How to Survive AEP: Wellness & Stress Relief Tips for Insurance Agents

The Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) can be an especially crazy and hectic time of year, but that doesn’t mean you should compromise your well-being to make a few extra sales.

Our team has a bunch of valuable tips and tricks to keep you healthy and motivated during Medicare’s busiest sales season and beyond. Refer to them any time you find yourself in need of an energy boost!

Nurture Your Basic Health

It’s easy to feel like production numbers are all that matter during AEP. However, neglecting your basic health needs — eating, sleeping, and exercise — can have extremely detrimental effects on your body.

The Mayo Clinic offers these guidelines for maintaining your body’s energy levels and immune system:

• Set aside some time for quiet reflection/meditation each day
• Add exercise to your regular schedule
• Seven to nine hours of sleep per night
• Lots of fruit, veggies, and whole grains every day

Once the essentials are taken care of, you can dive deeper into understanding your own stress and finding long-term ways to manage it.

Get Your Zzz’s

It’s no secret that a good night’ds sleep helps us feel better the next day. No one can be productive if all they can think about is taking a nap! The importance of getting adequate rest isn’t just a myth — it’s backed by science that the amount of sleep we get directly affects our performance throughout the day.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute states that people who are sleep deficient are less productive at work, take longer to finish tasks, have a slower reaction time, and make more mistakes. On the flip side, they report getting seven to eight hours of sleep a night can increase your alertness, help improve your memory, keep your stress levels low, and even spur your creativity!

Getting seven to eight hours of sleep a night can increase your alertness, help improve your memory, keep your stress levels low, and even spur your creativity!

When meeting with a client, you don’t want to feel like you’re not on top of your game because you’re tired. Worse, you do’t want to be in violation of CMS’ Medicare Advantage & Part D Communication Requirements because you made a careless mistake. Create a realistic sleep schedule and do your best to stick to it — even during Medicare’s busy season!

Pro tip: Cut out electronics about an hour before bed to help your mind relax and improve the quality of your sleep.

Ditch the Junk Food

Tempted to grab a donut or some drive-thru fast food between appointments? While junk food can be OK in moderation, indulging in it too often can start to take a toll on your body. In fact, some foods, especially those heavy in carbohydrates (e.g., fries, candy, and chips), can even decrease your productivity.

Some foods, especially those heavy in carbohydrates (e.g., fries, candy, and chips), can even decrease your productivity.

But wait — aren’t carbs supposed to give you energy? Yes and no. While carbs are a necessary part of a healthy diet, eating an overabundance of them can have negative effects on your body and overall health. It can also cause you to feel super sleepy!

Instead of planning to stop for some mid-day Mickey D’s, consider meal prepping before the week begins.

Get Moving

Maybe meditation isn’t your thing but staying active is an excellent way to reduce stress. The American Heart Association recommends taking a walk to recharge and reduce cortisol levels.

Stress-causing hormones such as cortisol can increase overall stress. Consider taking a walk, run, or even a bike ride to stay active and release endorphins. Endorphins are a natural competitor to cortisol and increase mood and minimize stress and anxiety.

Your exercise doesn’t have to be intense, but it is recommended that you regularly exercise to enjoy the long-lasting effects. Take 15 minutes out of your day and take a short walk every day!

Feed Your Soul

Maybe meditation isn’t your thing but staying active is an excellent way to reduce stress. The American Heart Association recommends taking a walk to recharge and reduce cortisol levels.

Stress-causing hormones such as cortisol can increase overall stress. Consider taking a walk, run, or even a bike ride to stay active and release endorphins. Endorphins are a natural competitor to cortisol and increase mood and minimize stress and anxiety.

Your exercise doesn’t have to be intense, but it is recommended that you regularly exercise to enjoy the long-lasting effects. Take 15 minutes for a short walk every day!

Work Smarter

If you spent time preparing for AEP — reviewing CMS rules, learning new plan details, and organizing leads — you can feel confident that you’re off to a good start.

So now that you’re here, try to resist the urge to work constantly by maintaining a defined schedule. Around 48 percent of emails are opened on mobile devices. Allow yourself to wait until tomorrow morning to respond to messages you get later at night. It’s a good idea to schedule administration days once a week where you can catch up on paperwork, schedule appointments, and plan for upcoming meetings.

Also, save time by utilizing Ritter’s free client handouts to make checking in with clients easier. And don’t forget to stock up on supplies: enrollment kits, printer ink, folders, pens, etc. Even the little things can cause a breakdown when you’re already feeling stressed!

Save time by utilizing customizable client outreach templates.

Budgeting and compensation can also be a stressful part of AEP. CMS rules mandate that all sales made during open enrollment won’t be paid out until January when new plans take effect. If your Scope of Appointment allows, you can cross-sell ancillary products for a faster payday.

Finally, consider starting or joining an agent support group — even if it’s just on Facebook or a small group text message.

Utilize Technology for Insurance Agents

When every enrollment counts, your stress levels are bound to reflect your understanding of carrier and consumer tools.

Having reliable sales tools, especially if they’re located all in one place, will surely relieve some of the stress of the busy season.

We encourage agents partnered with Ritter to also tap into Integrity’s powerful sales technology. Utilizing IntegrityCONNECT enables your clients to create their own PlanEnroll account. This allows clients to manage their prescription drug info, pharmacies, providers and more. All of this information is then available in your IntegrityCONNECT CRM.

Giving clients access to an account like this not only helps them keep track of their plan and health information but also takes some pressure off of you to remember and record it all.

You can also utilize the Ask Integrity Shoppers function within IntegrityCONNECT to simplify the process of sorting through your clients. This feature will give your clients a priority rating so you can see who to contact first. Automatic tags and filters also give you instant insights into which clients are likely to be shopping for a plan this AEP.

Detox and De-Stress

Everyone de-stresses a little differently, so it’s important that you find out what works for you. If you never take some time for yourself and your mind is constantly on work, you may grow to resent your job.

Some sources recommend taking part in a hobby to achieve a more balanced lifestyle between work and personal activities. Check out this list from Kentucky Counseling Center and consider picking up one of these hobbies!

Achieving a good work-life balance is imperative to having a successful and rewarding career.

If you work with a field marketing organization, like Ritter Insurance Marketing, they can help to make your job a bit less stressful. Resources like PlanEnroll and e-applications can make your life easier and leave less room for error.

We offer in-depth educational resources, committed sales support staff, and an extensive library of tools and resources to assist you. If you do find that you’re feeling stressed, you’ll always have someone to reach out to for advice or assistance.

Have Some Fun

It’s important to take a time out once in a while during AEP to avoid burnout. According to the Mayo Clinic, simply laughing can have significant short- and long-term effects on improving stress. Laughter can stimulate breathing, reset your stress response, ease muscle tension, improve your immune system, and elevate your mood. So go ahead — treat yourself to a little fun time this AEP!

Below are a few guilt-free ideas. Just be sure you use them as a reward for working hard and not as a way to procrastinate!

• Indulge in an entertainment break — Watch a movie or go out for a drink with friends.
• Practice a hobby or gain the satisfaction of completing a project you can finish in a couple of hours — Save your bathroom demo for another day.
• Find some inner peace — Go for a hike, take a nap, do yoga, or simply leave your phone on silent for an hour.
• Play with a pet — Numerous studies have supported the positive healing effects of animals on stress relief. According to a report by the American Psychological Association, spending time with a pet dog can increase dog owners’ happiness and reduce their anxiety.
• Plan fun events for your staff — Schedule a happy hour, yoga class, or catered lunch. Something simple like bringing in pizza could boost employee productivity!

Final Thoughts

While AEP is an important time to be productive and work hard, too much stress can leave you burnt out. Incorporate these wellness and stress-relief strategies to help you stay focused, motivated, and happy throughout the season.

Remember: taking care of yourself isn’t selfish — it’s essential. Be sure to take care of yourself mentally and physically to have your best AEP yet.

Don’t forget to partner with Ritter if you haven’t already. We’re here to help you reach your sales goals not just during AEP but year-round!

Our goal is to motivate you and help you have the best AEP you can! Pushing yourself to the breaking point won’t help you — it may just end up hurting you and your business, and that’s the last thing we want. Be sure to take care of yourself mentally and physically to have your best AEP yet.