If you’re a Medicare agent, then like us, you have a big red circle in your calendar around October 15th. While we are not agents ourselves, we have amassed a huge number of insights in our years of helping insurance agents generate high-quality leads that we hope you’ll find useful when preparing for the Annual Enrollment Period [AEP].
Get your prep work done
Starting now, you’ll want to ensure you complete agent certification with all your carriers. We recommend finding plans from well-known brands as well as the more affordable variants from local providers. When AEP begins, you’ll be inundated with new leads and having multiple plans available will increase the chances you’re ready to meet any client needs you may come across.
You also don’t want to take too much time talking to a lead who does not qualify for any of the plans you offer. The more time you spend understanding the available plans, the more leads you’ll be able to speak with.
Bottom line: More leads equal more money, as long as you are prepared.
Stay on defense
Send your clients letters educating them about newer and better plans and informing them that you’ll let them know how any changes might affect their coverage after October 1st. Give them the option to schedule an appointment with you if they’ve undergone any major life-altering events, such as a new doctor or illness, or perhaps they are moving to another state. And once you meet them don’t forget to cross-sell them if you detect they have more coverage needs than you previously realized, such as a family history of cancer or a serious condition.
We suggest sending a first letter early, so you stay on their radar. The industry is very competitive, so be on alert, other agents will be prospecting your clients. Not paying close enough attention is a quick way to lose recurring business.
Establish new lead generation partnerships
If you haven’t used a lead generation company to help you source leads in the past, the right time to try it is before AEP begins. This will ensure you can explore a few companies and understand their different lead quality before relying on them in the busy season.
Generating leads is an evolving business and one that can provide you with huge advantages if you’re prepared to contact those leads as soon as they come in. Wait too long, and another agent who purchased the same lead may get to the prospect first.
A less stressful method for acquiring new leads is to use pay per call marketing. With pay per call, a lead will call you. Alternatively, a professional call center will qualify a lead and transfer the caller to you. This is called a warm transfer in the industry.
Understanding your CPA
Your cost per acquisition [CPA] target for a new policy should be set at a level where you can pay for leads but still make a comfortable profit margin on any policies sold. In our experience, a Medicare agent should aim for a CPA of $250 to $400. Lead prices can fluctuate based on quality, and a higher priced lead is not necessarily a worse deal than a lower priced lead.
For example, if your CPA target is $300 and you meet a lead vendor charging $50 per lead, one out of every six leads the lead vendor sells you must then translate into a sale for you.
By testing multiple lead vendors, you will find the right partner(s) to meet your target CPA.
Staff up
Can you hire more people to answer phones and close policies before AEP? If you’re unable to find licensed agents looking for busy season work, consider hiring a call screener to qualify leads with a few basic questions before they transfer the caller to you or one of your agents who can then get into policy specifics.
A call screener is especially helpful for pay per call, as most call-based lead vendors will grant you up to a 90 second call duration before they bill you for the lead.
By screening and qualifying calls, you can verify the value of a lead before getting charged for it, which can have a huge impact on your ROI.
As you get started, we recommend crafting a script that will get you the basic answers you need before you are billed by your lead vendor. This is something we recommend regardless of who answers your phones.
Stay ahead of the pack and make this AEP season your most successful one yet! Sign up here.
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Aragon Advertising is in the business of high quality lead generation for insurance agents selling Medicare, U65 health, auto, life, and final expense policies. Contact us to discuss ways you can access new leads for your business by clicking here or sending an email to partners@aragon-advertising.com.