Health Insurance
LAAHU Show Round-Up
by Leila Morris

The Los Angeles Association of Health Underwriters (LAAHU) held its 26th Annual Sales Conference at the Pasadena Convention Center on April 8, 2008 with more than 600 attendees and 60 exhibitors.
The morning started off with motivational speaker, Terri Sjodin who gave some dos as don’ts for sales presentations. She suggests videotaping a practice sales presentation to uncover some cringe-worthy mannerisms that you probably are not aware you are doing. She described a salesperson who was horrified to find that he had been buttoning and unbuttoning his shirt during his entire sales presentation. The following is a summary some common mistakes she covered:
• Winging It – When you wing it, it’s very common for your presentation to hop and pop around all over the place, lacking logical, progressive flow. It takes too long to deliver, and prospects may find it hard to follow. You leave out half the points you want to make, including effective illustrations that bring the presentation to life. Take time to prepare and practice using a logical outline. Be sure your presentation covers all the points you want to make, clearly and concisely. Don’t be afraid to give a copy of the outline to your listener.
• Being Too Informative versus Persuasive – Remember, it’s a teacher’s job to be informative, but a salesperson must be persuasive. Design a presentation that anticipates and overcomes objections before they become reasons not to buy. Think like an attorney and build arguments for why a client should work with you and your company and why they should do it now.
• Being Boring, Boring, Boring – Many professionals don’t realize just how boring their presentations have become with too many facts, a monotone voice, and the same old stories. Some have been giving the same presentation for so long that they just slip into autopilot. In today’s competitive market, your presentations must be entertaining in order to get the attention of prospects. Be creative! Put some energy into it. To stay sharp, practice with a tape recorder and listen to the playback to determine where your presentation falls apart. Make improvements accordingly. Be sure to use material that is appropriate for the audience, whether it’s made up of one or 10 people.
• Relying Too Much on Visual Aids – Companies would not need salespeople if brochures, handouts, and slides could sell on their own. Don’t let the visual aid become the star and virtually run the show. You are the star and the visual is the bit player! It’s your job to bring the presentation to life. Place visual aids in your presentation for emphasis of a major point or argument. Practice with all handouts or aids to make sure that they enhance rather than detract from your presentation.

Selling to Larger Groups

Jeff Papenfus, vice president of Sales for Warner Pacific, said that a lot of agents cringe at the idea of working on groups of over 51 employees. But, these groups can be extremely rewarding. It’s a little bit like learning a new language. At first, speaking “mid-market” may seem strange, he said. You’ll be asking different kinds of questions and you’ll need to gather different kinds of information than you would for small group.

For starters, you’ll need to be aware of some rating and legislative differences. You’ll also need to know the key qualifying questions to ask and the information you must obtain to get a quote. It is of utmost importance to submit a total picture of the group in a request for quote (RFQ). By offering complete and accurate information, you will be able to get the best rate for your group and speed the quoting process, which will give you more options to show your clients. Each carrier may only offer select plans to specific clients depending on the information on the RFQ.

By doing a thorough job up front, you can drastically reduce the risk of losing a case further down the sales cycle. You’ll also learn the answers to some very interesting questions like whether commissions and rates are negotiable.

Creating a Business Plan

Ken Doyle, a director of Marketing for Warner Pacific and president elect of LAAHU, said that most agents don’t write a business plan, which is a lot like taking a vacation without doing any planning. By failing to plan, you almost certainly fall into the trap of reacting to situations as they come along rather than dealing with priorities in a controlled, systematic manner.

Based on a recent survey by The Alan Katz Group and Miller Marketing Insights, high growth agents are more likely to draft a business plan, especially a more detailed one than they share with their company. The hardest part is mustering enough energy to get started. It may seem daunting, but once you get going, you will find that writing the plan is not as tough as it seems, he said.

The last event of the day was a presentation by motivational speaker, Jeffrey Gitomer. He advised sales people not to beg for sales like puppy dogs, as in “What can I do for you to make this sale.” He said this kind of statement only makes you seem desperate. He drove this point home with puppy dog impressions. When walking into businesses, many sales people are intimated by the “girls” at the front desk whom are now called “administrative assistants.” Rolling his eyes at the very term, he said he fails to see the difference between administrative assistants and stewardesses. (He should ask the stewardess on his next flight to complete that 100-page Excel spreadsheet while answering 10 phone lines.) Instead of asking to speak to someone in charge, he said to tell the administrative assistant that you want to speak to someone on the sales staff. A salesperson will come immediately, nipping at your heels.

Broker on the Street

We grabbed people passing our booth to get their views on the health insurance issues of today. Elise Figueroa, account manager for Union Banc in Glendale said that, in today’s economy, a lot of employers are just window-shopping for HSA plans. Many are not quite ready to make a switch to a consumer driven health plan with an HSA. As expected, employees are still complaining about runaway healthcare costs. In response, some are taking away ancillary benefits. More employers are also instituting voluntary employee paid benefits.

Carol Soltero, District Sales Manager Individual, Family and Medicare Supplement Sales for Blue Shield said, “We have seen a shift in the healthcare consumer due to the Internet. People are looking on the Internet to research and compare types of plans. It is price driven. Consumers are much savvier today.”

Reginall Richardson, CLU, ChFC of National Life in Simi Valley said, “I don’t agree with the mentality that it is our right to have health insurance.” He believes that if the Democrats get into the White House and dominate Congress, a universal health bill will pass. But, it wouldn’t go into effect for several years due to court battles. Young healthy adults who don’t want to pay for health insurance and illegal immigrants make up the major part of the uninsured. Making laws based on a small group of people is bad for the rest of the people. You don’t pass laws for the exceptions, he said. People are not aware of the many low cost healthcare programs for which they may be eligible. For example, Ventura County has an excellent health plan for low-income and moderate-income people, but most people don’t know about it. “We need to make people aware of the programs that are already out there,” he said.

BEN-E-LECT issued a flier warning that carriers are restricting access to lower cost group health plans by threatening commissions of brokers who recommend these plans in conjunction with a health reimbursement arrangement to their small group clients. CEO and president, Mark Reynolds, said BEN-E-LECT believes someone needs to stand up on behalf of California employers and brokers to defend the mandates set by AB 1672, which require every insurance carrier offering small group health plans to fairly and affirmatively offer to any small employer all of the plans available from that carrier.
The company has launched a website at http://agent.benelect.com that provides an overview of the issue, links to related documents, and form letters for agents and brokers to use to register their complaints with the Department of Insurance, Department of Managed Healthcare, Attorney General’s Office, and their local legislators.

BEN-E-LECT believes that agents can take a united stand against these carrier actions that are driving up health benefits costs for thousands of small employers and employees in California,” he said.
Responding to concerns that some health plans are not allowing employers to self-fund the deductible, Tiffany Stiller, vice president of Carrier Relations for BenefitMall, noted that doing so can often adversely affect the utilization trends so that the plan does not run the way the carrier intended it to. People are less likely to be good healthcare consumers if employers are self-funding the deductible. A better solution for employers who want to offer some form of funding is to contribute to their employees’ health savings account coupled with the appropriate high deductible plan.

Stiller said that a pressing concern for brokers is the issue of industry regulations. “Good regulations in our industry would change mandates that drive up costs and make health insurance coverage harder to get,” she said. She stressed that brokers should be very involved in healthcare issues on the state and federal level since the outcomes will determine their future. She urged agents to get involved and contact their representatives about pressing issues.
––––––––––
Leila Morris is editor of California Broker Magazine.
email: editor@calbrokermag.com