Why Most Medicare Brokerage Tech Fails - and How to Build for the 80% Who Actually Need It
March 25, 2025
"If the agent tries it twice and it doesn't work either time, they're not thinking about adoption. They're thinking,
'What’s wrong with me?'"
Your top agents don’t need better tools.
They need fewer tabs.
Less friction.
Less bloat.
But the rest of your team?
They’re the ones drowning.
Every year, Medicare brokerages invest in shiny new technology - from CRMs to call guidance tools to AI-powered scripts.
Most of it is tested by high-performing agents.
And most of it fails everyone else.
That’s the tech adoption trap. It looks like progress.
But in reality, it isolates your top 10% and overwhelms the rest.
The Top Performer Illusion
Recently, we reflected on something we’ve both seen too many times: tech pilots that launch with high hopes, built around top-performing agents who can already handle the chaos - the ones who know how to juggle 1600 tabs without breaking a sweat.
But when something goes wrong, those top agents get frustrated fast. And the agents who truly needed support?
They never even got a chance to try it.
Top performers are intuitive.
They compensate for bad UX with confidence and muscle memory.
But the middle 60%? They’re still figuring it out.
And if your software doesn’t serve them, it doesn’t scale.
"You can't build something for top agents only and expect everyone else to fall in line."
When Features Become a Liability
One of the biggest problems we see with off-the-shelf insurance tech is feature overload.
Everyone wants the most powerful dashboard, the most flexible CRM.
But what ends up happening is agents staring down systems packed with functionality they’ll never use.
The learning curve becomes a barrier. Not a bridge.
"These systems get so bloated, people don’t even use three-quarters of the features. It looks powerful, but it paralyzes agents."
Even after you spend months customizing and integrating the tool, you’re still left trying to jam a square peg into a round hole.
And by the time it finally fits?
"The hole’s already turned into a triangle."
Emotional Management Is the Hidden KPI
Every rollout has a hidden layer no dashboard will show you: trust.
When a new tool doesn't deliver results right away, agents start to internalize the failure.
They wonder if they’re the problem.
They quietly disengage.
And suddenly your adoption problem isn’t about UX - it’s about morale.
Nick put it perfectly:
"If the agent tries it twice and it doesn't work either time, they're not thinking about adoption. They're thinking, 'What’s wrong with me?'"
This is the human side of implementation.
New tech doesn’t just need to check the compliance boxes.
It has to earn emotional buy-in.
"I don’t envy the exec at a Medicare brokerage who has to make that call. But that decision should weigh heavy - because it impacts more than metrics. It affects people."
Raise the Floor, Don’t Chase the Ceiling
Here’s how I think about it:
“You should be solving for the bottom 80%. Raise the floor, and everything else improves.”
You don’t scale by chasing your stars.
You scale by making your average performers more confident, more compliant, and more consistent.
"Coach like it’s a high school team. Elevate your stars, but empower your entire roster."
Tech That Serves Beneficiaries First
The most important perspective in this entire equation isn’t the executive, the product manager, or even the agent.
It’s the beneficiary.
Someone on the phone trying to understand if they can afford both their insulin and a birthday gift for their grandchild.
Someone trying to make a life-changing decision while your agent is silently flipping between six browser tabs.
Nick said it best:
"There's too much month left at the end of the money. A good agent can help that $5 stretch to cover a prescription and a birthday gift. But only if they can focus on the conversation - not the tabs."
Better tech should reduce the noise.
It should make that conversation clearer, calmer, more focused.
Because the moment your software stops serving the beneficiary, everything downstream starts to break.
Conclusion
The tech adoption trap doesn’t start with bad software.
It starts with good software built for the wrong user.
If you want to win?
Build for the 80%.
Simplify everything.
Focus on trust.
And never lose sight of the real goal:
Serving the beneficiary - better, faster, and with more heart.
