Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, and prescription drug plans aren’t the only insurance products seniors may want or need.
Ritter Insurance Marketing hosted an educational “senior products meeting” on June 5 to encourage local health and life insurance agents to consider the other coverage needs of their older clients and how they can fill them.
Representatives from six carriers, including Aetna, Ameritas, Guarantee Trust Life (GTL), Legacy Safeguard, Mutual of Omaha, and OneAmerica attended and spoke at the DoubleTree Resort in Lancaster, Pa. Ritter’s Ancillary & Long-Term Care and Life & Annuities teams were also present to answer questions and provide sales advice.
During the meeting, carrier reps mainly discussed why offering ancillary insurance (including hospital indemnity, cancer and heart attack or stroke, dental and vision, and short-term care plans), traditional and hybrid long-term care insurance (LTCi), and life insurance is easy and beneficial for agents, their business, and their clients.
“It’s important [for agents to sell products like ancillary, life, and LTCi plans] because folks have financial exposure from Medicare because Medicare … or Medicare Advantage doesn’t cover everything,” GTL Regional Sales Manager Demetri Simos said. “So, it’s important to at least present the solution to some of those financial exposures so that the clients are going to be better off financially.”
Carrier reps also talked about their respective company’s products and covered specific ways agents can market them and bring them up during appointments. Additionally, many reps informed agents they have marketing materials readily available for them to use during appointments.
Mike Baker, Ritter’s LTC Manager and an industry expert who’s worked in the market for more than 20 years, organized the event. While Ritter frequently hosts webinars to educate agents about carrier-specific products, Baker wanted to hold a live meeting with a specific focus on supplemental forms coverage. “As a trusted advisor, I believe agents have a responsibility to help clients manage risk and offer solutions in the form of ancillary, LTCi, and life products. It strengthens the client relationship, increases opportunities for referrals, and can also create new revenue streams for the agent,” he said. He also understood the value of bringing agents and carriers together in person.
“Webinars are great and can be an effective way to reach a larger number of agents, but I am firm believer that agents can learn more in a live meeting. I wanted to provide a forum where agents could hear directly from our carrier partners and have meaningful face-to-face conversations.”
Baker received positive feedback from both agents and carrier reps who attended. Karen B., an agent who’s worked with Ritter for several years, was one individual who found the event beneficial.
“It’s just very helpful to me to be in the same room with a group of people that are doing basically the same thing I’m doing,” she said. “They might ask a question or they might make a comment that I was not aware of, and it just makes me feel as though I had a refresher, or it makes me think again of things I need to do … You always learn something.”
She expressed her great appreciation of Ritter’s support system, especially as an independent agent selling multiple products.
“I do know – and Ritter’s not paying me to say this – that I can pick up the phone, and I can talk to Mike Baker or Brad or Emily, who’s new, or somebody, Brenda from the life insurance section, and I can get answers … no matter what question I ask. And we’re talking about 10 years now,” she said.
Baker plans on holding more trainings like this in the future and in other locations.
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For more info about selling ancillary, LTCi, or life products or working with Ritter, please call Ritter at 800-769-1847 or drop us a message.
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