How to Sell More Medicare Advantage Plans in 2024

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The key to a great career in sales is having a good product to sell, which is why selling Medicare Advantage is so lucrative. Over 30 million people enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans in 2023 and the numbers of enrollees have been climbing. 

About 51% of people are currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans which means the other 49% are potential leads that are up for grabs.

Medicare Advantage enrollment increased by 8% from 2022 to 2023 which equates to 2.3 million new beneficiaries. 

These statistics show that the health insurance market is ripe for Medicare Advantage sales, and we’re providing some great tips for how to sell more Medicare Advantage plans in 2024.

Shortcuts:

Get Acquainted With Your Prospect and Learn Their Needs

Invest in the Customer Experience

Offer a Variety of Health Plans and Carriers

Find a Mentor

Work Your Sales Funnel Every Day

The Best Tools for Selling Medicare Advantage

Stay at the Top of Your Game

Get Acquainted With Your Prospect and Learn Their Needs

Selling has always been and continues to be a numbers game. Salespeople must accept that they’ll face a fair amount of rejection, yet that doesn’t deter successful salespeople. 

Because it’s tough to make sales, it’s important to make a good first impression. Once you have their attention, you need to keep prospects engaged long enough to discover their needs and fine-tune your presentation. 

First, respect their time. Always ask if they have a few moments to speak with you. If they don’t have time, reschedule the appointment for a more convenient day. 

Consumers like to buy from people who know their stuff. Take a brief minute to share your experience and qualifications and tell them a little about your company. Do you have a personal story about what motivated you to sell Medicare Advantage?

Storytelling can be a powerful tool, so this is the time to share it.

Once you’ve gotten past the small talk with a prospect, maintain their interest by actively listening to whatever is on their minds.

You may be thinking about getting the presentation started, but their minds may be on a sick pet, a home or auto repair, an upcoming wedding celebration, or something else that’s mentally or emotionally taxing. 

Whatever the issue is, respond to what’s on their mind and gently sway the conversation back to the sale. As you get the sale back on track, ask the prospect open-ended questions that will drive the rest of the presentation. 

For example, you might ask:

  • What do you know about how Medicare works? 
  • What do you like about your current Medicare health plan?
  • What would you change about your Medicare coverage if you could?
  • Which part of Medicare concerns you the most?
  • Which doctors and hospitals do you rely on the most? 
  • What prescriptions do you regularly take? 
  • Do you prefer me to contact you by email, text, or phone?

During your conversation, the prospect may voice some concerns about Medicare Advantage. Be sure you know the common objections and have ready answers to address them. 

It’s okay to use a script if it helps you keep on track, but it’s best to use it as a guide rather than to read it verbatim. 

Always speak in plain language. If you have to use industry terms, be sure to explain what they mean. For example, some people won’t know the difference between an HMO and a PPO. 

Invest in the Customer Experience

The impression you make right from the beginning will give your prospect a clue as to how you will handle customer service after the sale. 

The customer experience, commonly referred to as CX, can be defined as the interactions and experiences a customer has with your brand from the first contact to the most recent interaction. 

Why is the customer experience important? The 2017 State of Global Customer Service Report showed that 96% of customers said they consider good customer service as a factor in deciding whether to remain loyal to a brand. 

Customer service is only one part of the customer experience. A good customer experience means going the extra mile to understand your customers through every phase of the sale and respond in ways that bring a smile to their faces. 

A good salesperson will go into a Medicare Advantage sales appointment with an understanding of the value of empathy. Good healthcare is important for everyone, yet not everyone enjoys good health. For that reason, healthcare services are personal. 

Dave Gray offers a nice tool called an Empathy Map Canvas that you can use to gain insight into what your prospects are thinking and doing that impacts their buying decisions. This tool can help you understand how the prospect views the sales process. 

Technology also has an impact on the customer experience. Beneficiaries are increasingly looking to the internet to shop for Medicare Advantage plans. 

A Salesforce survey showed that 70% of customers were more inclined to take their business to a competitor that used technology to make their lives easier. The survey further showed that 58% of customers expect businesses to use technology to interact with them. 

McKinsey reports that consumers viewed online search tools as the most important source of information about Medicare Advantage plans, especially during open enrollment periods. 

McKinsey says, “For payers, websites are the highest-value sales channel with no external commissions, and with generally higher lifetime values.” According to McKinsey, omnichannel marketing is becoming increasingly important with Medicare Advantage sales. 

While consumers are shopping online, they often have questions about the features of various Medicare Advantage plans web pages don’t answer. Prospects may struggle to visualize what you’re trying to explain to them over the phone. 

At these times, a screen sharing tool can be a salesperson’s best friend. With screen sharing, prospects have the information they need right in front of them so they can easily make sense of it. 

Overall, you can improve the customer experience by seeing their entire customer journey from their perspective, using empathy, and leveraging technology.

Offer a Variety of Health Plans and Carriers

If you can count on anything with sales, it’s that no two appointments will be alike. You must not only know the prospect’s needs but have a good idea of which plans may suit them best. 

Have you figured out your buyer personas and selected a few plans that meet a target prospect’s needs? A buyer persona is a detailed description of a fictional person who has most of the characteristics of your target audience. 

Once you’ve figured out your buyer personas, group like individuals together, and market them at the same time. One way to group personas is by when they’re available. Many of today’s seniors are working past their normal retirement age. It can be worthwhile to put in a few hours of selling time in the evenings or on weekends. 

Communicate at regular intervals, but not so much they get annoyed. This can be a fine line to walk. 

Even if you’ve done everything right, people will buy when they’re ready. 

Meet the needs of every persona by offering these types of Medicare Advantage plans:

  • Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)
  • Preferred Provider Organization (PPO)
  • Medicare Savings Account (MSA)
  • Private Fee-For-Service Plan (PFFS)
  • Special Needs Plan (SNP)
  • Dually eligible Special Needs Plan (D-SNP)
  • Chronic Condition Special Nees Plan (C-SNP)

Giving your prospects access to healthcare provider brands they recognize and trust and that are priced affordably is just as important as providing a variety of plans. 

Find a Mentor

Depending on who you ask, the new agent failure rate is somewhere between 50% and 80%. Why do so many insurance agents burn out? 

Insurance agents go through product training and might even have a bit of sales training. Nevertheless, they’re on their own once the training is over. 

The first few years in sales can be incredibly tough. Agents experience a ton of rejection which can make it difficult to keep picking up the phone. 

Insurance mentors are valuable because they offer feedback from someone who has walked in their shoes – someone who has faced days and weeks of the same type of rejection. Yet, mentors learned how to overcome sales slumps time and time again. They’re usually willing to help struggling agents do the same. 

A mentor is the voice of experience that can inform an agent about which marketing and sales strategies work and those that don’t.

With the right products and the right coaching, you can be one of the 20% to 50% that succeed in selling Medicare Advantage plans. 

Work Your Sales Funnel Every Day

Sales funnels help you make the most of your time, so be sure to work them every day. Your funnel highlights the prospects that are ready to sign on the dotted line, which is where your first priority should be. 

A well-oiled sales funnel will help you sort and rank leads by priority. As you nurture leads, they filter down the funnel. 

Break your sales funnel into the following four stages:

  1. Awareness
  2. Consideration
  3. Conversion
  4. Retention

Cater your content to where prospects are in the sales funnel. Here are some examples of how to accomplish this:

  • Awareness – Focus on building trust and brand recognition.
  • Consideration – Focus on how your products fit their needs. 
  • Conversion – Show them how easy and seamless it is to buy Medicare Part C from you. 
  • Retention – Show how your agency continues to provide value to them. 

A sales funnel also gives you a play-by-play history of which stage of the sales process leads are converting. It will also tell you how many leads you have and what percentage of them are converting. This is valuable information for forecasting sales volume. 

Sales forecasts will uncover how much more you need to do to meet your sales goals. If you’re willing to put in the time, you’re sure to meet your sales and income goals. 

The insurance agents who quit the insurance business within the first months or years in the business may have had a great sales pitch but didn’t know how to work their sales funnels effectively. 

The Best Tools for Selling Medicare Advantage in 2024

Advances in technology have given us lots of ways to generate leads and streamline the sales process. The right tools work together to optimize outbound and inbound marketing strategies. 

Here are the best tools for selling Medicare Part C in 2024. 

Screen Sharing

Screen sharing software provides a visual aid to enhance sales presentations. A well-planned slide will answer many of a prospect’s questions with little input from the salesperson and it’s easy for the agent to show different plans and options side by side.

With screen sharing, it’s easier to close sales over the phone which saves you time and money.

Branded Website

Every business should have an informational website that tells people who you are, why you exist, and what you have to offer them.

Your website should be engaging and informative and your pages should lead visitors to your call-to-action page to keep new leads streaming in.

Omnichannel Functionality

Prospects should be able to reach you via email, text, your website, or by phone. One day a prospect may send a lengthy email; another day they’re happy with a quick text message.

Everyone likes options. Give them the options that make them happy. 

CRM

A customer relationship management system automates much of a salesperson’s work. It allows you to personalize communications and tells you the right time to send them. It’s the most feasible place to store all the details about each customer that can help you close the sale. 

Email Marketing Software

Many CRMs now have email marketing software built into the platform. If not, there are plenty of email marketing software programs out there that will do the job of creating email drip campaigns. This type of software offers value as it also provides analytics to help you assess the success of your campaigns.

Project Management

Mentors will likely tell you that you need to plan your day either first thing in the morning or at the close of the previous day. The important thing is to schedule time in your day for closing sales and nurturing leads. To ensure productivity, you may want to designate a certain timeframe for sending emails and making outbound calls. 

AI

AI has become mainstream and it has its pros and cons. While it may not be the best tool for making a personalized sales presentation, it has useful purposes in sales. It may be useful for giving you a script to overcome a sales objection. AI also works well for helping create sales pitches and email content. 

Stay at the Top of Your Game

The Medicare rules change a bit from one year to the next.

Look for updates from CMS in the late summer or early fall to remain compliant. Also, be sure to inform your clients of any changes that may affect their choices.  

Our tips, along with the many valuable Medicare Advantage plans, will ensure you have a successful year of sales.