The first big change came from carriers, when many of them drastically cut individual commissions. On a product that can have a fairly low issue rate, this can make for a low dollar reward when tallied against the hours spent soliciting business. Carriers also have become more aggressive in their direct sales approach to individual health insurance, and are making production requirements tougher.
To succeed in this new and challenging era, we must remake ourselves. Often that means improving our underwriting, adapting to new technology, and exploring additional marketing methods.
Underwriting
By practicing stellar underwriting at the point of the sale we can focus our efforts on the prospects most suited for a traditional major medical product. In addition to asking the basic questions—like height and weight—we should ask prospects what medications they are taking, and use the prescreen feature from the carrier to simplify and speed the process.
For those clients and prospects who are uninsurable by conventional means, we should have a backup plan. Even a limited benefit policy is better for the client than no coverage at all.
Technology
The best way we can combat the lowered commission income is by spending less time and money ourselves. We must take full advantage of the electronic devices and technology that are available to reduce our costs.
Do everything you can online. Sell and interact with clients and prospects through a company website; link to your carriers from your site to speed the enrollment process. You do not need to be a Web wizard to learn how to do this. Most carriers have an IT professional available to help for little or no cost.
If you have a great telephone manner, use the phone in lieu of a visit. There are very few clients who do not respond well to friendly and informative phone calls coupled with emails. Our clients are just as busy as we are and like the process to be as streamlined as possible. There is no reason to spend time and money driving from client to client. Marketing
You can grow your sales income by cross-selling. When you are discussing health coverage options, make sure that you mention life, dental, and specialty products to your clients.
Talk to your representative or general agent to find out what advertising items are available for no or low cost—and then use them.
Attend as many training sessions as you can to keep learning about new products and sales techniques. You may even find that it makes sense to partner up with another agent. Also, join and become active in your local and state professional insurance organizations. These groups are dedicated to educating and helping agents.
Listen, Learn, Educate
To be successful today, we are going to have to be even more educated than in previous years. I don't mean just adding designations to our names. We must get involved with our communities to see first hand how health insurance and the perceptions of the coverage have changed.
Many consumers are convinced that health care coverage is now guaranteed issue and inexpensive. They believe that this change occurred with the passage of the president's health policy. We have to become their educators while still trying to make a sale by pointing out the new features of health care and mentioning that there is no benefit cost cap.
One of the biggest concerns we hear from other agents is that they are afraid the government is going to replace us with an exchange and we will no longer be able to compete.
The health care exchanges do not exist in the Florida market—yet. When and if they do come into play, agents should be able to sell the plans that are available even if they have to be certified in order to do so.
We will have to wait and see what happens here as this story is still unfolding. However, we have many dedicated people doing their best to make sure that the agent community is protected when and if these exchanges are put into effect.
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