With carriers holding agencies to stricter quality standards heading into AEP 2027, retaining your clients has never mattered more. Here are 5 tips to prevent attrition:

1) Monitor quality metrics  

Carriers aren't just tracking volume anymore. Accretion, attrition, and rapid disenrollment rates are the numbers they're watching, and if yours slip, you'll hear about it. The benchmark: keep 90% or more of your book year over year. Spark offers an enrollment quality dashboard to make it easy for agents to track these metrics across all major carriers.

2) Nail the basics

Darrell Russell, a 33-year industry veteran and agency principal of Affordable Medicare Supplements, put it simply: the fastest path to rapid disenrollment is a client whose doctor isn't covered or whose prescriptions cost more than you said they would. Get those two things right and you've protected the foundation of your book.

3) Do your 30-60-90 calls

At 30 days, confirm they received their card. At 60, confirm they've seen their doctor or have an appointment scheduled. At 90, confirm their medications came through at the price you quoted. That cadence alone puts you ahead of most agents and gives you a natural opening to talk about what else they might need.

4) Cross-sell one in three clients

Two final expense policies a week and cross-selling a third of your members a home health plan adds up to $150K in additional income while lowering attrition at the same time. Start by getting appointed with 1-2 carriers and creating 2-3 bundles that you can always sell.

5) Build a long-term retention system

Your clients see you as their health advisor when you support them year-round, not just during AEP. Spark offers automated touchpoints like birthday cards and monthly newsletters to help you stay in touch, no matter how large your book grows. Use Spark's Client Services to handle routine questions on your behalf.

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