Join Amy Curran, Medicare Broker Manager with Aetna as she talks with Christy Wilbert, VP of Medicare with URL about marketing trends she is seeing that have been working. Key topics include:
- Aetna Marketing Studio
- Senior Centers
- Senior Expos
- Other community participation
- CVS store opportunities
Karen McDaniel: Good morning everybody. Thanks for joining us. I am Karen McDaniel. I am the Director of Compliance for URL Insurance Group. Christy Wilbert was, supposed to be, introducing our presenter this morning, but she, had another engagement out of town. So she asked me to jump in. I am happy to introduce Amy Curran, who is our Broker Manager for Aetna Medicare Advantage, and she's going to be discussing, Medicare marketing through a carrier's perspective.
Just one quick thing before, Amy takes over. You will see, on the right hand side a chat box, that is if you need to type any messages to any of the other, attendees who are on the webinar. There's also a q and a. So if we, if time permits at the end of the webinar, please type your questions in there and if, again, if time permits, we will, get your questions answered.
Karen McDaniel: So that's it for me. I'm gonna hand it over to Amy. Go for it, Amy.
Amy Curran: All right, thank you Karen. it's good to see Karen and hopefully everyone can hear me and, and see me clearly. So we'll go ahead and get started. So, very thankful to URL to asking us Aetna Medicare to present our Medicare marketing ideas, you know, we know that right now you might need a refresh.
You know, we're getting out of the holidays and you're looking for some new ideas to bring in not only new business, but also to retain and, and stay in touch with your current clients as well. So, you know, this is a new series that we're offering here at Aetna Medicare on our marketing ideas. So really happy to share with you the ideas that we have.
And, you know, hopefully this will help you. You know, build your book of business, especially, during this time outside of the AEP. So, let's go ahead and get started and I can always share this presentation with you as well. I know, URL has it too, so if you do need it, we can always send it over to you.
So let's look at what we're going to review today. So this is not only good for, you know, some new broker. I'm sure we have some brand new brokers on the phone with us today, as well as our seasoned agents. you know, everybody's always looking for new ideas, whether you're new or you've been in the business for a while and you just need a refresh or, you know, some other ideas.
You've tried it all and you just need some other ideas to spark your brain into, getting creative. So that's what we're here to do today. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at improving lead generations. So getting new business in your pipeline, you know, hopefully capitalize on that new business and gain them into your book of business and obviously write them an Aetna Medicare Advantage Plan, hopefully is the goal. And then obviously, we're also gonna focus on retain as well. So, you know, you might think whenever you're thinking of marketing, just gaining new individuals, but it also is very important to look at retaining your book of business, keeping your clients engaged, you know, reminding them that you're out there. I know I've gotten calls before from agents saying, Hey, you know, this person got a call and they changed them to a new plan. Maybe they forgot that you were their agent. So it's really important to stay in touch with your clients, you know, your current book of business, but also focus on getting new people as well, and, you know, retaining your book of business and staying in touch with them.
They'll remember you, they will call you always first and then, you know, bring you referrals as well. So one thing that we like to say is not only gain new business, but also retain. So we're gonna look at both of those aspects today and then, you know, you can see the bullet points right there in front of you, what we're going to review today.
So let's look at improving lead generation and also, you know, gaining new people in your books of business and growing your book of business.
You might need to step back, think some questions through and you might be in this business for a while, so you might need to just, again, refocus and, come up with new ideas. As, as you know, the marketing goes, with your business as well as new, the new agents on the call with us, there are some questions that you can ask yourself, what you can do to make yourself different, to be successful or more successful than you already are and what you can do to change what you're already doing to make you even more successful. So that's what we're here to do today, is to give you new ideas or also just refresh your memory, as I said, you know, to get you rethinking, reinvigorated on getting leads into your book of business. I get agents calling me all the time asking me, you know, what else can I do?
Amy Curran: Basically, I tell 'em what I'm telling you in this presentation. So, you know, I really hope after this webinar you are reinvigorated to, you know, hit the ground running again. Take this presentation, sit down and really, you know, think outside of the box as to what you already are doing and, you know, build your book of business even more so with generating new leads for you.
So we're gonna look at generating leads both virtually and in person because, as we know after Covid, the virtual day and age is definitely booming now. So we're definitely gonna focus on virtual as well. So, let's go ahead and we're gonna look at different lead generations and engaging prospects.
We're going to look at the virtual, as I mentioned, using social media. That is a big one. We're gonna look at, creating your personal website. I know for a fact that many of my agents on the call, don't have a personal website, so that is very important to definitely get up and running. I'm sure we have contacts for you. URL would have contacts for you. It's really, really important to have a website now, available. And I knew, I do know that some of you on the call do have a website and you may be stuck and you may not know what to do with that website.
You have it and, and nobody's going to it. So we're gonna look at how to get that website up and moving, you know, getting more hits on it and definitely, utilizing that better if you already do have one. Using your local referral sources, we're gonna look at the Medicare Marketing Studio.
You guys, I'm sure are familiar with the Medicare Marketing Studio, but it is constantly improving. It's gotten better I mean, it's been around for a while and back in the day it was a little hard to use, but it's definitely, more user friendly, more things out there for you to use. So we're gonna look at that.
We're going to look at different influences within the community. So centers of influence are where the seniors go and congregate. There's different ideas, like senior expos, senior centers, mostly senior high rises. So we're gonna look at that. And then we're also gonna look into grassroots marketing, as well for generating new leads for you.
So first up we're going to look at social media. Social media, as I said, is really growing in popularity especially with those Medicare beneficiaries. Facebook used to be, I know that was big whenever I was younger. outside of college. Thankfully, I'm glad I didn't have that whenever I was in college with social media and all that stuff.
Amy Curran: But now it is a great thing to use. Many businesses are using it. The younger kids aren't using it. They're using lots of different things like TikTok, Snapchat. I don't even know everything that they're using at this point, but, on social media Facebook is definitely the place to go. I use it. There are so many businesses out there that use it now.
It's not just for those younger kids. They don't, as I said, they don't really even use it anymore. It is for the seniors. They definitely love doing it. They like, you know, keeping in touch with their kids, their older kids, and, you know, seeing pictures of their grandkids, but they also get their information on there.
They, you know, the news is out there. They're, updating stories. So definitely look into Facebook to, you know, push yourself out there, start a, a profile page for yourself as an agent. So not a personal page, but an agent. profile page. promoting yourself as you are the local representative, you know, you're not a call center that some of these people are, you know, seen out there. You are the expert, the local expert out there. So push yourself, use Facebook, organize your profile. If you have an agency, definitely put your agency out there. Do an agency profile page.
Just put out informative articles that you find online about, different things that seniors might like. you know, if you see something that's gonna be going on in your community that the senior might be interested in, if there's some sort of, bingo night for seniors or just any sort of like a senior expo, advertise that on your page, you help those seniors, they're gonna in turn help you, you know, come to you as the expert.
I can't stress that enough that you are the local expert. So use it. Push yourself. Use your broker managers as well. I do have a full presentation on social media, Facebook, you know, marketing. LinkedIn marketing so we can get a webinar scheduled for that as well, to just focus on social media.
Amy Curran: But please use it. a really, important thing that I wanna mention with all of these social media, pages, you know, with Facebook, LinkedIn, which we're gonna get into as well. Link it back to a personal website. You may already have a personal website, so you're a step ahead of the game definitely.
But always link it back to your personal website so you can get some hits on your personal website. They will go there, they can email you, they can, you know, register for a meeting. You can also put meetings out on Facebook and people can register there as well. I'm on Facebook. I would be happy to share, meetings if I'm your broker manager and I see something out there, I'm happy to help you market things as well.
We at Aetna Medicare definitely are there for our brokers, so anything that we can do to help you move this along and get some more leads coming your way. So definitely use Facebook if you're not already using it. If you need help with that, let your broker manager know and we would be more than happy to assist you.
So you can advertise Medicare 101 presentations out there, so many things that you can do with social media. Another option would be through LinkedIn. LinkedIn is more professionally based. I'm on LinkedIn. Again, happy to share anything that you would post, on my page. I have lots of contacts, within the health insurance industry as well as elsewhere.
So, you know, go out there, look for community centers of influences. There are so many different business pages out there that you could connect with there are financial advisors out there. I highly recommend connecting with local financial advisors. A lot of the time, financial advisors have so many leads, you know, they're helping these seniors build up, getting them financially, savvy and stable. And then they talk to them about Medicare and a lot of financial advisors don't wanna get into Medicare. So, they are looking to send the referrals to someone and there's so many financial advisors.
So definitely look for them on LinkedIn, connect with them. you can also post an elevator pitch about yourself. again, I would be happy to share that for you. Build connections, just, you know, post updates, articles about your business. Definitely join groups out there. There's so many groups that you can join.
Again, a financial advisor. There's definitely groups on there about that. Elder law folks out there that, you know, you might wanna, connect with. So definitely a lot of professional connections out there on LinkedIn. So, I'm thinking more of Facebook personal, directly to the Medicare beneficiaries, market yourself to those seniors out there on Facebook.
LinkedIn is a way to connect with, the businesses out there. I don't know of many seniors out on LinkedIn, but this is more to connect yourself with other companies, to market yourself to them. So in turn, they would, work with you and then hopefully send you referrals as well.
Amy Curran: So, Definitely use LinkedIn if you're not already doing so. We can get you training on that if you need it. Update it with pictures. It's always good to see your face. It's, good to put, face with a name and a voice. Do searches, you know, as you're sitting, watching TV or something, at night, look for good articles about, senior centers or just senior living and also about your business.
I think you can put your link for a personal website. So again, I strongly re recommend linking back your LinkedIn,to your personal website as well.
Amy Curran: I've been talking about your personal website. Definitely get a personal website up and running. have all of your pages linked back to your personal website. I would say to find a local resource to help you develop it.
I am in no way a website developer, I unfortunately can't help you with that. I could probably, guide you to individuals that can help you. But it's definitely good to use a website developer. you know, and, and again, you can go, you can try to find one through LinkedIn or different networking groups that you might have. Ask around who they used in the past, to help you build your website.
Definitely keep it updated. That is an important thing. There are so many websites that I go out there and it's just not been updated. Keep at it. It will become successful. It might be hard in the beginning. you know, create a brand, create a logo. put your face on there. Definitely get it out there.
It's a good way to stay in touch with clients, if you're gonna be advertising a meeting that they can go to your website and register for a meeting, and keep the content updated as I mentioned. And, just really informative to your agents.
Amy Curran: So definitely, get a personal website if you don't already have one we would be more than happy to, guide you in that as well.
Just local referral sources. Some of these things, you know, I mentioned already, but use your current clients. At the very end of the presentation, I'm going to talk about staying in touch of your current clients, focus on retention. We always push getting new business, but retention is also very, very key to you as well as to us.
So work with your current clients because they are going to bring you referrals. Non-health, health insurance brokers, I already mentioned this. Financial advisors. There's plenty of networking groups out there that you could, connect with as well to grow your book of business.And then a retail opportunity that we have at Aetna Medicare. And I do have a slide on that coming up as well to, hopefully get you out there and, gaining new individuals in your book of business.
So, how do you start a conversation? They're right there for you. So just ask for opportunities. Again, promote yourself. I always try to stress this. Promote yourself as the local, resource for Aetna, Medicare in general. You are who they should go to with their questions.
So definitely, promote yourself. I can't, stress that enough. Provide your contact information. If you have a social media page, website, add that to your business card. Offer to co-facilitate events. So if a financial advisor is holding an event offer to help them with that, you know, offer some money towards it or something along to co-facilitate an event. So just some questions and how to push yourself as the local market expert out thereand grow your book of business.
So let's look at the Medicare Marketing Studio. And again, we do have flyers on the Medicare Marketing studio. I have training on Medicare Marketing Studio, so happy to do that for you as well. But it is a one stop shop where you can get all of, CMS approved, customized ads, flyers, postcards, there are Medicare 101, flyers out there.
You can advertise Medicare 101 meetings. We also have a Medicare 101 presentation. I know right now,Medicare 101 s are, very popular, especially right now, getting those agents, whenever it's a slower time right now. So definitely look at doing Medicare 101 presentations. Like I said, we do have Medicare 101 presentations.
You can promote senior expos. we have things that you can order for CVS retail. Again, I will be getting into senior CVS retail here soon. market yourself through fitness centers. I have some slides on that coming up as well. So, Medicare Marketing Studio, again, I'm sure you've, are familiar with it. There are, CMS approved ads, flyers, postcards. You can order giveaways as well, but if you do want giveaways for events that you're having, definitely reach out to your broker manager. We would be more than happy to send you some things that we have available. You don't need to go through the marketing studio. Reach out to your broker manager first before you order giveaways.
Amy Curran: We can also get you, you know, a pop-up banner. I have one behind me. I think you can see, , there's also tablecloths out there for you. So different table banners, little tabletop banners, so lots of good things out there. So if you do come across something like that that you're interested in, reach out to your broker manager. We'd be more than happy to work with you on that.
And then obviously, customizing ads. You can go in there, you can add pictures to the ads, you can add your contact information. So a lot of really good stuff out there on Marketing Studio. There are some Facebook's ads out there. I know I've been stressing the social media marketing, but there's some Facebook ads out there already for you, so definitely take a look at that.
It looks like there's also some Facebook tutorials, but again, I have a presentation if you would want that I could send it over to you. You know, we have so much information, we could present to you every day on different things.There's just so much information. So if you ever think of anything, just reach out to your broker manager, and, and we can get you the information that you need.
Amy Curran: So, Medicare Marketing Studio, definitely social media, get up and running on that. I can't stress that enough. I'm happy to help you, you know, push it out there if you need it. And, so let's look into grassroots opportunities. Many of these, you might already know of, and it's just a simple refresher for you.
Let's get into some of the grassroot marketing ideas that I have for you. So first up, obviously senior centers. if you can get yourself into senior centers, you can offer a wide array of different events at senior centers. They love to have people come in and entertain them. So, you know, Bingo's a big one if they do that. You might have cooking classes, just Medicare one-on-one presentation. definitely Medicare 101, don't need to be filed because you're not talking about plan specific information. if you want to do a Medicare 101, do it in the morning and bring them pastries and donuts and breakfast and coffee.
Look at doing something like that if you have senior centers available to you. Benefits checkup is another great one. these do not need to be filed because they are.not planned specific. I'm gonna get into benefits checkup here in a little bit.
Amy Curran: You can do benefits checkup presentations at senior centers. An example that I have for you is, I had a broker that he would be there, I don't know, two times a month I think it was. The senior center that he worked with the, organizer, the manager there, sent out an email letting them know that, he was gonna be there to do benefits checkup and they did preset appointments.
So that worked really well. I would caution you to make sure that they're far enough apart that, the broker, you the broker, have time to get through a benefits checkup before your next appointment comes in. That's the one thing that I saw. there was somebody already waiting, so it, it was a little backup. I was there to help out. But, you know, if it's just, you definitely put enough time. I would say our appointment for sure. For benefits checkup, just to give you enough time to talk with the individual. And again, we'll get into benefits checkup here shortly. But that is one thing that you can do at senior centers.
Set appointments, preset appointments is really good. You can also set up a table at a gym facility. A fitness facility, and have a tablecloth there representing yourself. It doesn't even need to be an Aetna tablecloth. It can be a tablecloth,just promoting your agency as well. And you can do a benefits checkup there for individuals.
I would highly recommend looking at the schedule of the fitness facility of when the senior centers or the senior, exercise classes are and, and set up a table then as well. So, and maybe have bottles of water for the individuals as they're coming out of their, their fitness class. Some healthy granola bars or something. Many opportunities out there. Use your gyms, use your local gyms, use senior centers.
Amy Curran: If you find senior expos, use them as well. senior centers is a big one for dual eligible. So if you are within the dual eligible, market, you might already have some contacts with, your local food banks.
Local food banks are definitely a good go-to place, to connect with these individuals. Give them the information that they need. They're there getting their food. so you could set up a table there if you, if you want to. you know, offer your services at a local food bank if you're interested in the DSNP market space.
If you're not, definitely reach out to your local broker manager to get up and running. It is such a hot market. our product definitely at Aetna Medicare is, hard to beat. I know this isn't about products, but with our dental, it's $7,000 dental for these folks. They get an amazing, I believe it's $720 extra and benefits for healthy foods and OTC items.
Amy Curran: So reach out to us. If you're not already in the dual eligible space, we would be happy to get you up and running, get you some training on that. But if you are, definitely reach out to your Senior Market Pantry programs, and especially the local food banks that are out there.
They may even do different meal delivery programs. Really good opportunity to market to these individuals. And these people just love to see, other people, and they just, they get so thankful for people that are trying to help them, that, you know, you will just be a hero in their eyes.
So even senior high rises, if you can get into them, sometimes they're difficult to get into, but if you have connections, definitely use them and promote yourself. Another really good thing was brought to us a couple years ago, setting up in a laundromat. These people, you know, they're sitting there, they're waiting for their laundry.
Get a table, set it up again. It doesn't need to be filed with CMS because you're not gonna talk about, plan specific information. it'll would just be general information. they're there and they're doing their laundry. They have hours to spare, so, and they wanna talk to somebody.
So bring material. You could even do benefits checkup in a laundromat. You could bring snacks and waters while they're waiting. And so, and you just start, it really starts with a conversation. You start that conversation, it leads into another thing.
And then, they're like, wow. This person really knows what they're talking about. I'm gonna give them a call or I'm gonna set up a meeting right here with them. So use it. The laundry project I think is a great thing. I don't think people are using it enough. I'm definitely not in central Pennsylvania that I'm aware of.
So use it. It starts with a conversation, so just start chatting with them and then it leads into another thing. Promote yourself as the local expert. That's what these people need. And, and again, they like to talk to people. So look into the laundromats. I know they're out there. and I know definitely people use them. So, research laundromats.
I think the social media is definitely a key new thing for agents out there and then also the laundromat. I think that's huge and again, I don't think people utilize it enough, so hopefully you're finding out some really good tidbits of information from me today.
Amy Curran: All right. Benefits checkup. I did, mention it briefly on, the senior expos because you can do a benefits checkup there. It's a program that, you enter in your client's information and it will pull up money saving programs for these individuals, for prospects. You save these individuals money, they're gonna again, see you as a hero and they're going to refer people to you. They're always gonna come back to you and say, John really helped me out. You gotta give him a call. He has this benefits checkup program. He saved me money on, my different medications. He found out that I had low income subsidy and I didn't even know I was eligible for that.
So, really good thing. definitely you can help, these individuals apply for things online that they might not know that they're eligible for. We have a full presentation on benefits checkup that I can also, send out if you need it. Broker manager would be more than happy to sit down with you to go over benefits checkup because you can use it in so many different, avenues, within your marketing as well.
So, benefits checkup, it's been around for a while. So you may be familiar with it, but you might need a refresher. Or if you're a new broker, you might not know what it is, so, it's online or you can also do prints. You can print it, and then you can enter in the, information on your computer to tell your client what programs that they're eligible for.
So they answer some online questions. Some of them aren't mandatory. They can enter in their prescriptions, so it'll look to see if there's any money saving programs for prescriptions. If they're eligible for a law heap. So, saving on energy bills, taxes. There's so many different things out there. it'll identify if somebody is eligible for Pace net and they can apply right there for you. And guess what? If I didn't have everyone on mute, I would be asking you a question. But what, what happens when Pace or Pace NAS net or LAS is opened up?
If, if they find out that they're eligible, it opens up an SEP for them. So not only is benefits check up bringing new referrals, bringing you new business, helping out your current clients as well. But it's also going to, hopefully open up some SEPs for these individuals. So then, if they need to, they can change plans.
So many opportunities with benefit checkup, benefitscheckup.org. I'm not sure if I have the website on the next slide or not. Again, happy to schedule a presentation or a training with you if you want more information on that. This is not benefit specific, so these things don't need to be filed with CMS, just trying to make your life easy. So definitely use benefits checkup if you're not already. There's a benefits checkup flyer out on the marketing studio and you can customize it with your contact information. So you can give that out to individuals as well. But, there is a way, there's a fast track benefits checkup, so it won't take as long, it won't ask as many questions, so you won't get, as many money saving results.
And then there's a comprehensive questionnaire as well, so won't get into the specifics of benefits checkup, but if you do need help on it, please let us know and we'd be more than happy to assist you.
Karen McDaniel: Hey, Amy?
Amy Curran: Yes.
Karen McDaniel: So we're gonna go, the question we're getting the most is, how do you find the marketing studio? Is it on producer worlds?
There should be a link on Producer world. There is also a website, and I don't have it off the top of my head, but what I can do, Karen, is I can, send it over to you if you wanna blast it out to everybody. Sure. Would that work, or? Yep. I can blast it out to everybody too.
Karen McDaniel: That's okay. Just send it to me. We'll get it out.
Amy Curran: Okay. All right. I will make myself a note or otherwise I will forget. All right. I'll get that out to everybody. I'm sorry that it's not in the presentation. As far as benefits checkup, I already mentioned it can, unveil some special election periods, so LIS pace, pacenet, that would open up an SEP for somebody. So, and a lot of these people don't know that they're eligible for LIS. It is good to be able to help them with that. You help your clients by saving them money, especially, with this. So there is a way to apply for LIS right there on, benefits checkup as well. The application is linked to the Social Security Administration. we can,get you that information if you do need that as.
So switching gears. Another really important, marketing avenue for you is the military. So if you're not familiar, we have a really good MA only. It is geared towards the vets that use the va, it can be used for other individuals as well. It, allows an individual to still use their VA benefits, but they can also use, their MA only benefits as well through Aetna Medicare. They get extra benefits with it, so that's a key piece of it.
Amy Curran: They're gonna get dental, they're going to get OTC. They will get transportation, and in some cases also healthy foods as well. So, MA only, you know, we went over the D step plans, so that is a niche market as well as this MA only plan is with our niche market. Definitely if you have connections with the veterans, use them.
Connect with your local va. as well as you can connect with the VFWs, the legions you can have events there. If you can get into one of the legions or, the VFWs, post a flyer up on a, board. I know, you know, some agents have done that at the VA and, advertise a meeting if you want to.
If you can get in there and have a table there, you can also do that as well. There are flyers out on the Medicare Marketing Studio promoting our, VA plans as well as promoting yourself. So, there are, again, flyers out there. There's postcards. Definitely check out the marketing studio.
Market yourself using the veterans, benefits as well. The MA only plan, emphasize Aetna's value and reputation among veterans. We've worked with a lot of them. You know, educate the veterans. Not only can they use their VA benefits still, but they also get all of these extra benefits, as I mentioned, dental, vision, hearing that they don't already get with their VA benefits.
Amy Curran: So very strong. place to market yourself is with the veterans. Check out, the marketing studio for some other flyers. If you do have questions about getting into a VFW or a Legion, definitely talk to them. See if you can get in.
If, you need, information, materials, we'd be more than happy to supply them for you.
So just be prepared. when you are meeting with the veterans, you know, be empathetic with them. They, like to talk and they like to be listened to, so know the right questions to ask the veterans. Let the veterans know why they should be enrolling in a Medicare only plan, especially the Aetna Medicare Eagle plan.
These individuals don't know what else is out there for them. The MA only plan can help them tremendously with the extra benefits. Plus the MA only plan there is a part B give back on the MA only plan. These individuals think, oh, I can only use my Medicare and my VA benefits. That's not true. They can also enroll into an MA only plan. And get some really great extra benefits.
Amy Curran: So a lot of other questions that you might run across, please let us know. We can help them, we can help you understand the MA only plan a little bit better.
You can sell the MA only plan to someone who's not in the military. There are some other opportunities for, outside the military for our MA only plan. As an individual that has a prescription drug plan with their employer coverage. So there are other opportunities outside of the military to sell our MA only plan.
Reach out to your broker manager if you want more information on how to market our MA only plan. But a key piece of it is to do with our military as well as our VAs.
Amy Curran: As I mentioned, we have q&a flyers, so you need to know the right questions to ask the vets. Ask them about their time in the military, they like to talk about it, they like to reminisce. So use that to your vantage point. Talk to them. I talked about it at the laundromat, example that I had talk to these individuals.
Start out the conversation, ask them questions about themselves and then, hopefully that will lead into what you can offer these individuals. So we do have a question and answer flyer and again, I can get this information out to Karen if that would be easier.
Anything that I mention or anything that you want, I can send it over to her to, send out to you. Or vice versa if Karen, if you wanna send me who attended and we can definitely get you some more information that is held in this presentation.
Amy Curran: Retail. So, retail is another big thing that we have available. You might not be familiar with it, and if you are, it's good for some people and some people don't wanna do it and that's okay. So we have opportunities mostly within the CVS retail stores that you can set up a table. And market yourself, and also the Aetna Medicare, brand as well.
So if you do want to do the CVS retail, reach out to your broker manager. We can assist you in getting set up. We have a database that tells us stores that are successful.
Amy Curran: You know, have a more, senior populated individuals that come into the store as well as, you know, the timing of when these individuals come in. So talk to your broker manager. We can definitely get you set up as a CVS retail store. You know, they're not booming with traffic, so I just have to caution you that it's not, there's gonna be lines of people. These people are coming in, they're getting their prescription meds, they see you and they say, hey, I have Aetna, Medicare, or Medicare, huh? Okay, well, how can you help me? So a good place to do these are at the CVS Health Hubs. Not all of them are health hubs.
You can certainly do them at any CVS, but, the health hubs are a little bit more populated because that's where individuals can go and get checkups if you're not familiar with that. They can do walk-ins, they can do appointments where they can get, different vaccines.
If they're not feeling well, they think they have a sore throat, they can go in and see a nurse practitioner there. So you might wanna look at the health hubs at the CVSs. they, they tend to get a little bit more. They'll come up to you and obviously you can't have the table right there where they're getting their care or where they're getting their prescriptions.
Amy Curran: But, you can have it within CVS, within a common area. We do have training on the retail program for you. Look at the local stores, go out and visit your local stores and see if they would be open to, having you as the Medicare expert, in their store.
On the marketing studio, there are some flyers that we would have out there for you, it would be basically the Medicare 101 flyers. What's the difference between an Advantage plan and the other plans that are out there? Or why a Medicare Advantage plan? So we would get you set up, I know myself as a broker manager will get you set up with all the flyers that you need.
There's a standing flyer holder that we would give to you as well. Really great program, to get you in front of individuals. It's not gonna be a line of traffic, if you want the line of traffic, the CVS retail program probably isn't for you.
Amy Curran: It's gonna be, hopefully, three to five leads in a day that come up to you. We will give you, permission to contact forms. If you're not familiar with permission to contact forms, they can fill it out and that will give you permission to contact the individual that you spoke with that day.
So we'll give you them as well, this is another opportunity for you. CVS is, is our big one, that we have available to you right now. If you're interested in that, please reach out to your broker manager. It will give you year round leads because people may not be eligible right now, but they could be eligible in the AEP or they might have a friend who is eligible, and then they refer them to you.
Another opportunity to be local. Be present. Again, you are, the local expert within the community. So all of these ideas hopefully are, triggering you to think, on what you can do in your next step, after this meeting and get planning.
Amy Curran: All right. Just a couple more slides. Then if there's any questions, I can definitely help with that. We have about 15 minutes left, so we're good on time here. So let's focus on retention. One thing back in the day when I first started, when you would say, let's talk about marketing, I would think only new business.
That's not, as I mentioned, it's gain and retain, gain and maintain. So, we also wanna retain your book of business. We also wanna retain your clients. I don't like, when I get calls and or emails about, you know, this person, they switch plans and they didn't wanna switch plans and they didn't know they were switching plans.
I don't like that. I mean, we will research it and generally the member did make the change and they just didn't like that they did it, or they might have forgotten that they did it. So we really want to protect your clients and you need to do that. As this says it takes months to find a customer.
Amy Curran: You know that, that's where we're talking about this marketing. To get you out there and growing your book of business. But it takes seconds to lose one. They get one phone call or they get one mailer and they call, and then whoever's on that call line, you know, somehow gets them to talking because that's what they wanna do.
They wanna talk. and then they get them switched and then, they might not be with the your local market expert anymore. So definitely focus on retaining your clients. I know a lot of brokers do not keep in touch with their clients, and sometimes those are the ones calling me that they lost one of their clients.
You need to stay in front of your clients. It's cheaper, easier, and more effective to retain current clients than it is to acquire new ones. And again, you're retaining those current customers. They're gonna, in turn send you referrals, which will be new clients for you. So let's look at, what you can do to retain your clients.
So frequently engage your clients. Quarterly newsletters do emails, you know, or you can do mailers. I know brokers do mailers as well. People like to receive mail too. I know I do. So, you could do emails, you know, stay in touch with them through social media, text messages if they do text messages.
I know seniors are definitely getting more tech savvy. So use that to your advantage. you know, my mom, who's, I guess almost 72 now, she just got into the text messaging age and I love it. I talk to her all the time and she text messages now.
So use that. you know, she's the great example. She didn't wanna do it for the longest time, but now she's doing it. So a lot of 'em are using text messages out there. Send them birthday cards. I know I love getting a card in the mail. My birthday's next month, by the way. But, but, you know, I love getting cards in the mail. Just a little surprise in your mailbox.
So send them birthday cards. That's gonna go a long way. They're gonna remember you, they're gonna refer you, and they're not going to change. That's the problem. They forget and they say, oh, I haven't heard from my broker in, you know, six months. I don't know where he is at. Keep in front of them.
Anniversary cards, if you know that their anniversary's coming up, their wedding anniversary, send them cards. That goes a long way. Client get togethers, do something fun. I know that's something that we're trying to think out of the box here in Aetna Medicare, especially for our broker trainings, doing something different.
Host a movie night, bowling, an ice cream social, different things. You know, these are just examples. I'm sure you guys can think of many more examples, than I can. So just think outside the box and run it by your broker manager. If you think it's, you know, out of this world crazy, you know, idea, run it by somebody and we'll let you know.
Amy Curran: So, definitely stay in touch with your current book of business frequently. I would definitely say quarterly, stay in touch with them. Even if it's just, hey, do you have any questions? Don't forget I'm here for you. Get magnets made of your business card or your contact information so they can have that on their, refrigerator, for them to see as well.
So not only retaining, but that will bring you, new clients as well for referrals. So stay in front of them because again, I know I do not like getting those calls from you guys saying, oh, this person was changed. They didn't change. Well then when we do the research, they did do it.
They might have forgotten or, you know, they didn't know what they were doing. So stay in touch and that will definitely lower the, odds of them changing to a new broker. Because I don't like to see that happen either. So definitely stay in front of your clients as well.
So, I know I went over a lot of information and I was moving very quickly, because I get very excited and sometimes I tend to talk really fast when I get excited. But there are so many good opportunities out there for you to definitely get your business moving at this time.
You know, AEP is over. We had a breather. Now it's time to pick it up again. There are so many ideas that you can do to reinvigorate your business or if you're new, to start fresh. And, you know, there's a lot of ideas. And again, if you think of anything else or want to run an idea by us, please let us know.
We are an open book, as you know, at Aetna Medicare. We're always looking for ideas, suggestions, always here for you. So one other thing I do wanna mention before, we can open it up to any questions that Karen might have seen come through. I know this is outside of this presentation, but we are having vendor showcases coming up.
Vendor showcases you are the expert of Medicare, but you also wanna be the expert on our products. And as you know, they're always changing. we had some big changes during this, AEP, some new things added that you might not know how they work yet.
So we are doing a vendor showcase. They are out on the RSVP website. I can get that over to you as well. I can send Karen the dates if needed and the registration site. But the vendor showcase, it's an all day thing. You can come and go. It's all the vendors that we have with our products such as Nation's Hearing, dental, many different vendors that are slipping my mind right now.
But, on February 8th, it starts at 9:00 AM. And then February 14th, it starts at 9:00 AM as well. So, and it runs all day. There is an agenda, so if you wannajump on and off, you can also do that. So again, February 8th and February 14th is our vendor showcase and we can get you more information on that.
There is also a new one added, which is dental only. So a dental only, training with the dental folks. There is one February 21st at 9:00 AM. Or February 23rd at 2:00 PM That one was just added yesterday. I just added it into the system.
So we get lots of questions. What's the total choice? What's the dental benefit? How does this work? What's extractions on what plan? So definitely a really good webinar to attend as well. So the dental only webinar, again, would be February 21st at 9:00 AM February 23rd at 2:00 PM. We have those, we have so many trainings coming up.
With URL we'll be back again on February 9th at 10:00 AM. I'm going to be doing an extra benefits webinar. So if you've been getting questions about the healthy foods card that they got, or, the OTC, we're gonna be looking at that. I have an in-depth presentation that focuses only on that, so that will be with URL that is on February 9th at 10:00 AM So that'll be about an hour long presentation.
And then on March 14th, we'll be back with URL, March 14th, 2:00 PM. We're gonna be focusing on DSNP. So we talked about DSNP Marketing. If you do wanna get into that, definitely reach out to your broker manager. But you will have an opportunity to learn more on that on, March 14th with us at 2:00 PM I think I hit upon everything.
It was a lot of information. I really hope you found it informative. I was excited to present it. I'm definitely gonna be adding this to my rotation of presentation, so I really thank URL for encouraging us to do this. It, was hopeful for all of us. So, Karen, are there any questions that you have for me?
Karen McDaniel: No questions. I was able to find the Medicare Marketing studio and I did put the link to that in the chat feature. If you simply just go to aetna hub.com, it will then automatically send you to the Medicare marketing studio where you do have to login. I think it says, Username is your NPN, and then a password.
If you don't have your password, you can just click on forgot password, and then it should be able to be reset for you.
Amy Curran: Yep. And then when you first log in, you'll see a profile pop up, so you'll have to update your profile, and then once you do that, hit submit, and then that will bring you into all of the different ads that are available to you.
Anything else?
Karen McDaniel: I don't think so. It was all really, really good information. Just from the compliance side of things, I always feel like agents are always afraid to kind of represent a carrier at something and they think it's like this huge process to get it approved by CMS and it's simply not true.
You know, there's a spreadsheet that you just have to fill out and send it over to myself or to Amy directly or your broker manager directly, and then they file it with CMS. If you want any kind of Aetna giveaways, again, reach out to your broker manager and they can, give you stuff that they have available to have at the table.
Karen McDaniel: So it's, really not difficult to represent a carrier, at some kind of, you know, marketing event. Mm-hmm. Yep.
Amy Curran: Okay. Well, yeah, so let us know questions. we can get you any information that you need. And again, as Karen stated, if you need any sort of giveaways, reach out to your broker manager.
Don't, order them through the marketing studio. We can definitely get you hooked up with that. So, Yeah. So thank you so much, Karen. This was a really great presentation. Be happy to do it again with you guys sometime and everyone have a good day.
Karen McDaniel: Great. Thanks Amy.
Amy Curran: Stay safe. Bye-bye.
Karen McDaniel: You too. Bye-bye.