Got to work

Well I got off my ass today and hit the phones. For me most of the battle is simply getting into the groove but once I'm there it's smooth sailing. Good day on the phone too - five solid prospects who I'll be quoting tomorrow.

And now my Golden Rule rant

I only like quoting final rates. I simply can't stand saying "oh, and add $36 if you want that option." When I quote all carriers except GR it's like Ragu; "it's already in there." However, GR has no quoting tool that will spit out one final figure.

On the software you only get a page of add-ons; lifetime max buy-up, drug card, and preventative for Plan 100 and 80. For Copay select it's additional to buy up the drug max. I'm not exactly sure what the software does anyway since you can't email quotes. You can view it or print it - useless.

The bottom line is I like taking clients to my website so we can use the quoting tool. But when I use the quoting tool and tell them to click on the "view benefits page" I now have to "sell" drug coverage or the buy-up.

For families the GR quote link shows a nasty low-ball figure. For example, if I'm showing Plan 100 to a family and they're looking at a rate of $253 they get excited. But alas, we click the view benefit button and come to find it's $65 extra for drug coverage and $67 for the preventative package. So it's a $130 low-ball!

What I tell my clients as soon as we pull up the rates is not to pay any attention to the first figure and the rates are actually on the "view benefits" page.

We all know why GR does this - because most agents never include the drug card, drug buy-up or preventive in the quote because they're too scared to lose the sale by telling clients that valuable options are an additional price.

What GR desperately needs is Asurant's software.