Is Medicare a business without a future?

[LostDollar]

I knew several folks in Nashville that worked for Corroon & Black in the 70's. They cut their teeth selling Southwestern Bible's D2D while in college. Did Southwestern sell anything other than Bibles?

See your question, not ignoring it.

The short answer is yes.

I never knew very much of the longer answer and I need to try to remember what little I knew of it for the division I worked in. Try to give you another post at a later date.

And as an aside, given the variety of your acquaintances and experiences, you may have known, or known of, Mort Utley. (hope i'm remembering right that he was an insurance person.) He was a most impressive motivational speaker at the sales schools although at this remove the only specific I can remember is his pony story.

 

[Ron Van D]

Did Southwestern sell anything other than Bibles?

Yes. [EXTERNAL LINK] - Reach your goals.

 

[LostDollar]

Yes. [EXTERNAL LINK] - Reach your goals.

You a former SW bookseller too?

(and if so, I hope you did better with it than I did)

 

[LostDollar]

Wow! You were a real glutton for punishment. I never sold for them but I did work with a street crew selling magazines. Didn't last long at it. I actually had a young lady with Southwestern knock on my door a few summers ago. I would have thought that was a thing of the past.

I have another response for you too, but again no time right now, for the remembering and writing I need to do to respond.

( I Did hear something like -- "A van dropped off a bunch of kids at the end of the block last week to sell magazine subscriptions." more than once.)

And an event in one of those summers is why I feel some identification with Dave's shotgun story. Mine was NOT funny and did NOT end in a sale. It was probably in TN or VA. I have always suspected I had a run in with a redneck bootlegger at his isolated still site and I was fortunate to have emerged alive. I have always felt like I met one of the kind of persons who could have tied Emmett Till to an engine block without any regrets.)

 

[LostDollar]

Wow! You were a real glutton for punishment. I never sold for them but I did work with a street crew selling magazines. Didn't last long at it. I actually had a young lady with Southwestern knock on my door a few summers ago. I would have thought that was a thing of the past.

I did sell a Bible Dictionary to a cigarette smuggler once.

 

[somarco]

LD, Mort Utley doesn't ring a bell.

The SW Bibles were for your coffee table. BIG and probably weighed 10 pounds. Imagine hauling those around and knocking on doors . . .

 

[rousemark]

LD, Mort Utley doesn't ring a bell.

The SW Bibles were for your coffee table. BIG and probably weighed 10 pounds. Imagine hauling those around and knocking on doors . . .

It seems I bought our set of World Book encyclopedias from a SW salesperson.

 

[Marco Capaldi]

Never sold books door to door, but I sold Cutco in college. I am licensed in 12 states have 8 agents 4 independent and 4 LOA. The last three years annuity sales and life have far outpaced Medicare and two of our Medicare carriers stopped paying commissions on new DSNP and 6 of my states are not year round DSNP. I am faced with the choice of adding more states and going from grassroots local marketing to a hybrid live call transfer 50% model and the closing ratios are not the 1:3 and more like 1:5, so cost of acquisition is $175 for a $320 average 1st year and persistency is horrible on those acquired via leads. Do I just take that $$$ and invest in 403B and Govt leads for annuities at $55 a pop 1:5 where average Revenue is $7000? or do I continue building a Medicare agency and cross-sell 8-12% of the book? Cost is slightly less but not compelling enough.

 

[axeman462]

Never sold books door to door, but I sold Cutco in college. I am licensed in 12 states have 8 agents 4 independent and 4 LOA. The last three years annuity sales and life have far outpaced Medicare and two of our Medicare carriers stopped paying commissions on new DSNP and 6 of my states are not year round DSNP. I am faced with the choice of adding more states and going from grassroots local marketing to a hybrid live call transfer 50% model and the closing ratios are not the 1:3 and more like 1:5, so cost of acquisition is $175 for a $320 average 1st year and persistency is horrible on those acquired via leads. Do I just take that $$$ and invest in 403B and Govt leads for annuities at $55 a pop 1:5 where average Revenue is $7000? or do I continue building a Medicare agency and cross-sell 8-12% of the book? Cost is slightly less but not compelling enough.

go with the path of least resistance.

if Annuity and Life is more natural for your agency, and you find that to be an easier sale then focus more on those products.

No need to fight the market. That's a losing a battle.

For me Medicare is the natural path, my cost acquisition is no where near $175

 

[EckoRomeo]

go with the path of least resistance.

if Annuity and Life is more natural for your agency, and you find that to be an easier sale then focus more on those products.

I agree with this. Ride the wave.

Also, if anything happens to commissions it's likely to be overrides that are impacted first and most significantly. That's what CMS was targeting with last years rules. I write about 30 new clients a month during lock-in and don't want to do any more than that. I've considered building an agency but I don't think the effort is worth the risk.

For me Medicare is the natural path, my cost acquisition is no where near $175

What's your monthly production and mix? My acquisition costs are about $175 per sale, but 75-80%% of my business of T65 and 90% of that is MAPD.