Employee benefit brokers continue to embrace voluntary productsas a central part of their sales activities. But not all brokersare developing these new capabilities at the same rate andinteresting differences are emerging. In addition to segmentingbrokers by size, we’ve been asking them whether they tend to mixand match products from different carriers in accounts.Specifically, we ask them whether they prefer to use one carrier inorder to offer bundled discounts, prefer to use one carrier foradministrative ease, or whether they prefer to mix carriers inorder to bring best-of-breed products in each category.

In other words, does their value proposition lead with pricing,administrative ease or overall product quality? Arguably, theseapproaches could correspond to their perceptions of their keycustomer: employer, plan administrator or employee. We consider theemployee to be the first priority and the more sophisticatedvoluntary approach. One segment, the mid-size sophisticated broker,is pulling away from the pack.

In addition to selling multiple carriers in order to focus onproduct quality, these brokers have the most balanced criteria forselecting carrier partners, and are most likely to have voluntarygoals for their salespeople. They’re most likely to use third-partyenrollment platforms and professional enrollment companies. Theseare often the hallmarks of firms that take a strategic approach tovoluntary rather than considering it a simple product lineextension of their current benefit offerings.

Their approach is starting to create distance between theirresults and those of the competition. Medium-sophisticated brokersnow sell more cases per salesperson and a greater percentage oftheir account sales include both core and voluntary coverages. Andthough they are medium in size, a greater percentage of theirsalespeople now sell higher premium voluntary cases than thelarge-size segments.

We all need to study the practices of those who are taking thelead and learn from their successes.