By Bill Rusteberg
“Playing” health insurance brokers is the easiest sale ever. I was reminded of that today when a company rep. said “Bill, I never call on a prospect directly, I always work through the broker on the case. It’s the easiest sale ever. I don’t have to cultivate a relationship with the client. That can take years. It’s already been done by the current broker.”
“But you have to sell the broker” I said. “Why is that easy?”
“Are you kidding me Bill! 99% of brokers out there are commission driven insurance whores.” said the rep. The first question they ask is ‘How much will I get paid if I move the case to you?’ “That’s all they care about.”
Going back through Memory Lane I remember an episode many years ago when I was a commission driven group health insurance whore. I had established quite a nice book of business. Company reps. were calling on me every week asking for business. Then one day James (not his real name) came to visit. James was a company rep. for a Dallas based third party administrator.
“Bill, if you move ten of your self-funded group health clients to us by the end of the third quarter totaling at least 2,000 covered lives we will not only pay you as much as you’re earning now, I will personally hand deliver a bonus check for $250,000!”
What’s a commission driven insurance whore to do?
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In the next blog entry I will describe how company reps. feed loyal brokers real time qualified leads and how I found a sure fire solution to take advantage of that back in the Golden Age of group health insurance (1980’s).
BTW – James is still a TPA rep. calling on brokers far and wide with check book in hand.
