Mutual of Omaha - More than just another Medicare supplement company

As agents we sell two things - Trust and Like. Mutual of Omaha is a carrier your clients know they can trust and they will like their competitive rates.

Babyboomers spent years (1963-1988)  watching Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom making the brand into not just a trusted insurance carrier but also a part of boomers culture.

Since they are a mutual company in their second century with billions in policyholder surplus they don't have to react to the short term goals of the stock market. That means you can offer a product from this A+ rated carrier that provides the kind of rates and coverage you and your clients can rely on.

Do you know what to look for to qualify a person for a Chronic plan, 12 months a year?

A key to truly helping your clients involves finding the perfect product for a clients situation.

After you find out what matters to your client make sure you find out what health concerns they are dealing with.

Carriers have products that are specially designed to address the specific needs of clients dealing with chronic illnesses. As their trusted advisor you need to make them aware that these plans are available to them.

To qualify a person for a chronic plan they must be diagnosed with one of the following chronic conditions:

––Chronic heart failure

––Diabetes

––Cardiovascular disorders:

       •Cardiac arrhythmias

       •Coronary artery disease

       •Peripheral vascular disease
       •Chronic venous thromboembolism disorder

January Training Opportunities

Click Here to view our complete January Training Calendar, including online and classroom style trainings.  

To Register for classes click on the title of each training on the calendar. 

Senior Marketing Specialists Wishes You A Happy New Year!

Special Enrollment Period

The Special Enrollment Period for discontinued plans (or Service Area Reductions) will start on December 8th and continue through February 28, 2014, with the new 2014 plan coverage beginning on the first day of the month following enrollment.

Using the Medicare and You 2014 Handbook

NOTE: If you do not have a copy of the 2014 Medicare and You book, CLICK HERE to view how to order and / or download your copy from Medicare.gov.

The Medicare and You publication is a great tool for agents to use in the field.  This is a Medicare approved piece, and many prospects and relate to it since they are used to getting them annually.

We recommend that you not only get a copy, but you also use it to help answer your clients questions.  

Below are some key pages in the 2014 book.  Of course, you may find other pages useful depending your clientele, but these are some great starting points when using the book:

Page 14 - Medicare and the Health Insurance Marketplace

Page 16 – Medicare Choices (Medigap / MA Flowchart)

Page 24 – Other insurance and Medicare

Page 58 – Medicare.gov plan finder

Page 59 – Medicare Choices plan chart

Page 67 – 71 – Medigap plans

Page 73 – MA plan types

Page 78 – How MA plans work

Page 80 – MA enrollment

Page 93 Part D Layout

Page 100 – Other programs and Part D

Page 110 - Medicaid

You cannot mark on CMS approved pieces and leave them behind.  If you have a copy where you take notes (as you should) write OFFICE COPY on the front with black marker so clients do not ask to keep yours.

(This article was written by Mike Gattorna of Senior Marketing Specialists.)

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."

Your Client is NOT at Home -- Now What?

One of the top reasons that our agents are not meeting their weekly goals is that they can't find anyone at home! So we at Senior Marketing Specialists have come up with 5 solutions to this problem. We hope that this gives you some new, helpful ideas on what to do if your clients are not at home!

1. Know your clients' neighbors! Use this website to search for your client's neighbors before you drive to your client's home. This way, if one of your clients is not at home, you will be prepared to knock on their neighbor's door instead. Now the time and gas money you spent to call on your client won't be wasted!





2. Keep old leads handy. If your clients aren't at home, then pull out old leads and call on them. They responded to the lead for some reason, maybe now the timing is right and they need your services?





3. Call your client's home ahead of time and use *67 to block your number. If they answer, then you know someone is actually at home.





4. Don't give up too easily. Knock on all the doors of the home -- not just the front door. Maybe they're out back grilling or working on the yard?





5. Send out thank you notes to potential clients for completing and returning your lead card. Then stop by in a couple of days and reference that lead and thank you note.

What tricks have you learned over the years? Share them here!

Medicare Advantage Certification & AHIP Discounts

Here at Senior Marketing Specialists we know how important it is for insurance agents to be informed. That is why we blog, to help provide you with the information you need to succeed in the Senior Market!

As you are probably aware, the 2012 AHIP course has been available for agents since June 16, 2011 on AHIP’s website. Certification directly through AHIP costs $150. The good news is, two carriers are offering discounts for completing the certification process through them.

• Coventry Health Care will be offering a certification discount starting July 15, 2011.


• United Health Care will be offering a $50 certification discount beginning August 1, 2011.

If you have any questions, leave a comment here and we will reply within 24 hours. Or call our office at 1-800-689-2800 and speak with one of our experienced marketers for immediate assistance! We look forward to working with you this AEP!

Info for Insurance Agents about the 2012 Medicare Annual Enrollment Period (AEP)

At Senior Marketing Specialists we are committed to helping independent insurance agents in the Senior Market stay up-to-date with the latest industry information. One thing that agents should be aware of as fall approaches is that the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) has changed for the 2012 selling season. This year AEP will begin earlier.

The official dates for the 2012 AEP: October 15 - December 7.

Please feel free to contact us at 1-800-689-2800 with any questions!

Dan McNerney's Innovative Organization: Senior Marketing Specialists

Senior Marketing Specialists was launched over 30 years ago to provide agents with quality products and a training platform that works! We have employed cutting edge technology to offer our nearly 10,000 agents the best sales tools, have utilized social media to keep our agents informed, and have committed to extensively training and educating our agents to help them succeed in the senior market. To read the complete article highlighting how Senior Marketing Specialists is an innovative organization (featured in the May 2011 issue of Senior Market Advisor), click on the picture to the right!

If you haven't already signed up for Senior Market Advisors' free magazine, you should! All of their articles are relavent and helpul. Just click on the following link to sign up now: http://www.seniormarketadvisor.com/Pages/Senior-Market-Advisor-Magazine.aspx

May is Senior Month

"In 1963, President John F. Kennedy designated the month of May as a time to pay tribute to older Americans. In the U.S., those who are 65 years and older account for approximately 13 percent of the total population—by 2050, that percentage is expected to increase to about 20 percent."- USA.gov

For agents in the senior market this is an amazing opportunity! Take advantage of this theme, and contact your senior clients. Maybe send out a newsletter telling them how they are appreciated, including some interesting facts about their generation, and highlighting famous seniors in America!

To find content for a newsletter, visit the U.S. Census Bureau online. You'll learn some interesting facts about American seniors, such as:
• 16% are employed (of these, 55% work full-time)
• 20% hold a bachelor’s or higher college degree
• 66% live with relatives; 27% live alone; 5% live in group quarters; and 2% live in a household with non relatives

At Senior Marketing Specialists every month is Older American Month! If you have any questions about senior insurance products and how to sell them, give us a call at 1-800-869-2800! We specialize in training independent insurance agents in the senior market!

Dan's Advice to Agents

"If we want to have credibility with our clients we must give advice only after we fully comprehend their situation. Ask, listen, confirm our understanding and then advise."

-Dan Mangus, Special Projects Coordinator

Senior Marketing Specialists' May Announcements: Quote Engine Updated, a New Plan that Pays 30% Commissions, and Mutual of Omaha's Rate Increase

• Our State-of-the-Art Quote Engine will be radically improved on May 1st to include quotes in all 48 states that we do business. Check it out to see how this will benefit you. (You must be licensed through SMS and logged in to enjoy this service.)




• Mutual of Omaha is having a rate increase effective May 1, 2011. Call us for the Mutual of Omaha rate increase details and for alternative selling options.




• We will have a new Secure Care/ Hospital Plan available that is NOT a major medical and that pays above 20% commissions. Call for details: 1-800-689-2800.
  
  

At Senior Marketing Specialist, we had a Facebook Staff Photo Contest in honor of Administrative Professionals Day

The winning picture belongs to Senior Insurance Specialists. (See the picture on the left.)

To see what other pictures where submitted in our contest, check out Senior Marketing Specialist's Facebook Fan Page and click on "Photos".

"Like" our Fan Page so that you can join our future contests, learn about our free training events, and much more!

Have a great Tuesday!

Sweet 16: a unique way to wish clients a happy birthday by Senior Market Advisor

Would you like a creative yet simple way to wish your clients a happy birthday! Read this tip for one great idea!

Rethink the speed of your presentation

"Time-pressed prospects can’t afford to waste time on chit-chat or sales calls that drag on, so they reduce the amount of time alloted for sales meetings. This causes advisors to speed up their presentation in order to cram it all in and get all the information across to prospects. But this approach causes you to lose your prospect’s attention and respect. A more effective approach is..."

To continue reading this tip from Senior Market Advisor, click here.

A simple exercise to help you structure your advertising efforts

This exercise is one that Dan Mangus uses himself and recommends to other agents in the senior market. He says "it helps to come up with a unique selling proposition first and then market that to clients." While the exercise is relatively simple, you may find it challenging too. But it pays off to spend some time determining how you are really different from your competitors.

So here's the activity:

Just fill in the blanks of this sentence:

______(Your Name)______ is ______(You are unique how?)______ .

We'd love to hear what you come up with, so let us know here or email Lindsey at lindsey@smsteam.net. Thanks and have a great day!

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” Zig Ziglar

Resources on Health Care Reform and Hospital Readmissions

Here are some excellent articles that Dan Mangus found Regarding Health Care Reform and Hospital readmissions:

http://www.eapdhealthcarelaw.com/providerreimbursement/

http://www.allbusiness.com/health-care/health-care-regulation-policy-health/12705887-1.html

http://www.vericle.net/?Medical-Billing-Network-Health-Reform-Takes-Aim-at-Hospital-Readmission-Rates&id=4327
(Note the last paragraph on this one)

http://www.hapnetwork.org/assets/pdfs/2012-fact-sheet.pdf

http://www.businessofgovernment.org/blog/making-health-care-reform-work/health-reform-targets-medicare-costs-trying-reduce-hospital-read

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Features/Insuring-Your-Health/Michelle-Andrews-on-hospital-readmissions.aspx

Final Expense and Recovery Care Training Events in April

Do you see the need for Final Expense and Recovery Care Products, but you don't know how to sell them? Our goal is to help train independent agents to market these, and other products, to seniors. So we are offering two free "Boot Camps" towards the end of this month.

On April 27th we are hosting a Final Expense Boot Camp in Columbia, MO. The following day, April 28th, we are hosting a Recovery Care Boot Camp in Springfield, MO. Key industry leaders such as Dan McNerney, Philip Warren, and others will be speaking at these events. Come learn from them!

Agents who have attended our other bootcamps have not been disappointed. One agent wrote to us afterwards saying, "I thoroughly enjoyed the Boot Camp and really appreciate what SMS is trying to do for all of us to succeed in these trying times. I thought all the presentations were fantastic...What an inspiring and educational day!"

For more details and to sign up, call now 1-800-689-2800.