With the Annual Enrollment Period in full swing, agents are working hard, and many of you sell more during this last quarter than you do the rest of the year combined. By sticking to Medicare Supplement policies only, you’re leaving money on the table, and possibly even doing a disservice to your clients.
Your Med Supp clients probably need help with their drug plans. Many of you help your clients with PDP as a free service, and then sell Med Supp plans to them - I’m writing this based on that assumption - so we don’t need Scope of Appointment forms. Use these meetings to discover clients’ life changes and other information to determine other policies that can help them.
Ask questions during your conversations with clients, and listen closely to their answers. Talking about the weather is fine for starters, but you’ll have to probe a little more to get useful information.
Use the Policy Checklist to Ask About LTC Coverage
While stepping through the Med Supp Policy Checklist with your client, you’ll come to the Skilled Nursing Home Care benefits section. Explain how Medicare pays 100% during the first 20 days, all but $152 for days 80-100, at which point the Med Supp pays, and that the client will be responsible for any payments after 100 days, unless they have Long Term Care Insurance. This is a great time to ask “Do you have Long Term Care insurance? Have you ever looked into it?”
If they don’t know you offer LTC policies, they won’t buy one from you.
Ask if They Have Bank CDs
At some point in your conversation, maybe after you’ve finished the Med Supp, just ask in a by-the-way tone, “Hey do you have any CDs in the bank?” If they do they’ll probably roll their eyes and say “Yeah, at a half percent.” From here, you can mention a safe annuity that earns 3%. They’ve only been renewing the CD because they don’t know what else to do with it, so that’s an easy way to help them out.
As an added bonus, this often leads to further discussion that gives you a better idea of whether or not the client has money. This can provide future opportunities for Life Insurance sales.
If they don’t know you offer Annuities, they won’t buy one from you.
Save on the Med Supp, Sell Final Expense with the Savings
Say you save your client $100 or more a month on their Medicare Supplement plan. Be sure to ask them if they have Life Insurance or “Burial Insurance”. A $10,000 Final Expense policy can be purchased with the savings, so your client gets more coverage and still saves money.
An easy way to add this during the sale is like adding fries to a burger. “Would you like the death benefit?”
If they don’t know you offer Final Expense plans, they won’t buy one from you.
You may also be interested in:
- Med Supp Cross-Selling Cheat Sheet
- The [New & Improved] Cross-Selling Roadmap: How to Build Your Business Using A Client Needs Assessment
- Video: How to use Medicare.gov to store client drug lists
What are some of your favorite techniques? Please share below.
