What Do You Use for Proposal Quotes for Groups?

[mawwam]

Hey everyone...new to this board...and have already read so many helpful threads. Here's a question that I have not seen addressed on here: What do you use to present quote proposals to your group client?

I guess some people just show the client the actual quote from the carrier, but do any of you put together an actual proposal, picking out the products you would suggest and compare savings to their existing plan? Is there a subscription website out there that you can use to generate such reports or does this just need done in an Excel worksheet?

I would appreciate your feedback and if you have any example proposals, I'd love to see them. Please feel free to email me.

 

[Dave020]

The GAs I have worked with in the past usually have group proposal quoting programs. Multiple carrier quotes side-by-side.

Not sure who your GAs for group are in PA, in CA you can use Word & Brown, BenefitMall, Warner Pacific, Dickerson, Rogers and so on. All offer online agent quoting for groups.

 

[djs]

quotit.com
Works very well for pulling together both IFP and group quotes, with a benefit summary, employee premium, etc.

 

[Dave020]

quotit and others are fine, but there is cost (like $100-200 per month). GA software is free. That was my point. If the GA gets the override you can't get anyway, and offers free multi-carrier group quoting in seconds, why waste money on quotit or norvax?

I understood the OP wants to create and deliver proposals, not offer instant quoting on his/her website.

 

[djs]

quotit has 2 versions, one for people to run their own quotes (i.e., on your website) and one for you to use as a broker. There is a substantial cost difference between the 2.

I agree, if you just want to do group, doing it through a GA is the way to go.

Dan

 

[ABC]

Once you become familiar with what carrier is competitive with size & SIC code then you know who to quote.


I quote all my cases direct with the carriers and then will put together a spreadsheet comparison of the top 3 companies.

 

[mawwam]

ABC - any chance you could email me a sample of the spreadsheet you use to present proposals to your clients? Would be most helpful and much appreciated!

 

[Delta76]

Yellow pad. Simple and it works.

"Mr. Prospect, here is a summary of what may be available, but the numbers aren't even worth the paper it's written on without an underwritten offer from the carrier. Are you comfortable putting in applications to get some firm rates?

Don't make this more complicated than it needs to be.

 

[Bruce]

I generally use a 1" 3-ring binder with roman numeraled tabs. The table of contents describes the content of each tab. I use a slide-in cover page for the group, that will include, if available, the prospect's business logo.

I. - copy of a 2-3 page summary about my firm. Stock Powerpoint stuff, personalized and, perhaps, tweaked for the prospect (group size, industry). Includes bona fides, references, etc....
II - Summary of existing plan' carrier history, ave monthly costs per year, reason(s) for engaging me. Basically, pretty much everything I've learned about the prospect summarized in 1-2 pages.
III - a listing of the markets surveyed
IV - Copy of my spreadsheet of current/proposed benefits and costs
V - My recommendations, including justifications. For example, if it's a smallish group (5-25) and one or two health conditions are driving experience and thus rates, I'll usually recommend higher deductibles and o-o-p's, reasoning that those utilizing the plan the most should bear the increased costs the group is seeing more than the people who see the doctor 2x a year. I'll also recommend they closely review a couple Power Point files on an included CD. These are "stock" items of mine and depending on the client, these might be :
- "Small Group Insurance Market-2008"
- "Understanding Self Funding"
etc.

The last listed recommendation is, of course, that they hire me.

Sounds like a lot but I have it down to about 15-20 minutes of work beyond the usual spreadsheeting and I figure the cost to be about $5-$6 in materials.

 

[somarco]

Delta's approach worked for me for years, even with some very large self funded plans. Bruce's approach works as well but unless you are talking to the CFO and the decision will be made by committee, it is overkill.