How To Track And Optimize Your Medicare Commissions
There is a strange paradox in the world of Medicare sales. The better the agent, and the more sales that the agent is able to generate. The more sales they generate, the greater the burden placed on them to keep track of their commission payments in order to ensure that their books balance each month!
We don’t mean to make light of a serious situation – underpaid (or unpaid) commissions quickly add up – and can represent a real issue for those working in the field of Medicare sales. For most agents, implementing a digital solution can help to transform their process here – reducing the burden of admin, and freeing them up to make more sales (ones which they know they’ll actually get paid in full for!)
In short, optimizing their efficiency when it comes to tracking their Medicare commissions, frees them to focus on what really matters… growing their business and increasing their revenue.
In this article, we’ll shed light on these issues, helping Medicare agents to not only understand what causes them, but also to provide a solution to assist them in freeing themselves from the burden of tedious financial admin.
Tracking Medicare Commissions: Common Problems
When it comes to understanding the issue of commission tracking for Medicare agents, it is important to understand the common problems associated with the issue. These will give you a greater macro perspective in order to deal with the root causes and mitigate against the implications that they hold.
The biggest issue for agents generally revolves around payments from carriers for sales made. From this perspective, it is common for carriers to either miss payments, due to them being bogged down in large volumes of paperwork, or to make incorrect payments to agents due to a mismatch in communication and expectations. Either way, it results in an increased burden for the agent, from both a workload perspective and a frustration perspective.
This issue is compounded when payments are of a recurring nature, and even a small discrepancy in this regard has the potential to become a large problem if not rectified quickly. Take for example, a minor discrepancy of 8% on a book of business equating to $120,000. This discrepancy will result in the agent losing $9,600 in profit. This example demonstrates the importance of catching the issue in good time, to ensure that it does not impact the agent’s bottom line drastically.
While this issue has the potential to be cumulatively dramatic for the agent, it is important to note that it is usually not the intention on the part of the carrier, but rather due to the process involved. Traditionally, commission tracking and payments involve a taxing manual process, with multiple points of reference and sources to check that payments are made on time, and constitute the correct and expected amounts. If agent splits are involved, matters are further complicated, with the potential to become hugely time consuming and oftentimes tricky to ensure that they are correctly allocated.
The Solution to Optimized Tracking of Medicare Commissions
So, what is the solution?
This is where technology rides to the rescue. Medicare Commission Tracking Software, like the one offered by Commissionly, is proving invaluable in helping to mitigate the issues around payments and ensuring that as an agent, your time is spent doing what you do best… making sales.
The Medicare Commission Tracking Tool is affordable, easy to set up and easy to use, and offers exponential Return on Investment due to its ability to catch and flag missed or incorrect payments automatically – saving money and time (which, as we all know, is also money!)
From a functional perspective, The Medicare Commission Tracking Tool allows you to connect to your carrier’s systems or bulk upload all your policy details via CSV with custom carrier templates. It has a carrier statement import system that matches the headings in your carrier reports to swiftly import commission payments, which means that you can convert multiple carrier reports into a standard format so that you can extract useful resorts from the data.
The system also offers One Click Discrepancy Reports, which quickly identify any Medicare commission payments that do not match the schedule or amount you expect to receive, and it also has the ability to automate agent commission splits, so that if and when you are working on a sale with other agents, you can produce commission reports that will ensure clarity around remuneration, and manage the expectations of all parties involved.
Tracking Medicare Commissions: Why It’s so Important to Get it Right
There is no doubt that Medicare commission tracking is a vital aspect to the business of any Medicare sales agent. Mitigating against this expensive, time-consuming problem sooner rather than later is vital when it comes to ensuring that your bottom line stays intact, meeting your expectations and ensuring the longevity of your position in the market.
In addition to optimizing your efficiency, implementing a Medicare Commission Tracking Tool also holds a number of secondary benefits that go beyond simply ensuring that you are paid in full. It allows you to build better ongoing relationships with carriers, as issues can be resolved swiftly, without drawn out grievances that have the potential to sour the partnership. By removing the need for manual tracking, you are able to free up more time to focus on other, arguably more important aspects of your business, generating revenue and improving your offerings. It will also facilitate greater motivation from a productivity standpoint, as you see your commissions grow.
Take Control Of Your Medicare Commissions
As a Medicare sales agent, it has never been easier to ensure that the commission payments that you receive, match the expectations and work that you put into earning them. The days of inaccurate, inconsistent and missing payments are finally coming to an end. Technological, automated innovation is the key to fighting this issue with the greatest degree of efficiency and accuracy.
However, it is up to you to take the first step on this journey. While there are other areas of your business that have a strong claim to your attention, ensuring that your hard work translates into due revenue, is the obvious and most vital first step in future-proofing your business and your bottom line.
Book a demo today and find out how we can help!