We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jami Buchanan McNees. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jami below.
Jami, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
I became a Health Insurance Broker 10 years ago. I loved my job the minute I enrolled my first client. Three years into my career I was diagnosed with high grade cancer. The experience took my awareness as a Health Insurance Broker to an entirely new level. I discovered information about insurance and access to care that no insurance training program could ever teach. As a result, I became an advocate for patients with cancer to gain access to care and coach them how to use their insurance to gain access to the doctors and treatment they need. I feel very fortunate to be a Health Insurance Broker who survived cancer and can use the experience to benefit other cancer patients.
Jami, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I began my career in Property and Casualty Insurance. When I tell you I was the worst agent ever, it’s not an understatement. The product just didn’t resonate with me. When a long-time client asked me to get my Health Insurance license so I could take over all his policies, I agreed. With license in hand, I called him to begin the steps to take over the Health Insurance policies for his family. In that conversation he began to share with me the concerns he had for his wife, a cancer survivor. He told me about his special needs son and his teenage daughter’s chronic conditions. The conversation resonated with me to my very core. Within a few short months, I started my own Agency specializing in Health Insurance.
I’m not shy about telling people I excel as a Health Insurance Broker. I’m a cancer survivor who has experienced Insurance and a complex health care system on a very catastrophic level. I learned more about access to care through my own cancer experience than any insurance training ever taught. When I take on a new client, the experience is relational rather than transactional. I’m not just enrolling them in a cheap insurance policy. I’m working with them to find coverage that will give them access to the best doctors in their region at a price they can live with. I coach them on when to use Urgent Care vs Emergency Room. We talk about how to get a referral to a specialist and how to use their online account with their insurance provider.
I enjoy keeping in touch with my clients and helping keep their families healthy.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
In the last 10 years, my success has come through the use of Social Media to promote myself and my business. I branded myself as The Health Insurance Lady. I created business pages using my brand and made very informative posts about Health Insurance. I got almost no traction. I looked like every other Health Insurance Agency. So I decided to be different. I chose to get personal, get interesting and get funny. I stopped using my business pages and posted from my personal page. I posted every day. I would post 2 personal posts and one business branded post. I made my personal posts funny and interesting. These received tons of engagement and interaction. I responded to every comment. I tagged friends, I checked into locations, and shared my love of tacos and gardening. My business posts were always bright and simple with stickers that read “Jami Knows Health Insurance.” I included my phone number and email to make it easy to reach me. My business skyrocketed! I haven’t paid for advertising in 9 years and my business keeps growing because of my social media strategy to be a person people like to follow. I gently remind them “Jami Knows Health Insurance” too.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
My reputation as one of the most knowledgeable Health Insurance Brokers was acquired the hard way…I was diagnosed with high grade cancer and had to undergo very radical surgery that altered my lifestyle. I became an advocate for other cancer patients and aligned myself with a local non-profit cancer resource center. Michelle’s Place Cancer Resource Center provides support, information and education to cancer patients to help them navigate their diagnosis. When one of their clients has questions about Health Insurance, I take the call. It means the world to me to be able to share the journey with them and help them understand their access to care. I use social media to promote Michelle’s Place and encourage people to get pre-screened for cancer. The result of my commitment to the cancer community came to the attention of a group of hospitals who are focused on having a certified Oncology Program and asked me to participate on the committee. I am happy to serve.
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