Beware of the Fulfillment Pitfalls of Heal Insurance Open Enrollment by Jeremy Suratt

We're approaching that time year for horror stories-and I'm not even talking about Halloween and that call is coming from inside the house tale.

It goes something like this: A health-insurance sales rep sets up shop at a popular open-enrollment fair. She lays out the informational and marketing materials, and successfully chats up prospects and customers. The day feels like a big win-until a critical meeting with a potential client reveals that some of those materials shared at the fair are out of compliance.

Party over.

The whole point of health-insurance enrollment fairs is to build relationships, identify potential customers, provide up-to-date information and lock down sales. But dropping the fulfillment ball, in this way, can lead to costly fines, degrading your company's reputation and losing revenue.

Preventing Violations Through Partnerships

To avoid such fulfillment calamities, you need a reliable inventory control system. This system can ensure you have all the materials you need to answer any customer questions and concerns and provide accurate, insightful information. However, this takes time and expertise to implement. An experienced marketing fulfillment vendor has such experience and knowledge.

Specifically, a fulfillment vendor lets your sales team to focus on what it does best without having to worry about having the wrong materials on hand. It can also help you avoid at least three of the top 10 life and health-market conduct problems, as cited by a 2013 Wolters Kluwer Financial Services report:

Problem #1: Failure to use compliant policy forms/plans. A reliable fulfillment partner can control which materials individual users can order-by job function, job level, location, product, jurisdictional licensing or any other criteria you choose. Doing so prohibits access to outdated information or collateral intended for other audiences. A vendor's system can also lock down out-of-date materials while archiving them in case they're needed for internal audits or market conduct exams.

Problem #2: Not providing required claims and underwriting disclosures. Compliant-conscious fulfillment partners can offer solutions that automatically insert disclaimers, disclosures and other fine print into collateral content. A capable vendor should also be able to link documents that must be distributed together.

How this works: Once the system links the documents, an order for one document automatically generates an order for both items. Likewise, updating one document automatically changes the same text in the linked item(s).

Problem #3: Failure to adhere to advertising requirements. Sales reps tend to be a creative bunch, so they may be tailoring materials to suit their pitches. This waves another big red flag if those materials don't meet regulatory standards. Ask your fulfillment partner if it has content customization tools that let users tailor and digitally print materials using preapproved templates, text and images. You'll still be providing creative options, but all within compliance boundaries.

So before your sales pros head out on the health-insurance fair circuit this year, make sure they're backed by an experienced, state-of-the art fulfillment partner-one that can ensure you're always playing by the rules and winning new customers safely and efficiently.

Do you have questions about fulfillment service? Read additional Knowledge Center stories on this subject, or contact Iron Mountain's Fulfillment Services team. You'll be connected with a knowledgeable product and services specialist who can address your specific challenges.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2014/service-lines/marketing-production-...
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