5 Automation Ideas for a More Profitable Medicare AEP

By Elliott Martin Martin & Associates Insurance Services, Inc.

Have you ever pushed a fax machine so hard to the point where it overheats?

Believe it or not, that was the error message my brother Mo and I were getting while trying to fax in all the Part D applications that had come in the mail that day during AEP not too long ago.

Yes, we were using an actual printer/fax machine!

Our dad, Ray, has been in the insurance industry for over 30 years and has focused on Medicare more specifically for over the last 25+ years. Being in the business for that long means lots of clients to serve during AEP. Eventually we got to the point where our current systems were being pushed to their limits.

We knew there had to be a better way and there was, but we just had to execute on it.

Then the pandemic hit, and we had no choice but to find a better way to keep up with the volume or inquiries coming in. It was time to bring our agency properly into the 21st century and incorporate some of the technological advances within the industry and incorporate automation into our systems.

Since then, we’ve been able to increase our revenue, streamline our processes and toss the fax machine in the dump. In fact, having systems gets you results and the better your systems, the less stress, less labor and faster you get to your goals.

Keep reading, this is VERY important! I’m going to share with you the systems we’ve developed that if you implement them will take you to the next level.

Here they are, the 5 automation tools that we have found extremely useful at making us more efficient and more profitable, especially during AEP:

# 1 Having a superior CRM - Client Relationship Management System (CRM)

When it comes to CRMs for Medicare specific agencies, what we’ve discovered (and you may have as well) there’s not really one system that does it all. Some do everything, except the actual enrollments. Some do everything else but can’t track commissions. If you are anything like us, you’ve had to piece together different systems.

The main automation features we’ve been able to find in the CRM we’ve selected include automated emails to clients as their policies are approved, profile creation based on opt-in from landing page forms and appointment requests, commission tracking and automated task creation for internal tasks to be completed by other members of our team. You must have a SMART system to help manage your clients.

You must have systems that organize, automate and replicate results over and over without your labor!

#2 Integrating Part D and AEP Tools

Get in touch with your FMO! They may have tools at their disposal including systems like Lead Advantage Pro, Sunfire and others that allow you to create profiles for your clients, save their prescription lists, send pre-generated emails to clients to update their prescriptions, sending Scope of Appointments and most importantly, sending/submitting electronic enrollments as well as self-service enrollment tools for your clients too. I can’t tell you how much time this has saved us!

#3 Online Calendar

If you do not have an online calendar service (Acuity or Calendly come to mind) that syncs with your email service calendar (Outlook, Google) and allows prospects and clients to schedule phone/Zoom/ Teams or even in-person meetings with you, drop everything you are doing now and start working on this.

Talk about time saving! Having a system that allows a prospect (and clients) to select the time on your calendar when you decide to be available is huge. Think about that, you don’t have to talk on the phone (saved 1 phone call) to schedule a meeting with the prospect. They select the meeting time themselves!

#4 Landing Page Services

One way we’ve been able to capture contact information from prospects interested in our services has been using an automated service that can easily create landing pages. There are services that have user friendly drag and drop options where you can create your own landing page or website. This allows you to easily create a spot online for folks to request information and content from you (think guides, books, tutorials, webinars, articles, etc.) in exchange for their contact information.

We’ve been using landing pages as a great lead generation system and once the prospective person requests the information they want, we capture their information, and they go into our automated pipeline to receive e-mails, invitations and even e-birthday cards. This makes us stand out from the other marketing noise prospects.

#5 Zapier

The last automation tool that helps piece together a lot of the systems above is a service called Zapier. For example, we use Zapier to relay information from the landing pages and online calendar into our main CRM system so that we DO NOT have to duplicate data entry. Can you say, ‘TIME SAVER’. That’s huge! Zapier is an automated service that glues everything together. Think of it like the electrical system in your car, everything works together once you turn on the juice.

It’s fine to have goals to reach, but goals alone won’t get you the results you want. As many of the most successful business leaders will tell you, systems are the key! You must have systems that organize, automate and replicate results over and over without your labor!

You should start today, seek to implement these systems NOW, before AEP gets here. I promise you it will have a dramatic change to your business and results for this AEP and beyond.

BONUS

Want to get a complete list of the automation tools we’ve adopted or are looking to adopt for our Medicare business?

www.martinmedicare.lpages.co/automate/

Elliott Martin is an agent at Martin & Associates Insurance Services, Inc. based in Irvine, CA, the company his father Ray Martin founded. He has been insurance licensed and involved in the Medicare space since 2014.

Elliott has helped thousands of individuals with personal Medicare insurance needs and has also helped Martin & Associates develop and improve the agency systems and automations. In his free time Elliott enjoys playing in a men’s slow pitch softball league, pickleball and spending time with his wife Kaycee and daughter Avery.