In business, a post-mortem generally refers to a meeting held at the end of a project. As a Medicare agent, your most significant project each year is AEP, and – if you’re an independent agent – you are the team. When you earn such a large portion of your annual income in just 54 days each year, it’s imperative that you optimize your approach to AEP. A post-mortem today will help you make the most of AEP next year and every year to come.
Review Your Successes and Failures to Improve Client Communication and Future AEP Results
This process should provide you with valuable, in-depth insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your business strategies. Is client communication a theme throughout the entire process? From the first meet and greet to the follow-up thank you card, communicating with your client throughout each step in the process can ensure future client loyalty and retention. When it comes to building your book of business, keeping honest and open communication with your client builds trust and the feeling that you are just as invested with them as they are with you. If your post-mortem is truly going to be effective at improving your sales next AEP, it’s important to ask yourself the hard questions and to answer them honestly.
Did I use my time effectively during AEP?
Did you get to every client and prospect you should have this AEP? If the answer is “no,” acknowledge that fact and drill down a bit to determine why you weren’t able to connect with everyone you intended to during AEP.
How could you have spent your time differently? Were you so focused on new clients that you put off touching base with your existing book of business? Were you too dependent on traditional methods like mail campaigns to put time into grassroots marketing or online promotion?
Take a good hard look at how you spent your time, and if you weren’t satisfied with your results, realize that your priorities will require some shifting next time AEP rolls around. Then, take the time to plan now for what you’ll do differently next year to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
How was my pacing?
Did you procrastinate and end up trying to make all of your sales in the back half of AEP? Did you start strong but burn out before you met your goals?
If you ran into either of these issues, you can avoid them in future AEPs by planning your sales goal for AEP and then dividing that number by 54 to determine how many apps per day you need.
Let’s say, for example, that your goal was 100 apps.
100 ÷ 54 = 1.85
In this example, you’d need to write about 2 apps per day to meet your goal. This doesn’t mean you should restrict yourself. Just use your goal as a benchmark to help you keep your pace throughout AEP.
Did I use my budget effectively?
Evaluate your spending and determine what changes you need to make next year. If you purchased leads, did you buy enough? Were you happy with their quality, or should you consider using a different vendor?
How about mailers? Did you use them? Were they effective, or do you need to retune your strategy next AEP?
Look at your conversion rate and the lead sources where your conversions originated. What was your highest-converting method? It may be wise to shift your budget toward your more productive methods next AEP.
What was my product mix?
Were you able to offer the products your clients were looking for? Do the policies you sell cover a wide range of beneficiaries’ health and budget needs?
Review your product mix for this AEP and reflect on your client appointments. Were there times when you weren’t able to close a sale because you couldn’t offer the coverage a prospect needed? Identify these gaps and start looking for ways to fill them. If you’re contracted with NCC, you can always call your Marketing Specialist for help finding plans to round out your portfolio.
Do my commissions match my records?
The final portion of your AEP post-mortem will occur in January, when you should audit your commissions. An audit will not only help you track down any commissions you may not have received but also give you an overview of the popularity of the plans you sell within your local market.
Where to Go from Here
Use the time between AEP and the new year to prepare for Q1. If you need leads for January, start planning now.
Don’t just focus on new clients, though. Develop a game plan for reaching out to current clients to make sure you keep them on the books for next year. Concentrate as much of your time as is necessary on retention efforts, not just to keep the clients you have but to make sure you get their referrals in the future.
If you have concerns about the coming year, the NCC team is ready to help. Contact a Marketing Specialist at 800-695-0280 today to discuss how to make your Q1 a success.
