Medicare Leads Become Final Expense Sales

Posted on November 22, 2010 by admin

When most people think of products for Medicare leads, they typically jump to Medicare Supplement Insurance. However, seniors have a multitude of needs beyond just health care. One such need is Final Expense Insurance.

Typical Burial Expenses
Typical expenses after someone passes away include funeral services, burial, payment of outstanding bills and debts such as utilities, credit cards, auto or home mortgage, medical fees accrued from hospital stays, and legal fees associated with the settlement of your estate or other matters. These expenses could easily add up to thousands of dollars.

Burial Expense Insurance
Insurance for burial expenses has nothing to do with health care. Many of your Medicare leads understand the benefits of planning ahead. With Final Expense Insurance, seniors can plan ahead, all the way to the end of their lives.

For a host of reasons, Medicare leads may be uncomfortable with what would happen immediately after they pass away. Perhaps they are not actively in touch with family members, perhaps their close ones are not financially capable or willing to incur costs associated with a death. Or, in the best case scenario, they probably have a lot of close friends and family, but do not want to burden anyone on their passing, and want to handle their own final expenses.

Benefits
Insurance for final expenses lets your Medicare leads responsibly wrap up their lives without burdening others. Basically, this type of insurance is like a flexible low-premium life insurance policy where seniors do not need to go through any medical checkups. All they need to do is complete a simple form and list out their requirements. Final Expense Insurance is significantly cheaper than normal life insurance, and seniors will appreciate the small monthly payments that buy them tremendous peace of mind.

One of the main benefits of Final Expense Insurance is that the beneficiary is typically paid within 24 hours so he or she does not have to wait months to get paid.

Types of Insurance for Final Expenses
Medicare leads can opt for one of two basic forms of Final Expense Insurance – Whole Life or Term Life.

With Whole Life, your clients are covered for an unlimited term till the time of their death. Whole Life makes sense where your Medicare leads do not want to worry about renewing their insurance policy and can live with the peace of mind that their end will be graceful.

With Term Life, your Medicare leads could opt for a finite term through which they want the policy in place. When that term expires, without their passing away, they have the option of renewing it or making alternative arrangements for their final expenses. Term Life may be suitable in cases where Medicare leads expect to save enough money, say in 5 years, that they no longer would have to depend on insurance for their final expenses.

Designate With Care
Agents must also inform their Medicare leads that insurance providers cannot guarantee that proceeds from Final Expense Insurance will be used as desired by the insured. Seniors must designate a beneficiary they can fully trust, and ideally brief the beneficiary and someone mutually known, in writing, on how they want their final expenses handled.

Agents must partner with Medicare leads providers that provide additional products such as Final Expense Insurance, and give seniors enough choices to select an insurance company that flexibly meets their needs and budget.

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Building Trust with Medicare Leads

Posted on November 21, 2010 by admin

As an agent, you want to maximize your revenue potential with each of your Medicare leads. To do so, you have to partner with a Medicare leads provider that helps you build trust with your clients, and offers a broad range of products that address more than just Supplement Insurance. Additional products that are popular with seniors include Long Term Care Insurance, Final Expense Insurance and Annuities.

Build Trust
Seniors, more than most people, are wary of dealing with too many agents or companies, and would ideally like to place all of their business with one agent and have him handle everything for them, provided they develop a trusting relationship with their agent.

For example, your Medicare leads could well have a little money on the side that they would like to invest, say for themselves or for their children or grandchildren. If they trust you, they likely will ask if your company can help them with their financial investments as well. If you have the necessary certifications for financial planning or investment advisory, well and good. If not, make sure your Medicare leads provider has certified financial agents that you could bring in, with a commission structure that rewards you for the additional business.

Annuities
Make sure you partner with a Medicare leads provider that proactively gives you the training and print literature to sell more than just Medicare Supplement Insurance. Ideally, your provider should have a few non-medical products such as Annuities that can be customized to suit the investing needs and risk appetite of your clients.

Performance Matters
Also know that trust with your Medicare leads is generally not based on your good looks and manners. Seniors have seen more of this world than most agents, and are justifiably suspicious and wary of trusting people easily. Like it or not, trust with seniors will only develop through your performance in meeting their needs.

And your performance will depend in large part on how your Medicare leads provider supports you and your clients before, during and after the sale, with back office support, paperwork processing, etc.

So choose your Medicare leads provider carefully. Make sure they have the breadth of products to completely meet senior needs. Check if they have the office infrastructure and culture to support you and your clients over the long-run, so you can build trust and grow your business profitably with significant repeat business and referrals.

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Agent-Friendly Medicare Leads Providers

Posted on November 19, 2010 by admin

Closing a deal with a new Medicare client is never easy. Insurance agents should enlist all the help they can get, staring with good Medicare leads from a reputable and ethical provider.

Territory
Before you sign up with a Medicare leads provider, make sure you speak with them about getting a sales territory that you are comfortable with. Ideally choose a territory that plays to your strengths, be it proximity, comfort with a demographic or ethnic group, or foreign language skills such as Spanish. A good Medicare leads provider wants its agents to succeed and does its best to accommodate territory requests.

Exclusivity
Getting a territory of your choice in itself is not good enough for you to succeed in selling senior insurance. There is little point if the same territory is granted to a few other agents who are also given an identical list of Medicare leads. Multiple agents would then be calling the same leads, which will diminish your chances of closing the sale. So make sure you are the exclusive agent for this Medicare leads provider in your territory. Exclusivity would significantly improve your chances of converting leads into paying clients.

Marketing Support
A good Medicare leads provider makes substantial investments in marketing programs, brochures and other print material, its website, and in a robust lead notification and management system. Good providers understand the insurance needs of seniors and develop well illustrated print collateral that clearly shows them the need for Supplement Insurance.

Good Medicare leads providers also equip their agents with additional products that seniors could benefit from, such as Final Expense Insurance and Long Term Care Insurance.

In addition, check if your provider website has information on key products and financial or insurance premium calculators.

Also check if your provider will give you a hotline or contact you could call to answer pressing questions in situations where the lead wants an immediate answer or clarification as you prepare to close the sale.

Training Support
A good Medicare leads provider will take the time to train agents, even experienced ones, on the nuances of their lead identification, qualification, and management processes, and on the various insurance products they support. Providers may also provide training sessions on sales communication skills and strategies.

Profits
When a Medicare leads provider gives you exclusivity in your territory and supports you, their interests are nicely aligned with yours. They do not make money out of selling leads but only from the insurance products you sell. Such providers are the ones you want to partner with because they will support you all the way in your quest to convert leads into paying customers, and profits.

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Top Attributes of Good Medicare Leads Providers

Posted on November 18, 2010 by admin

With several choices out there, choosing a good Medicare leads provider is not easy. Do your research and make sure you choose a provider carefully.

Commitment to Medicare Leads Business
One of the most important attributes to look for in a Medicare leads provider is its commitment to the business. Find out how long it has been in the lead generation, qualification and fulfillment business, specifically with Medicare leads as a targeted demographic. If the company understands senior needs, it is more likely to have a program for lead generation, qualification, sales, marketing and fulfillment, that delivers better than average results.

Longevity
Ideally, look for a leads provider that has been in the business for a reasonably long time. In general, you will be better off avoiding new companies because there is a lot to learn in this business and new providers may not be as effective as other more established companies. That is not to say that all new companies are bad. If you do find a new provider that looks compelling, make sure you research the management team to see if their collective past experience is relevant to the Medicare leads business.

Check References
Companies may, sometimes but not always, register with agencies such as the Better Business Bureau or local business councils. Such affiliations are generally a positive reflection on the business and management team. A Medicare leads provider will often list these affiliations on its website. Also search the Internet and check websites such as Consumer Affairs for complaints or negative remarks on the provider and how it responded to such complaints. If you can, it is always a good idea to speak with a few agents working with the company so they can give you an insider perspective.

Company Location
With the advent of the Internet, it is very easy to be based abroad and still appear like a U.S. based company. Generally, you are better off partnering with a Medicare leads provider that is registered in the U.S. and has its headquarters and management team based here. If the company does not explicitly provide this information, you could easily lookup this information online. If you can, also check the website domain registration information to figure out where the company is based. A U.S. location is especially preferred in the event of lawsuits, complaints, billing, compensation or related issues.

Your success as an insurance agent hinges on the quality of your Medicare Leads and the support your provider gives you. If you are diligent in your upfront research, you will thank yourself down the road.

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Beware of Bad Medicare Leads Providers

Posted on November 17, 2010 by admin

Insurance agents are constantly bombarded with gimmicky offers for lists of Medicare leads. Unscrupulous providers merrily indulge in false advertising and blatant lies, with assurances that their Medicare leads are exclusive and qualified, but list seniors who have already bought Supplement Insurance. These providers will also rush you into buying lists, with phrases such as “Hurry”or “Call within 24 hours.”

Medicare Leads Too Good To Be True
As always, buyer, beware! As you know, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is, so never rush into buying Medicare leads. If you even scratch the surface of satisfaction with Medicare leads, you will quickly find numerous stories of frustrated agents that just could not pass-up on “really good offers” and ended up with lists that were outdated, contained duplicate names and addresses, were not qualified, were sold to other agents, were completely made up or had a substantial number of fictitious names and addresses that just did not exist, and so on.

Scamming Medicare Leads Providers Disappear
Agents will also tell you that on digging deeper, they found that many of these Medicare leads companies had shut down, or no one answered listed numbers. So the duped agents had no recourse and were only left with a valuable lesson learned.

So how do you avoid getting scammed?

Finding Good Medicare Leads Providers
Understandably, agents want to rush out and use their time to speak with leads. However, it is very important that you spend enough time upfront researching the various Medicare leads providers. Look for companies that have been around long enough. Longevity in the business is an important indicator that a Medicare leads provider is in this for the long haul. However, longevity alone is not enough.

In this business, it is also important to look for customer satisfaction. Check your local Better Business Bureau or similar agency for ratings on the business. Reputable Medicare leads providers often, though not always, list with such agencies to differentiate themselves from unscrupulous, fly-by-night operators out there.

Question providers on issues such as how they generate Medicare leads, develop demographically targeted lead lists, qualify leads and pass lead information to agents in a timely manner.

Always speak with the company to get a sense of the nature of their relationship with agents. Ask them how they guarantee exclusivity, how they assign territories that are not overlapping, how they support agents, and the range of senior insurance products they offer. Also clearly ask them how lead generation, marketing and collateral costs are handled so you have a clear sense of what your real profits could be, and are not bitter with back-end loaded costs that are cut out of your commission after you close sales.

If you follow these basic common sense steps upfront, you likely will realize significant profits from high-conversion Medicare leads down the road.

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