Welcoming Dan Mangus as National Sales Director at Senior Marketing Specialists!

We at Senior Marketing Specialists (SMS) are proud to announce our newest full-time addition, Dan Mangus. Dan has spent the past 20 years in South Eastern Missouri running his own family agency which has always been a top-producing agency in the Senior Market.

Two years ago, Dan began marketing within SMS as a consultant, speaker, motivator and trainer to some of our top agents. He has also played a critical role in the development of our state-of-art, online training campus, SMS-University. He then spent a year growing and leading our Advisory Council made up of the top producing agents in our distribution.

We are privileged to announce that Dan will be joining our office as our National Sales Director! He will be working with our internal marketing and recruiting staff, plus he will be available to assist all of the 7,000+ agents that we represent across the country. Please join us in welcoming Dan and his wife Kelly to Columbia and congratulate them on this new chapter in their lives!

Free Webinars: Preparing You to Have Your Best AEP Selling Season

Here at Senior Marketing Specialists (SMS) we want to help you be prepared to have your best AEP season ever! We have developed the perfect AEP Marketing plan, and we want to share it with you; phone scripts for your current clients, lead pieces pulling over 4%, field tested training and numerous step by step prospecting ideas. Don't miss out on this unique AEP marketing webinar!

Here's the Schedule:
Tuesday, August 23 at 6:00pm CDT
Wednesday, August 24 at 11:00am CDT
Friday, August 26 at 3:00pm CDT

Click here to register for any of these webinars.*

Or, to view our complete training schedule, click here.

*Note: If you register for one, you are able to attend any of the three webinars!

The Future of Medicare Advantage Plans - Interview with Dan McNerney, President at Senior Marketing Specialists

Question: “Where do you see the future of Medicare Advantage plans?”

Answer given by Dan McNerney, President of Senior Marketing Specialists:

“Two years ago I would have answered this question differently than I will today. Back when President Obama and his administration took over, they were strongly against Medicare Advantage and wanted to do away with it. This is not meant to be a political statement. I am merely saying that at the time that the Democratic Party took office, the future of Medicare Advantage looked bleak!

Today I have a more positive outlook after personally hearing the latest updates from Coventry and United Health Care. We, at Senior Marketing Specialists, are seeing and being told that while the current administration once strongly disliked Medicare Advantage, now they are warming up to it! It is clear (by such programs like STAR ratings) that Washington is starting to see that there are parts of Medicare that can help with the crisis that we’re in.

Medicare is, in fact, in a bit of a crisis. I do believe that. I strongly believe, however, that we’ll survive the crisis. As you are probably well aware, over the past weeks, Washington has been discussing our budget problems and voting on whether or not to raise the debt ceiling. Medicare continues to be one of the biggest targets in this debate since Medicare makes up a huge portion of our national budget. As a result, Medicare is under scrutiny; and we are going to have to figure out a way to continue to give benefits to seniors without going broke.

So while this crisis is a reality, I still believe that the future of Medicare Advantage plans is strong, and I don’t see them going away any time soon.”

What are your thoughts on the future of Medicare Advantage?

Debate in Washington Threatens Medicare Supplement (Medigap) Insurance Plans

You might have heard or seen some of the news lately being discussed in Washington on Medigap (Medicare Supplement) plans. Here are a few articles that discuss the possible changes to Medigap benefits.

Agreement on Debt Talks: Health Groups Dislike Proposals
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/us/politics/13health.html?_r=1

Threat to Medigap from Debt Ceiling Talks
https://www.mutualofomaha.com/email/express/documents/2011_07_20/medsupp_debt.pdf

Medicare Supplement (Medigap) Insurance: Myths & Facts
http://www.protectmedigap.org/pdf/Medigap%20Myths%20v3.pdf

These changes would negatively impact seniors and our economy. As a result, we're encouraging all agents in the Senior Market to help protect Medicare Supplements and those who depend on this type of insurance plan! You could make a difference by calling your representatives today: 1-800-869-1923 from 8:00am-4:00pm CDT. For more details, click here. We appreciate your help!

Ten Attitudes of Top-Achievers

Dan McNerney, President & CEO of Senior Marketing Specialists, recommends the following content!

Ten Attitudes of Top-Achievers:
by Brian Tracy

If you think the same way as the top achievers think, you can begin to get the same results they do. Here are ten psychological and practical ways to mirror the attitudes of top-achievers.
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1. See yourself as a consultant rather than a salesperson. Believe that you are a problem-solver with regard to your product and how the client can best use it.

2. Become a doctor of selling. Act in the best interests of your “patients” and have a high code of ethics.

3. See yourself as the president of your own sales corporation. Accept 100 percent responsibility for your results.

4. Commit yourself to being the best in your field. Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning.

5. Be ambitious, hungry, and determined to use selling as a stepping-stone to the success you want in life.

6. Have integrity. Be honest with yourself and others.

7. Engage in thorough preparation prior to every call.

8. Be an excellent listener; be extremely customer-focused.

9. Have tremendous courage. Be willing to face your fears of rejection and failure, and overcome them.

10. Be highly persistent. Start your workday earlier, work harder, and stay longer.

To make these changes work you must walk, talk, and behave consistently with them every hour of every day.

If you agree with these ten attitudes of top-achievers, you may want to share this blog post with your connections online! Have a great week.

Important Tips & Reminders from Coventry about AHIP Certification!

The following tips are provided by Coventry:

Passing Test Scores: The AHIP Medicare Marketing Core Compliance and Coventry CCP /Part D certification module for 2012 requires that you successfully pass each module test with a minimum score of 90% within three attempts. AHIP provides Coventry with testing results. If you fail a test three times, you will NOT be able to market or sell that Coventry product in 2012!

Be sure to allow yourself ample time to take the online tests. Each testing session (e.g., attempt) has a two hour time limit. The 2 hours begin when a user launches the exam. If they launch it and walk away and reach the 2 hour limit, the exam will auto-submit and they will lose an attempt.

We’re Here to Assist You! If you do not pass in your first two attempts, please contact us at Senior Marketing Specialists (1-800-689-2800) to discuss what elements are unclear to you so that we can help you.

We look forward to a successful partnership during this upcoming selling season!

Complete information and a direct link to annual AHIP certification is a click away when you log in to the Coventry Medicare broker portal from www.coventry-medicare.com.

Let Us Help You Navigate Through the Medicare Advantage (MA) Certification Maze!

We learned from our agents last year that the most difficult part about Medicare Advantage (MA) Certification is not the actual tests, but rather the tedious process of becoming certified. Based on our agents' feedback, we realized that agents had a difficult time finding the specific websites and necessary log-in information, and then properly posting their results. Do you find yourself in that same situation? Wouldn't it be nice if you could make one phone call and have all your questions answered about MA Certification? Well, you're in luck.

We are here to help you! Please just give us a call at 1-800-689-2800 or contact one of our marketers directly (Ryan@smsteam.net & Christine@smsteam.net), and we will walk you through the certification "maze."