Virtual Back Office

Virtual Back Office

Virtual Back Office
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As an independent agent, typically all aspects of the business rest solely on your shoulders. It is important to be able to deliver the type of service that a large brokerage can handle but on a much smaller scale. So, what does a back-office look like? A back office is defined as the portion of a company made up of administration and support personnel who are not client-facing. As an insurance agent, you typically need to handle issues like licensing, client inquiries, enrollment status, and many more. At Pinnacle Financial Services, we offer all our agents’ access to our back office at no cost!

Here are the following divisions that you have access to just for partnering with Pinnacle Financial Services:

  • Technology: You can’t have a back office these days without having technology. When you partner with Pinnacle Financial Services, we give you every piece of technology you could have at your fingertips. Just to name a few, you have access to a proprietary online enrollment platform for Medicare known as Connect4Medicare, a CRM system for keeping track of leads known as AgencyBloc, a data aggregator that keeps track of all of your business called AgentVizion, and quoting software for every line of senior insurance you can think of.
  • Health and Life Support Staff: We have 8 people dedicated to helping you with all aspects of your business. Our health and life support staff have exclusive access to next level support for every carrier. Have you ever had to wait on hold for an hour to finally get someone who can’t answer your questions? Not only will our support staff take those calls off your hands, but we will always get you that answer you need with 24 hours.
  • Enrollments: Although many of us are enrolling clients via electronic applications, we have an entire staff dedicated to scrubbing and processing applications for you. They ensure that applications are never sent to the carrier with missing information, missing pages or documents and that you are licensed and appointed in the area where the application is being submitted.
  • Compliance: At Pinnacle Financial Services, we feel that staying compliant requires a full-time job. We have that handled for you as well. We have a compliance team that can help you through all the difficult rules and regulations that CMS has governed on your Medicare business. We can help create your agency compliance charter at no cost as well!
  • Graphic Design: Ever thought about creating a logo? Or how about a mail-piece that is specific to the market you are trying to capture? We have a graphic designer at the office who can help you with all of that and more!

By utilizing our back-office support, you can operate as an independent agent, but on the scope of large scale operation. We don’t want to be a typical “FMO”, but a partner in your success. If you are sitting here wondering how you can continue to write business during the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) crisis, then you need to pick up your phone and call Pinnacle Financial Services.

For more information, contact a Pinnacle Financial Services representative today

1 (800) 772-6881 x7731 | sales@pfsinsurance.com

National Director of Agent Training

Contact a Pinnacle Representative if you have any questions.

1 (800) 772-6881
support@pfsinsurance.com

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Selling Medicare Remotely

Selling Medicare Remotely

Selling Medicare Remotely
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The COVID-19 crisis continues to affect everyone, including the way they make a living.  Here in Pennsylvania, Governor Wolf has increased stay-at-home warnings to include the threat of “loss of license” for agents who attempt to work in the field.  The bottom line for insurance agents, as with the rest of the community, is to stay home.  Fortunately, there are still ways to help your clients and complete enrollments.  Most carriers have instituted new policies and procedures to allow for sales to be completed over the phone from beginning to end.  We have also seen a big increase in the use of our Connect4Medicare online enrollment system, free for all Pinnacle agents.  Now is a great time to call current clients to add on necessary ancillary products, like Hospital Indemnity Plans, as well as targeting those people turning 65 who still need to enroll during this outbreak. 

Selling Medicare Remotely through Online Enrollment

There are many different options for online enrollment.  Each of the carriers has introduced or enhanced their online platforms in recent years to help make the process easier for both agents and clients.  United Healthcare has LEAN, Aetna has Ascend/Rate, Anthem has mProducer, Humana has FastApp, and the list goes on.  Each of the carrier’s online tools allows you to search for Providers as well as enter drug information for the client.  You would still need to complete a compliant presentation, but these tools give you everything you need to complete the application.   Remember you can also use the Medicare website to see all the plans as well.  Any agent who works with Pinnacle also has the option to use Connect4Medicare, which combines all companies into one portal.

Selling Medicare Remotely using Connect4Medicare

Connect4Medicare allows you to see almost any company that you are active within one portal.  You can quote the plans and enroll the client all in one place.  This tool also allows you to enter all the client’s medications to show them the true cost for the year and make a more informed decision. You can lookup providers and pharmacies as well.  Using Connect4Medicare is compliant and the sites are all individually filled with CMS, but you still need to abide by the Medicare Marketing Guidelines.  The tool will help facilitate this for you.  In addition to sitting with the client, Connect4Medicare provides the option of sending the application to be finished and signed by the client at home. You can also use your personal URL to build your own website to send to clients to quote and enroll on their own.

Selling Medicare Remotely with Voice Signature

You may work with clients who don’t have the use of email or computer. You still have the option of enrolling them without having to visit them in person. You always start by completing a compliant presentation by phone, but when you get to the actual application portion, you would call or connect them with the option of the specific carrier with which they are looking to apply.  Most of the carriers, if they did not already, have provided options for voice signature since the COVID-19 epidemic started.

For more information, contact a Pinnacle Financial Services representative today

1 (800) 772-6881 x7731 | sales@pfsinsurance.com

Senior Sales Director - Health

Contact a Pinnacle Representative if you have any questions.

1 (800) 772-6881
support@pfsinsurance.com

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Using a CRM System for Insurance Agents

Using a CRM System for Insurance Agents

Using a CRM System for Insurance Agents
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A Customer Relationship Management system, or CRM, is essential to any business. This is especially the case with independent insurance agents.  A CRM can act as a back-office and support system, without the need for an actual office or employees.  Utilization of a CRM can effectively increase sales by up to 29%, and most agents or agencies who committed to making the change will attest that it changed their business overnight.  40% of companies still report using informal tracking methods, such as spreadsheets or emails, and that number is likely much higher among independent agents.  This means that you get an immediate advantage in your area, just by committing to a CRM.

Benefits of an Insurance Agent using a CRM

  1. Create a better customer experience. As in all things, you are naturally more confident when you have the most knowledge on your topic. This includes your clients.  You gain instant credibility when you have simple information, such as children’s names or favorite sports team, immediately available in front of you.
  2. Save time and money. More administration and time wasted on searching for data actively costs you money. Finding details on policies, missing appointment times, or deciding what or who to prioritize is valuable time lost to a person who lives on sales.
  3. Increase your Sales. The bottom line is that those businesses that personalize their client’s experience tend to beat those that don’t.  Having a CRM allows for a small business to create that personalization on a large scale.  This, as well as tracking and efficiency, create an immediate impact on sales volume.

How can an Insurance Agent use CRM?

Many systems integrate into certain features of a CRM, such as Connect4Medicare storing client Prescription Drug information.  A good CRM will have all their features in one place in an easy to use way.  This is uniquely a good fit for independent insurance agents who need to track and analyze data from multiple carriers and then decide how to utilize the data to increase sales. Pinnacle Financial Services uses Agency Bloc, but there are many others that will have similar functionality, such as Sales Force.  You’ll want to check such things as pricing, features, system integration and contract length when deciding who to go with.  Some of the ways our agents have found using a CRM helpful include;

  • Saving client information in one place
    • Birthdays, Spouse’s name, Doctor Name, Drug Information, Current and Previous Plans, Premium, etc.
  • Creating alerts for upcoming events; Birthday, Premium Payment, Policy Effective Date, Underwriting Appointment.
  • Create automated messages such as 1, 3 and 9-month follow-ups.
  • Send group emails such as quarterly newsletters.
  • Input commission data to sort payments and dis-enrollments.
  • Store important files like applications and POA’s.

For more Information Selling Medicare Remotely and one-on-one support, click here to contact your Sales Director.

For more information, contact a Pinnacle Financial Services representative today

1 (800) 772-6881 x7731 | sales@pfsinsurance.com

Senior Sales Director - Health

Contact a Pinnacle Representative if you have any questions.

1 (800) 772-6881
support@pfsinsurance.com

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Medicare Companies in Philadelphia

Medicare Companies in Philadelphia

Medicare Companies in Philadelphia
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Philadelphia, like most cities, has Medicare plans and companies that are unique to their area. There are three different types of Medicare plans offered by private companies:

  • Medicare Supplement
  • Medicare Prescription Drugs
  • Medicare Advantage

As an agent, it’s important to know where to search for, and how to compare, plans to determine what will best fit the needs of your clients. Pinnacle Financial Services, a local FMO in the Philadelphia area, carries most of the companies unique to Philly, and has multiple specialists available to help answer any and all questions.

How to search for Medicare companies in the Philadelphia area

A number of different tools are available to assist agents in not only finding all of the companies available, but also comparing such plans to find what fits.

Pinnacle offers our agents access to these services at no cost.

Medicare Plan Finder had some major changes this past year, and has helped provide another way to run a quote.

Connect4Medicare.com provides agents a way to run quotes for individual clients based upon their medications and current financial statuses. The system also has a doctor and hospital look-up service to find if clients are covered at facilities, such as Lehigh Valley Hospital (Allentown,) or Novacare Rehab (South Philadelphia.)

Additionally, agents can also run a more generalized quote as well as find base pricing using Pinnacle’s CSG Quoting Tool.

There are several websites to show every single company within a specific ZIP code, although they may not be compliant to show a client.

When in doubt, reach out to our agent support team, based only 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia.

There is a large list of companies within and around Philadelphia, many of which will be attending the 2020 Sales Summit, (held in King of Prussia, March 10 & 11.) Below are a list of Pinnacle’s preferred carriers for each Medicare product line.

Preferred Companies offering Medicare Plans in Philly

Medicare Advantage
  • UnitedHealthcare
  • Aetna
  • Independence Blue Cross
  • Humana
  • Cigna
Medicare Supplement
  • UnitedHealthcare
  • Cigna
  • Aetna
  • Transamerica
  • Mutual of Omaha
Prescription Drug Plans
  • UnitedHealthcare
  • Silverscript
  • Envision
  • Wellcare
  • Humana

For more information, contact a Pinnacle Representative today at 1-(800)-772-6881 x7731 or email sales@pfsinsurance.com.

Senior Sales Director - Health

1 (800) 772-6881 x7716
jpalo@pfsinsurance.com

Contact a Pinnacle Representative if you have any questions.

1 (800) 772-6881
support@pfsinsurance.com

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How to Contract for a Life Insurance Company

How to Contract for a Life Insurance Company

How to Contract for a Life Insurance Company
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The Just-in-Time Process

Getting contracted is the first step in submitting business with an insurance carrier. The team at Pinnacle Financial Services can help simplify this process for you. A lot of agents think they need to be contracted with a company first before they can submit business. However, the insurance industry as of late has been moving towards the “just-in-time” process.

What is just-in-time? It is a process where the insurance carrier takes your contracting paperwork, but does not file your appointment with the state until the first piece of business is written and submitted. It has been introduced lately to save the carrier time in appointing those who never submit any business. The previous pattern involved agents becoming contracted with a carrier, never submitting business, and then terminated due to lack of production. Then the cycle would restart as they would be ask to be re-appointed, only to repeat the process all over again.  This not only wastes time but also money, and the carriers don’t want to do this dance anymore.

Some of the carriers Pinnacle has partnered with that utilize the just-in-time appointment process are:

For help with your appointment process, reach out to one of Pinnacle’s knowledgeable sales directors. They can provide you with all of the information needed to become appointed and submit business. The team can also scrub and process your business to make sure it is issued within a timely manner.

For more information, contact a Pinnacle Representative today at 1-(800)-772-6881 x6003 or email lifesales@pfsinsurance.com.

Director of Sales - Life & Final Expense

1 (800) 772-6881 x7794
wreadinger@pfsinsurance.com

Contact a Pinnacle Representative if you have any questions.

1 (800) 772-6881
support@pfsinsurance.com

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Medicare Electronic Scope of Appointment

Medicare Electronic Scope of Appointment

Medicare Electronic Scope of Appointment
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When selling Medicare Advantage an agent needs to obtain a scope of appointment (SOA) prior to discussing any plan information. What is a scope of appointment? A scope of appointment is a form that an agent must have a Medicare beneficiary complete, prior to an appointment, designating exactly what products they wish to discuss. You may obtain a scope of appointment in various ways. One way is through a generic paper form, approved by CMS, that all carriers must recognize. You can also use carrier-specific forms as well. The other option, which has grown in popularity over the years, is electronic or e-scopes.

An e-scope is basically a digitized version of the paper scope. Depending on the program, these setups can vary, but all must follow and be approved by CMS. These can be emailed and signed by the client at their leisure. At Pinnacle Financial Services, we always recommend using a generic scope if possible (link here). Generic scopes typically have other cross-selling opportunities listed, like hospital indemnity products, that can be sold during a Medicare appointment.

To set the bar higher, Pinnacle Financial Services has an online enrollment system called Connect4Medicare. Connect4Medicare allows you to enroll clients into Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement and even Prescription Drug Plans (PDP) electronically all in one place. This software even has an e-scope built-in. Agents that contract with Pinnacle Financial Services receives access to this for free- no hidden fees! Instead of using each carrier website with numerous logins, it is all condensed into one convenient site.

With the current restrictions on our country with the Coronavirus hindering our ability to be around people, electronic platforms will become extremely detrimental to business. For the e-scope, all the client needs are an email address for the scope to be sent to and to e-sign. You can also have them sign it in person for a face to face visit as well!

Partner with Pinnacle Financial Services to get access to all these great tools and more!

For more information, contact a Pinnacle Financial Services representative today

1 (800) 772-6881 x7731 | sales@pfsinsurance.com

Director of Sales - Health

Contact a Pinnacle Representative if you have any questions.

1 (800) 772-6881
support@pfsinsurance.com

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Contact a Pinnacle Financial Service representative today for assistance.

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