AUSTIN, Texas - The big news out of Benefits Selling's fifth annual expo -- aside from the record-breaking turnout -- had to be Jim Davidson's ascension as the magazine's first-ever Broker of the Year.
Editor Denis Storey introduced and awarded Davidson the prize Thursday morning at the conference. Davidson was one of five finalists vying for the prize, and ultimately selected by the magazine's Editorial Advisory Board.
"I was quite surprised, but humbled," Davidson said later. "You had so many experts in the audience, so it was nice to get the recognition from them. I think it was probably more of a longevity award. I've been around for what seems like forever, so it was for the old guys."
His company, Santa Monica, Calif.-based EOI Service Co Inc., has 40 employees and offices in every time zone, with the most recent satellite office opened in New Jersey; which means quite a bit of travel for Davidson throughout the year.
"I have 40,000 miles so far this year alone on United Airlines. The goal last year was to become a 1K member (United Airlines frequent flier program). The goal this year is to not be a 1K member."
Thursday's other highlight had to be the consumer-driven health plans panel session, "The past, present and future of consumer-driven health care." Moderated by Ron Ledgerwood of Total Administrative Services Corp., panel participants included Tim Tucker with BenefitMall, Kelly Fristoe with Financial Partners and Stacey Merritt with Lone Star Health Plans.
After the initial introduction by Ledgerwood, in which he noted the panel's 75 years of combined experience, Tucker began with a discussion of health reimbursement accounts. He told attendees that when considering HRAs, they must first thoroughly understand their customers and thoroughly understand "the numbers" because the customer is taking on increased risk and exposure.
"For a client who wants to be in control, take risks, is entrepreneurial and suspicious of insurance companies, an HRA might work," Tucker said. "It might work if they need to reduce costs because their health care expenditures are hurting the company's overall financial performance. Lastly, if they need to maintain lower deductible plans to attract quality employees, but still struggle with costs, they might be a good candidate for an HRA. But, you have to first see if their experience is good enough for self-funding to make sense."
As for understanding the numbers, Tucker told the audience to be aware of plan design, rates and benefits to ensure an apples-to-apples comparison. But you've got to do the same analysis for each alternative plan.
Fristoe then described a real-life case study with a 70-person medical clinic with an 80/20 plan component and a $5,000 deductible. Cost of premium? $200,000 per year.
Merritt closed out the session by noting that HSA consumers and HRA consumers are not the same demographic. An HRA is not a consumer product, he asserted, unless we reclassify employers as consumers, because it's completely employer-driven.
"Nonetheless, I'm an HRA evangelist," Merritt said. "Every business that covers at least 15 people, including dependents, should have one. I almost always lower the client's costs when I combine an HRA with a medical plan, and it's somewhere between 20 percent and 27 percent."
One unquestionable highlight of the show was conservative firebrand Patrick J. (Pat) Buchanan's Friday morning keynote. His unique insight into world affairs, domestic policy and yes, the benefits industry had attendees' attention. No stranger to controversy, the writer-commentator and former presidential candidate's speech was an exciting end to an already exciting expo. Buchanan's good humor and willingness to stop for pictures (the keynote started late as a result) was a hit with attendees, regardless of their political affiliation.
The conference started with a bang, though, with veteran salesman (and Benefits Selling columnist) Dan Norman commanding the stage.
It's clich?, but accurate; listening to Dan Norman is a bit like drinking from a fire hose. His rapid-fire delivery of critical information on the attributes of top salespeople had everyone's attention. The attributes he described made for a lively and informative session to kick off the conference.
"I've studied the best salespeople to find out what makes them tick (mainly by asking)," Norman says. "All have fundamental traits that make them succeed, even in tough times."
Your competition is gunning for your business, he explains. They will copy everything you do. But there is one thing they can't copy and that is your ability to communicate to your clients the value of your business relationship.
"There are seven traits I have identified that are common to all top sales people," he continued. "These attributes are a specific mindset, character, a belief in what they do, they are targeted on their buyer, they set goals and stay focused, they have strong sales skills and they help others get what they want."
They include:
1) Mind-set: Salespeople almost always fall into two mind-sets; scarcity or abundance. Those with a scarcity mindset think "there is not enough to go around." If someone gets a piece of the sales pie, they must have taken it from someone else. They feel there are not enough customers to support both themselves and their competition. This leads to fear and jealously and a compulsion to protect "what's theirs." Anger, disappointment and disparagement follow, which results in a mentality of greed and a reluctance to share anything they have, even with their team. This means they are now focused on their competition, rather than on their customers. The scarcity mindset ultimately hurts everyone, and it's self-fulfilling. If you believe there is a scarcity of customers, eventually there will be.
Contrast this with an attitude of abundance, one in which the salesperson believes there is plenty of opportunity for all. If someone gets a piece of the sales pie, that actually means more for everyone. Not only do abundance salespeople believe in opportunity, they are appreciative of the opportunity. Think of Bill Gates. Yes, he's a billionaire, but think of how many millionaires he's created through ancillary products that complement his Microsoft products. Abundance salespeople are customer focused, they are confident in the value they bring to their customers, they work hard at prospecting, they are interdependent on others and they share. They maintain these qualities even in down markets. Think of the period between 1929 to 1939; a pretty dismal period according to conventional wisdom. But 72 major companies launched research and develop departments at the time; departments and companies that still exist today. They began by listening to what they customers needed, and went from there. It resulted in products like scotch tape, bubble gum, car radios Teflon, canned beer and many other amazing innovations.
2) Strong character: People want to deal with someone whom they trust. Top salespeople are genuine and honest, and the use of props (like pictures of their children) is avoided. Think of a real estate agent with a picture of themselves from 20 years ago; you feel a bit deceived upon meeting the agent. Strong character also means top salespeople work hard, but have balance in their lives. They make sure they have time for what they find important, like family.
3) They believe in what they do: And they also believe in themselves, the product and the company they work for. They are an expert first, and then a salesperson. They achieve their expertise from three sources:
- Credentials - The educational designations they acquire, the licenses they obtain, their tenure in the industry and the niche market they occupy.
- Contribution - From the articles they write for publication, the newsletters they produce and the radio and TV appearances they make.
- Recognition - They highlight the testimonials and awards they receive, and they include their team in the recognition.
4). They are targeted on their buyers: Top salespeople remember that the owner is the buyer and they go where the buyer is. Networking is essential to finding the buyers and gaining referrals, both from the customers and other professionals with which they're aligned. In order to network effectively, they connect with people and think about how they can help them. They connect with their target buyers and they have an elevator speech at the ready. The perfect elevator speech should have the following attributes:
- An intriguing lead that gets the person to ask, "Wow, how do you do what you do?"
- Your response should elicit a follow-up question, "How are you qualified to do that?"
- Talk about you and your business.
- Get business cards and be sure to give them yours.
- Top salespeople remember to connect to help others first, and they have a first-class Web site for when the person they've connected with wants to follow up. Their Web site is their store front; they make it easy to find. They make the name of the business and their Web-site intuitive so the person knows what it is they do.
5) They set goals and stay focused: The top 10 percent of salespeople write down their goals and then write an action plan for each goal. They have specific measurements in place to track each goal and have realistic, achievable timeframes. They adjust their goals and achievement methods as necessary.
6) They have strong sales skills: They start at the beginning, ask questions and listen carefully to the answers. They confirm their understanding of what the client is saying. They ask themselves if the product they're offering can help the client's situation. They then present the solution. Once the solution is presented, they deal with any objections and close the sale.
7) They help others get what they want: Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar puts it best, "You'll get all that you want in life if you help others get what they want."
