Ancillaries

Ancillaries, add-ons, or extras, whatever you want to call them, these are the products that turn the basic health insurance product into a complete package. Generally speaking, these are the dental, vision, life insurance, indemnity products, and product up-sells that you normally would add to the basic policy.

Too many times these products get intentionally overlooked because of the degree of difficulty to sell or the price of the product line is considered too costly. Agents generally do not sell the up grade because they are afraid that the additional premium will turn away the buyer. As a result these products are left on the table, much like the discarded leftovers from a Thanksgiving dinner.

Please understand that selling these products is not a difficult task to undertake. Selling additional products is as easy as asking the right questions. In the Tip about Probing Questions we discovered that you are asking questions to find the persons need. The up sell take the probing a slight bit further.

For instance: If I were to up-sell a discount dental/vision card, I might ask the prospect how important dental benefits were to him and his family? Or I might ask him if he wears glasses and would it be of a benefit to him to get a discount on his next pair.

In selling these products I always follow up with an example. In the case of the vision I say that I know I paid $500 for my last pair of glasses (which I did), and that we give a 25% discount on eyewear at recognized companies like Lens Crafters, so I would have saved $120 on my glasses if I had the discount. Since our program is $10 per month thats $120 per year, meaning the card has paid for itself, if I had it when I bought my glasses.

Dental is the same way. However, the harder products to sell are the life and the indemnity products. They are not difficult, but most people easily misunderstand the usage of such products.

I have found that most life insurance associated within the health insurance policy is usually a Accidental Death or a term life for the duration of the life of the health insurance policy.

Usually the term life has a benefit up to $40,000 or $50,000 available without medical underwriting, and usually a simplified application is used. Because of the simplicity of the plans, and the low premium these are generally easy sells. The way to sell them is to sell them as a premium packaged upgrade.

For example: I would say something like, Mr. Jones, based on the information the you provided to me I am suggesting that you look at my Golden Shield Core Plan with a $xx deductible, with a guaranteed rate for 2 years and additionally this plan Ive designed for you includes a term life product for $50,000 with an Accident benefit attached to it, and our dental plan. To get the most coverage that I can offer, will just cost you $xx per month. Are you ready to complete the application?

This has made the products easy to sell for me. I hope it can help you sell them also.

As always, if you have any questions, please get in contact with me and let me help you.

J. Timothy Clark is the founder of the Clark Insurance Brokers. He specializes in helping small business owners, Real Estate agents and brokers, individuals with health problems, find health insurance for their peace of mind.

Hailing from Orlando, Florida, he is married to a beautiful wife and has twin boys.

You can call him directly at 407-443-8523, email at jtimothyclark@cfl.rr.com and check out his website at http://www.clarkinsurancebrokers.com

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