How SG Benefit Providers Cut Fronter Costs by 27% and Reclaimed 25% of Retention Specialist Time
SG Benefit Providers transformed their Medicare Advantage operations with AI Fronter & AI Retention Specialist, achieving superior cost efficiency and member satisfaction.
Results
Why These Numbers Matter
1. Standardized Excellence
Consistent, perfect transfers every time eliminate the "rockstar vs. average" performance gap, giving all agents equal opportunity to succeed with high-quality, complete handoffs.
2. Operational Scalability
AI enables rapid testing of multiple lead vendors without costly hiring cycles, allowing data-driven vendor evaluation and script optimization.
3. Enhanced Member Experience
Higher pickup rates and automated check-ins support the critical ~70% retention objective while providing richer CRM intelligence for follow-up actions.
Executive Summary
SG Benefit Providers replaced two human-heavy workflows with Infer's insurance-trained voice AI:
Pre-enrollment (AI Fronter):
Qualifies web/data/live leads and warm-transfers ready prospects to licensed agents—at a lower operating cost than human fronters, with complete, consistent handoffs agents prefer.
Post-enrollment (AI Retention Specialist):
Orchestrates scheduled customer-service check-ins, lifts pickup rates, and writes richer call intelligence back to the CRM—freeing the team to focus on true exceptions.
Highlights
About SG Benefit Providers
SG Benefit Providers specializes in Medicare Advantage (Part C & D) plans, growing by converting large lead volumes from multiple performance-marketing sources. They focus on both pre-enrollment lead qualification and post-enrollment retention through comprehensive member support.
Use Cases
AI Fronter:
Pre-enrollment outbound & inbound lead qualification with warm transfer to a licensed agent
AI Retention Specialist:
Post-enrollment customer-service check-ins (Next-day, Day-15, Day-30) and monthly book-of-business outreach
The Challenge
Scaling with Quality
Human "smile-and-dial" fronters were costly and inconsistent. Performance varied significantly across team members, with only 3 out of 10 being "rockstars," creating uneven results and slowing ability to test new lead vendors.
Hiring Bottlenecks
Growth required more fronters at minimum $15/hr plus training costs, while battling high attrition that spikes during AEP/OEP periods.
Retention Risk
Post-enrollment check-ins by specialists at $20/hr were essential for ~70% retention, but manual dialing consumed hours and produced thin, unstructured notes.
Low Pickup Rates
Manual dialing achieved only ~21% unique pickup rates, limiting the effectiveness of member outreach and retention efforts.
The Infer Solution
1) AI Fronter — Pre-Enrollment Lead Qualification with Warm Transfer
- Medicare-aware qualification (7–10 core questions) before warm transfer to a licensed agent.:
- Seamless Dialer Integration: The AI integrated directly with SG's existing dialer systems, ensuring no external software needed to be swapped or changed to deploy the solution.
- Consistent handoffs agents prefer: Every transfer includes the same complete context (identity, eligibility basics, stated intent, key answers). That standardization removes "what did the last person tell you?" moments and reduces first-minute rework.
"Oh, they would much rather get yours… Because it's the same every time. It's the same every single time... It is an absolute perfect transfer every time."
— Anthony Miller, CMO
Why consistency drives preference (the logic):
- No misaligned incentives pushing low-quality transfers.:
- No missed fields or ad-libbing: required details are always captured.
- Lower cognitive load: agents start at the same point, which speeds resolution and evens out performance across the team.
Data-driven calling & workflows: Experiment with timing, message variants, and omni-channel follow-through to learn what resonates by list/vendor—without hiring sprees. The AI's consistency elevates the entire team by ensuring high-quality transfers are distributed evenly, not just by a few "rockstars."
"You look at this, you look at a team of 10 and you're like, 'Man, I've got three great rockstars here... I got three people who are bottom of the barrel, and I got four people who are right in the middle.'... The idea here is to have the same ability across the board… so that all the good transfers aren't going to one or two people, they're all getting the good transfers. And then that gives the average person the ability to become above average. That's really what you're looking for."
— Anthony Miller, CMO
Cost & capacity advantages
- Lower operating cost/hour (≈$11 vs min. $15).:
- No breaks, no bad days: We continuously update objection handling with new rebuttals and keep coverage after hours, so performance remains steady and predictable.
2) AI Retention Specialist — Post-Enrollment Customer-Service Check-Ins
- Cadence: Next-day, Day-15, Day-30 check-ins; expanding to monthly book-of-business touches.
- Member experience: Confirms enrollment status, addresses basic issues, and routes to a human when needed.
- Richer data to the CRM: Detailed call summaries, sentiment, and structured metadata are written back to SG's CRM, giving leaders visibility into member health and follow-up reasons.
- Ops impact: By automating 2 hours of manual dialing per day, the AI freed up 25% of the specialist's workday. This translates to 10+ hours per week for higher-value work (like supervising exceptions) and an annual operational savings of $10,400 per employee in that role.
"We want it to [beat the human]. The goal isn't to have her on the phone calling these people. The goal is to have her getting in touch with somebody if there is a problem."
— Anthony Miller, CMO
Observed lift
Unique pickup rates: ~42% with AI optimization (AI-based predictive dialing, analyzed pickup data to learn the optimal times to call members) vs ~21% with human calling — more live contacts support SG's ~70% retention objective.
Why SG Benefit Providers Chose Infer
Insurance-Native Intelligence
Built with finetuned insurance-focused LLM/AI models and guardrails specifically tailored to the complexities of Medicare Advantage.
Standardization = Scalability
Uniform, "ready-to-handle" transfers reduce agent friction and give every agent an equal opportunity to succeed.
Data-Driven Iteration
The platform enables rapid experiments across timing, messaging, and omni-channel strategies to identify top-performing lead vendors without costly hiring cycles.
Superior Operational Leverage
Delivers lower hourly costs, stable 24/7 coverage, and richer business intelligence through seamless CRM integration.
Oh, they would much rather get yours… Because it's the same every time. It's the same every single time... It is an absolute perfect transfer every time. The idea here is to have the same ability across the board… so that all the good transfers aren't going to one or two people, they're all getting the good transfers. And then that gives the average person the ability to become above average.
We want it to [beat the human]. The goal isn't to have her on the phone calling these people. The goal is to have her getting in touch with somebody if there is a problem.
Compliance & Scope (Medicare Advantage)
Infer's AI supports outreach and post-enrollment customer-service check-ins. It does not provide plan advice or make changes; plan selection, benefit discussions, and enrollments are completed by licensed agents in accordance with CMS guidelines.
Transform Your Medicare Operations
Join SG Benefit Providers in revolutionizing Medicare Advantage operations. Cut fronter costs by 27%, achieve $2.54 cost per qualified transfer, and reclaim 25% of your retention team's time with Infer's insurance-native AI voice agents.