Are you looking for the best Medicare Advantage leads?

Perhaps your regular method of generating insurance leads has worn out.

Maybe you’re looking for new ways of selling Medicare Advantage with a different source of leads.

If that describes you, you’re in luck!

In today’s article, I detail the most effective Medicare Advantage leads money can buy.

I’ll describe each lead generation strategy we recommend based on the Medicare Advantage market you want to target.

Whether you market to:

• • The T65 Medicare Advantage market, or,

• • The Special Election Period (SEP) market,

• • The Annual Election Period (AEP) Medicare market,

We’ve got you covered in this article!

Let’s begin!

NOTE: Are you an aspiring or new insurance agent looking for more insight on how the insurance sales industry works? Check out my free New Insurance Agent Resource Guide to help answer many of your questions (as well as ones you didn’t know you had!).

Overview

• Why Leads?

• Best Leads

• What Is The SEP Market?

• T-65

• AEP

• Best Market?

• More Resources

Why Leads Are Important

If you’re new to selling insurance, or if you’re considering selling Medicare Advantage, you MUST understand this…

If you want success selling Medicare Advantage, you MUST have a tried-and-true lead generation strategy.

And generating MA leads is different than other lines of insurance.

With Medicare Advantage, there is far more compliance rules to adhere to regarding the sale of Medicare Advantage programs.

For example, an agent cannot cold call for Medicare Advantage business.

Because of these compliance guidelines, we rely on paid leads to sell Medicare Advantage.

In my national agency, we recruit and train Medicare Advantage agents across the country.

My agents get scalable, affordable, quality Medicare Advantage sales lead programs, targeting the best prospects for sales opportunities.

Medicare Advantage Leads Reviews

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb59sO0P69M

Below, I detail those Medicare Advantage marketing programs offered in my agency.

I’ll note where applicable how you can access similar lead programs without joining my agency.

Year Round SEP Marketing

The primary strategy we use is targeting the Special Election Period (SEP) market.

This is a year-round sales opportunity not limited to the year-end AEP Medicare season.

And the good news?

It’s still an untapped opportunity compared to other Medicare Advantage lead generation strategies.

What Is The SEP Market?

The Special Election Period Market targets populations of Medicare Advantage clients that switch plans any time of the year.

Our primary target market are:

• • Medicare Advantage clientele qualifying for low-income subsidies or Extra Help,

• • Folks labeled as “Dual Eligible” (or D-SNP) who have both Medicare and Medicaid or,

• • Have access to a special plan to cover their chronic disease like diabetes.

Our goal is to meet with prospects, build rapport and trust, then discover opportunities for better Medicare Advantage plans.

We LOVE this Medicare Advantage marketing strategy for the following reasons:

Year-Round Sales

Most Medicare Advantage markets only work in October through December.

Why?

The governing bodies of Medicare Advantage restrict non-SEP members to a once-a-year change during Annual Enrollment Period occurring between October and December.

While targeting clientele during AEP is great, there’s only so much business you can write within a 10 to 12 week period of time, right?

However, if your goal is to build a hefty book of business paying considerable renewals…

… Then switching your marketing focus to the SEP market can make a positive difference!

With a year-long marketing strategy targeting SEP prospects, generating MUCH higher higher Medicare Advantage sales is VERY possible.

1,000 Medicare Advantage Plans In 1 Year

Let me give you an example.

We have an agent north of Detroit who wrote more than 1,000 Medicare Advantage plans in his first full year.

He exclusively targeted Medicare Advantage SEP opportunities.

This is an exceptional accomplishment that few have ever achieved. And needless to say, he worked his arse off =).

I did an interview with them to detail is methodology for success. You can go here to review it.

Underserved Market

Guess what?

The Special Election Period market is largely under-served.

We’ve discovered the SEP market is full of clientele that simply do not know there are better Medicare Advantage plans available to them.

Why?

Part of the reason is that there isn’t as many Medicare Advantage agents targeting this market as with others.

That lack of interest is your opportunity!

Offering better Medicare Advantage programs to this market is well-received.

Because many are low-income and have little to no savings, they’re appreciative when we get them an improved MA plan.

Leads Are Plentiful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt-lrfTTXzE&t=8s

Special Election Period marketing allows us to get a consistent flow of leads, pretty much anywhere in the country.

We have several lead generation strategies we employ for our agents. Let’s detail them below.

Direct Mail

Our preferred Medicare Advantage lead generation strategy utilizes direct mail business reply card mailers.

Here’s how it works…

Our agents order direct mail leads on a fixed-price basis.

Currently, we charge $25 per lead BEFORE possibly applying a lead cost reduction. Continue reading for more info.

Agents can order one-time orders or ongoing orders.

We recommend on-going orders. Most full-time agents take 20 leads weekly or more.

The agent pays for the mailers upfront for 3 to 4 weeks before receiving replies.

What do you get?

The lead returns with complete with personal details like address and phone number, agreeing to receiving more information on what the lead discusses.

Direct Mail Is King

Out of all the Medicare Advantage lead generation strategies, direct mail is superior.

Why is that?

There are a number of reasons…

Better Recall Rates. Direct mail is unique in that it has higher recall rates due to its level of engagement.

For example, before you receive the lead, the recipient had to:

1. 1. Walk to the mailbox,

1. 1. Open the letter,

1. 1. Read and consider what the mailer says,

1. 1. Possibly discuss the lead with a spouse or child, then finally,

1. 1. Fill out the lead and walk it back to the mailbox.

This level of engagement requires more effort and attention than replying to a telemarketing lead or filling out an online lead form like on Facebook.

Why? Those lead generation strategies are more spontaneous in nature.

The client is under pressure to answer a telemarketing call. Many online lead forms are auto-filled, making it “too easy” to complete.

Agents agree when working Direct Mail leads, they remember filling out the cards more frequently.

Plus, they are more engaged with you helping them out and agreeing to an appointment.

Superior Geographic Saturation. With Medicare Advantage direct mail leads, you generate more leads in an area compared to alternative marketing strategies.

Why is this important?

The smaller the marketing area, the more efficient you become.

You run more appointments and minimize drive time between appointments.

Opportunity For Reduced-Price Or Even Free Leads. For our most productive Medicare Advantage agents, we offer lead subsidy programs.

This reduces your direct mail marketing cost… WITHOUT adversely altering your commission level or agent contract.

Here’s how it works…

As mentioned previously, new Medicare Advantage pay $25 for each direct mail lead.

At the end of 90 days since starting the lead campaign, we measure the total application volume relative to the total direct mail lead generation to determine the lead subsidy.

The chart below describes the required new application-to-lead conversion ratios and the level of cost subsidy applied:

[table id=67 /]

What’s incredible about this program is the ability to subsidize some if not all of your lead generation costs!

The agent who sold 1,000+ plans in 2019, has his Medicare Advantage lead costs ENTIRELY paid for!

Also, he has NO cap to how many leads weekly he needs (he takes 50 direct mail leads weekly minimum, last I checked).

NOTE: If you currently sell Medicare Advantage and have a track-record of success, we may consider eliminating the 90-day production evaluation for you.

Reach out to me here for more details.

Other Direct Mail Lead Options

If you’re not interested in joining my agency, you can utilize direct mail leads from several different sources.

Option 1: Favorite Lead Vendors

My favorite lead vendors outside of my agency’s subsidized lead program is Need-A-Lead and LeadConcepts.

Both offer great customer service and a fair price to generate leads.

Call both to review options. They both have Medicare Advantage lead availability.

Final Expense Leads

If you are selling final expense and use final expense direct mail leads, you’ll have a TON of Medicare Advantage SEP sales opportunities.

How much?

In our estimation, 70 to 80% of your final expense leads have Medicare Advantage plans.

And many are SEP eligible!

We like this strategy when recruiting final expense agents to sell Medicare Advantage with us.

Why?

Because keeping your lead generation strategy unaltered makes the transition to cross-selling Medicare Advantage simpler.

Plus, you can continue marketing and selling final expense as you cross-sell those leads interested in Medicare Advantage.

Cross-Sell Your Book Of Business

You may also cross-sell your existing book of business.

Medicare Advantage compliance rules allow agents with existing clients the opportunity to discuss Medicare Advantage plans.

In fact, many agents new to Medicare Advantage with books of business should immediately start marketing them.

Why is that a good idea?

Clients who buy from you are likely to buy again.

Think about it. They trust you!

They provided their most personal information such as their Social Security and checking account information.

Plus, many clients would prefer to keep their business with one agent if possible. I’ve discovered it’s a real draw for many.

Also, you’ll experience much less stress working with current clients.

The most difficult time to  sell Medicare Advantage is when you first start.

You’re unfamiliar with all the details to each plan and your presentation isn’t fine-tuned yet.

And that’s more reason to see more forgiving prospects like those who’ve already done business with you!

If you decide to come on board my agency, we’ll recommend working your book of business first in learning Medicare Advantage sales, assuming you have one.

Facebook Leads

Facebook leads are an untapped opportunity for Medicare Advantage lead generation.

With each passing year, direct mail response rates diminish.

And lower response rates mean a higher average price per lead.

However, Facebook’s lead generation platform gives us a unique opportunity to generate decent-quality leads at bargain-basement prices.

With Facebook, we target prospects are over and under 65 years old.

Remember, folks drawing Social Security Disability and SSDI under 65 many times are Medicare Advantage eligible.

They make perfect prospects, and aren’t nearly as heavily marketed to as those who are 65 and older.

Facebook Lead Subsidy Program

Like our direct mail program, we offer a lead subsidy program for the most productive agents using Facebook Medicare Advantage leads.

Our starting point for newe agents is $15 per Facebook-generated lead.

However, there exists the possibility to COMPLETELY cover the cost of your Facebook leads.

See the chart below for more details.

[table id=68 /]

Turning 65 Market

The next year-round sales opportunity Medicare Advantage agents can explore is the Turning 65 Market (T65 Market for short).

Here’s how the T65 market works…

As folks age 64 begin exploring Medicare plan options within six months of turning 65, they start to solidify their decisions on which Medicare plan they’ll get.

A great reason to target T65 is that our prospects are forced to make a decision on which Medicare plan they choose before turning 65.

Plus, most are aware that Original Medicare has significant gaps in coverage, encouraging them to opt for a plan to help mitigate those coverage gaps.

A Crowded Market

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8ueejzfxvs&t=112s

While the T65 market is great to target, I feel the competition is a bit more stiff compared to other markets like the Special Election Period.

The main reason?

It’s well-known among agents that T65 prospects must make a decision on Medicare coverage.

Plus, these prospects receive veritable truckloads of junk mail marketing, online spam advertisements, and endless TV ads.

This ends up confusing and frustrating many prospects, and may lead them to discuss options with more than one agent.

Lead Programs

Direct Mail Leads. Just like in our SEP marketing, we offer direct mail leads targeting the T65 market.

They’re $25 a piece.

And just as the SEP direct mail marketing, the T65 marketing efforts experience the same advantages:

• • Better recall rates,

• • Better lead saturation, and,

• • Access to our lead subsidy program, too.

NOTE: You can also purchase T65 direct mail leads from Need-A-Lead and LeadConcepts if joining my agency doesn’t interest you.

Facebook Leads. Same deal with Facebook leads.

Refer to the SEP Facebook lead info above for more on why they’re a good lead source, and how the lead subsidy program works.

Annual Enrollment Period

Out of the different markets, selling Medicare Advantage during the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) is the most popular for agents to work.

Why?

Our government stipulates that non-SEP eligible Medicare Advantage policyholders may only switch out their plans between October and December each year.

Incidentally, this enrollment season is jam-packed with heavy loads of direct mail, online PPC ads, and television commercials promoting AEP.

More Response = More Interest

Ad response rates are higher. And there is a greater “open-mindedness” to exploring other Medicare plan options.

Unlike selling Medicare Supplements whose benefits are the same between carriers, Medicare Advantage carriers all have different co-pays, deductibles, and networks.

Plus, these plans may change year-to-year. Newer plans regularly enter many markets which may provide more benefit.

Point is all of these marketing and new and changing Medicare Advantage program roll-outs make the AEP season a VERY important time to sell.

Lead Programs

Annual Enrollment Period lead program options are identical to those mentioned earlier.

In my agency, our “bread and butter” Medicare Advantage marketing efforts focus on direct mail and Facebook leads.

We can develop plenty of leads to keep our agents busy.

Plus, agents have access to the same lead subsidy programs for superior production.

Review that information above in the Special Election Period section if you missed it.

What Market Should I Target

First, my intention for this article was to describe the best marketing opportunities for Medicare Advantage.

I want you to have a clear picture of your options to accomplish your income and production goals.

But how do you choose the best Medicare Advantage market to target?

Here are my thoughts…

SEP Marketing

We want most of our agents to double-down on Special Election Period Medicare Advantage marketing.

Doing so provides year-round sales opportunities, and is a perfect fit for the typical Medicare Advantage agent with a background in selling final expense.

Those with a final expense background have easy access to an existing book of business.

This makes getting started with Medicare Advantage a bit easier as most of a final expense agent’s book is SEP eligible.

SEP Market Drawbacks

If there is one big drawback to selling the SEP market, it’s this…

Governing bodies prorate first-year commissions based on the policy’s effective date.

For example, if you write a Medicare Advantage plan with an effective day of July 1st, you are prorated half of the $255 commission, since the policy is in force only 6 out of 12 months of the current year.

Diminishing first-year commissions is a big reason why we offer lead subsidies to our most productive agents.

The first few years of selling Medicare Advantage is the most difficult.

Cash flow is low, making it harder to cover marketing costs while maintaining a high return on investment.

However, this changes after several years of consistent effort!

You’ve written hundreds of policies and are receiving a considerable renewal stream of income.

At that point, first-year profitability on newly-written Medicare Advantage plans matters less.

Turning 65 Market

The Turning 65 Market is most appropriate agents interested in selling BOTH Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplements.

Additionally, this market is simpler to experience success if you have an intimate, intuitive understanding of how Medicare works.

Let me explain.

Medicare Plan Options Really Matter

If you’re selling to the T65 Market, not everyone will buy a Medicare Advantage plan.

Some will choose a Medicare Supplement plan instead.

So, if you exclusively sell one type of product as opposed to offering both, you’ll lose many new sales opportunities.

Understanding Medicare

Before diving into the T65 market, have a deep understanding of the inner workings of Medicare.

Why?

Because this is the first time they have considered owning a Medicare plan.

Your T65 prospects are literally buried in a sea of Medicare plan junk mail and television advertisements.

And it’s likely that the number of ads extolling the virtues of each plan causes our prospects confusion and doubt.

More options means more confusion, and confused prospects have a harder time of buying.

The ability to explain and simplify how Medicare works will aid you tremendously in capturing more of your T65 prospects.

You’ll close more appointments and create happier clients.

Drawback To T65 Marketing

With the T65 market, you may experience a higher percentage of multi-call sales presentations.

Because of the inundation of advertisements received, some prospects put off buying, wanting to review other options before making a decision.

Or, knowing they have several months before having to decide on a plan, they procrastinate.

Unlike the T65 Market, both AEP and SEP markets are almost always one-call close scenarios.

And running a one-call close business means more sales volume opportunity than a multi-step sales call model.

Annual Enrollment Period Marketing

All agents should heavily market during AEP in addition to either marketing year-round for SEP or T65.

With the level of Medicare promotion at its highest all year, it really is the best time fo sell Medicare Advantage.

Medicare is on every senior’s mind. So you might as well take advantage of it!

And many of your prospects are open to change that may otherwise express no interest, even if SEP eligible in the AEP off-season.

Conclusion

Thanks so much for reading my article on Medicare Advantage leads.

I hope it has helped clarify what’s possible in marketing for Medicare Advantage business.

More Resources

Interested in the lead programs mentioned above?

Please go here to investigate how our Medicare Advantage sales and marketing opportunity works, and what we’re looking for in interested Medicare Advantage agents.

New to Medicare?

Learn the basics in the Medicare And You Handbook.