If you’ve sold Medicare during the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) before, then you know how easy it is to lose track of important items such as client information and appointments.
Staying organized during your busiest work months of the year will allow you to sell more now and hold on to details that will help you sell more later. These are our top sales rep tips and tricks for staying organized during this year’s AEP.
Develop an Organization Plan Before AEP
If you try to get organized in October, it’s already way too late, and even the best sales rep tips and tricks can’t save you. Get organized now. To do that, here’s how you can start:
Join a FMO
A field marketing organization (FMO) can take your business to the next level. Sure, you can contract with insurance carriers directly, but wouldn’t you rather have access to the thousands of plans that may be available in your area? The right FMO will contract with all of the major carriers and provide top-tier commissions to agents.
A great FMO will provide sales and marketing support so you can focus on talking to people and making sales.
Create a Filing System
Whether you’re using an old-school filing cabinet or keeping all of your contracts and documents on a computer, don’t make yourself look for things when you need them most.
Keep separate folders for your personal documents and your client’s documents. Organize them alphabetically, and if it helps, separate them by Medicare Advantage vs Medicare Supplement, or D-SNP vs Medicare only, and so on.
Just make sure any client information is secure so you can stay HIPAA-compliant. If your client protected health information (PHI) gets out you could receive hefty fines.
Get Up-to-Date With Medicare Insurance Sales Rep Training
You must be current with your AHIP certification before you can even think about selling plans during AEP. Many carriers also require agents to complete specific training to sell their plans, so you should also certify with your carriers.
Follow up With Current Clients
One of the most effective sales rep tips and tricks is to follow up with your current clients. Your clients want to know you care and you can show them by calling periodically and asking about their plans. Do they like their current plans? Are there any benefits they need but aren’t getting?
If your clients aren’t satisfied with their current, schedule appointments and have them fill out Scope of Appointment (SOA) forms. If they make changes to existing plans or enroll in new ones, you will get the commission from the sales.
If your clients are satisfied with their current plans, congratulate yourself for fulfilling their needs. Along with the feeling that comes with a job well done, many carriers pay renewal commissions.
How to Stay Organized in Sales During AEP
Once you’ve laid the groundwork for your AEP organization strategy, then you’ll be ready to sell once AEP hits. To stay organized during AEP you should:
Take Detailed Notes
You should be taking notes after every appointment you attend. Take notes before, during, and after the meeting. Your notes should help you look back and see what you did right or wrong, what the client’s true needs are, and what the result of the appointment was.
If it helps, come up with a template that you can print and bring with you so all you have to do is fill in the blanks. Start off by asking yourself questions such as:
- What am I expecting from this meeting?
- What sales tactics do I plan on using?
Then, ask questions about the appointment afterward such as:
- What was the client’s attitude like?
- Did they want my help?
- What plan did they pick or what plans are they considering?
Jot down information about any and all health care and financial needs the client has. It may help you go back and continue selling to them at a later date.
Use a CRM Software
If you’re not already using a CRM (customer relationship management) software to track your sales, you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity to never miss a detail again.
A CRM software such SalesForce can help you keep a calendar of your appointments, take appointment notes, track your sales rate and every individual sale from start to finish, and organize client data.
You’ll never forget what happened during your appointments if you track them with a system like this, and you’ll always be able to look back on them later.
Keep Your Work Area Neat and Orderly
It may seem like more work than necessary, but clearing out the day’s clutter will save you hours in the long run. You don’t necessarily have to keep your work area neat and orderly at all times, but you’ll have a big problem if you have to sift through piles of paperwork to find that one file.
Straighten up your work area at the end of every workday. That way you can start the next morning fresh.
Partner With Senior Market Advisors for More Sales Rep Tips and Tricks
At Senior Market Advisors, we give our agents what they need to succeed during AEP. We can help you stay organized this AEP and every other time of year. We partner with all of the major carriers
When you partner with us, you get an experienced sales and marketing team that can help generate leads for you, extensive training, and free access to our proprietary CRM. Ready to start? eContract with us today.
This post was originally published on October 30, 2017, by Anastasia Iliou, and was updated on August 14, 2019, by Troy Frink.
