The Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) is every year from October 15 – December 7. That means it’s quickly approaching and it’s crucial that you are more than ready for the busiest time of year!
By keeping your priorities in check, making a plan, and setting clear goals for your insurance sales strategy, you will be confident and prepared for anything AEP throws your way.
Know Your Audience
Before you can create a successful insurance sales plan you must know your audience. Who are you selling to? Do you typically go into low-income areas, or are you selling to wealthy retirees with giant 401(k) plans?
Even if you’ve done this before, think about the circumstances surrounding your audience. In 2019, Americans have more questions about their health care than ever before. While you can’t predict the future, you’re extremely knowledgable on what their health insurance plan includes and allows now.
Go into every appointment prepared with up-to-date knowledge about healthcare news so you can respond to your clients’ questions with factual information. Doing
Know if you should focus on selling Medicare Advantage plans or Medicare Supplements based on your clients’ needs. There’s no sense in pitching plans your clients can’t afford. Don’t waste your time trying to sell people products that they don’t need.
Why Are Goals Important?
Goals are an important part of any insurance sales strategy because they give you focus. Can you imagine trying to shoot an arrow without a target? Without focus and goal-setting, your talents are useless. Goals allow you to measure your progress and stay on the right path.
This is something we were all taught at a young age, but it’s important to recognize that the importance of goal-setting does not disappear in any stage of life. Any method of goal setting is encouraged, but SMART goals are most effective.
What Are SMART Goals?
Did you know that 83 percent of people have no goals, 14 percent have goals in their heads, and only three percent write their goals down?
People who write down their goals are 30 times more successful than those who have no goals at all. Many completion issues with goals derive from being vague. SMART goals diminish that flaw and help ensure you can complete your goal.
SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. You can have multiple SMART goals for yourself, it’s just important to prioritize yourself and stay on task.
How Do You Prioritize Yourself?
First, rank your objectives and targets. By implementing a ranking system, you can better determine which goals need your focus.
Second, recognize how long your goals and tasks will take. Ask yourself how many hours you will focus on each goal and how much time you can sacrifice.
Lastly, be sure to create a schedule to evaluate your progress and adjust your priorities appropriately.
It is easy to dedicate a lot of time and energy to a certain task and not realize how much time you’ve spent. By frequently evaluating your timeline, you can change focus as needed and be as productive as possible.
How to Prioritize Your Sales Activities
Your success as a Medicare insurance agent is dependent on your ability prioritize your sales activities. If you can become more efficient in your day-to-day work, you can become a top performer. You can set yourself up for success if you do the following things:
- Begin every day with a plan of attack. Your SMART goals should all focus on an end result, but the day-to-day activities will lead you there. Make a list of your daily priorities either first thing in the morning or the night before.
- Read and respond to your most important emails first. You can spend all day sifting through emails from the top of your inbox down. “Most important” means anything that has a high-priority timeline or that’s tied to your revenue.
- Prioritize your current customers over new prospects. Even though it may seem counter-intuitive during AEP, you should spend more time with people who are already on your side. It costs five times more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain a current one.
- Make following up with clients part of your sales activities plan. Follow up with your clients and make sure they’re happy with their plans. If they aren’t, schedule an appointment to discuss new plans. You’ll get a commission when your clients enroll. If your clients are happy, that’s great! Many carriers will pay you a commission if you if a client renews a plan. Use a CRM to organize your customers’ data such as plan information. A great CRM will help get your priorities straight by reminding you when to call clients, and it can help you stay efficient because you can see your clients’ data. You’ll keep the rapport you’ve already built if you don’t have to ask the same “getting to know you” questions during every meeting.
Are You Ready for AEP?
Ready or not, here it comes! AEP can be a busy, stressful, but rewarding time of year.
By goal-setting and prioritizing those goals and tasks, you can see amazing benefits. Take advantage of these goal-setting and prioritization exercises and get excited for a great enrollment period!
We Can Help You Get Your Insurance Sales Strategy Right This AEP
At Senior Market Advisors (SMA), we give our agents the tools for success. When you contract with us, you also contract with many of the major carriers so you can offer your clients options without bias.
You also get free access to our proprietary CRM, extensive training, and an experienced sales and marketing team on your side.
SMA is dedicated to helping you get your priorities straight this AEP. Ready to start? eContract with us today.
This post was originally published on July 30, 2018, by Kelsey Davis and was updated on August 8, 2019, by Troy Frink.
