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Consumer Resource Center
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Don Levin
JD, MPA, CLF®, CSA ®, LTCP, CLTC
Chairman of the Board
THE NATIONAL LONG TERM CARE NETWORK STRATEGY
Over the past twenty five years there have been many ‘new’ schools of management thought about marketing and the methodology to employ in order to garner market share, entice the public to purchase our products, as well as how to motivate producers to offer these products in the marketplace.
One such new school is the Blue Ocean Strategy. Blue Ocean Strategy is a marketing theory from a book published in 2005 based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more than one hundred years and thirty industries. The authors assert that companies can succeed by creating "blue oceans" of uncontested market space, as opposed to "red oceans" where competitors fight for dominance, the analogy being that an ocean full of vicious competition turns red with blood. The metaphor of red and blue oceans describes the market universe in which we all engage.
In the red oceans, industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. Here companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of product or service demand. As the market space gets crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced. This may have been the case fifteen years ago when over one hundred carriers flooded the LTC Industry with their offerings, but is of no real significance today. As members of the NLTCN we work together as part of something larger than our individual organizations, not competing with one another, but freely and openly sharing ideas, concepts, and strategies for bringing more of our LTCI product offerings to more of the general public in conjunction with our Vision and Mission Statement.
As noted, the industry has undergone radical changes over the previously fifteen years resulting in diminished sales of nearly 80%, resulting in the market shrinking from a peak of $1Billion annual sales to last year’s $200Million, all the while Medicaid payments for long term care continue to climb and now have reached 70%. This is a recipe for disaster never before seen in this country.
In an effort to regain equilibrium and momentum, The Network is embarking on a bold set of initiatives over the next two years in anticipation of reaching our Silver Anniversary as a member of the Long Term Care Insurance community.
LEADERSHIP The NLTCN is going to be proactive, assume a leadership role, and spark a resurgence of the LTCI industry by maintaining even stronger open lines of communication with all of the industry’s carriers.
TRAINING The Network will sponsor a series of training calls designed to strengthen your producers, their beliefs, and selling skills.
VALUE PROPOSITION We want to be a resource to all of our member firms and will continue to develop or obtain discounted products and services of value to firms and producers.
MATERIALS The Network will also continue to maintain and release a Marketing Consumer Guide, Tax Guide, as well as Worksite Guide, for member firms and their producers to use in their marketing and educational efforts.
LEGISLATION The Network will work closely with carriers and their governmental relations teams to lobby Congress for the enactment of appropriate legislation that permits and encourages the purchase of private long term care insurance with qualified retirement funds for the protection of our aging population.
INDUSTRY COMMUNITY Be an active sponsor and participant of the annual Intercompany Long Term Care Insurance conferences.
