Case Study: A Modern Seminar Marketing Approach to Growth in a Firmly-Established 25+ yr Agency

Senior Insurance Brokers (SIB) has been a trusted name in Medicare and retirement solutions since 1998, guiding 50,000 seniors through planning for their healthcare needs and retirement. Despite their already solid track record, SIB sought a way to modernize outreach and expand its agent team. According to Sales Director Matt Allen, prior to working with KeyWave, they were primarily a “mom and pop” operation. However, within a year of adopting KeyWave’s marketing approach, the agency doubled its team and achieved its most successful AEP (Annual Enrollment Period) on record.

“We more than doubled our size... I am certain we wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of KeyWave,” Matt says, reflecting on the agency’s dramatic growth.

Though successful, SIB faced persistent challenges:

Overreliance on Dated Leads:

Some prospects in their database were “15 years old,” making it difficult to prioritize recent inquiries. “The agents couldn’t differentiate the timeframe of those leads,” Matt explains, leading to wasted effort and low engagement.

Limited Scalability:

While SIB excelled at serving their existing client base, recruiting and retaining new agents was difficult without a consistent flow of high-quality leads. “A lot of people came in, but we’d lose them if they didn’t see immediate opportunities,” Matt notes.

Inefficient Marketing Attempts:

Earlier experiments with social media ads fell flat. “I’m a millennial, 37 years old... I thought I knew how to work Facebook... I didn’t. It was a complete failure,” Matt shares. They needed a strategy that effectively targeted seniors actually looking for Medicare and retirement planning information.

Time Constraints for Leadership:

Matt wanted to “focus on more important responsibilities” like agent training and ensuring compliance. However, he was bogged down in the details of generating and distributing leads.

“If we didn’t start working with you guys, I don’t know if I’d be able to do my responsibilities,” Matt concedes, underscoring how the old system limited his capacity to manage the agency’s broader growth strategy.

In June 2023, SIB joined forces with KWD to employ a seminar marketing approach, which helped them reach seniors at in-person events and immediately capture high-intent leads. KeyWave’s automated lead management ensured that when a seminar lead came in, it was dated and given to the agent immediately, solving the problem of stale data.

Seminar Marketing & Automation

KeyWave handled audience targeting, RSVPs, and follow-up sequences. According to Matt, this meant “we just added your system on top of what we already do”, dramatically reducing the agency’s legwork and letting them focus on connecting with seniors face-to-face.

Real-Time Lead Assignment

Instead of sorting through old contact lists, agents now receive up-to-date contact details. Matt highlights, “It was as close to set it and forget it as it can get... we haven’t had to make many changes.” Agents gained immediate access to local prospects who were actively seeking Medicare or retirement help.

Tailored Support for Agent Training

With KeyWave handling the seminar logistics, Matt could invest time in improving presentations and coaching agents. “It allowed me to focus on standardizing our process so we can help each attendee—whether they show up for Medicare, life insurance, or financial advice,” he says.

Team Expansion

“We grew from 15 to 32 agents in under a year,” Matt says. The promise of consistent, high-intent leads helped attract new talent and retain existing agents.

Record-Breaking AEP

“October 2024, we did over a million dollars in production, and then November topped a million again—neither had ever happened in our history,” Matt proudly recounts. SIB’s most successful AEP to date was boosted by seminar marketing events that consistently filled agents’ calendars.

Higher Agent Retention Rate

SIB reached and maintained a 90%+  retention thanks to the steady lead flow and genuine engagement. “We do not bring somebody in and they just leave. It just doesn’t happen,” Matt emphasizes. He adds, “If agents don’t have to spin their wheels chasing stale leads, they’re far more likely to stay and succeed.”

“We soared to a retention rate well over 90%—KeyWave made all the difference,” he notes, highlighting how crucial a continuous stream of motivated prospects is for keeping agent morale high.

Broader Impact (June 2023 – December 2024)

• 2,220 leads generated
• 3,518 seats reserved across seminars
• 79 events hosted in 30 cities spanning Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas
• Marketing Support for 15 Agents

• Modernizing Doesn’t Mean Losing Your Legacy:  SIB upheld its 25-year reputation by adding KeyWave’s system on top of proven processes. “We didn’t change our SOPs; we just supplemented them,” Matt explains.
• Fast, High-Quality Leads Fuel Agent Retention:  When agents have fresh, motivated prospects, they remain motivated and more productive. “If agents can see 15 to 20 new people a week, they have fewer reasons to leave,” Matt points out.
• Belly-to-Belly Model Still Works: Despite living in a digital age, in-person seminars allow for personal, face-to-face connections. “Even if everything else goes wrong... we still come away helping 30 or more people because KeyWave gets the right people in the room,” Matt shares.
• Leadership Can Shift Focus:  The turn key nature of Keywave Digital's service delivery freed Matt to handle strategic tasks, from refining agent training to enhancing client presentations. “It gave me the chance to work on perfecting our seminars and ensuring we deliver the best to our clients,” he notes.

The results Senior Insurance Brokers achieved—from doubling its agent team to breaking AEP records—underscores the transformative impact of KeyWave Digital’s seminar marketing system. 

KeyWave addressed the challenges of stale leads, agent retention, and scalable outreach by providing immediate, high-intent prospects and an automations tailored for maximizing marketing results. This let Matt and his team focus on coaching agents and streamlining presentations, rather than managing cumbersome marketing tasks.

“It’s been the biggest differentiator in our company in the last 10 years.”

– Matt Allen, Sales Director, Senior Insurance Brokers

By matching agents with people genuinely seeking Medicare and retirement guidance, KeyWave helped SIB not just expand, but maintain its 27-year commitment to personalized care. Agencies of any size looking to modernize their approach, improve retention, and maximize production can draw on KeyWave’s proven system to scale effectively—all while preserving the client-focused values that have made them successful in the first place.