WalMart Medicare Advantage Marketing Coming Very Soon

[Joe Moore]

Would the person requesting information about WalMart stores in the Akron, OH area please re-send the request to [email protected].

The request has disappeared off my computer.

Sorry for the problem, but I have no way to get info to you without your email address.

Thanks
Joe

 

[jacobtn]

Yes, I am interested!!!

I would love to forego my independent status to subject myself to "extensive background checks and company certifications"! Sitting in a "walmart" all day long to push a crappy product that may or may not pay me commissions and may #$%$ my client seems entirely reasonable!!!

he,he. Couldn't have put it any better myself. I have respect for Joe Moore and his sons, but I have NONE for Humana. They lied to me and my clients, and I had to fight them tooth and nail to get paid a fraction of what they owed me. Never mind the fact that I put up with nonsense at the Walmart booth for a bunch of PDPs and MAs of which I barely got paid minimum wage for.

I'd rather sell annuities and real Medicare policies: SUPPLEMENTS.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It works for me. I take them off using a SEP or during AEP. 40 last season. One this past week.

Sounds like churning to me.

 

[MedSuppPro]

Anthem has also started the Walmart In-Store Marketing Initiative!

Is there any end to this Walsmart bidding war?

They are partnering with Walsmart to "offer Medicare information to the general public in a select number of Walmart stores during 2010 AEP/OEP."

They claim it is great way to interact with a large number of potential clients in a relatively short period of time. We will provide you with all materials necessary for your in-store presence.

And at NO cost! Stick that in your AARP hat!

 

[arichker]

I am considering selling at Walmart and was told I would make $250 per ap signed and $200 each year after on renewals for 4 year when they renew.
This company says they have real strong follow up and support system.

The guy I spoke to claimed to have written 1700 signed aps last year.
from Nov thru March. Nov and Dec in Walmart and then Jan -Mar it seemed from appointments. He said he was the best at their company and ....

Anyway when I got the app there was alot they were asking for and it said $250 for the booth with something about a $100 gift so really only $150 for the booth, not clear if I would pay for it, they didn't tell me this part on the initial phone conversation.

He claimed I should be able to write 3-5 a day and if I didn't write any apps for a day or two he would pull me from the store.

So I am seriously considering this, it is United AARP which seems to be well rated from my investigations. And yes I am desperate.
I mean I don't even go into a Walmart nor do I like them much but hey if I am providing a service to some folks and it is legit and I'm not screwing anybody, it seems ok.

The part I worried about is getting paid from my company. There was no part in the contract about my $250 per ap. And He said he would pay on the Nov contracts before the Xmas holidays which could be as late as Dec 24th and Dec contracts by Feb 5. Seems like they are making alot of interest on my money. So this is in N California, don't want to say the exact location but it starts with a S and is not SF. OK let the barbs fly.

Thanks but I am looking seriously at this so any thoughts are welcome, however disparaging they might be.

Cheers,

ACR

 

[Cenla Agent]

I am considering selling at Walmart and was told I would make $250 per ap signed and $200 each year after on renewals for 4 year when they renew.
This company says they have real strong follow up and support system.

The guy I spoke to claimed to have written 1700 signed aps last year.
from Nov thru March. Nov and Dec in Walmart and then Jan -Mar it seemed from appointments. He said he was the best at their company and ....

Anyway when I got the app there was alot they were asking for and it said $250 for the booth with something about a $100 gift so really only $150 for the booth, not clear if I would pay for it, they didn't tell me this part on the initial phone conversation.

He claimed I should be able to write 3-5 a day and if I didn't write any apps for a day or two he would pull me from the store.

So I am seriously considering this, it is United AARP which seems to be well rated from my investigations. And yes I am desperate.
I mean I don't even go into a Walmart nor do I like them much but hey if I am providing a service to some folks and it is legit and I'm not screwing anybody, it seems ok.

The part I worried about is getting paid from my company. There was no part in the contract about my $250 per ap. And He said he would pay on the Nov contracts before the Xmas holidays which could be as late as Dec 24th and Dec contracts by Feb 5. Seems like they are making alot of interest on my money. So this is in N California, don't want to say the exact location but it starts with a S and is not SF. OK let the barbs fly.

Thanks but I am looking seriously at this so any thoughts are welcome, however disparaging they might be.

Cheers,

ACR

My two cents: 3-5 apps per day sounds like b.s., but when I was selling in Wal-Mart for Humana in 2005-06 the lowest premium we had was $74 per month. YMMV but I seriously doubt it unless you will be living at the booth.

Even our top agents who made tons of money (we're talking five figures per month in some cases) in areas in which they had a 0 prem HMO and no other MA's in the market probably did not write 3-5 per day solely as a result of their Wal-Mart efforts. Some of the top guns did write 50-75 per month. But they were also working company provided pre set appointments and doing 2 seminars per week back when you could buy meals, etc. and had also been in the senior market selling MA's and supps for years and got plenty of referral business.

 

[Tom Highway]

I am considering selling at Walmart and was told I would make $250 per ap signed and $200 each year after on renewals for 4 year when they renew.
This company says they have real strong follow up and support system.

The guy I spoke to claimed to have written 1700 signed aps last year.
from Nov thru March. Nov and Dec in Walmart and then Jan -Mar it seemed from appointments. He said he was the best at their company and ....

Anyway when I got the app there was alot they were asking for and it said $250 for the booth with something about a $100 gift so really only $150 for the booth, not clear if I would pay for it, they didn't tell me this part on the initial phone conversation.

He claimed I should be able to write 3-5 a day and if I didn't write any apps for a day or two he would pull me from the store.

So I am seriously considering this, it is United AARP which seems to be well rated from my investigations. And yes I am desperate.
I mean I don't even go into a Walmart nor do I like them much but hey if I am providing a service to some folks and it is legit and I'm not screwing anybody, it seems ok.

The part I worried about is getting paid from my company. There was no part in the contract about my $250 per ap. And He said he would pay on the Nov contracts before the Xmas holidays which could be as late as Dec 24th and Dec contracts by Feb 5. Seems like they are making alot of interest on my money. So this is in N California, don't want to say the exact location but it starts with a S and is not SF. OK let the barbs fly.

Thanks but I am looking seriously at this so any thoughts are welcome, however disparaging they might be.

Cheers,

ACR

I can't believe nobody's called BS on the 1700 apps in a year. That's an AVERAGE of over 140 apps per month, which is highly unlikely.

And add to that most people get about 70% of their annual enrollments from Nov - Mar, which would be about 60 apps per WEEK, EVERY WEEK from Nov 15 - March 31.

It makes it even more unbelievable if it's from Nov - Mar, which would mean they'd have to write an AVERAGE of 85 apps PER WEEK, every week from Nov 15 - Mar 31. That's 14 apps PER DAY working 6 days a week EVERY WEEK from Nov 15 - Mar 31.

I say listen to Ronald Reagan - trust but verify.

 

[Cenla Agent]

I can't believe nobody's called BS on the 1700 apps in a year. That's an AVERAGE of over 140 apps per month, which is highly unlikely.

And add to that most people get about 70% of their annual enrollments from Nov - Mar, which would be about 60 apps per WEEK, EVERY WEEK from Nov 15 - March 31.

I say listen to Ronald Reagan - trust but verify.

Thanks for doing the math on that.

I did call BS on it, but not that part specifically. I called BS on the idea of selling 3-5 per day in Wal-Mart, even if you have the best MA plan ever to hit the market. It didn't happen (at least not in any legit way) when things were easier than they are now.

The best agent I've ever known in the MA market was a captive Humana agent, but I don't know if he ever sold 140 in a month. He was one of the top agents in the company at that time. I alluded to him and some others in my last post. I do know that he sold over 100 some months but don't know if that was his average. And this was in a market in which the only MA competition was Sterling, which was basically no competition at all at that time. He probably worked 14-15 hour days as well, 5 if not 6 days a week. I've probably never met anyone with a stronger work ethic.

This was also when there was all of the publicity surrounding Part D enrollment. That was what drove traffic to the Wal-Mart kiosk and was the reason why we got so many in home appointments and had good attendance at seminars. Love em or hate em, Humana knew what they were doing with having the best PDP the first year. After that first year, they started spending less and less time in the stores, and pulled the kiosks from some stores, for obvious reasons. By the end of the OEP in 2006 I was convinced that I could have sold more MA's in particular if I would have had more time to run appointments and wouldn't have been chained to the kiosk for all that time. (Although the kiosk did bring us a lot of business as well, the traffic was much heavier right at 11/15, just before 12/31 and from about mid April until May 15, which was the deadline to enroll in Part D that first year.) I worked a rural area and it was often difficult to run appointments efficiently when you only had a few hours in the afternoon and evening in which to do it.

As captive agents, we were also getting paid a salary to be there, in addition to the commission we eventually earned. At this point I would probably put in an application to work at Wal-Mart before I would sit there on my own nickel, especially if I were to be told that I would be pulled from the store if you go a day or two without writing any apps. IMO you'd be doing fantastic to sell 3-5 per week. There were days in which I sat there from 9-2 and didn't talk to one legitimate prospect. How many do you think you'd have to talk to in order to sell 3-5 per day?

However, if you have SNP's to sell to those on full Medicaid, you will be in a better position than we were in in that regard.

 

[DS4]

If I decide to take up this offer, will I also be expected to hand out shopping carts as people enter the store??

 

[Tom Highway]

Thanks for doing the math on that.

I did call BS on it, but not that part specifically. I called BS on the idea of selling 3-5 per day in Wal-Mart, even if you have the best MA plan ever to hit the market. It didn't happen (at least not in any legit way) when things were easier than they are now.

The best agent I've ever known in the MA market was a captive Humana agent, but I don't know if he ever sold 140 in a month. He was one of the top agents in the company at that time. I alluded to him and some others in my last post. I do know that he sold over 100 some months but don't know if that was his average. And this was in a market in which the only MA competition was Sterling, which was basically no competition at all at that time. He probably worked 14-15 hour days as well, 5 if not 6 days a week. I've probably never met anyone with a stronger work ethic.

This was also when there was all of the publicity surrounding Part D enrollment. That was what drove traffic to the Wal-Mart kiosk and was the reason why we got so many in home appointments and had good attendance at seminars. Love em or hate em, Humana knew what they were doing with having the best PDP the first year.

As captive agents, we were also getting paid a salary to be there, in addition to the commission we eventually earned. At this point I would probably put in an application to work at Wal-Mart before I would sit there on my own nickel, especially if they tell you that you will be pulled from the store if you go a day or two without writing any apps. IMO you'd be doing fantastic to sell 3-5 per week.

Right-o.
And now you have the benefit of going to medicare.gov to put in your zip code and have the 2010 plans ranked. I did it for the areas near me, and it's nothing to write home about.

Like you said, and this point, and agent is up against the status quo. Why would somebody who already has a MAPD plan put up with all the hassle to go and change it to a totally different plan, maybe losing some docs, just to save a tiny bit on some of the copays. This MA market is going down the toilet. I wish I could get out right now, but I still have a sweet deal with a couple of docs sending me a bunch of referrals for AEP. After I write them, I'm outta that market for good without looking back.

Last year I had a pretty good hookup for AEP too. I tend to network well, and get a lot of business sent my way. AEP was great, I wrote 34 in Nov and 61 in December. The last week of December was DEAD, otherwise I'd have hit 100 apps in AEP. OEP then was a total dud, and it's gone downhill ever since. I was easily in the top 5% of my company for AEP, but you can't make a living for the entire year on those numbers.

 

[rbrewer]

Yes, I am interested!!!

I would love to forego my independent status to subject myself to "extensive background checks and company certifications"! Sitting in a "walmart" all day long to push a crappy product that may or may not pay me commissions and may #$%$ my client seems entirely reasonable!!!

Look on the bright side you can see what it would be like to be a Wal-Mart greeter at a young age, may help you get up every morning and go to work
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