Employers are often an underutilized resource in the Medicare industry. If you’re not capitalizing on your relationship with local businesses to build your book of business then you’re missing out! Employers offer a direct pathway to people turning 65 or retiring soon. This space is ripe with potential to build your book of business. We put together a guide to help you connect with employers to educate employees nearing Medicare age.
How to get started
It can seem a little daunting to start working through a new market, like employers, but it’s well worth it in the end. All it takes is a little work and you’re on your way to finding employers to connect with and eventually new Medicare clients. Here are a few steps to get you started:
- Call companies in your service area and ask them if they provide Medicare educational services like yours to their employees. If not, you can set meetings with their HR directors to share information about Medicare and how you can help those approaching retirement. From there, it’s a matter of nurturing the relationship and proving your worth.
- Follow-up with past employers of the retirees you serve. This will cover all your bases and you may end up with employers you didn’t think about before. A lot of your leads, individuals or otherwise, are going to come from current clients.
- Start simple with things like informative handouts, but offer to go above and beyond with in-person seminars and consultations for employees. This is a great way to build a relationship and instill yourself as an expert in your field and someone who will be dedicated to your clients’ needs.
Tips for finding your audience
Once you’re working on getting a few new employers to talk to you and establishing your place as their Medicare expert, what do you do next? You maintain those relationships, but build new ones, and you keep up your dedication to helping your clients. Here are a few more tips for finding your target market through these employers:
- Network. Get to know HR representatives at businesses in your community. Be confident in yourself and your knowledge to be able to reach out to new people. The larger your network, the more opportunities you may find in the future. You want to become the go-to Medicare person for these employers.
- Educate. Provide educational material above promotional material. Employers don’t want to be sold to, but they may need the information you can provide, as employers aren’t always familiar with Medicare. Similarly, providing handouts or seminars for potential Medicare customers is a great way to teach them what they need to know and about what you can do for them, all without trying too hard to pitch yourself to them.
- Relieve stress. Focus on relieving the stress HR is feeling by being able to mark one thing off their checklist. As we just mentioned, they may not know all the steps and information needed to help their employees navigate Medicare, so being able to do that for them is a great help to both the employer and their employees.
- Build rapport. Get to know seniors early, before they even hit 65 or retirement. You can prepare them for the future—what to expect, when to call Social Security, etc. If they already know who you are and what you can do for them, that’s one less step they have to worry about when they do retire.
Finding new pathways to seniors and potential clients can seem difficult, but with these steps, you’ll be able to gain from this underutilized source of leads. By tapping into your community’s employers, you’ll be able to help more people of retirement age navigate the Medicare space.
Need help sowing the seeds for AEP? The Plan Advisors team is here to help you diversify your lead sources for a more successful AEP and beyond.
