Insure You Speak the Right Sales Language

Bloomberg Businessweek is reporting this week on how, amid the other retailers on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, New York, UnitedHealth Group has opened a store to sell health insurance. The Queens store joins seven similar UnitedHealth Group stores in various areas of the U.S. and sixteen temporary stores which are being made permanent. The whole idea of selling health insurance through storefronts is being joined by companies like Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida and Highmark.
     The impetus is the federal Affordable Care Act with its provisions for millions of consumers to shop for their own health care packages. More than the selling sites will need to change. Techniques effective for business-to-business (B2B)—the health insurer selling to a store owner or a human resources director—won’t work well when selling to individual consumers. For instance, UnitedHealth Group has learned that Medicare members shopping for coverage expect simplified step-by-step explanations.
     When new developments bring opportunities for your retailing or threats to the ways you currently do business, follow the UnitedHealth Group way: Change how you’re talking to prospects, and maybe change where you do the talking.
     For another insurance industry example, consider the history of the workers compensation carrier Employers Insurance Company of Nevada (EICN). On January 1, 2000, what had been called the State Industrial Insurance System (SIIS) got a new name and new challenges. Up to that point, the organization had been a virtual monopoly run by the State of Nevada: Either you self-insured, as the large casinos did, or you got your workers compensation coverage from SIIS. After January 1, 2000, other carriers could enter the market.
     Since no longer operating as a monopoly, EICN staff had to quickly master two major skill sets—marketing and customer service. You don’t need to excel at either of those when you’re not competing for business. EICN contracted with University of Nevada-Reno College of Extended Studies, where I’m on the teaching faculty, to conduct the necessary organizational institutes for all management staff. About a year later, EICN was completely privatized. It is now part of Employers Holdings, Inc., a publically traded company.
     EICN learned to speak the language of marketing and customer service. UnitedHealth Group is learning to speak different languages, too. At the Queens store, there are staff available to help in a whole range of Chinese dialects spoken in the neighborhood.
     Insure you’re speaking the right sales language.

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