Recently I made a big move in my role at Compass Health. I have seen the amazing opportunity store Managers have for years and am a firm believer that a store is as successful as their manager wants it to become. After being approached by Mike and Bruce about the opportunity in the Vero Beach store I decided to take all the things I have been teaching as the company’s corporate trainer and put them to work in a store that had remained idle for some time.
Steps we Took:
Agents –
Creating successful agents vs being your stores production leader. I believe the manager’s best path to success is to drive business to their agents. Organizing community exposure to drive business to the store is key.
Mentor Training –
The most effective way to lead is by example. Working events and the store side by side with a new agent showing them the difference between ACA and STM prospects, how to present a bundle package and even best methods of establishing repour.
Set the Tone –
Agents will do what you do not what you say. Working events, working weekends, presenting the bundle.
Leaving the Community know –
One thing I noticed is despite being right beside a busy Publix location a large percentage of our prospective customers did not know we are here or what we do. We developed a series of posters focused on certain locations that would see traffic from our prospective clients:
- Doctors’ Offices –
“Network Partners” Primary and Specialist in our Florida Blue networks. We made them our referral partners. - Pharmacies –
“Network Partners” People are thinking about their insurance when they are getting their prescription. Make these places your partners. - Low Income Employers –
Key part in getting in front of more qualified partners is figuring out how to reach them. What better place then places you know have 20 to 50 employees with incomes in the exact range you’re looking to find. We put posters in the break rooms at:
- Fast Food
- Dollar Stores
- Restaurants
- Movies Theaters
- Good Will
Grass Roots Marketing Starts at the top –
I believe the best lead is one the agent creates themselves so instead of sitting in the store at my desk I set up a schedule of events. Some were your traditional Health fairs, but many were tables set up outside of different locations.
- Plasma Centers and Blood Donation facilities
- Different “Network Pharmacies” and Doctor Groups
- Private Network Pharmacies
- Dollar Stores
- Big Lots
- Laundry Mats
- Low Income Phone Stores
- Check Cashing Stores
- Urgent Cares
- Medicare 101 –
Do not forget the Seniors! Partnering with local Senior Organizations “Council on aging” and 55 and older Communities
Satellite Offices –
Two is greater than one so if you have two locations you will bring in more business. So, we looked for a large Flea Market we could set up a permanent presence. Now in the next county over we could market to a brand-new group of prospects all of which fit in either the ACA or Medicare demographics. This local has an agent and Field Marketer there Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This leads to between 15 to 25 ACA enrollments each week.
Make the most out of your current Locations –
We have amazing locations most with Publix that are busiest between 4 and 7 each day. If we are a retail store, we need to be open retail hours when people can come in and meet. We immediately changed hours and staff the store:
- Monday to Friday 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM
- Saturday 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
- Set up a table from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM outside the store to draw people over to the store.
This may look like a lot of work, and it has been. However, the results have been amazing. Our store traffic has increased dramatically and our numbers for all areas are growing each week. We love what we are doing and having a lot of fun helping the people of Vero Beach.
