5 Tips for Health Insurance Client Retention-Part 2

Health insurance client retention

When too many of your clients are cancelling their health insurance policies, you start to feel the impact at all levels of your business—lost clients could increase administrative costs and you could also see issues with debt management if you’ve already budgeted certain commissions that are no longer coming in.

And acquiring new clients is not cheap.

Here is part 2 for our tips on how to choose clients who will stick around:

(Read part 1 here.)

3. Use Stories

People respond to stories. You can demonstrate the value of a certain policy or package by telling a story about how the policy has worked for an unnamed client in the past and the benefits it provided them.

Insurance consultant Keith Leech likes to use a 4-question process to further drive the point home in a prospects mind. You can use these questions yourself:

  1. “Who do you know who has suffered a heart attack, cancer, or stroke?”
  2. “Were they expecting it to happen?”
  3. “Did they suffer financially or emotionally?”
  4. “Would cash have helped?”

Everyone has been affected by heart attack, cancer, or stroke in one way or another. By relating your products to a personal experience of your client’s, they will better understand the immediacy of their health insurance needs.

4. Maintain Communication

To keep your clients on board with you, it’s important that they not only hear from you at renewal time or when a premium is late, but other times as well.

Show your clients appreciation and they will stick around. 

Remember: you and your client are business partners.

The best way to maintain contact is to create a repeatable communication schedule that you replicate for every client.

No, you don’t want to send any “Dear, client” emails. But when your client signs on with you, you may want to send yourself some Google alerts to remind you to ask them questions to head off common conversations you may have in the first 30 days of partnership.

“Did you receive your insurance cards?”

“Do you have any questions or concerns with your coverage so far?”

Make sure some of these are phone calls as well.

Don’t inundate them with phone calls and emails. However, you can use special insurance events as a good reason to contact them. For example, May is national disability insurance awareness month, September is national life insurance awareness month, and June 28 is national insurance awareness day.

Also, around the new year they may need to renew their policy. Your best practice is to see if they’ve had any life-changing events in the past year such as a wedding or a child. Find this out from your client and suggest some options to better suit their new needs.

5. Assume You’ll Be Their Agent for Life

Building a long-lasting relationship with your clients isn’t about selling products, per se; it’s about selling your services. It’s about being there when they need you.

A truly great health insurance agent will get referrals from parent to child.

As your relationship extends over the years, consider offering life insurance. Many people are under the misapprehension that life insurance is expensive. Like most people, they may simple have whatever plan they were offered through their job and have left it at that.

If you are always looking out for your clients needs in their interest, you’re sure to continue these long-lasting relationships.

(Read part 1 here.)

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Larson Educational Services

13040 Livingston Rd. #12,

Naples, Florida 34105

LarsonEd.com

239-344-7510

5 Tips for Health Insurance Client Retention–Part 1

Health insurance client retention

When too many of your clients are cancelling their health insurance policies, you start to feel the impact at all levels of your business—lost clients could increase administrative costs and you could also see issues with debt management if you’ve already budgeted certain commissions that are no longer coming in.

And acquiring new clients is not cheap.

Here are 5 tips to make sure you choose clients who will stick around:

1. Pre-Qualify

The road to client retention starts before your relationship with a client even begins. First, you want to discover if you and a particular prospect are a good fit for each other.

In all industries, the best salespeople ask the right questions. 

You may also benefit from a shift in thinking: rather than focusing on acquiring clients, think about it in terms of finding out if a prospect is a good business partner. Ask yourself, “Is she a good fit for the services I offer?”

You must be willing to say no to certain clients if you think you cannot provide them with the services they need. Or you may say no if you foresee this prospective client requires a larger investment of time than you can afford.

The same insurance product won’t fit every potential client. Determine their budget.

If, for example, you run into a prospect who qualifies for high subsidies, it will be important for them to know the value of supplemental products, though they may not have the budget for these voluntary products.

Work together with them to find the best potential options to fill in the gaps created by high-deductible ACA plans, for example.

2. Find Your Niche

You will need to project professionalism and trustability to potential clients. If they have any qualms whatsoever about your ability to serve their health insurance needs, assure them that you specialize in this field—you are the content expert. 

Oftentimes, you can put an apprehensive prospect’s worries to rest by letting them know what others in their situation are purchasing. Decisions of any kind are difficult, let alone when healthcare is involved.

Make the decision easier by providing them with a road map of previous clients’ experiences.

The language you use may sound like this:

“This is our most common package.”

“Many of our clients are happy with this package, and here’s why.”

“This is our most popular package.”

Again, you don’t want to sell them something they can’t afford—sure, you won’t be able to retain them as a client, but more importantly their needs won’t be met.

Click here to read part 2!

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Larson Educational Services

13040 Livingston Rd. #12,

Naples, Florida 34105

LarsonEd.com

239-344-7510

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About Larson Educational Services:

Utilizing 30 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online.

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

13040 Livingston Road #12

Naples, Florida 34105

info@LarsonEd.com

239-344-7510

www.LarsonEd.com

7 Traits of Successful Insurance Agents [VIDEO]

About Larson Educational Services:

Utilizing 30 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online.

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

13040 Livingston Road #12

Naples, Florida 34105

info@LarsonEd.com

239-344-7510

www.LarsonEd.com

Your Florida Insurance School of Choice–LarsonEd

Your Florida Insurance School of Choice–LarsonEd

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Sign up for classes here: https://www.larsoned.com/insurance/

About Larson Educational Services:

Utilizing 30 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online.

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

13040 Livingston Rd. #12

Naples, Florida

34105

info@LarsonEd.com

239-344-7510

www.LarsonEd.com

How to Sell Health Insurance to Small Businesses Part 2

How to sell health insurance to small businesses Part 2

Small and medium sized businesses account for more than half of new job creation in the US. Therefore, they offer a great prospecting opportunity for health insurance professionals.

Check out these 10 tips for selling health insurance to small businesses.

6. Empathize

Get an understanding of what motivates your potential client. What are their goals and challenges? What is their budget?

The first question you ask never really gets to the heart of the matter. Follow up with two or three more questions to get to their real pain and needs as a business.

7. Build Genuine Relationships

The key in this tip is the word “genuine,” as in not forcing the issue. Get some knowledge on the prospect’s background (perhaps even take notes to keep for future reference) and ask them a ton of questions.

8. Do More Listening than Talking

We all know you’re a good talker (or at least you should be). Why else would you become a health insurance sales professional? But resist the urge to talk too much about yourself and the products you’re selling. For a start, there’s a chance that you may be providing a solution to a problem that this prospect doesn’t have. Second, you might come across as arrogant. Remember to give a little and give a little in the conversation. If you notice yourself talking too much, divert the attention back to your prospect.

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9. Don’t Plan Conversations (Too Much)

It’s good to have an idea of where you want a conversation with a prospect to go, otherwise things may get off course and you will spend more time than necessary with a potential client. But it’s also important that you don’t sound too scripted or over prepared when it comes to talking points in the conversation.

Overly scripted sales pitches and conversations make you sound robotic and they make your potential clients uncomfortable. Learn to think on your feet, get a vibe for the person on the other side of the table, and have fun. This may take some practice if you’re not already skilled in this area, but your conversation skills can always be improved.

10. Find a Mentor

Whether you’ve been a health insurance sales professional for 20 years or 1, we can all improve. Ask one of your colleagues to shadow you on a sales call and get feedback frequently. Ask them how they deal with some of the common problems you encounter. Odds are they’ve had to deal with the same problems as well.

If you’re a one-person operation, then try to network with other health insurance professionals at conferences and different professional events in the area.

Follow these tips and you’ll be more likely to get those small business clients in no time.

About Larson Educational Services:

Utilizing 30 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online.

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

13040 Livingston Rd. #12

Naples, FL 34105

info@LarsonEd.com

239-344-7510

www.LarsonEd.com

How to Sell Health Insurance to Small Businesses Part 1

How to sell health insurance to small businesses

Small and medium sized businesses account for more than half of new job creation in the US. Therefore, they offer a great prospecting opportunity for health insurance professionals.

Check out these 10 tips for selling health insurance to small businesses.

1. Take Your Time

Part of the selling process includes educating your potential clients on what their potential health insurance solutions might be. Likewise, you need to qualify your prospect. If you skip these integral steps in search of a quick sale, then you may lose a deal. And remember: larger companies may require more time for the purchasing process. Utilize their more complex decision-making process as an opportunity to spend more time building a relationship with your client.

2. Focus on Best Leads

When you first meet a potential prospect (or even when you make a cold call) be sure to have a set of questions to ask that let you know whether or not your time will be well spent trying to get their business. Recognize who your most qualified leads are and be sure to give them your expert care.

3. Be Goal Oriented

It might be helpful to think of selling health insurance as a series of offers and agreements. It might start with the prospect agreeing to speak on the phone, then the prospect agrees to meet in person, then the prospect agrees to hear the sales pitch–all the way until the prospect becomes a client by agreeing to buy a health insurance policy from you.

At each potential agreement point, know your desired outcome and know what the next step is. Be sure to communicate these next steps clearly with your prospect.

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4. Saying “Yes” Should Make Sense

Selling is not always a logical line of cause and effect; buying and selling is an emotional process. Spend time cultivating a relationship with your potential client and saying yes will make sense for them from both a logical standpoint and an emotional one.

5. Be Okay With Hearing “No”

Some salespeople dread the word no. But as you gain more experience as a health insurance sales professional, hearing no will be part of the process. It’s a good thing. A yes means you made the sale, but a no simply means that the prospect is not qualified and you are able to clear them from your prospects list. Do ask for feedback as to why they said no but don’t be pushy: simply try to gather information that may help you in future sales situations.

Follow these tips and you’ll be more likely to get those small business clients in no time.

Check back next time for part 2!

About Larson Educational Services:

Utilizing 30 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online.

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

13040 Livingston Rd. #12

Naples, FL 34105

info@LarsonEd.com

239-344-7510

www.LarsonEd.com