy. I hate phone work, and my wife doesn't, so I pass most of that to her. I do lose some sales opportunities because she is not an agent and does not know product, so some potential clients slip through the cracks.

I was taught to use postcards as a reminder of an appointment my first sales job out of college. I ran routes through the Dakota's, Wyoming, Montana and the Canadian Provinces north of those states. I sent postcards to all the businesses I would be stopping to see. I did not have firm appointments but the postcard set the expectation that I would be there, kind of an assumptive appointment. It works. Now I just use them to solicit appointments and responses, and of course as reminders of upcoming appointments. That is critical if you want a Senior to remember the appointment.

I buy postcard stock at Sams. It is 4 to a sheet and I design front and back with Publisher. They have blanks for the time and date and a short message that I am looking forward to visiting them at that time. I run a master off and make copies from it as needed.

I have been a sales manager and a regional sales VP for a large company. I know all the stuff to do, but it is far easier telling someone else to do it than doing it yourself. I have an aversion to phone work, thus I 'conned' my wife into doing it a few years back. She is a nurse by education and profession, and working the home office is a lot easier than punching a clock, so she likes her 'job' after nearly 20 years taking care of dying people and babysitting Drs.

I could not do what most of you here do. I hate cold calling by phone. I used to do it B2B, but that is way different from my perspective. I have set up telemarketing rooms and have hired people to do it for me, but actually working the phone is hard for me after a few calls, so I am amazed by what some of you do to generate business and leads.
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Frank,

I have learned so much I didn't know and should have known, from you and others here about product, especially Medicare. I have only been selling Medicare Advantage for 2 years, and Sups for longer, but not in a serious way, so I am still learning and appreciate how much you and others share here, even Rick.

 

[MedSuppPro]

Patch36

I'm amazed at the parallel lives we have.

I also use the ACT program and the services of my wife (RN). We did an AEP client letter that netted a 20% response rate within one week of our mailing. I'm booked mostly 4 per day (some Saturdays) as I'm trying to pace myself. I really try to map-out my appointments as this only makes good time management sense. My wife is not a gifted map reader so I'll end up with that part.

With our modified ACT program that we use, the User Fields are set-up to track commissions and the Status Fields are used to enter drugs and Medi#'s. I changed the Country Field to a County Field and we can sort by counties and this is very valuable. We also purchased used high speed mailing equipment and can turn on a dime when something needs to be sent out in mass.

I have not had a major problem with appointment no shows and will mail a pre-printed reminder card (Posty Cards) "Just A Note" if I feel there is any doubt. Posty Cards sells a card insert cutter called "CARD-IT" (1-800-692-2734) and I attach my B-Card to it. With the new CMS rules I'm asking for more referrals.

I'll do a massive mailer soon to get more then we can handle to carry us through till April. Then I'll kick back at horse shows and enjoy my summer. I don't try to kick myself for being lazy too much, and need to improve my systems all the time. Yet, I will slack off with my built-up comp-time over the summer.

 

[patch36]

Yeah, I have plenty of slow times to make up for the Fall & Winter push. I've had real jobs before, this is a piece of cake

I will take off most of Thanksgiving week as well as most of Xmas week and the week after. I will get to the forgotten and last minute ones that always come up, but for the most part I will be done with everyone by then. I am not sure how busy I will be in OEP, as it does slow down. I will do a mail drop or two, but I am planning a couple different week vacations somewhere warm in January and February. I am going to focus more on the ongoing Med Sup business and start tracking anniversary dates of policies better for the folks who are on Sups, but not my clients, yet. In Missouri we have an annual Guarantee Issue on policy anniversary for Med Sups, and I want to get better at that. I like the paid as earned stuff to supplement my annuity and life business and give me a more steady income stream throughout the year.

I am not as organized as I may sound. My office is an out of control mess. My wife keeps me on track for appointments, but I am on my own as far as applications and the associated paperwork. She files the piles I make, but I have always had lots of different projects going on at one time.