STRUCTURED FOR SUCCESS

STRUCTURED FOR SUCCESS

The “5th Quarter” Is a Breeze With the Right Partner

By Kim Gomez, Shahram Homami and Cara Mudgett

The right partner by your side can make or break your business success and sanity. For brokers now in the thick of the 4th quarter — which we’ve redefined as “5th quarter” since it extends beyond the current year through January — you know what we mean.

During this busiest time of year, it’s critical that you have a partner you can count on; one with solid operations and exceptional service to help you quote, sell, enroll and more with speed and accuracy to build lasting relationships with your clients.

At Warner Pacific, we’ve spent decades structuring and refining our operational systems and teams for success and sanity. In fact, when we’re not in the 5th quarter, we’re planning for it: analyzing previous years, forecasting, strategizing resource allocation, optimizing technology tools and more.

If you are considering a general agency (GA) partner to help get you through this 5th quarter and beyond, here are some important things to ask yourself (and your potential partner):

Process Optimization: Does your GA have automation and technology that can be leveraged to streamline processes for you and your clients? Are they constantly optimizing these to make them even better?

Technology Readiness: What technology tools do they offer as part of their service that can increase your speed, accuracy and efficiency? Are these tools user friendly and do they offer technical support when you need it?

Training and Skills Enhancements: Do they offer training and skills enhancements for their team members throughout the year to fine-tune and improve broker support? Do they offer events for brokers (i.e., webinars to hear directly from experts and carriers)?

Tailored Sales and Operations Support: Is their approach one-size-fits-all or is it tailored to meet individual broker needs? How can it be tailored to meet your needs during the all-important 5th quarter and throughout the year?

Passion and Bandwidth for All Sizes: Are they just looking for a certain case size or is no case too big or small? Do they give the same personalized attention and support to your smallest cases so you can focus on selling more?

Access to Multiple Carriers: Does your GA have relationships with multiple carriers? Do they perform the carrier research for you, have answers to questions (i.e., minimum participation, multi-state guidelines, coverage of a specific drug, etc.) and know different carrier requirements?

Team Model and Continuity: Do they pair you up with a sales consultant who is focused on your success and has a team also working to support you? Do you feel like you can delegate all your administrative and operational tasks to this expert team?

Frequent Communications: Do they communicate frequently and with impact? Is information easy to access and do they share best practices and tips that make your life easier during this busiest time of year?

At Warner Pacific, the answer is “yes” to all these questions and more because we live for this. Wishing you the right partner to make your 5th quarter a breeze this year!

About the authors…

Kim Gomez is about to celebrate 22 years with Warner Pacific, where she oversees California Small Group Quoting and Large Group Operations, as well as operations in Colorado and Texas. Prior to her time at Warner Pacific, she worked at Starbucks, where she got her caffeine fix while attending Pepperdine. Kim.Gomez@warnerpacific.com

Shahram Homami entered the health insurance space in 1989 when he joined Anthem Blue Cross. In his current role as senior director of Operations at Warner Pacific, Shahram oversees various departments, including RateLoad & Agent Appointments in Calif. Shahram.Homami@warnerpacific.com.

Cara Mudgett has spent her entire career in the health insurance industry and currently oversees Warner Pacific’s California Small Group Underwriting and Customer Service operations teams. Prior to Warner Pacific, she worked on the carrier side in various leadership roles, including call center operations, medical management, enrollment and billing and underwriting. Cara.Mudgett@warnerpacific.com.

Learn more about this full-service general agency at Warnerpacific.com.