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Page 78 GO IT ALONE!
available offerings for their geographic location. (You can see this resource at www.HealthPlansToday.com.) This business has bundled an unprecedented number of competitive offerings to create value for consumers and businesses seeking health insurance services. In addition, consumers can complete an online application for the health insurance plan of their choice, pay for it, and sign for it electronically. This service reduces the time it traditionally takes to get health insurance by 4 to 6 weeks, thereby further leveraging the power of the Internet. The company is not the only one providing comparison bundles, so the Internet marketing battle rages. Under the guidance of Phillip Kidwell, eHealthInsurance has established one of the largest and most successful affiliate marketing programs. Kid-well, the affiliate channel manager, oversees relationships with 2,500 independent marketing entities who all market the eHealth-Insurance comparison service to consumers and receive a fee for each resulting application. However, unlike traditional insurance agents, eHealthInsurance marketers are not expected to be product experts. The expertise of marketing and product knowledge have been unbundled in this new era. As Kidwell notes,
In the past, the chain of health insurance marketing typically flowed in a simple path from the insurer to its licensed insurance agents. Now, the chain involves our bundle and the value we provide through our own affiliate network. One important difference is that our affiliates are likely to be sophisticated Internet marketers who attract customer interest. We have unbundled this expertise from product expertise. Once a prospect is interested in one of our services, they can instantly talk with a licensed insurance agent, who is knowledgeable about products in the prospect’s locale, via the eHealthInsurance 800 number which is prominently displayed on our Web site.
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GO IT ALONE! Copyright 2004 by Bruce Judson. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
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