If you only offer a limited number of insurance products, your clients will need to go elsewhere to fulfill all their coverage needs. This means you’re missing out on easy business opportunities to cross-sell to existing clients and gain new clients who are looking for a solution to cover many of their insurance needs in one place. To offer a complete solution suite while remaining compliant, there are a few things you need to do.
1. Offer All the Most Competitive Medicare Products
If you lack diversity in your Medicare coverage options, your clients may be concerned that they’ll be unable to find the best plan for their needs with you. For this reason, you need to have at least:
- Two Medicare Advantage (MA) plans
- Two Medicare Supplement (Medigap) plans
- One stand-alone prescription drug plan (PDP)
- One hospital indemnity plan
- One dental, vision, and hearing plan — this is important for clients with Original Medicare and Medigap as well as clients with MA plans that don’t cover these benefits
Furthermore, if any carriers in your area offer D-SNPs or C-SNPs, it’s worth offering these special needs plans.
2. Start Preparing with First Looks
Never wait until right before the Annual Enrollment Period to decide what MA plans to offer. Use First Looks as soon as they come out (which is typically in July or August) to decide what you want to offer. As well as considering plans from carriers you’re contracted with, make sure you check plans with other carriers. Think about what you current clients will want and what is likely to attract new clients.
3. Identify the Gaps in Your Offerings
You have countless options for the product types you could add to your portfolio. These include:
- Life insurance — universal, whole, and term
- Disability insurance
- Long-term care insurance
- Annuities
Since it’s impossible to offer everything, you’ll need to determine what products are the most worthwhile for you.
Have clients asked you about other products during your interactions? These products are likely to sell. Make a note of clients’ requests and research the feasibility of adding the products to your suite.
Another option to consider is what your competitors are offering — especially which of these products are proving popular. Ideally, you shouldn’t just copy what competing agents are doing but think about your unique value proposition. For instance, you may be able to achieve this by choosing products that match your expertise.
Lastly, it’s worth considering market trends, specifically in your local area. This includes any changes in demographics that may give you the opportunity to target a new audience and widen your client base. You may also want to think about what products may be popular during times of the year when you’re not busy with Medicare. This will help keep your work schedule more consistent year round.
4. Stay Compliant When Cross-Selling
Learn the rules about what you’re allowed to sell at Medicare meetings and what is prohibited. For instance, ancillary health insurance products are permitted, including hospital indemnity insurance as well as dental, vision, and hearing plans. You’ll just need to document the sale on your scope of appointment form. To sell other products, however, you need to schedule a separate meeting.
Determining what to include in your solution suite is challenging. The team at PTT Financial can provide you with the guidance you need to ensure your suite is complete and you stay compliant. Contact us today.
