AEP Countdown: Medicare 2027, October 15th & Insider Tips for Clients and Agents!

0:01 Thank you for watching. Attention individuals, families, and caregivers. It's Medicare Hour and more with Peter right here on K4HD Radio. This is the podcast for all types of insurance solutions while specializing in Medicare because we Medicare. Here's your host, Peter R.

0:49 Joseph. Good morning, good morning, good morning, my fellow peeps. I'm so glad you guys are here this morning. It's a beautiful week and starting afresh. We've got a great show for you guys this morning. We've got two great guests. One, Ryan Dawson is making his third appearance with us. with Dawson Insurance Group up in the state of Washington. And then Robert Warnock, who is a sales marketing director with an FMO called Copeland. So we will talk to both of them shortly here. But I'm excited to have them on, especially with open enrollment just around the corner. Oh, my goodness.

1:32 We are eight days away from open enrollment. It is insane. It's going to be a crazy seven weeks. But I'm looking forward to it, looking forward to helping our clients. Just a few notes. We are live on k4hdradio. com. You can also download the app. You can watch us on Facebook Live at Joseph Insurance Broker LLC. Or look for me, Peter Joseph. I'm a public figure on there as well. And last but not least, we are on YouTube. We have a channel called at Medicare Minute with Peter. You've got my phone number right there on the screen. If you have any questions while we're playing here live, please ask away. We will answer you in real time. So with Medicare open enrollment just around the corner. you guys are going to be inundated with marketing calls, uh, commercials galore that are horrible by the way. Um, mailers, you're going to get a lot of mail. But it's mainly the phone calls that are annoying. You get calls probably about 20 to 30 times a day. Unfortunately, they are not supposed to call you without your permission. So somehow they are skirting that and getting around that. And I'm sorry that you guys have to deal with that. But So just remember that in the back of your mind, you can always let them know, hey, you're not even supposed to be calling me on Medicare because I didn't give you permission. So anyways, these commercials are ludicrous and

3:06 we're going to see why. So we're going to see a couple of commercials here. One is about a crazy girl. Let's see that one first. Al, did you make that call? Honey, we already have Medicare. Why do I need to call? Alan, the Feldman said we may be able to get additional benefits with a Medicare Advantage plan right here in our zip code with $ 0 monthly premiums. Honey, what do you mean additional benefits? We turned 65, we got Medicare. That's all there is to it, right? I'm talking about Medicare Part C, commonly called Medicare Advantage. We have traditional Medicare, which is only Medicare Parts A and B, but not Part C.

3:50 So not everyone on Medicare has a Part C plan? No. That's why we need to call because there may be plans available with additional benefits that aren't covered under Medicare Parts A and B. We don't have a Medicare Part C plan which covers everything in Part A and Part B plus extra benefits in Medicare Part C. What kind of extra benefits? There are great plans that may be available with extra benefits like. Dental, vision, and hearing. Did you say dental? Yes, dental. Medicare Part C plans could include dental benefits that help cover routine dental exams and teeth cleanings, plus dental x-rays, fillings, gum disease. Treatment, and dentures.

4:31 We need that. I'm calling. If you don't have a Medicare Part C plan, call now because there may be plans with additional benefits available that are simply not covered under Medicare Parts A and B, like routine dental coverage. If you're on Medicare, you can call even if you called last year. We will check to see if there is a Part C plan available in your area with additional benefits. You don't get a plan with additional benefits automatically. If you're losing coverage, moving, or new to Medicare, call to speak with a licensed insurance agent. Remember, you don't get Medicare Part C benefits automatically. Call now for your free 2022 no-obligation Medicare benefits review. Call 800-984-9940. 800-984-9940. All right. Ladies and gents, do not call that number, please. Yeah, that's how ridiculous these commercials are. That didn't do any good on the explanation of what Medicare is all about, how to sign up. They just throw that carrot in front of you guys that there's all these extra benefits you can get. Just call this number. Well, you know what?

5:40 We've talked about this before on our show. It does not apply to everyone. There are certain situations where you can get those benefits. But seasoned veterans like myself can walk you through that and let you know which benefits that you can access and which ones you can't. Obviously, there are chronic special needs plans that do have extra benefits. Like I said, if you don't have diabetes, heart conditions, lung conditions, those benefits don't apply to you. So, you know, it's misconstrued. leading it's deceiving it's trying to get you to call numbers so they could sign you up for whatever plan uh and they don't explain that you have to get these extra benefits by changing your plan which you might not want to do so you know be very cautious about all these phone calls and gimmicks that are out there again you know we educate our clients we don't push sales at all We're all about education, and that's the most important thing in this day and age.

6:46 So let's look at this other commercial real quick. Meet Martha. Martha is 75 years old and has been on traditional Medicare for 10 years now. But she's a bit cranky because she heard the 2022 Medicare Advantage plans are now available during the Medicare annual enrollment period, and she wants details. I'm already on Medicare. Where's my additional benefits? Hi, Martha. Millions of Americans like you may not be getting all the Medicare benefits that are available to them. Now is the time for everyone on Medicare to call during the Medicare annual enrollment period for your free 2022 no-obligation Medicare benefits review. I already have my Medicare card.

7:28 I am not calling. Martha, right now is the Medicare annual enrollment period. 2022 Medicare Advantage plans are now available so everyone on Medicare can call to see if they can save money or get additional benefits. They probably won't answer the phone. Well, Martha, if you call 800-235-8642, a licensed insurance agent will speak with you and look up your plan and see if you qualify for a plan with additional Medicare benefits. Wow! Get these automatically martha right now is the medicare annual enrollment period 2022 plans are now available so now's the time to call i think. I called last year so i'm not calling. Martha 2022 plans are now available but you won't get additional benefits automatically so everyone on medicare should call now during the medicare annual enrollment period and get your medicare benefits review today just call the toll free number on your screen it's free free Yes, Martha. The Call and No Obligation Medicare Benefits Review are free. They can look up your plan and let you know if you're eligible for additional benefits and see if you can save money.

8:32 Why didn't you say that sooner? It's time for me to call and get my free No Obligation Medicare Benefits Review. That's right, Martha. I should have just given you the toll-free number. It's on everyone's TV screen now. Call 800-235-8642. 800-235-8642. Martha, Martha, Martha, leading us on the wrong path. Man, I tell you, these commercials crack me up. I don't know how they, these call centers are just pariahs. They trick our seniors into plans that they should not be on, get into worse plans sometimes. no obligation to enroll. Yeah, right.

9:17 If you ever call these people, they are relentless and they will breathe down your neck heavily to try to get you to sign up for a plan. So don't trust anything. Do not call those numbers. Please do not call those numbers. If anything, call me or call one of our trusted colleagues that have been on our show these last few weeks because we know the ins and outs of Medicare. We know what's right for you. You know, some of the things they don't even check are what doctors you're with, what medical networks you're with, what prescriptions you're on, because we do check all those costs as well. Those are important keys to get you on the right plan. And a lot of call centers don't go through those parameters.

9:58 So please... please, please be cautious out there. You're going to get calls left and right. Do not give your information away. Do not at any point give away your Medicare ID number. Because if you do that, they're able to change your plan and then you will be pretty pissed off and frustrated and at the end of enrollment period knowing that, hey, oh my gosh, I'm on a plan that I didn't even realize I signed up for. That is not what we want. We want to protect you guys and make sure you're on the right path. So again, call this number. That's our business line, josephinsurancebroker.com. If you have any questions whatsoever, we will steer you in the right direction. We've got two trusted individuals that are going to be coming on this morning. We've got Ryan Dawson. He'll be our first guest. Again, this is his third time coming on our show. He is one of the agents that are part of Joseph Insurance Broker.

10:56 He's up north in the state of Washington doing some great things. And then Robert Warnock is going to give us a little taste of what agents need to prepare for what clients should be prepared for the season. As it is going to be very disruptive. We've talked about how plans are terminating and leaving the market. It's going to affect close to 700,000 folks, this open enrollment time. And that is a lot of disruption, but it's also opportunity for us agents to come in and set things straight and make sure you're on the right path. So again, Don't fret, but again, if you're getting those what we call annual notices of change in the mail, do not ignore them. Please read them. They're from your insurance carrier.

11:41 So let's say you're on a scan plan. You're going to get something from scan showing you what your benefits are going to be for next year, whether they're increasing, decreasing, staying the same. Especially if your plan's exiting the market, that's going to be in bold on top of the letter. Reach out to an agent if that is your case. uh, again, so that we can get you, um, prevalent information on that. And we do have some breaking information for agents that are listening in. Uh, I did receive word from, uh, Christian Brindle and Ronel Nolan, um, Christian's our owner of our FMO. He also sponsors our show. We're finding out that for ACA health insurance under 65, they are not allowing new agents to sign up until that moratorium ends February.

12:33 So that is a shocker, to tell you the truth. I know there's a lot of fraud out there. I don't think that's the solution. But unfortunately, that's what CMS has pushed down on us this year so if you're a new agent and you want to sell insurance under 65 there's no luck for you i'm sorry you're gonna have to wait until this moratorium ends um it's unfortunate that there are bad seeds out there making it bad for everyone else that are they're good people so anyways that is the latest news that we have found out today wanted to make agents aware that are listening in we do now have ryan dawson in the green room come on up ryan.

13:16 Hey, Peter. Hey, what's up, my friend? Just, you know, another beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest. Awesome, awesome. How's the weather out there? It's like 80 degrees. Yeah, we got, I think we got like one more week. Of good weather. You guys get a lot of rain up there, I'm sure, right? Not as much on the eastern side of the state as the western side gets. Okay, okay. So this is your third time on our show, man. You're like part of our furniture now, right? I mean, it's awesome that you've come on so many times and I appreciate you so much and all the things you're doing up there. You want to talk about just a little bit about your agency up in the Northwest and kind of the things that you provide your clients?

14:04 Yeah, I mean, I don't really have that good of a footprint up here yet. I'm mostly just focusing on the national sales over the phone. But I am starting to get more plugged in out here. I was at a meeting the other day for a new carrier rollout. So I'm going to try to target some people with that new carrier. Very cool. All right. So I'm going to ask you some questions here. So when you first went independent, what did you think would be easy that turned out to be so much harder?

14:44 Definitely retention through AEP. I probably sound like a broken record, but Yeah, it was quite the shock seeing all of the applications that I submitted and then quickly lost them. So definitely going to not do that again. Yeah, no, for sure. And if your clients are listening in, man, if you got an agent in your back pocket that We just talked about this before you came on, Ryan. Don't listen to these ads. Don't listen to these phone calls. They're trying to change your plan without really your permissions a lot of the times. And that's why we lose our clients, right, Ryan? I mean, it's crazy how many people get like 30, 40 calls a day. It's insane. So, um, you know, if you've got Ryan as your agent, you know, be sure to check in with him this fall. You don't want to get your plan jacked up and, and be upset at the end of AP because you're on the wrong plan. So, um, that is a great advice there, Ryan.

15:52 Um, obviously talk to Ryan, no one else. Yes, exactly. Right. So, Hey, um, you. Obviously, you know, for agents listening in, you've experimented with Facebook ads, um, community events. I know you just moved from Texas a few months ago. What do you feel like has worked and hasn't worked as well as you expected? Well, so far the community events hasn't worked, but that's kind of my fault. But that's what happens when you're brand new. You just kind of have to lose money here and there and then kind of learn from it. To be honest with you, I didn't do a great... Like I did a seminar back in April and I didn't do the best job of like following up with the people afterwards because I was just... Honestly, just so, uh, just not distraught, but just frustrated that.

16:46 I spent so much money on the event. Right. Right. And then on top of that, just, uh, the plans I did enroll people in, I ended up not getting paid commission on. Are you serious? Oh yeah. Like, yeah, it was like for well, it'd be like, Oh, that's right. That's right. So I don't have as many RSVPs as before, but I'm also going to do it a little differently than I did last time. So, you know, you always have to change things up.

17:35 Yeah, hopefully those are going to be more quality, too, because they're just showing up. It sounds more for information than the food, right? you don't want to get those plate lickers. Yeah, I definitely got, I got six golden corral. So, Oh my gosh, that's insane. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, obviously, you know, you want to, you want to have those permission to contacts like in front of them as they sit down and that's, that's the key. And then you kind of just reiterate it throughout your presentation to fill that out if you're here tonight so we can talk to you and, and, um, Yeah, that's important. So follow up is definitely important. What do you wish consumers understood about the difference between like an independent broker like yourself and then somebody representing only one insurance company?

18:22 I think people have a misconception that if they work with a broker, they're like going to pay more money. I think that's like the main misconception that I hear, especially when you're doing like ACA plans. Right, right. It's so weird. ACA, like I did that for quite some time and you'll literally find somebody with a $ 0 premium and they won't enroll. It's like a much harder sale for some reason. Yeah. But Medicare is a whole nother thing. A whole other beast, but the whole enrollment process with Medicare is just a lot easier, in my opinion. But yeah, I think main misconception is that, you know, there's for some reason broker or even like saying broker to people, it kind of like makes me cringe.

19:11 Yeah, no. Well, it does. And I just had an appointment in person last week and the person thought that we would charge them. They asked like, how much do you charge? I'm like, we don't, you can't do that. It's illegal. You know, we get paid the same amount from all the carriers. So you're right. People just don't realize that. Um, so that's a huge misconception out there. So just know that we work for you. If you're listening in, um, We get paid the same, and that's why we have no bias towards any carrier. Yeah, sometimes I use the word agent more than broker just because that word does cringe a little bit. I could see why you're saying that.

19:52 Um yeah so hey even take your groceries out yeah. Right um okay so what's one medicare mistake you see people make that can make much bigger consequences down. The road. Giving out their medicare number. Yeah, for sure. That is the worst thing you can do. You got to protect that. Like it's like worth $ 500, 000, um, Yeah. That is the worst thing anyone can do. Like I was saying earlier on the show, before you came on these commercials, try to get you to call. They say there's no obligations in role. That is a lie. They are relentless, especially these call centers and they're trying to get your plan switched. Um, and the only thing they need is your Medicare ID and then they're off and running. So, you know, listen to what Ryan said. That is an important key. Um, A couple other things, Ryan, just for agents listening in. So let's say, you know, you're a brand new agent, which, you know, you've been doing this for what, two years now?

20:57 Coming up on a year, but I've been in the industry since 2018. Okay. So if someone came up to you and said they want to build a serious Medicare business, what would you tell them? So the first thing I would say is that you've got to have some sort of knowledge of the industry before going independent. And that doesn't necessarily mean like Medicare specifically, but just insurance in general. So you've got to kind of know. How to follow up with people, how to talk to people over the phone. Some people just can't, and I get, I do get some people do just face-to-face stuff. Um, so you just got to be able to talk to people. Um, also one thing that I did when I went independent was I, I decided I'm going to become an expert in one thing. Um, so that's just simply Medicare. Uh, I've just been doing that.

21:56 Nothing else. I am of course going to dabble in other products. Um, but, I'm just going to become an expert in Medicare. Right. And then I'd say. Once you are up and running, of course, the first thing is like leads. That's like the number one question people always ask when they go independent. And some of these questions are just wild to me. Like you should kind of already have an idea of how that's going to look for you. So that's, I think having experience in the industry previously or some sort of sale, like having some sort of sales experience and you're where you kind of know how leads work. is super important. You shouldn't go independent if you have no idea how, how you're going to.

22:40 No, that's a good point. It's a very good point. And then of course, always, always, always talk to as many people as you, as you possibly can build momentum. And then, you know, keep pressing forward. Even if you, you know, you're going to encounter losses, chargebacks, things like that. You just got to keep pushing, keep building off your momentum and then. Call old leads. Yeah. I did that the last couple of weeks I went through my like CRM and I just started calling people and it's just crazy how much it just feels so good to, to call an old lead up and get them on the phone and have a good conversation. Even if you don't close them, there's just, there's just nothing better.

23:22 Yeah, for sure. No, that's awesome. That's great advice, Ryan. You know, I've, I've seen you grow immensely over the past year and, what do you think it means to have like an organization to be a part of or mentors? Obviously you flew out to me, Christian Brindle, the owner of FMO that sponsors us. Um, why do you think those things are important to have in your circle? Well, I mean, of course, yeah, you've got to have mentors. Um, I've, I've been blessed to have a couple of really good mentors in my life and in every sales endeavor I've, um, taken on. Um, so, uh, being, being able to take constructive criticism, you know, and implement those changes without getting your ego in the way is, is I think a huge factor that's it just played a big role in my career. Um, but yeah, I mean, going down, going down to Utah and spending time with Christian was like super helpful. Of course, looking back, there's some things that I wish I would have asked.

24:28 Yeah, for sure. But, yeah, like going independent, like I always worked in an office, so I was always like around a lot of people. I like to feed off other people's energy. So, you know, being independent and working from home is kind of a big change for me. It kind of, you know, it could be a little lonely at times. And, you know, going down to Utah and, you know, seeing how a successful agency operates and being around other people, you know, that are doing exactly what I'm doing was like super helpful. It rejuvenated me. Awesome. That is awesome to hear. Yeah. So I, you know, I recommend you agents listening in, you know, obviously if you're independent, it is a very lonely business. You know, I would highly encourage you guys to go to networking events and, Try to connect with seminars that are out there. There's always Medicare conferences going on quarterly. So, you know, be a part of those so you can connect with others. You definitely need that support in this industry. So, Ryan, thank you so much for joining us. Where can people get a.

25:30 Hold of you? They can call, text me on my phone number, 509-209-9181. I have a website, dawsoninsurancegroup.com. Facebook anywhere awesome all right my friend um best of luck to you during aap you're doing great things keep up the great work and i appreciate you brother thank. You thank you thank you peter have a good day. No problem you too all right i love the things ryan is doing i appreciate him so much uh he's one of our top agents and He even struggles, you know, and he's making it real. There's ups and downs in this business. You got to make sure that you're surrounded by people who care about you and who mentor you in the right way. Our next guest, I do have an intro before he comes on. I just want to share a little bit about Rob Warnock. He's a sales director with Copeland Insurance Group. where he focuses on agent growth, recruiting, training, and helping independent insurance professionals build stronger, more profitable business.

26:39 He's also the host of Next Level Agent Podcast, where he shares practical strategies around sales, marketing, technology, and business growth for today's insurance professional. He is the creator of Agency Revenue Opportunity Calculator, a tool designed to help agency owners identify untapped revenue opportunities already sitting inside their existing book of business. And last but not least, he's also developing Lydia, an AI-powered content and personal brand platform designed specifically for insurance agents. Lydia complements the technology agents already use by helping them create relevant content, build their local presence, strengthen their personal brand, and stay consistently visible to prospects and clients. Rob's focus is simple. He's helping agents uncover more opportunity using technology more effectively and grow. Rob is a great, great individual. I'm glad that we've crossed paths.

27:35 We actually crossed paths through social media and he's doing some tremendous things out there. So we're going to bring him on. Robert, I see that you're on. Yeah. Can you hear me? Yeah. How are you, my friend? I'm awesome. I hope you are. Yeah. Yeah. Doing well. How's the weather out there? It's hot. Well, you know, it's actually today I think we get a little bit of a break. I don't think we'll get 90, but it was 96 yesterday. So a little warm, but that's okay. We're used to it. Okay. Okay. Yeah. We're finally cooling off on here, so that's a good thing. Yeah. It's time. It is, right? Yeah. I'm ready for football, brother. You see all the decorations going around the neighborhood to say it's fall, y'all, and all I can tell you is it's not. The calendar may say so, but it is not.

28:24 Exactly. Hey, man, so give our audience a little bit of background of who you are and how you started in this business. Yeah, so my journey is kind of interesting. My wife and I— and this is more prevalent in the Southeast— We had a pine straw brokering company where we sold bell pine straws to golf courses and landscaping companies. Our biggest claim to fame was we supplied the masters. And my wife just called through a book I made. She said, hey, baby, I just sold a trailer load. And I said, to who? She said, oh, Augusta National. I was like, that's the masters, honey. So anyway, so we did that for a little while. Some different things, some environmental things. El Nino came in. We were ramped up to sell about 1.3 million bells worldwide.

29:09 supply became very short, say the least, it went down the tube. And I'm trying to figure out what's next. And so what's next was I said, well, I think people make money selling insurance. I'll go get that license. And so got the license, found Medicare 2006, 2007 in the field as an agent. And then we had, I interviewed with two companies. I interviewed with Coventry on the small group side, and interviewed with a Medicare Advantage plan that for a local sales director job. And we had just had a son and he had had a stroke in utero and we didn't know what that meant. The Coventry job had health insurance day one. The other job, we had to wait 90 days. And at that point, I had to have coverage. So I really wanted the Medicare job. I felt like that was going to be my home. Took the other job, very frustrated. Just by the grace of God, one day happened to look on Monster.com and the job I had turned down was up as an ad again. Um, so I reached out to that guy.

30:13 He said, uh, he said, I haven't fired that guy yet. That ad went up by mistake. And I was like, no, that was a God wing, man. I was supposed to see that. And so, um, he took the ad down, fired the guy, hired me the next week. And here I am two years later. I, uh, he went to work for Copeland group. He left to go take another position and told Mr. Copeland. He said, I think you should hire Rob to handle the East coast. And every how many years it's been 11, 12, every how many years it's been here. I am. Wow, that's awesome. That's awesome. So, you know, I did share a little bit about your background of things you've created. I mean, that's amazing, Rob. I mean, you've done a lot of great things. Do you want to tell the audience a little bit more about what Lydia is all about?

30:56 Yeah, and I think I want to start off by making it really clear. Those are not projects that I'm working on that I sell. I don't market them. It's just things that I build to give to our agents. It's not a platform I'm looking to make money off of or do anything like that. It's just here's another way that I can try to be valuable to you as an agent or agency and help you identify where there's some revenue inside your current book of business with Lydia help, just help you be a little smoother and hit with your creativity. It'll automatically create content and send you a post every morning. Um, you know, so it's, it also comes with a digital business card built into it too. So I just kind of threw that in as a fun side part of it. But yeah, again, um, you know, as I look for ways, um, Talking to agents, you know, we all kind of have the same plans.

31:44 Commissions are all pretty much the same. What is it that I can do for you that somebody else can't? And those are a couple of things that I came up with to try to help our agents. And anybody that has a contract with us that works with me has access to those platforms at no charge. That's awesome. That is awesome. So just a couple of things. Obviously, AAP is just around the corner. What are some things agents could do? I mean, obviously, they should have been preparing months ago, right? But what are some things they should be aware of or be prepared for this AAP? You know, and I think the biggest thing that I see is preparedness, right? And that shouldn't be starting now, but unfortunately for some, it is starting now. But the great thing about technology and like we have with Integrity Connect is it runs in the background for you to help you prioritize your book of business. So you know who you need to speak to first is at risk. And, you know, we're at a point now where... We've got to survive. We've got to protect the clients we have and then figure out how to grow and get new clients all within that window. And so I think the challenge is being prepared and taking advantage of technology that can help make that easier and make you more effective with your time.

32:59 For sure. For sure. So, you know, you work with agents all the time. What do you enjoy most about working with agents? I I'm an entrepreneur at heart. Um, and I love the business building side of it. I love sitting down and helping them build out a business plan or develop marketing strategies. I think that's if, I have to pat myself on the back. That's where one of my biggest strengths, and I'm fortunate enough that I have two sons that are digital marketers, so I just sit and listen to them talk all the time, and then I get to go sound smart when I regurgitate what they've said. So I kind of plagiarize my children quite a bit in an effort to do that. But, yeah, I mean, I like the relationship side of it.

33:41 I think it's great. I always tell everybody, in my opinion, and my wife said I get a little preachy when I say this, In our world, we get to almost, we could look at it like we get to do mission work and get paid for it. Especially as an agent, the way you can affect someone's life, their health care, their bank account by saving them money, putting them in the right plan. That fits them. It just affects their lives in so many ways when an agent does it the right way for the right reason. And being a part of that whole process and the relationships, I think our industry is second to none when it comes to that. Yeah. For sure, for sure. Well, you know, you did mention preparedness is one challenge, you know, you hear from agents.

34:23 Do you hear any other big challenges from agents right now? You know, I think the pervasive challenge, and I heard your prior guest say the same thing, is everybody's trying to figure out how to get. Leads and how to get leads for free, right? And that's just, you know, and in the old days, we could mail a piece of direct mail and they'd fill it out and send it back and. that just doesn't happen anymore. You know, I think, you know, what I try to work with agents more on is, is being available and invisible in the community and how can they leverage other people in their community? You know, you got people that have an audience, leverage their audience, figure out a way to do an event with them, a Facebook live, a podcast, a radio show.

35:08 You don't have to have a big audience. If you can just take your time and learn how to leverage other people's audiences. Yeah, for sure. No, that's great advice, Rob. That's my point. I rambled a little bit. No, no. We've got to talk about. Developing leads as being active in the community with churches and senior buildings with dental offices and do dental swarms and work with medical groups. And the one thing I think is really important for agents to know is that you have to walk in to figure out what you can give them, not going in there seeing what you can take from them. Go be valued first, earn their trust, show them that you're there for the right reasons, and. The stuff will come. You'll get the referrals, you'll get the leads, but you can't just.

35:52 Go drop your business cards off and say, hey, if you have anybody with Medicare questions, send them to me, because they're just going to crash. I agree. Yeah, for sure, for sure. No, that's great. So on the other side of things, what do you think beneficiaries need to be aware about this open enrollment thing? I was thinking about this on my walk earlier today. There can't be a time where an agent... is more needed than where we are right now. And each year, it seems to be the value of having a local trusted agent to sit down and talk to who knows your area, knows your county, knows your hospital systems, knows the doctors, is so valuable to a consumer right now. And with all of the changes, we have a hard time keeping up with the service area reductions and what's commissionable, what's not commissionable. From a consumer side, they They would be so confused if they tried to figure out. So we have to take that burden off of them and truly educate them. Because, again, it's confusing to me. I've been doing this.

36:52 A long time. It's hard to keep up with. And every day there's a new something happening. So just making sure they have a local agent that can sit down with them and take care of them and answer the question that knows their community and can understand their personal situation, I think, is the best advice I could give. Yeah, no, that's definitely key. And then, you know, being an entrepreneur, we've got a lot of folks that listen in who are not in this business, but they do other things like real estate and whatnot. You being an entrepreneur, what are some skill sets that are important for you? I think you always have to be thinking first. And my wife has a saying for me. She says that I'm not happy unless my brain is in chaos. And there's a lot of truth to that because it's just I think you have to allow yourself to be creative.

37:46 You have to allow yourself. You have to understand that not everything. You do is going to be perfect. And like your previous guest said, you can't let your ego get. In the way. You got to be willing to not put yourself in a silo and ask questions of areas because you're not going to be the strongest accountant, the strongest marketer. You're not going to wear every hat. Be the best at it. You have to surround yourself with people who are competent and be willing to take advice. I'll be completely transparent. There were times when I was on some calls with people and there was an accountant who thought differently than I thought as a salesperson. He's telling me I need to look at it this way and it made me angry. Right, but I just didn't want to listen to him because I thought I was smart enough to be an accountant also.

38:28 I think you have to be open and you've got to keep thinking and creating. My father-in-law told me one time, Rob, if you turn over enough rocks, you'll turn over the right one. If you're an entrepreneur in spirit and that's what you do, man, just keep plugging. You don't know when the right, it may be when you're 60 and it may be the one that hits that takes off, but just keep turning over rocks. All right. I like that. Hey, so we're going to end our session here with some, sorry, rapid fire. So there's no right or wrong answer. I'm just going to shoot them at you and you answer away. All right. All right.

39:08 Most underrated agent skill. Leading with a servant's heart. All right. What's the most common excuse you hear from agents? And we kind of already covered this. I don't have enough leads when they've got a whole book of business sitting there that they could go deeper and wider in and create more revenue. So work. worried about somebody giving them leads. Okay. One thing agents should stop doing. Chasing every new shiny thing. I've been in agents' offices. They're selling diabetic shoes and credit correction. They've got everything up there but what's supposed to be their main business.

39:50 Just stay in focus. Don't chase every new shiny thing that somebody comes in and tells you you're going to get rich on. One thing agents should start doing? Become a master of follow-up. Very good. I mean, the fortune to the follow up, as they say. But I mean, it really is in the amount of times and we've got there's plenty of research out there to tell you, you know, you're not if you're stopping before eight or more, you know, touches and try if it's a new lead or what have you. It's just the laws are not in your favor. So you have to become you have to become good at it and consistent at it.

40:32 Yeah. Yeah, exactly. No, I agree. A lot of my agents need to learn that, too. And my downline, they follow up is one of their weakest points. So I agree with that. One Medicare topic you could talk about for hours. Oh, boy. Probably like I talked about the business, the relationship side of it, you know, sitting down with an agent or agency and just. finding what their goals are, where they want to be, what's their future, how do they see this shaping their family's life, and just helping them dig in and figure out the pathway to do that. All right. Last couple ones. If you weren't in Medicare, what would you be doing?

41:12 You know, I. Would probably be an entrepreneur, but I would love to be in public speaking. Really? Okay. Yeah. Very cool. All right. And one word for the 2027 Medicare market? Opportunity. Very cool. Very cool. All right. Last question for you, Rob. What do you like to do for fun when you're not working and building this relationship with agents and agencies? And I would love to say, and this is something that about to be 58 years old that Rob has got to work on third person. Oh, wait, you're 58? No way. Yeah. You don't look it.

41:53 You don't look it. The lighting's really good here. I like to work out when I can. So probably my hobby would be the gym. But, you know, honestly, I don't play golf. I got a brand new set of golf clubs. It's a huge thing. Sore spot in my house. They've sat in my garage for almost two years, and I haven't played one time. And then six months ago, I bought golf shoes, and my wife's like, you still haven't played. Why do you need shoes? And I'm working up to it. But, you know, honestly, probably the thing that I enjoy doing the most is my wife and I, when the day's over, we love to sit on our back porch and chat and catch up for the day, and that's– hanging out with her is, is, is probably my hobby.

42:36 I got two grandchildren now, so that adds a whole new element of fun to it. And so, yeah, I need to get, that's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. You gotta, you gotta relax, right? You know, don't be a workaholic. True. Yeah. Yeah. Rob, where, where can people get ahold of you? Yeah. Facebook is my name, Rob Warnock. You'll see, you know, my profile picture, my cell number is 478- 478-297-5687. I am super accessible by text, probably more than I should be. My wife says it's my fifth appendage. But anyway, it's there. And if you want to text me, 478-297-5687. I'd love to connect with you and talk about your goals and whether it's insurance or not. Just, you know, let's lean in together and see how we can help each other.

43:27 And if the agent's looking for a new home, they can find one with you, right? Absolutely. That's what I'm here for. Awesome, Rob. Well, thank you, brother. I appreciate you so much. Thank you for making the time this morning. All right, man. Take care. Have a great week. I appreciate you. The time to be here. Thank you. Anytime. Anytime. Take care. All right. That was Rob. Uh, Rob is a great guy doing some great things as you could see. And, uh, out in Texas there, uh, FMO is owned by integrity, just like ours. So we're brother in arms in that sense. I love just his spirit and his personality. He's doing a lot of great things for our agents out there.

44:07 So Thanks again, Rob. And thanks to Ryan for showing up this morning. You know, we couldn't do this show without our amazing guests and our amazing sponsors. Always at the end of the show, we show all our sponsors that make this show possible. So please look at that before you log off today. I think that's going to be it on the Medicare side of things. I'm going to do some commentary on my own. So if you guys don't know, we, our family took an RV trip this last summer and we went to Yellowstone to some stops in Colorado and Zion. It was an amazing trip, except for one thing. We rented our RV through Cruise America, and I will tell you, it was so disappointing. That thing was beat up, was not clean when we picked it up from the rental place. Now, I'm not saying all their vehicles are like this, but... Be forewarned. I think the way to go is to rent an RV from a private person versus going through these big companies.

45:13 We had a lot of breakdowns. We were in Yellowstone one night. Temperature went down to like 29 degrees and our heater conked out. We were freezing in our RV. That's how crazy it was. Some things weren't working, like the fridge would be on and off. It was insane. And so telling you, stay away from Cruise America if you can. Try to rent your vehicle from a local person. That's my two cents advice on travel recommendations. Keep that in mind. I'm excited about What's going on in sports? We're getting up on baseball playoffs coming around the corner.

45:54 I'm hoping my Dodgers do well. Tani's coming off the injured list, so we'll see if he's back to his normal self or not. But I'm excited about just the competitive nature of all these teams. There are some great teams out there. Dodgers, they're going to have to really do well to three-peat, and I'm not sure about that this year with all their injuries that they've got going on. kind of reminds me of the Lakers back in the eighties when, uh, Pat Riley coined that three P word. Um, The Lakers had that opportunity to win, and they got swept by the Detroit Pistons. If you remember back in the 80s, it was the injury bug that hurt us.

46:35 Byron Scott went down with a hamstring injury, and then Matt Johnson went down a couple games later. We had no chance with those two All-Stars. So it's kind of the same situation with the Dodgers. They've got those All-Stars that are hurting. Freddie Freeman's got an ailment. Um, Otani has been in and out of the lineup. Um, some of our pitchers, even like our Blake Snell's hurt now, um, our closer was in and out of the lineup. So, um, you know, you have to have perfection to be able to repeat as champions, um, Um, and you have to have a lot going your way, you know, baseball is a game of inches, right? So, uh, even last year when they won that game seven, uh, it was a crazy game. I mean, if you look at all the ways that Dodgers pulled out that win, a lot of things had to go their way. So, uh, that's going to have to happen again this year. I don't know if that's going to happen, but, um, you know, I'm crossing my fingers. Let's hope, let's hope that they do it. Um, the other thing I want to share just real quick before we end our segment, um, I had a great time.

47:38 I took, uh, let's see, 11 high schoolers, including my daughter to not scary farm this last Saturday. And they said, I'm the dad of the year. So we got back at four in the morning. I was so exhausted. I'm 51 years old. And I, I just, I used to be a youth pastor in my old days, man, that, that was very hard for me to do, but I enjoyed it. Those kids had the time of their lives and, You're going to remember that night forever. And so I'm grateful that I was able to have that opportunity to give back and to get closer to my daughter's friends. It was a great experience. So I implore you guys as parents, if you ever have a chance to do something like that, you know, do it. Life is short.

48:25 Our kids grow up so fast. And so it's important for us to give back in that sense. So I'm really glad I took that opportunity with them. thank you again for listening this morning to our show. We've given you some very helpful hints on how to prepare for Medicare, whether you're an agent or a beneficiary, you know, be cautious about those calls that are out there. If you're looking to grow your business as an agent, you know, we showed you how to get those leads and to grow your business, to get out in the community, be seen, be heard. So that's important. Thank you guys again. Thank you to all our sponsors. Thank you to our guests, Ryan and Rob. We do this show because we Medicare.

49:11 Thanks for listening. Tune into Medicare Hour and more with Peter every Tuesday at 9 a.m. Pacific time right here on K4A. Radio at K4HD. com for more real-life stories from experts who Medicare about you and protecting your health, your finances, and your future. See you next week.