What do you say to your DM leads?

[sbg_ben]

Just a couple of observations from skimming this thread.

If you are mailing during (or just before) AEP your card/mailer will probably get lost in the crowd. The association for retired folks engages in MASS MAILINGS this time of year, comes in fat envelopes and they mail indiscriminately. (My 34 year old daughter who has not lived here in years gets mail from them along with my wife and I).

It is almost impossible to compete with the flood of mailings. Your piece has to really stand out. Most of the mail is tossed but LARGE POSTCARDS (like the ones politicians send) are easily scanned and either kept or tossed.

You might consider adding a phone number that goes to a recorded message and has the ability to "find" you if they want to talk at that time. Google Voice is something to consider.

If your mail message is intriguing enough some people might call, especially if you make it clear they will hear a recording vs talking to you.

Also consider a simple web page with information and a way to contact you.

Another thought is a YouTube video. This way people get to see and hear you then decide if they want to talk with you or not. When you call you are more than just a voice on the phone, they have a visual image of who you are.

Any message, regardless of the medium (print, web page, voice recording, video) has only one purpose.

To stimulate interest.

Messages are not designed to do the SELLING for you other than selling them on the idea of WHY they should talk to you.

Once you do get to talk to them if you come across as pushy or desperate to make a sale they will hear it in your voice. You are dead in the water.

The only reason they responded to your message is because they RECOGNIZE they have a problem and are searching for ANSWERS. You need to be a problem solver first and a peddler second.

Too many agents fail to understand that and move into selling mode from the start.

Until you know WHY they responded and WHAT they have done so far to solve their problem you will not be effective.

My marketing is designed to get people to either call or email me, or they provide information when they run their own Medigap quote on my site.

If the lead comes from my quote engine their first contact with me is via email.

If they email me I reply by email.

And if they call that is the best of all. That shows a real interest in what I can do for them.

My initial contact has two goals.

I ask HOW CAN I HELP and WHAT HAVE YOU LOOKED AT SO FAR?

How can I help is a leading question designed to get them to open up. It starts a conversation, not a sales pitch.

What have you seen so far is really two parts. It leads to how long have you been looking, and why haven't you made a decision.

Frankly, I get a lot of people who have been looking for a while but have not pulled the trigger for various reasons. Mostly because no one has really answered their questions. Many of the agents they have talked to immediately turned on the sales pitch and scared them away.

By asking questions and offering answers, they quickly see my approach is different.

If you can't do something to set yourself apart from the other agents selling the same product for the same price you will not win the game.

That is one hell of a post I will have to print that out for sure. I am definitely not a sales pitch guy at all. I am about as far from your aggressive sales type as you can get without being a pushover. I think my issue is that I am so used to people just being pre-qualified and ready to talk to me.

Currently the agency I work for specializes in employee benefits and I am the only medicare guy. I am really starting to wonder if I need to work on having my own website that is just for the senior market becasue my message gets lost in all the employer benefits stuff. I'm just not sure where to start and don't want to invest $1000's into a website if it won't really bring much new business..

I think I really need to sit down and come up with a better marketing strategy for next year.. Does anyone have some resources they can reccomend to help with that? I am going to be selling Final Expense starting in January as well. Trying to move away from ACA plans and employee benefits and focus only on senior products

 

[somarco]

I am so used to people just being pre-qualified and ready to talk to me.

That doesn't happen in the real outside world. Referrals are about as close to that as you can get.

work on having my own website that is just for the senior market

If you build it they will come.

But only if you have a way to let folks know you are out there.

What you really need for now is a one page site that explains WHAT you can DO FOR THEM. Most folks listen to radio station WIIFM (What's In It For Me).

There are a jillion websites out there and no one will find you unless they scroll through 100,000 pages to get to your site.

One page.

You can build a one page site on GoDaddy or some other places.

You can also build a page on Blogger.com or Wordpress.com

Build around a theme that says "you have questions, we have answers"

I have a number of videos on my YouTube channel, but it all started with one. I paid someone $500 to generate this for me and I promoted it like crazy.


I currently have 90 videos in various stages of production. About half are live.
Georgia Medicare Plans

I script and record them. Have someone who gets them ready to publish, then I come back and write the descriptions and tags.

Nothing flashy. No special effects. No actors. Just me and the camera.

I get a lot of compliments on the videos because I come across as REAL. People can relate to me.

I just need more traffic.

Going to work on that in 2019

You can do a one page site and record a video. People like to see who you are and learn a little about you.

Drive people to your site with an EFFECTIVE post card. A FB page. Print ads (but don't get carried away).

Test. Test. Test.

See what works and then do it some more.

Don't expect overnight success. It won't happen no matter how much money you throw at it.

Invest $$ in driving folks to your site, not in developing a whizbang site.

Hope this helps

 

[goillini52]

I don’t remember if trial right allows them to get any plan they want. Does it? I’m pretty sure it’s limited to going back to the plan and company they came from if they had a previous supplement. Or limited to Plan F and Plan B if they never had a supplement.

No, but if necessary, there's no underwriting if you go back to your old plan, or you can buy A, B, C, F, K or I anywhwere if your old plan's not available or you can find a company to take them GI.

 

[Newby]

No, but if necessary, there's no underwriting if you go back to your old plan, or you can buy A, B, C, F, K or I anywhwere if your old plan's not available or you can find a company to take them GI.

Yes that’s what I was thinking. So the new to Part B is really the only time they can get any plan, any company with no health qualifying PLUS their agent doesn’t take a haircut. Win, win.

 

[Desmond Doss]

Very very very few seniors look for things on the net. Many don't even own a computer. Only about a third of my clients have an email address and maybe half of them dont ever check it.

 

[somarco]

A third of senior citizens in the U.S. say they never use the internet.

One-third of U.S. seniors don't use the internet

Simple math tells me 2/3 of seniors DO use the internet. Even in Congress, 2/3 is a majority . . .

 

[goillini52]

Very very very few seniors look for things on the net. Many don't even own a computer. Only about a third of my clients have an email address and maybe half of them dont ever check it.

Hahaha. Do you realize that a cell phone is a computer?

 

[Chazm]

Very very very few seniors look for things on the net. Many don't even own a computer. Only about a third of my clients have an email address and maybe half of them dont ever check it.

I thought the same thing a few years ago until my DM company added a “email” section. 75% of them put their email on the card. I was shocked.

 

[somarco]

What surprises me is the number who use text. I thought it was just kids. Mine never call but they will text away all day.

And a lot of my clients use tablets (iPad) but don't own a "real" computer.

 

[Desmond Doss]

No idea what "Seniors in the US" do--I said what MY clients do and those are facts of which I am 100% confident. Why contradict another agents personal experience?

Many of my clients have only a landline, most that have cells have flip phones. I cant think of one that has an I pad.

This past summer I sent an email "update" and for those that don't have email I mailed a hard copy. Most clients said they never saw that either.

Ergo----websites might be good for my ego but damaging to my income. Im not in this for my ego.