The Lead Jerk Interviews Peter Walker

[jdeasy]

Great post JD!

And what you said about MA agents being order takers is exactly right. I've picked up a little knowledge here and there about MA over the years.

Scott even recommended me adding MA years ago. I just wanted someone that I could text, email or call if I had a question on it.

Since taking the AHIP, I've still had to learn a lot, but once you know the basics it is pretty easy.

But what makes Peter the EFES medicare guru, (or whatever his title is) is the fact that the man has lapped the country, in his own car, visiting with agents one on one to help them get started and show how easy it is to add MA to your existing FE business.

He has answered the phone almost anytime I have called and always returns calls/texts promptly. Just this past Friday he spent 45 minutes on the phone with me to help explain a few finer points with me.

That's how I think things should be done. A manager or anyone getting an override off of you should be as accessible as possible. And Peter has proven that is the type of manager he is.

Nobody at EFES is changing their focus from FE to MA, we are just asking a few extra questions to see if we can help put them in a better situation for their health insurance.

For me, I am just grabbing the low hanging fruit. I am signing up dual eligibles that have no MAPD plan at all or AORing the humana prospects.

You wanna talk about easy money?? Get a scope signed, come back in 48 hours (not for long though!), show them the benefits and write them up. AORing is 1000x more simple.

This all from working your existing FE leads. No new lead to buy. Just asking a few extra questions.

EFES has really turned a corner in the last year. You just want to produce? Great, we have set priced leads, great training and support and great comp. You want to recruit and build an agency one day? Ben Boman will teach you all the things he did, right and wrong, so you can do it right. You want to add Medicare to your book? Great, we have a dedicated manager, in Peter Walker, who will come to you and walk you through every aspect of the business.

In my opinion, you can't ask for much more. And yeah, we have Regional Managers that can work with you one on one, who are accessible, to show you how to be successful selling Final Expense.

You can always give us a call and see if we are the right place for you.

I don't know if you are agreeing or disagreeing but here's what I'll say about someone training people to sell Medicare, unless that person has done Medicare sales for a living, it is my opinion that they cannot train someone else to do what they have not done. And for a different reason that FE. FE is about the nuances of the market. A person that hasn't sold FE for a living will never understand those nuances.

Medicare is about the products and the rules from CMS.

From what I know of Peter he is a great guy. Very diligent and will one day understand Medicare if that's what he wants to pursue.

It is my understanding that he had never sold a Medicare supplement, other than an open enrollment or GI situation, before becoming a trainer for Medicare supplements. That could be incorrect info? But it's not far off if incorrect. I mean selling a sup to a person that on a sup, going through underwriting and getting the other sup stopped timely and so on. If it was more than zero it was a handful of them.

Same for MA plans. If he sold anything other than the AOR then it was very few.

That's not on him. We all have to start somewhere. And it's not on him to turn down the job offer from EFES if that was the path he wanted. That's on EFES. But EFES never had someone in charge of the med sup dept that knew how to sell med sups.

You hear people, marketers, talk all the time about how easy it is to sell med sups. Well yeah, it is easy if you understand Medicare and how it works and the rules. That's the rub. It is not easy to gain that understanding and to learn the rules. And more importantly, the exceptions to those rules.

And I speak from experience on that. I was taught by a guy that was supposed to know. He was a regional manager and had a good sized book of business. And it was hands on training. I rode with him on many appointments to learn to sell MA and PDP's. Then he rode with me to observe my selling of those plans. Even interrupting me in mid presentation one time in front of a couple to admonish my mistakes. (you know me so you know why that only happened once}.

I did everything the way this guy taught me because I didn't know any other way. Turns out, he was clueless. I messed up several people by following his training. And this was pre MIPPA. Mistakes were more fixable then and I was able to repair the damage once I learned I had been misinformed.

But that guy wasn't being malicious. he thought he was properly training us, {I wasn't the only agent he messed up}. This guy thought he was an expert and he wanted you to know he was an expert. If xrac is reading this he will know exactly who I'm talking about and will agree with everything I said about him.

The good thing that came from that for me was this forum. I found this forum in the first place because I was double checking some of the things this guy was teaching us. Even though I didn't know anything about medicare, some of the stuff he way teaching didn't ring true. The first person to respond to my questions here was Frank Statsny. Whom I came to learn was a genuine medicare expert.

From this forum I came to meet Scott and Travis.

Before someone tries to turn that into a knock on Peter, it's not. I think Peter is about a straight up as they come. But right now he just doesn't know what he doesn't know when it comes to Medicare.

 

[hockeyday]

Only 2 questions. Have you ever sold FE for a living?

Do you still sell FE for a living?

what would be the training steps after that, what should and agent look for in training?

 

[FLM2]

Great post JD!

And what you said about MA agents being order takers is exactly right. I've picked up a little knowledge here and there about MA over the years.

Scott even recommended me adding MA years ago. I just wanted someone that I could text, email or call if I had a question on it.

Since taking the AHIP, I've still had to learn a lot, but once you know the basics it is pretty easy.

But what makes Peter the EFES medicare guru, (or whatever his title is) is the fact that the man has lapped the country, in his own car, visiting with agents one on one to help them get started and show how easy it is to add MA to your existing FE business.

He has answered the phone almost anytime I have called and always returns calls/texts promptly. Just this past Friday he spent 45 minutes on the phone with me to help explain a few finer points with me.

That's how I think things should be done. A manager or anyone getting an override off of you should be as accessible as possible. And Peter has proven that is the type of manager he is.

Nobody at EFES is changing their focus from FE to MA, we are just asking a few extra questions to see if we can help put them in a better situation for their health insurance.

For me, I am just grabbing the low hanging fruit. I am signing up dual eligibles that have no MAPD plan at all or AORing the humana prospects.

You wanna talk about easy money?? Get a scope signed, come back in 48 hours (not for long though!), show them the benefits and write them up. AORing is 1000x more simple.

This all from working your existing FE leads. No new lead to buy. Just asking a few extra questions.

EFES has really turned a corner in the last year. You just want to produce? Great, we have set priced leads, great training and support and great comp. You want to recruit and build an agency one day? Ben Boman will teach you all the things he did, right and wrong, so you can do it right. You want to add Medicare to your book? Great, we have a dedicated manager, in Peter Walker, who will come to you and walk you through every aspect of the business.

In my opinion, you can't ask for much more. And yeah, we have Regional Managers that can work with you one on one, who are accessible, to show you how to be successful selling Final Expense.

You can always give us a call and see if we are the right place for you.

What makes selling MAPD somewhat difficult is not the product, it is being compliant.

Your approach is 100% NON-COMPLIANT since it is you who is obviously mentioning MAPD while on a sales call for another product.

Add to that your stealing of clients from other agents by 'AORing' and it's just a matter of time before you get busted, all it will take is one pissed off agent filing a complaint with both the carrier and the State DOI.

 

[jdeasy]

what would be the training steps after that, what should and agent look for in training?

Follow that person's lead. If they know how to successfully sell FE then they can show you the path.

Just do what they say. Don't change the recipe. There will probably be parts of the recipe that don't fit you but do it anyway.

Once you have become successful doing it the tried and proven way you can make some tweaks to fit you.

The ones I see that struggle are the ones that make tweaks to the system before they master the proven method.

I keep saying "proven" because that's the key. Anyone can sit behind a desk and relay stories they have heard about how to do this or how about how they did it back in the day.

And don't take their word for it that they are real producers. Again, have them provide proof. Where is their production? What company trips have they made from their own business? What awards have they gotten for their personal production? Companies and IMO's will give awards to producers.

It's not hard to prove personal production. If someone is having a hard time showing you proof then that's most likely because it doesn't exist.


It's still going to come back to leads though. The best training in the world is useless with no one to talk to.

But again, that proven producer can guide you on lead choices.

----------

What makes selling MAPD somewhat difficult is not the product, it is being compliant.

Your approach is 100% NON-COMPLIANT since it is you who is obviously mentioning MAPD while on a sales call for another product.

Add to that your stealing of clients from other agents by 'AORing' and it's just a matter of time before you get busted, all it will take is one pissed off agent filing a complaint with both the carrier and the State DOI.

The way he said it, yes. But I know Josh. I would be shocked to learn that he is not compliant.

I don't do MA plans anymore. But I do sups and it's on my card. Obviously I'm not promoting or mentioning MA or PDP's at all. But I get asked about them every week running FE leads.

It just comes up. I'm sure that's what he meant.

 

[Mattschmidt]

In corporate America (especially banking) it's all about climbing the ladder, not present money. One needs to build a fancy resume and you do that with fancy titles, not W-2's.

Don't think that's 100% true. If you want to make it in corporate America, you better know the right people, and you better get results.

EX. I knew a guy a Merril Lynch who was an advisor making close to $1 Million a year. His Manager/Trainer, or VP was a doofus "yes man" who did just enough to keep his job.

Some type of role came up and they were competing for position. Advisor got the job due to his practice he built, and what he was bringing to the table. not the Manager/Trainer who was out of touch with industry.

I know if I was hiring someone, I'd ask them what kind of ethic they have, and what kind of "drive " they have. I don't want an 8am -5PM guy on my team

 

[springbokhouston]

Interesting conversation going on here.

I will tell you guys that I had a great experience with Matt while it lasted, I learned a lot and was able to put that knowledge into action selling Final Expense, and for that I'm grateful. The bottom line is that cheat sheets, ride alongs and ding machines alone don't sell policies. A few ride alongs helped tremendously but from there I was pretty much on my own, which is the way I prefer to do things.

When I started to get into Medicare products I learned very quickly that there really didn't seem to be good organizations around that could train field agents. No, I didn't get trained by Chris Westfall or Ritter, I did however get tons of help on this forum from some very knowledgeable guys, and I was able to put that info into action and write a substantial amount of business for myself. EFES already had an in-house telemarking organization for MA and Supps and asked me to join them and roll out the opportunity to their field agents.

My team at EFES include two in house guys each with well over 20 years of experience in the Medicare arena. In addition to that, we also have an in-house compliance officer that reviews all training protocols as well has in-house legal support for any additional issues that arise. Lastly, all of our systems have been reviewed and approved by regional reps from both Humana and UHC and we continue to work hand in hand to make sure that our agents remain compliant.

I have been more than clear about my background all along and will continue to be so. I am a part of a wonderful opportunity at EFES to help agents (that are interested in Medicare) add these products to their portfolio. I don't claim to have all the answers but I do have the people in place that can find them when we need them. We are rolling this initiative out to a select group of agents in our organization and are already seeing fantastic success across the board.

I’m sorry that this seems to be a threat to some on this board, but I assure you that there’s plenty of business for everyone. I realize that Medicare in general is full of potential mine fields, but I would encourage agents to take another look at the opportunity. The long lasting renewal income potential is hands down better than FE, but that being said it’s all about compliance, compliance, compliance.

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

There was an opportunity given to Peter to immediately have access & make an override on 1000 agents on the Medicare side of the business. That opportunity was taken. Now all of a sudden there is a "Medicare Craze" but few will actually profit significantly from it.

There are some on here that have forgotten more about Medicare than most "Medicare Mentors" know.

Sounds like he fell into a good gig. I was just fishing but nobody is taking the bait...

 

[jdeasy]

Interesting conversation going on here.

I will tell you guys that I had a great experience with Matt while it lasted, I learned a lot and was able to put that knowledge into action selling Final Expense, and for that I'm grateful. The bottom line is that cheat sheets, ride alongs and ding machines alone don't sell policies. A few ride alongs helped tremendously but from there I was pretty much on my own, which is the way I prefer to do things.

When I started to get into Medicare products I learned very quickly that there really didn't seem to be good organizations around that could train field agents. No, I didn't get trained by Chris Westfall or Ritter, I did however get tons of help on this forum from some very knowledgeable guys, and I was able to put that info into action and write a substantial amount of business for myself. EFES already had an in-house telemarking organization for MA and Supps and asked me to join them and roll out the opportunity to their field agents.

My team at EFES include two in house guys each with well over 20 years of experience in the Medicare arena. In addition to that, we also have an in-house compliance officer that reviews all training protocols as well has in-house legal support for any additional issues that arise. Lastly, all of our systems have been reviewed and approved by regional reps from both Humana and UHC and we continue to work hand in hand to make sure that our agents remain compliant.

I have been more than clear about my background all along and will continue to be so. I am a part of a wonderful opportunity at EFES to help agents (that are interested in Medicare) add these products to their portfolio. I don't claim to have all the answers but I do have the people in place that can find them when we need them. We are rolling this initiative out to a select group of agents in our organization and are already seeing fantastic success across the board.

I’m sorry that this seems to be a threat to some on this board, but I assure you that there’s plenty of business for everyone. I realize that Medicare in general is full of potential mine fields, but I would encourage agents to take another look at the opportunity. The long lasting renewal income potential is hands down better than FE, but that being said it’s all about compliance, compliance, compliance.

How is what you are doing a threat to anyone on this board or anywhere else?

As for the people at EFES involved in medicare? What's involved? Are they on Medicare?

And when did they get to EFES if they are there? Up until 4 years I know for a fact that EFES had no one there that had ever sold medicare supplements for a living.

They had a guy a guy in charge of that dept. But that guy was clueless about Medicare.

I asked him one time if we had Combined. His answer, "combined with what?"


I think you will be great at this in time. And you correct that there is a void there for a Medicare training IMO. There are none that I know of.

That's why I don't get the "threat" comment. There's no one doing what you are doing to be threatened.

 

[HoosierLife]

Follow that person's lead. If they know how to successfully sell FE then they can show you the path.

Just do what they say. Don't change the recipe. There will probably be parts of the recipe that don't fit you but do it anyway.

Once you have become successful doing it the tried and proven way you can make some tweaks to fit you.

The ones I see that struggle are the ones that make tweaks to the system before they master the proven method.

I keep saying "proven" because that's the key. Anyone can sit behind a desk and relay stories they have heard about how to do this or how about how they did it back in the day.

And don't take their word for it that they are real producers. Again, have them provide proof. Where is their production? What company trips have they made from their own business? What awards have they gotten for their personal production? Companies and IMO's will give awards to producers.

It's not hard to prove personal production. If someone is having a hard time showing you proof then that's most likely because it doesn't exist.


It's still going to come back to leads though. The best training in the world is useless with no one to talk to.

But again, that proven producer can guide you on lead choices.

----------



The way he said it, yes. But I know Josh. I would be shocked to learn that he is not compliant.

I don't do MA plans anymore. But I do sups and it's on my card. Obviously I'm not promoting or mentioning MA or PDP's at all. But I get asked about them every week running FE leads.

It just comes up. I'm sure that's what he meant.

Yeah I'm not discussing anything MAPD related until after I come back after the 48 hour cool down period.

I do ask who they have their Medicare Supplement with. That's usually where I have to stop them and I just get the scope. Most of our clients have MAPD plans.

As far as AORing, Peter has told me to NOT to AOR clients from other agents. Only AORs I've done are with prospects that have moved and have no local agent, bought directly from a call center or told me they didn't like their agent/have had no return calls from their agent in years.

And that's exactly what I put on the AOR the client signs. I explain to them that Humana will call them and they will have to explain why they want me to be the AOR, so if they're happy with the way things are, let's just not mess with it.

Every conversation I have with Peter somehow centers on compliance or comes back to compliance. I'm sure there are plenty of agents/agencies that are bending the rules, but that's definitely not how we are being taught.

But you are correct, the plans themselves are not difficult to learn. Making sure you are compliant is the biggest headache and concern. I may look back on this in a couple years and agree with JD that jumping through these hoops is for the birds. I will say I don't like doing AHIP training or watching what I say to stay compliant, but I'm liking it so far.

 

[springbokhouston]

Brent DePeppe joined EFES at the start of the year. His initial roll was purely to push the telesales avenue, but he's since become the Executive VP for the company. Brent and I work hand in hand on a daily basis, me in the field running around the country and he at the home office in Dallas. Great guy with great experience, knowledge building large Medicare organizations. He's added quite a few other team members since then, like everything else EFES is putting a lot of work into the organization.

Thanks JD, if I didn't think I would be good at this I wouldn't be biting off a project like this. I certainly wouldn't consider doing it without the right team support and I'm adding on some MA superstars at this moment. As I said, we have already started seeing some amazing results that will directly benefit the agents involved.