LTCI Success Story: Step Up to Provide Excellent Service
“There are times when we need to take the extra step to help a client.”
This statement goes out to long term care agencies seeking out productive sales agents: a successful long term care insurance specialist does more than selling policies. More often than not, being able to provide the best service involves understanding a customer’s circumstances. And chances are, going way above and above the primary tasks of closing deals and landing sales can result to satisfying results.
Bob Staerk, one of our featured LTCGA agents, shared this with us:
“I had a gentleman declined due to his medical records. We worked with the carrier to find out the reason. Once the proper paperwork was filed, we found out the reason. He was declined due to metastatic prostate cancer. The client said that was not the case. After working with his specialist, we were able to get his declined overturned. You see, the only reason why it spread was the doctor nipped the bag when taking out the prostate. Once the doctor wrote a letter stating this, the carrier overturned his decision. There are times when we need to take the extra step to help a client.”
What were the chances that being denied for coverage all boiled down to a physician’s error? Bob and his team took the time and effort to investigate why a client wasn’t qualified for a plan. The extra step of helping a client proves that reliance and legitimate passion for providing the best options are worth undertaking.
Why More LTCI Agents Need to Step Up
Bob’s story also shows that hardworking and passionate LTCI specialists are vital in the industry – especially with all the price hikes and the resulting pent-up emotions that a customer feels can explode at any given time. An LTCI agent, if equipped with the right knowledge and resources, can be the perfect person to aid clients trying to make sense of the often confusing and complicated industry of long term care. To step up their game, here are some points that agents can consider exploring:
Explaining the Different Types of Care
In what might be the most common misconception of long term care, nursing homes always seem to be the first thing that comes into a person’s mind whenever an LTC plan is mentioned. Agents can explain that a policy can grant the control and convenience that a customer deserves during the retirement years. This way, customers can make the most out of their savings by getting the optimized care services that will best fit their circumstances (whether these services are in-home or professional assistance in nursing homes and the like).
Explaining About the Different Options Available
Most people fall into this trap that Medicare or Medicaid will be sufficient to pay for long term care. Agents can reveal that this belief isn’t entirely accurate: Medicaid requires individuals to belong to a particular level of the poverty line before receiving benefits; Medicare will only pay for limited coverage (a maximum of 100 days) for rehabilitation care.
Explaining How Being Covered Will Make an Impact
Aside from providing needed custodial services, agents can explain that an LTC insurance can also have lasting benefits for the recipient’s family and friends. Some of these effects range from lesser caregiver stress to more financial savings. Introducing the idea of coverage as a solution that provides more than just assistance with the activities of daily living (ADLs) will help customers see policies in a different light. The point is, an agent must be able to expound on a plan’s benefits, for people to relate and recognize the importance of an LTCI.
Just Being There for Them
Sometimes, most customers just need someone who will be there with and for them. Clients need someone they can trust, someone who will best explain and provide them the answers to their many questions on long term care. The best LTCI agents are people who take their time to understand an individual’s needs. These agents know how to explain various (and more likely than not, confusing) concepts in the simplest ways. These agents do not only have the latest data to back up their claims – they also have scenarios, feedback, and testimonials from other people for their clients to understand the weight of their decisions further. And more likely than not, these successful agents have experienced first-hand (whether with their loved ones or other clients) how a long term care issue can be a painful episode in anyone’s life.
In other words, an LTCI agent is someone any person can trust and believe. Seek out that agent if you’re interested in coverage; be that agent if you are in the industry.
As an agent, strive to take that extra step to help customers. Just like Bob, you can not only convert those leads into sales – the satisfaction you get from seeing a happy customer is an emotional currency that can help you excel and make a mark in the industry. LTC Global Agency LLC has the resources for specialists to survive in the field. You may check out our agency services page for more information.