We’re all excited about HDF, and it shows! Take a look at what our Branch Managers and Agents have to say on page 7. If you weren’t inspired before, you will be now! Their enthusiasm is contagious.

In these early stages of HDF sales, it’s critical that Branch Managers take a distinct leadership role in the field to put activity systems in place to take advantage of these extremely high closing rates. As a part of a national Branch Tour, we are installing a “Three-Point Marketing Approach,” using the laws of large numbers to take advantage of our 50% minimum closing ratio on HDF.

How does an Agent make 10 presentations per day? First, don’t set a specific time, only “morning or afternoon” – this leaves the agent free to move freely from one appointment to the next, without time constraints. Secondly, successful HDF sellers recommend that the presentation averages 45 minutes long. If using the 18 minute HDF video, the rest of the time is spent in warm-up, warm-down and discussing the amount to place in the Reserve Fund Annuity. Third, plot out all appointments on a map before leaving the branch. Set appointments in the same geographical area for that day, then minimize the driving time from one to another based on the greatest concentration (7 in one area of the county, 4 in another, etc. – start where the 7 are first).

POINT #2 – Senior Citizen Group Presentations: Another point to consider when selling HDF is the power of Senior Citizen group presentations. These allow you to present many Seniors at once, to as many as several hundred in some cases. Branch Managers have been sent a list of every Senior Citizen’s group in their state and assigned the task each week of setting one meeting for the Branch, for each day of each week. Also, if you get approval from these non-profit groups to use their name, you can place Public Service Announcements (PSAs) advertising your meeting in various media at no cost: newspapers, radio, TV, and senior magazines. This is a perfect opportunity to build membership dues for their group, and increase the size of your meeting.

POINT #3 – Sponsor a “Free Senior Breakfast Day” in a different location every day of the week. How many Denny’s, Shoney’s, Perkin’s, Golden Corrals, etc. are there in all of the small towns in your areas? Hundreds! Ask the manager if he would like to build “senior traffic” to his restaurant one day per week. Negotiate a discount rate for the breakfast ($3.95 rather than $4.95), and ask them to place a sign on the register and front window, advertising a “Free Senior Breakfast” seminar by UA! Any Agent can do this at 7:00 or 8:00 AM on Tuesday at Shoneys, Wednesday at Denny’s, Thursday at Perkins and Friday at Golden Corral – all have back rooms to use for the meeting, at no cost! For Seniors in attendance, ask for their Medicare Card and Drivers License, and record this information on a list. Once Seniors have visited the buffet and are seated, play the video or make your presentation. Once finished, set individual appointments for the rest of the day – you already know where they live from their Drivers License. The agent repeats the process in the same locations each day the following week, keeping track of which Seniors received the free breakfast on a “snowball list”. These are the most inexpensive and effective leads you’ll ever work, resulting in lots of activity and large commissions – it is a built-in, repetitive daily lead system!

We also have some excellent new print ads on page 15 that will give you a jump-start to create customer awareness for this exciting new Med-Supp plan. And it truly is a new product approach, because United American is the only Med-Supp insurer to utilize an HDF policy in conjunction with the optional Reserve Fund Annuity, with our Automatic Claims Filing tie-in to the fund. Only United American sells HDF, with the RFA and ACF options.

B. UNDERAGE: What else is new and exciting at United American? Beginning April 15 in approved states, we’re introducing a new FLEX product! The FLEX product is a new, underage health product that will bring our hospital/surgical offering a whole new dimension. And all benefit options are on one app, with one bank draft - you asked for this, and UA delivered!

This is the perfect time to introduce our FLEX product. With so many families and individuals struggling just to make ends meet each month, health insurance coverage may be a luxury they think they cannot afford. For some, health insurance coverage is no longer available through their employers, or, for others, employee contributions to employer-sponsored coverage has increased to the point employees can no longer afford to contribute to their company’s plan. Basically, these workers have the same problem as Seniors – their incomes did not grow as fast as their medical and living expenses, sending them to the ranks of our nation’s 45 million uninsured. The FLEX name implies why UA does so well in this market – it offers flexible affordability, with prospects still able to design their own benefit mix.

FLEX represents a new opportunity for these individuals and families to once again, or maybe for the first time, have basic hospital/surgical protection at an affordable price. FLEX provides three quality benefit levels with greater maximum limits, and several expanded optional riders including covering the doctor’s office from the first call! It is available for both families and individuals, so you can help your customer choose the policy features that will best fit their needs and the needs of their families.

With 45 million Americans currently uninsured, the need for a product like FLEX is critical. The FLEX product offers an opportunity to expand your Underage Marketing beyond our lead programs, whether individuals or Section 125 Worksite Marketing. With 10-15 appointments per day on small business lists, and using many of the same group methods in our 3-pronged approach as above (Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Associations, Trade Shows, etc.), UA is at your service - you have the markets, and UA has the products. Print ads are also an excellent way to spread the word about our FLEX product. See our center spread on pages 8 and 9 and the print ads shown on page 10 for more details.

With all our new and exciting product offerings, this year is truly a year of rebirth for United American. Not only do these new products provide your customers with appropriate and affordable coverage, they put additional commissions in your pockets. But, just as important, the development and implementation of new products is a tremendous boost to our recruiting efforts, very appealing to potential recruits. They equate product expansion to a forward thinking approach to business. Presenting this image to potential recruits goes a long way to attracting a high caliber individual, who’s not afraid to think “outside the box.”

Keep your recruiting efforts active and strong. Remember, we’re aiming for a 30 percent increase Company-wide in 2005. Based on the feedback I get from Branch Managers and Unit Managers, we are well on our way!

The opportunities of 2005 will only be met by the amazing activities by which we have to meet them. Exciting new product introductions and dedicated and enthusiastic recruiting efforts will help United American maintain its leadership role in the insurance industry. It’s already been a very exciting year, and it’s getting better all the time.