Inspired insights led to a simple yet sophisticated strategy

Humana and the agents that sell Humana plans want the same thing: to increase leads and sales. Humana depends on agents for the majority of its sales, and agents depend on Humana to give them the resources and tools they need to maximize their year-round sales efforts.  

When we dug into the research, we noticed something profound. Agents believe Medicare carriers should provide them with more leads and sales opportunities. Research also showed that one-on-one relationships between agents and members drove the highest qualified leads and sales with the strongest member retention. We knew we needed to change agents’ hearts and minds to empower them to see that they have something special—which is also their secret sauce—deep, personal connections in their local community. We created the Ascend Virtual Conference to encourage agents to see relationships as the key to their sales success.  

Curation, creation and competition in one conference

We took a three-pronged approach to developing Ascend: 1. curate motivational speakers and information from top-selling agents and leaders in the field; 2. create presentations rooted in practical, actionable advice agents can immediately put to work; and 3. incentivize live-day attendance with an agent challenge.  

We found Amelia Rose Earhart, an accomplished speaker, pilot, artist and nonprofit leader with an impressive personal story to bring an outside perspective and motivate agents to understand the transformative power of relationships.  

We interviewed many top-performing Humana agents and leaders to get their field-tested strategies for increasing leads and maximizing sales through community connections. We focused our presentations on sharing peer-to-peer advice agents would resonate with and know how to use the minute they left the conference.  

Because we know salespeople love a good incentive, we added on an agent challenge to encourage agents to interact live in the virtual event with a two-day competition. Winners received Humana-branded marketing assets to use at grassroots events. 

Training that scales—and transforms

The Ascend Virtual Conference created a template for nation-wide education with local-market empowerment. Agents got to learn from and interact with their peers while getting a healthy dose of inspiration. We helped Humana move the needle on agent advocacy, affinity and preference and be recognized as a best-in-class carrier who gives agents the tools and resources they need to succeed.