5 Tips for Health Insurance Client Retention-Part 2

When too many of your clients are cancelling their health insurance policies, you start to feel the impact at all levels of your business—lost clients could increase administrative costs and you could also see issues with debt management if you’ve already budgeted certain commissions that are no longer coming in.

And acquiring new clients is not cheap.

Here is part 2 for our tips on how to choose clients who will stick around:

(Read part 1 here.)

3. Use Stories

People respond to stories. You can demonstrate the value of a certain policy or package by telling a story about how the policy has worked for an unnamed client in the past and the benefits it provided them.

Insurance consultant Keith Leech likes to use a 4-question process to further drive the point home in a prospects mind. You can use these questions yourself:

1. "Who do you know who has suffered a heart attack, cancer, or stroke?"
2. "Were they expecting it to happen?"
3. "Did they suffer financially or emotionally?"
4. "Would cash have helped?"

Everyone has been affected by heart attack, cancer, or stroke in one way or another. By relating your products to a personal experience of your client's, they will better understand the immediacy of their health insurance needs.

4. Maintain Communication

To keep your clients on board with you, it's important that they not only hear from you at renewal time or when a premium is late, but other times as well.

Show your clients appreciation and they will stick around. 

Remember: you and your client are business partners.

The best way to maintain contact is to create a repeatable communication schedule that you replicate for every client. 

No, you don't want to send any "Dear, client" emails. But when your client signs on with you, you may want to send yourself some Google alerts to remind you to ask them questions to head off common conversations you may have in the first 30 days of partnership. 

"Did you receive your insurance cards?"

"Do you have any questions or concerns with your coverage so far?"

Make sure some of these are phone calls as well. 

Don't inundate them with phone calls and emails. However, you can use special insurance events as a good reason to contact them. For example, May is national disability insurance awareness month, September is national life insurance awareness month, and June 28 is national insurance awareness day. 

Also, around the new year they may need to renew their policy. Your best practice is to see if they've had any life-changing events in the past year such as a wedding or a child. Find this out from your client and suggest some options to better suit their new needs.

5. Assume You'll Be Their Agent for Life

Building a long-lasting relationship with your clients isn't about selling products, per se; it's about selling your services. It's about being there when they need you.

A truly great health insurance agent will get referrals from parent to child. 

As your relationship extends over the years, consider offering life insurance. Many people are under the misapprehension that life insurance is expensive. Like most people, they may simple have whatever plan they were offered through their job and have left it at that. 

If you are always looking out for your clients needs in their interest, you're sure to continue these long-lasting relationships. 

(Read part 1 here.)

Larson Educational Services

1400 Colonial Blvd. #44

Fort Myers, Florida

33907

239-344-7510

LarsonEd.com

5 Tips for Health Insurance Client Retention--Part 1

When too many of your clients are cancelling their health insurance policies, you start to feel the impact at all levels of your business—lost clients could increase administrative costs and you could also see issues with debt management if you've already budgeted certain commissions that are no longer coming in.

And acquiring new clients is not cheap. 

Here are 5 tips to make sure you choose clients who will stick around:

1. Pre-Qualify

The road to client retention starts before your relationship with a client even begins. First, you want to discover if you and a particular prospect are a good fit for each other. 

In all industries, the best salespeople ask the right questions. 

You may also benefit from a shift in thinking: rather than focusing on acquiring clients, think about it in terms of finding out if a prospect is a good business partner. Ask yourself, "Is she a good fit for the services I offer?"

You must be willing to say no to certain clients if you think you cannot provide them with the services they need. Or you may say no if you foresee this prospective client requires a larger investment of time than you can afford.

The same insurance product won't fit every potential client. Determine their budget. 

If, for example, you run into a prospect who qualifies for high subsidies, it will be important for them to know the value of supplemental products, though they may not have the budget for these voluntary products.

Work together with them to find the best potential options to fill in the gaps created by high-deductible ACA plans, for example.

2. Find Your Niche

You will need to project professionalism and trustability to potential clients. If they have any qualms whatsoever about your ability to serve their health insurance needs, assure them that you specialize in this field—you are the content expert. 

Oftentimes, you can put an apprehensive prospect's worries to rest by letting them know what others in their situation are purchasing. Decisions of any kind are difficult, let alone when healthcare is involved.

Make the decision easier by providing them with a road map of previous clients' experiences.

The language you use may sound like this:

"This is our most common package."

"Many of our clients are happy with this package, and here's why."

"This is our most popular package."

Again, you don't want to sell them something they can't afford—sure, you won't be able to retain them as a client, but more importantly their needs won't be met.

Read part 2 here. 

Larson Educational Services

1400 Colonial Blvd. #44

Fort Myers, Florida

33907

239-344-7510

LarsonEd.com