There's five red flags
that you need to be watching out for, actually, five red flags
that you need to avoid in these particular situations.
Welcome to Medicare School Daily,
where we help you understand Medicare, save money,
avoid making Medicare mistakes, and above all else,
get the most out of your Medicare benefits.
Now, today's topic is recognizing bad Medicare advisors.
Let's talk about those five.
First off, red flag.
Number one is an online request form.
Of course, you're going to be inundated
with things online and probably through your cell phone.
And they're trying to get you to fill out some personal information.
Your name,
your email address,
probably your date of birth and when you're going
to start Medicare, those kinds of things.
And they want you then to submit that information
because what's going to happen in these situations?
99% of the time,
these request forms are going to go to a marketing company
and that marketing company is going to take your information.
And then they're going
to sell that out to probably 25 or 50 or more different agents.
So what you're doing here is you're just simply becoming a lead
for a company to be able then to spread that to multiple agents.
Therefore, you're going to be inundated
with phone calls and emails
and they're going to pester you and pester you
to try to pressure you into making some kind of a decision.
So I would avoid submitting any kind of request form
for any kind of like a quote or information
in this format, because again, you're going to be inundated
with calls that are going to come from all over the country.
And so you're putting yourself in a very vulnerable position
by doing that.
So I would avoid that. Number two
as you are receiving mail and things email and other
different marketing type of efforts,
these companies are going to give you an 800 number to call
going and say, Hey, get it,
you can get free information through these.
And the
majority of those 800 numbers are going to go into a call center
where people are just stacked up in these offices and fielding calls
from all over the country.
And what's going to happen is most of these
places are going to be captive, which means they're only
writing for one insurance company instead of multiple companies.
And when you go into a call center where there's a captive or
even a broker situation, what's going to happen
is these agents are going to typically push
one kind of product and one company.
And the majority of those agents
that are sitting in there are not really well trained.
And what happens in a call center is if for about every three calls
into a call center, one is going to be wonderful
because that person's experience,
the other two or three is not going to go so well
because those people are still in training.
So what call centers do is they train their agents
in a classroom
for maybe a month or so,
and then they put them on the phones
and now they're doing all the job training.
And the problem is you're the guinea pig.
And so for every two or three people setting a call center
are not experienced,
therefore you're making a very important decision
with someone that is a rookie in this business.
And really, can noyt give you great advice.
It doesn't mean they're trying to do you harm.
It just means they don't know enough
to really guide you through this process.
And so you call a typically an 800 number
and you're going to go into a call center.
And really, it's the luck of the draw
because every time you come in, you get a different agent.
And so, again, some are experienced the majority them are not.
There's a lot of pressure in call centers,
and that's why people don't last
in them then very long, there's a lot of turnover.
And this particular situation, it's
just not the experience that you're looking for.
You're going to make a big decision.
You want time.
You want information you want education.
And this is not the best way to go about that. Red flag
number three would be those that are out
knocking on doors
These are people that are working out of the trunk of their car.
And I will tell you, this is one of the most difficult things
for people to do, and that is to show up and knock on your door.
I am very experienced, been in this business a long time.
I would never walk up to someone's front door and knock on them
and want to talk to them about Medicare.
And the
so the ones that are doing this typically are very inexperienced.
The company makes them do this.
And so it's a very, very difficult thing to do.
And so when they do that, it tells me
that they're probably rookies in the business.
This the only way that they can
go out and solicit and try to get leads.
And so just again, it's people
out there to avoid. Doesn't mean they're bad people.
It just simply means that they're probably
a little bit more desperate than what they need to be.
At anyone who's working just out of the trunk of a car.
Now, they may show up at your home, but where's their office
and what's their support staff and who's behind them?
Because. Yes.
An agent writes a piece of business but there's not
there's a lot more than just writing a piece of business.
We want customer support and we want to make sure
that we have people behind us because those typically people
working out of the trunk of a car, you may never see them ever again.
So again, it's something
that I certainly would encourage you to avoid.
And then red flag number four,
charging for unbiased Medicare advice.
Now, there are some out there that will say
we are unbiased
and instead of them writing an insurance policy
and getting paid a commission by an insurance company,
they're a little niche is to say, hey, we'll just show you
what's out there and we'll give you this unbiased advice.
And the benefit of that is because we're unbiased,
then we're just going to tell you about everything.
And and you're going to have just to simply pay us a fee.
And those fees range anywhere from about $1000 to $2000.
Because you have to pay for it, and I wouldn't do that.
And here's why.
Because if you find the right agent, the right broker
who is not captive but writes for all the companies,
then that agent can present you all those options.
And also be un-biased because they're trying
to find the best fit for you.
And the good news there is once they've found the best fit for you,
is that when that insurance policy is written,
then the insurance company is going to pay.
The agent doesn't cost you any money whatsoever.
So the key really here is you can get unbiased advice
and you don't have to pay for it if you use a broker.
And if you go through someone that knows what they're doing,
you're going to get the same options
and won't cost you any money
because that agent is going to be paid a commission.
The way we do business.
We certainly don't work for free,
but we don't charge our clients anything
because the insurance companies pay us.
And as brokers, we are unbiased.
We're trying to find the best fit for the company.
So again, I just wouldn't go this way.
I don't think it's worth $1000, 2000
fee just to get unbiased advice
when you can get that elsewhere for free
and be able to get the right policy for yourself as well.
And then the last one would be get the sale versus the relationship.
I would venture to say that probably 75% to 80%
of all the people in this business are all about getting the sale.
And our business, we call that inking the app.
And their goal is to try to ink an app,
get a sale as quickly as he can and get on the next person.
Which means what?
When people are all about the sale,
they're not making sure that you are selecting the right product.
And so what you want is a relationship
with someone
who's going to take the necessary time to explain all your options,
to go through all the details, to make sure
that you're getting enrolled into Medicare at the right time,
that you're on the right plan, whether that's a Supplemental plan
or an Advantage plan, you want to have the right kind of drug plan.
You want to make sure your
doctors and hospitals are going to be in the network
that you're choosing.
And all those kind of details matter
and someone who just wants to get to get the sale,
they skim over all those kind of details that really do matter.
Someone that cares about the relationship,
they're going to make sure, No.
One, that you are getting the right product when you start Medicare.
But then in addition to that, they're going to be
available to you if there are any problems.
Those that get the sale, we call those the one and done.
That's all they want to get the sale.
And you'll never hear from them again.
Those who want a relationship,
that really do care about you and making sure
that you were going to get service, not just to get the initial
policy, but to make sure ongoing as problems and things come up
or you need to do changes that that person will be there for you.
Hey, thanks so much for watching the video,
and I do hope that it was helpful.
Now if you feel like
you need to learn more about Medicare
to make sure you're making the right Medicare decision,
really the best way and the easiest way to do
that is to go to MedicareSchool.com.
That's MedicareSchool.com,
and you'll be given the opportunity to be able
to click on Get the Free Workshop.
We call that the essentials workshop
and I do all the teaching.
And there you'll learn all the ins and outs of Medicare
to make sure that you have an accurate
and thorough understanding of how Medicare works.
The second thing you can do
is click where it says, talk to a Medicare guide,
and there
you can actually set up a time
where you can discuss your situation
with a Medicare guide.
They'll explain all your options
and actually even walk you
through the enrollment process as well,
if that's what you need to do.
And so go to MedicareSchool.com,
watch the workshop or talk to a Medicare guide.
It would be our privilege to assist you further.