Course 10

How to

Properly Compare Plans

Apples & Oranges

Don’t Just Compare Prices

Consumers will often try and oversimplify the insurance and benefits business by only wanting to compare prices, not substance or anything else. When that happens, you (who are expected to be the professional) need to step in and help direct them.

If you compare various plans such as Limited Benefit Plans, you’ll need to know how to do it. If, for example, you just compared prices, then you’d often be missing the point. A Chevrolet costs less than a Mazzarati but that’s not the point. You get what you pay for and no one’s ever bragged that their Ford Pinto was the greatest car they ever owned…even though it might have been the cheapest (in more ways than one).

So, you’ll need to learn to compare apples to apples, not oranges. But how would you do that with an association membership where part of it included a Limited Benefit Plan? Let’s review some of the best ways to do that.

How To Compare

Comparing things is nothing new. We do it every day and most of us have compared practically everything and anything we could get our hands on. As a result, people often compare the wrong things because they really don’t know what to compare when it comes to association membership benefits, Limited Benefit Plans, etc. Here are a few great ideas that will help you.

1. Price.

Never compare price unless the membership benefit plans are identical. This means you probably won’t do much comparing of price. Few, if any Limited Benefit Plans, Accident Medical Plans, Dental or other plans are identical.

If someone tells you they have a cheaper plan or found a cheaper plan, ask some questions such as:

                        a. Did you buy the cheapest home you could find?

b. Did you buy the cheapest car you could drive?

c. Did you find the cheapest spouse you could find?

d. Do you like to go out to the cheapest restaurant?

e. If you need brain surgery, do you look for the cheapest brain surgeon?

The answer to questions like this will always be, “No”. They didn’t buy the cheapest thing they could find in most areas of their lives. If they did, they certainly aren’t going to brag about it. So why do that with your health care? Does it make any sense to buy the cheapest health care and put your life on the line?

Remember this: You’ll get what you pay for.

Remember, quality doesn’t cost, it pays!

2. Association Benefits.

Always compare association benefits. None of the other associations will be able to even come close. You can knock down any competition with having a higher stack of useful, down-to-earth benefits.

The Association For Independent Managers, Inc.™ created benefit packages with so many discounts and other savings that the cost of the package would continually be off set by the savings which can be accrued on a weekly basis, not just once in a while. There’s basically something for everyone in each package.

If you don’t know of all the benefits included in a membership package, get to know them and never discount the fact that they can save your customers quite a lot of money on a regular and ongoing basis.

When you begin to compare all of the great non insurance benefits to Association membership, there will be no contest. Your program will win, hands-down. That’s a clue as to how to begin to introduce the program.

3. Plan Designs.

Plan designs are normally not all the same. As a result, you’d need to sort them out for your customer.

For instance, if they want to compare a Limited Benefit Plan with a Major Medical Plan, then they’d better understand that you’re looking at apples and oranges and definitely not the same plan designs.

But, let’s say you are looking at Limited Benefit Plans only. If you have similar plans, compare plan designs and look at all of the potential savings. Some plans have touted things such as “surgical room” benefit rather than a daily hospital or surgical benefit. Be aware of the plusses that your program offers and always use the approved materials. Remember the surgical benefit that you have is normally going to be better and with unique limits that other programs cannot offer. Go through the schedule of benefits with a fine tooth comb so you can recite them accurately.

If you compare plans, make certain that the plan design isn’t only the insurance portion of the package. Make certain to point out everything else included at the total cost.

4. Intangibles.

Yes, the Association offers a nice looking certificate you can place on your office wall and yes, it’s got a variety of great programs but what else? What else could you promote? It would have to be the “intangibles”. What are they?

Intangibles involve perception of what something can do for you. For instance, the Roadside Assistance Program is one of those programs that offers absolutely NO benefit UNTIL you need it most. THEN, it’s the best thing since sliced bread. That’s how a number of the Association programs operate. They’re considered to be intangibles until they are needed most. Let’s move onto some of them.

Consider what a Patient Advocacy Program truly is. It just sits there until you need it. Then, it can save your life, help you navigate through a most difficult claims, testing, medical understanding system that befuddles even the most educated among us. It’s the same with the Tax Savings Program, the Identity Theft Protection Program, Legal Assistance, Tax Assistance, “Just Ask”, and many more. It’s those intangibles which can help save or increase your business.

The articles in the newsletter can also be perceived the same way. You can read the articles but, until you apply the principles, they’re just articles. Once they work for you, the entire program becomes well worth the price and a real bargain.

5. Discounts And Savings.

By offering a number of discounts and savings programs, the Association has accomplished a few unique goals.

• The weekly and monthly savings can pay for your membership.
• The savings and discounts can make things affordable for your budget.
• Many of the discounts and savings can be passed on to your friends, family, neighbors, etc.
• Programs offered are helpful because, when you buy one of the more expensive memberships, the only time you can use the Limited Benefit Plan portion is when you are injured or are ill. Not any more. Included in those packages are daily, weekly, and monthly savings programs that will help your family on a regular and ongoing basis. By taking advantage of them, you will be able to use your membership package in a positive way, not just when you are sick or injured.
• If a member wishes to brag about their membership, they’ll often cite the other stuff, other than the insurance. Why? Practicality and possibility of regular and ongoing use.

6. Education, Tools And Resources.

When you consider the purpose behind the Association, then Education, Tools and Resources, become paramount. The Tax Savings Program enables people to put thousands of dollars back into their own pockets. The core programs help you become more successful. Isn’t that what everyone wants?

If you tend to compare plans with other plans, then these areas will stand out from those which have no provision for these great benefits.

7. Newsletter.

Most organizations which sell various types of insurance and health insurance, don’t have a newsletter let alone one as informative and helpful as the Association’s. When it was named, “DIRECTIONS”, it was because it does direct a person in a most successful fashion. Members have remained with the Association for many years mainly because of the newsletter. That fact alone, speaks volumes.

Summary

This completes the 10 part course for Association Brokers. There might be others to follow as needed and we thank you for your participation with us. It’s been an honor working with you.