New Department Surpasses Goal Year One
CHALLENGE
A health insurance carrier was faced with adapting the business and product portfolio to accommodate the new regulations under Health Care Reform (aka the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act). With little over nine months to build an entire infrastructure to sell direct-to-consumers, the company needed to get ready for the droves of new consumers once the doors of Health Care Reform opened.
SOLUTION
With not a moment to spare, SBR quickly conducted an assessment of the organization’s market conditions, automation systems as well as human and financial resources. Simultaneously, our Ethnographer and Principal shadowed the customer contact center staff to understand their communication processes and performance standards.
Through this analysis, we saw that the corporate culture and realities of their marketplace presence required a modified entry into the direct-to-consumer market. SBR designed a phased-in approach that would maximize the company’s current operations while outsourcing during open enrollment period to handle the uptick in business.
SBR built the direct-to-consumer operation in less than 13 weeks, including all training, licensing, automation and systems integration, and communication development. Throughout, we kept a fixed focus on creating a positive and simplified health insurance shopping experience so that consumers were guided to make the best decision that met their needs.
RESULTS
The new direct-to-consumer sales operation experienced 25% over sales goal in the first three months of opening.