Do you know what your close ratio is? What percentage of your prospects actually turn into clients? If you don’t know, it might be a good idea to start keeping track of this information. It will help you determine what sales techniques work and help identify areas of improvement.

There’s been a trend in the insurance industry over the past few years. Brokers across the country have invested in technology that allows them to quickly and easily provide quotes to clients in an “apples to apples” format so that the client can make a buying decision, often without any additional input from the agent. Many agents even have quote engines on their website that allow clients to run the quotes and apply for coverage on their own without ever talking with the broker. With today’s tools, brokers can literally sell insurance in their sleep.

One thing we learned from the 2019 open enrollment period is that the government’s outreach efforts are coming up short. Marketplace enrollment was down this year, and that corresponds with a huge 90 percent reduction in the marketing budget for Healthcare.gov.

Every agent likes getting referrals. They’re easier to sell—and certainly less expensive—than leads you buy online, and talking to someone who actually wants to talk to you is far more enjoyable than cold calling.

We’re getting more and more questions from agents asking what they can sell right now. We know that the fourth quarter is the busy time of the year, but the other nine months can leave brokers twiddling their thumbs.

Salespeople who want to edge out their competition need some sort of hook, something they do differently than everyone else. In health insurance, that can be difficult to do since agents neither design nor price the products that they sell; the plans are the plans and the rates are the rates.

In our last couple posts, we explained that CMS has extended the transitional relief for small employers until the end of 2019, giving healthier small group clients an opportunity to save on premiums for another year and avoid some of the rules applicable to ACA metallic plans. We also explained that taking advantage of this option may require these small groups to continue renewing their same plan year after year without the option of tweaking their benefits at renewal/re-issue time. For employers looking for greater flexibility in plan design, self-funding provides a great alternative; small-business employers with self-funded plans often save money by avoiding the modified adjusted community rating rules, and they have multiple plan options to choose from.

Here’s a question: How much time should agents spend trying to convince people that they need health insurance?

We know—that’s a weird question, but it is a relevant one. Insurance agents don’t just sell individual and group health insurance policies; most are also covered by one. And that means that many of you are facing the same challenges that your clients have: finding an affordable plan that protects you from financial loss and covers your doctor visits and prescriptions. The trouble is, plans that check off all of these requirements are pretty rare, so you probably have to make some of the same sacrifices as your clients.