The challenge

A regional Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurer faced a common dilemma as Medicare open enrollment approached — acquire new members and renewals to grow the organization. New government rules around broker compensation in 2024 added extra challenges to its telesales objectives: reduce reliance on the broker channel to keep costs in check and adhere to new regulations.  

Already a valued CX partner, the client asked TTEC for support in gaining a larger share of new members without as many brokers and exceed its channel goals to meet annual operational goals. The focus needed to be squarely on the “sales” part of telesales.

Our solution

To boost member growth, we leaned into the power of the sales function. We flipped the traditional contact center approach to telesales operations.

First, we changed our pricing model. We were confident that we could exceed the client’s performance goals, so we took on the financial risk. Rather than a flat hourly rate regardless of performance, we significantly lowered our hourly rate and added performance-based fees for sales, renewals, and other KPIs to make up the difference and deliver results.

Next, we changed our hiring strategy to find expert sales performers to match our outcome-based model. We made it clear from the outset that our associates needed to be knowledgeable and licensed with experience closing sales, conducting outbound calls, and managing other sales-centric activities, in addition to having stellar soft skills.

Once our team was hired, we rehauled the end-to-end sales process and training curriculum to emphasize key behaviors crucial to consultative sales, including effective questioning, active listening, and connecting value.
Our associates practiced using AI-enhanced training bots to simulate customer conversations and focus on improving weak areas. All TTEC staff and leadership completed certification in TTEC’s proprietary sales curriculum before taking live calls.

We also deployed TTEC’s Associate Assist tool, powered by Google’s Generative AI and enhanced by TTEC Digital, to help serve as a real-time sidekick for associates during calls. The tool listened and transcribed calls in real time, answered immediate questions, served up relevant content in the moment, tracked customer sentiment, and guided associates through checklists during calls to decrease handle time, meet compliance standards, and build associate confidence. After the call, the tool automatically generated summaries and categories of topics and next steps, saving associates time and reducing potential errors.
In addition, team leads and supervisors reviewed real-time dashboards of both teams and individuals to identify immediate coaching opportunities without having to listen to incomplete call samples. What had taken hours of work was condensed into a few minutes. Prompt coaching led to higher performance.

The results

Results were immediate and impactful. Sales volume doubled with only 83% of the previous year’s call volume. New applications skyrocketed 166% over the previous year as well, and the conversion rate jumped by 73% from the prior year, to 19% of all calls handled.

The team proved it could generate more sales and drive higher performance with a smaller, more expert workforce. The client was impressed with the work and has extended the program to continue all year.