Staying Connected: 40 Ways to Communicate with Medicare Customers

Keeping Up
With
Customers
How to Stay in Touch and Set More appointments
by Faye Saxon Horton
Gettingcustomersisalwaysa concernformost
businesses. Obviously,if youhave nocustomersyouhave no
business. The insurance businessisnodifferent. It costsfive
timesasmuch to get a new customerthanit isto keepan
existingone. The little thingsyoudowill create amemorable
impressionwithyourcustomer.

KeepingUpWithCustomers
How to StayIn Touch and SetMore Appointments by Faye
SaxonHorton
contents
Contents
Ways to Communicate............................................................5
Thank You..............................................................................7
Birthday Greetings..................................................................9
Holiday Greeting...................................................................11
AEP Announcement Letter....................................................12
SAMPLE AEP LETTER .............................................................13
Next Year Benefit Review......................................................14
Quarterly Newsletter............................................................16
Referral Requests .................................................................17
Cross Sell Literature..............................................................18
3 Most Important Things.......................................................20

SaxonHorton
Getting customers is always a concern for
most businesses. Obviously, if you haveno
customers you haveno business. The insurance
business is no different.
There are many niches to the insurance
industry. Being a $33 Trillion industry, insurance
has different nooks and crannies.
While this book focuses on Medicare and
Final Expense segments of insurance, the tools are
applicable to any part of the insurancebusiness.
Likewise, these same thoughts may be
carried into other professions, particularly where
sales and retention are involved.
Itcosts five times as much to get a new
customer than it is to keep an existing one. The
little things you do will make create a memorable
impression with your customer.

SaxonHorton
Keeping a customer starts with firstbeing
certain this is the right customer. I like to be clear
that not everyoneIs your customer. You will find
this out, but I wantyou to be aware and not
discover this the hard way.
Just bear in mind, if during your initial
contact by phone, email, text, in person or virtual
you and the customer seem not to work well
together…move on. My friend, Rob Jones, once
told me, “some will, some won’t, next”. This
phrase has been around in some form for awhile.
You get the message I’m sure.

SaxonHorton
Start with an amicable conversation and
discovery of the prospect’s needs before you can
claim them as a customer.

SaxonHorton
Ways to Communicate
Now, you have an ideal customer that you
want to keep as a customer. As you know, in the
Medicare business this means residualincome.
This is the monthly income in two years that you
are banking on to take that long awaited summer
vacation and your bills are paid!
Each Medicare Advantage customer will be
additional income to you monthly. You are paid
for the initial sale in the year the sale is effective
and thereafter you are paid monthly for each
member who remains a member.
The same is true for Medicare Supplement
customers. You receive an advance based on the
carrier’s contract, and renewal commissions from
6 year to life.
These are some ways you can use to
communicate with your customers.

SaxonHorton
 Thank You
 Birthday Greetings
 Holiday Greetings
 AEP AnnouncementLetters
 Next Year Benefit Review
 Quarterly Newsletter
 Referral requests
 Cross Sell Literature

SaxonHorton
Thank You
Although there is no “set” timeframe in
which to send a thank you, once you have a
customer who has been approved and has an
effective date of coverageyou should send a
thank you.
The thank you can be a handwritten note,
an email, a text messageor a voice message
delivered in messenger. Itshould be short, sweet,
concise and justa thank you.
The thank you can also be a preprinted card
or note that you prepareas a part of your
branding. Vistaprintoffers reasonablepricing for
these type items. Order a few hundred or a
thousand so that you have plenty for the new
customers you will receive.

SaxonHorton
“Thank You” in some formshould be the
firstcommunication with the customer after they
are approved for coverage. Some times this is
done as a follow up phone call which the
customer is expecting. The customer is expecting
this call becauseyou told them at the close of the
enrollment appointment that you would be
calling.
Once the customer’s questions areall set, if
this is a phone call, end the conversation with a
strong “Thank You”.

SaxonHorton
Birthday Greetings
Everyonehas a birthday! Justas you like
people to recognizeyour birthday, the customer
appreciates when others are able to remember
their birthday.
In the Medicare arena, some people may be
of an age wherethey haveno family, their friends
have passed on, they are widowed and one
birthday greeting will make that a very special day
for them.
You might be the sourceof life for your
customer by justremembering their birthday.
Regular communication touches with your
customer helps you to see other selling
opportunities, ask for referrals, catch up in the
event the customer has life changes that affects
their current coverageand it pleases the
customer.
Your birthday greeting can be a card, a
telephone call, an email with a friendly meme, a
text messageor a messagesent through
messenger. Usethe method that best appeals to

SaxonHorton
the customer. Many customers do not use email
or haveinternet. Send them a greeting card.
Set your birthday list up in January.
Download your Book of Business (BOB) into either
a CRM systemor an excel spreadsheet. Sortthe
data by month of birth. Now you can see who
gets cards in each month of the year.
Hire an assistant, who might be a family
member or friend who needs some spending
money, to keep the list and send out those
birthday cards as they come due.

SaxonHorton
Holiday Greeting
Most of your customers may celebrate
Christmas and Easter. There are other religious
holidays that may be observed as well.
Know your customer’s preferences and
reach out to do a communication touch for these
holidays. To be correct and not assumptive,
during the Christmas Holidays you can use
“Season’s Greetings” that will cover Christmas
and/or Hanukah.
Holidays are another time of the year when
people tend to become depressed dueto deaths,
loneliness, sickness or other issues. A cheerful
greeting at these times of the years lets your
customer know you are thinking of them.

SaxonHorton
AEP Announcement Letter
This is an importantand key time to reach
out to your customer. Plan to be right there in the
midst of the carrier, large company/agencies,
national branded call centers who are advertising
the AnnualEnrollment Period (AEP) starts on
10/15.
At the end, third or fourth week of
September, send a letter to your customer to let
them know AEP is coming and you will be
contacting to review their currentplans. Be the
firstto let your customer know that you are
available to see if there are any changes in plan
necessary.
Use this letter as a guide. Changethe
wording to be yours.

SaxonHorton
SAMPLE
SAMPLE AEP LETTER
Dear Member (use firstname if possible),
As you know, MedicareAnnual Enrollment Period (AEP) is rightaround
the corner, October 15 to December 7 (year). This is the time to
review your Medicare coverage.
I (or my assistantor someone from my office) will becallingyou some
time duringOctober 1 to October 14 to review the (next year)
benefits. Look for either my office number (555-555-5555) or my
cellphone(333-333-333) to show up on your caller ID. You will know
it’s me.
These are some of the things we will review:
 Does your current plan work for you?
 What did you likeabout the current plan?
 Was there something that didn’t work?
 What changes do you need?
 How will the (next year) changes to the plan affect you?
 Are there any changes in your providers?
 What can I do to help you?
 Who do you know that may benefit from the type plan you
have?
You may receive your Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) before I call.
We can review the changes when I call.
I want you to know I am availableby phone, video call and in person,if
necessary.
Thanks for trustingme to help you have the right MedicarePlan!
(Your name and contact info)

SaxonHorton
Next Year Benefit Review
The Next Year Benefit Review is actually the
call or visit mentioned in your AEP Announcement
Letter.
Know the plan your customer has and know
the upcoming changes to that plan for the next
year. Whether the changes are all positivein
favor of the customer of someloss to the
customer in terms of increased copays or
decrease in OTC benefits, be able to communicate
those changes effectively to the customer so that
they understand the changes.

SaxonHorton
If necessary, bethe first to suggestthe
customer look at Plan B or a different carrier. I
say be the firstbefore Agent Z comes along and
points this out to your customer.
Where there are differences you cannot
overcome, get assistancefromyour Carrier
Manager on the benefits to point out to the
customer and retain the business.

SaxonHorton
Quarterly Newsletter
This is an optional, extra touch to the
customer. You can subscribeto a newsletter
serviceand repostwith your branding to
members who haveemails.
Careful. Choosetopics that will be of
interest to the customer. They receive tons of
spammail and lots of mail fromeveryoneand
their uncles. So, at somepoint, unless the
Newsletter is unique and can hold the attention of
the audience, it may not be a necessary way to
stay in touch with your customer.
On the other hand, there are agents who
are branded so well in their communities and
niches of insurancethat customers look forward
to receiving their latest newsletter.
Judgment call. You decide. Good idea, but
optional suggestion fromme.

SaxonHorton
Referral Requests
Always ask for referrals. Fromthe very first
meeting, your closeshould include a requestfor
referrals. Keep asking. Don’tstop.
You have these opportunities to ask for a
referral:
1. Initial interview
2. Follow up/Thank You Call
3. Birthday call
4. Holiday greeting
5. AEP Review
6. Just becauseI know you know some
call.
With six or morechances to ask for a referral, at
some point the customer will open up and makea
donation to your business. It’s called paying their
portion.
If you have relentlessly asked for referrals and the
customer is happy with whatyou do for them,
they will help you.

SaxonHorton
Cross Sell Literature
Start cross sellopportunities by setting
appointments to review other products at the
initial interview. For Medicare Advantage
presentations, if you have the customer’s
permission on the Scope of Appointment, you can
sell Dental, Vision, Hearing (DVH) and Hospital
Indemnity (HI) whileat the MAPD appointment.
As you know you cannot sell Life Insurance
or Life Insuranceproducts such as annuities at the
MAPD meeting. So, set an appointment in
January to sit with the customer to review life
insuranceand the need for life insurancein their
family.
Take the opportunity to bundle the DVH or
HI when you can. If not at that appointment set
another appointment to review the need for these
products and cross sell to the customer.
Plan to include all customers on email blast
about the ancillary products you offer and invite
them to contact you. Unlike Medicare Advantage

SaxonHorton
plans, you may contact the customer about these
products outsideof the MAPD appointment. Do it!
A certain portion of your annualincome
should be based on the cross sell opportunities
that you have. The averageincome from
consistently adding HI and Life Insurancefor a
Medicare customer is an additional $4,000 to
$6,000/annually.
These are all ways you can touch the
customer throughoutthe year to keep the
customer and set more appointments fromcross
selling opportunities and referrals.

SaxonHorton
3 Most Important Things
1. Always return your phonecalls as soon as
possible.
2. Be clear and transparentwith the
customer.
3. Be proactivein identifying opportunities.
Let me know how this works for you. Send
feedback to me in an email. Go to my website for
more resources.
www.isellmedicareplans.com/services
Faye Saxon Horton
407-340-6282
Listen to my podcasts
www.isellmedicareplans.com/episodes

Staying Connected: 40 Ways to Communicate with Medicare Customers

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Staying Connected: 40 Ways to Communicate with Medicare Customers

Similar to Staying Connected: 40 Ways to Communicate with Medicare Customers (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Staying Connected: 40 Ways to Communicate with Medicare Customers