AEP may seem like it’s a long way off, but fall will be here before you know it. Now is the ideal time to start preparing for your busiest time of year. Follow these four tips for AEP preparedness to gain a head start in ensuring a successful AEP.
1. Complete Your AHIP Training and Carrier Certifications
Completing your training and certifications is the first step in AEP preparedness. Once you complete your Medicare certifications, you can move on to carrier certifications. Depending on the number of carriers you contract with, this may be time consuming – another reason to get started early. Many carriers have already announced training dates for July.
Once you have recertified with your existing carriers, consider adding new ones to your portfolio. Expanding the number of carriers and plans you offer will make you more competitive in your market.
Keep track of your approvals to make sure there are no delays. Once you receive your approvals, you can save valuable time by familiarizing yourself with the plans you will be selling.
2. Plan Your Marketing Strategy and Order Supplies
Start planning your marketing strategy now to begin communicating with your clients and prospects early. The market will be inundated with information from your competitors on October 1. You don’t want to have a late start.
- Take a few minutes to review last year’s marketing strategy to determine what was successful. This will help you figure out where to direct your efforts and budget.
- Order any materials you will need for AEP. This includes flyers, direct mail pieces, event invitations, and business cards.
- Plan your social media campaigns and messaging. Keep your social media accounts up to date.
- Look out for carrier enrollment kits. Pre-order them as soon as they become available.
- Make client retention a priority. Plan to communicate with your existing clients in September to let them know they will be receiving their carrier ANOC letter. Remind them you are here to help them evaluate their plan changes and find a new plan during AEP, if necessary. Remember, to remain CMS compliant, you cannot use this early outreach to prospect or sell. Although you must not discuss plan details, you can ask your clients to schedule a benefits review with you after October 1.
- Start securing locations and dates for hosting seminars and events in your community.
3. Prepare to Track AEP Enrollments and Commissions
As you’ll be busy during AEP, it’s extra important to set up a process for tracking your enrollment submissions and commissions. With carriers each using different methods, it’s often difficult to know the status of each transaction.
Make it a habit to follow your enrollment applications through the system to ensure there are no issues that could impact your clients’ enrollment. Likewise, track commissions to ensure you have been paid correctly. You can track these manually using a spreadsheet or use software designed for this purpose. Regardless of the method you use, it’s important to have all your information easily accessible in one place. You should record:
- Customer name
- Carrier
- Policy type
- Date of submission
- Method of submission
- Effective date
- New enrollment or renewal
- Amount of commission payment and date you were paid
You may also choose to include information you may need to provide to CMS, such as call tracking data and a link to the call recording.
4. Stay Organized to Maximize Efficiency
It’s important during this busy time of year to stay organized and streamline processes wherever possible to maximize efficiency. This not only avoids wasted time, but it also allows you to project a more professional image to your clients.
- If you use a CRM tool, it’s important to keep your customer data up to date. Use your CRM to track leads, manage communications, and stay on top of follow-ups.
- Streamline client meetings during AEP with a Medicare Needs Analysis Form. Using this form ensures you ask the right questions and properly document the responses. This ensures you won’t have to go back to the client with additional questions.
- Familiarize yourself with all your carriers’ online tools to speed up processes and improve accuracy.
The more you accomplish now, the further ahead you will be when AEP arrives. Your efforts will pay off when October 1 rolls around.
The experienced team at Western Asset Protection is committed to your success. Contact us today.