Many insurance agents are content selling one major insurance product for their main source of income and reliant on its success. Did you know that millionaires have 3-7 different streams of income to maintain and protect their financial livelihoods? Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket and expect exponential growth to continue forever. Diversification helps ensure success. How many products (income streams) are you leveraging to pad your income?
Increase your income by cultivating your product portfolio. Representing different products like Medicare Advantage, Hospital Indemnity and Long-Term Care insurance will help protect you and/or your agency from industry cycles. If your Medicare Supplement sales are tapering off, you then have other product lines like Final Expense to keep cash flowing to the agency. There are natural cycles in the senior insurance industry that you have no control of, BUT you should plan for.
When you provide products like Medicare Advantage or Medicare Supplement plans, consider offering complimentary benefits. You should be investing your time, skills and knowledge in learning products that benefit your business and clients. Many clients purchasing Medicare plans have Long-Term Care, Hospital Indemnity or Final Expense needs that have not been addressed. Each of your clients comes from different socio-economic backgrounds that demand a wide range of solutions be available. Failure to understand the complexity of your client’s needs usually delivers “a one-size fits all” solution that works best for you and NOT your client. At the end of the day, you have to take care of your clients. Don’t let something that affects their financial lives slip through the cracks because you don’t offer that solution.
As you continue to grow your business your ancillary products can amplify your business referrals and get you in front of your target demographic. Getting in front of your target clients is the toughest obstacle, and once meeting you can discover more cross selling opportunities with your expanded portfolio. Opening new lines of communication via ancillary products can bring in business year round. For example, if you are with a client and she is concerned about long-term care because her current Medicare plan does not satisfy her current needs, that opens a discussion between you and her (CMS regulations allowing). You can take even better care of your client base by offering additional benefits, and putting your eggs into multiple baskets.
