26 ID Trends NAILBA
A reason to smile
Dental trending as easiest add-on
About 74 million Americans have no dental coverage .* That ’ s about 23 % of the population , or more than double the percentage that lacks health insurance .
Sam Melamed is the infectiously positive CEO of NCD , the fastest growing individual dental and vision plan . NCD helps agents add simple ancillary sales to increase client satisfaction and agent compensation . Sam can be reached at Sam @ NCD . com
* Source : dentistry . uic . edu
It ’ s the easiest add-on sale that no one is thinking about — and ignoring it is costing you plenty of additional revenue . I ’ m talking about stand-alone dental and vision coverage , something just about no agents specialize in selling , despite the fact they could actually make a very good living doing so .
There is a massive market opportunity right now for agents to add dental and vision insurance to their toolbox and round out the coverage they provide their customers . And in the process , add significant additional revenue to a book of business while helping to solve a worrisome problem for their customers .
Ignoring the checkups
There ’ s a staggering number of Americans who are currently without dental coverage , even though most know they need it and wish they had it . The University of Illinois Chicago ’ s College of Dentistry * reports that about 74 million Americans have no dental coverage . That ’ s about 23 % of the population , or more than double the percentage that lacks health insurance .
The vast majority of these eligible consumers who could greatly benefit from a dental or vision plan are never even presented with one — not by a life and health insurance agent , a disability agent or a P & C agent . Yet , I can tell you from experience that many people who buy stand-alone dental are relieved it was presented to them because it ’ s the push they need to overcome their fear of going to the dentist .
Changing landscape
Before the Affordable Care Act came out , agents could make a real living selling individual health insurance , and there were a lot of people doing it . Agents were talking to customers about their health every day , which naturally opened up dental / vision discussion . But with the difficulty of making money selling ACA plans , most agents got away from health insurance . And when a proposal to add dental , hearing and vision benefits to Medicare was stripped from the Build Back Better Act , it ensured a vast market for stand-alone dental and vision would remain .
Building relationships
What agents need to remember is that dental can also be a great way to build a relationship , which can lead to additional sales such as life insurance . Being an accountability partner demonstrates concern for the customer along with a great benefit .
And talk about your win-win situation . For the agent , you are providing a valuable benefit that is nonetheless very service-light . We have many individual agencies making six-figures a year in dental commission from customers they haven ’ t talked to in a year . Our largest agency customer makes over a million dollars a month from individual dental .
Being a vastly underserved market , dental can be an easy add-on to one ’ s toolkit - making everyone smile .