Sales skills are the lifeblood of the benefits industry. Butfewer and fewer carriers and agencies have formal programs thatteach their employees basic salesmanship. Instead, salespeople relyon their own ideas, what they learn from peers, and informalmentorship arrangements.

And, frankly, some industry insiders say, that's not goodenough.

They say that few salespeople today have the skills they need tocompete in a rapidly changing marketplace. What's more, they say,the industry isn't training up-and-coming salespeople in the skillsthey'll need in the future, leaving the benefits insurance industrywithout a pipeline of high-quality sales professionals who can stepinto the jobs that retiring baby boomers leave in their wake.

What makes a good salesperson?

A good salesperson is “insatiably curious,” says KevinTrokey, founding partner and coach at Q4intelligence, a benefitsindustry-consulting firm based in Kirkwood, Mo. “They are there toteach, educate, and solve the buyer's problem, rather than sellingtheir own story. The selling takes care of itself.”

Doug Lenhoff, managing director of DI Broker West in Portland,Ore., echoes Trokey's assertion that listening to a situation froma client's perspective is a vital sales skill.

“We spend an awful lot of time teaching salespeople how to talk,as opposed to how to listen,” he says. “The better salespeople areable to recognize their biases, so they're better able to hearanother person's perspective, instead of what they want tohear.”

Time management is another important skill, Lenhoff adds. “Mostinsurance salespeople are self managed. The more discipline theyhave around how they spend their days, the better the sales resultsthat they'll see,” he says.

Along with those skills — plus an extroverted nature, an abilityto be motivated by money and recognition, and a strong desire towin — good salespeople also have subject mattercompetency, says Jay Starkman, CEO of Engage PEO in FortLauderdale, Fla.

“Salespeople need to know where clients exist in the regulatoryenvironment and act as a consultant, to help the client navigate that stuff.Otherwise, that client is going to go to someone else who can helpthem,” he says. “If you're selling health care and you're not anexpert on the Affordable Care Act, then you're selling cassettetapes.”

Two eras, two sales models

There are consultative salespeople with subject mattercompetency out there, of course. But there aren't enough of them,for several reasons.

First, industry insiders say, salespeople aren't getting thesame deliberate, often intensive training that the insuranceindustry offered a generation ago. “Back in the day, they wouldtake you away for three to six weeks of intense training,” saysReid Rasmussen, president and co-owner of freshbenies in McKinney,Texas. “Then they'd put you out on the street, and if you made a goof it, you became a professional salesperson.”

Lenhoff agrees that sales training is not as robust as it oncewas.

“The majority of people in leadership positions in my industrytoday, on the sales side, were trained by Paul Revere, ProvidentLife and Accident, and Unum,” he says. “We were trained tounderstand the product, why it costs what it costs. It made iteasier to talk about the product and why it's important. Butthere's nobody who is providing that kind of training today.”

The average age of a broker who was trained in this way,Rasmussen says, is 58. When today's young hires arrive, “carriersdon't put them through the same kind of school, don't put in thesame kind of investment. The people who were around 20 or 30 yearsago learned the business of selling, and that became the basis ofhow everyone sold. Now people learn it on their own, from theirsales managers, and learn to sell a carrier's products in aspecific way. There's less focus on how to sell as a generalsubject,” he says.

There also is more focus today on product knowledge than therewas in the past. Decades ago, Rasmussen says, “buildingrelationships meant getting business.” Product knowledge wassecondary.

This model worked, he says, because many health plans were verysimilar to one another. Buying a creative solution often wasn't anoption, so clients bought coverage from salespeople that theyliked.

“If someone was just good at quoting business, they could make ago of it,” Rasmussen says. There was little incentive to keepdeveloping sales skills, or to hone their ability to creativelysolve employer problems.

Now, by contrast, there are a wealth of benefit offerings, andmany opportunities to creatively improve end clients' businesssituations. That means getting fluent with a huge amount ofknowledge, a volume that the Patient Protection and Affordable CareAct has exponentially increased.

“There's a lot of detail around legal issues, compliance, ACArules, accounting,” Rasmussen says. “The volume of material that anagent needs to know today is astonishing, and it has to come first,before relationships.”

That model doesn't appeal to many of the salespeople who trainedand did business for years in the relationship sales model. “Thegray-haired people at the meetings say they can't believe all ofthe work in selling today,” Rasmussen says. “I think the old guardis going to cash out, if they can.”

If they don't leave, Starkman says, they may be pushed out. “Ifthese people don't adapt and learn the current environment, theyare going to die, because those that do adapt and learn will eattheir lunch,” he says.

Today's training — or lack thereof

Those older salespeople will retire — either now, in response tothe changing market, or in a few years, when they might haveretired anyway. The sales force that takes their place will nothave had a similarly intense training. Some of them will have hadno formal training from anyone.

“There are very few agencies now that have any kind of formaltraining at all,” Trokey says. “I can't tell you how high thefailure rate is in new hires in this industry. We ask people tocommit their careers to an organization, but we don't give themthey tools they need to succeed.”

Lenhoff agrees. “I don't see any of the companies I do businesswith putting any resources into training the sales force, and atthe same time I see them scrambling to find new sources of sales,”he says. “Their plan is to offer good salespeople top dollar andfigure that they'll get their training somewhere else. They don'tsee the disconnect there.”

Those untrained new hires would have a tough time in theinsurance industry of 30 years ago, but they're really in troubletoday. The medical loss ratio requirements of the PatientProtection and Affordable Care Act are driving down commissionrates, Trokey says, so salespeople are working harder to capturetheir parts of a smaller commission pot.

“I just talked to someone whose agency is down 25 percent juston commission cuts,” he says.

Keeping current — and looking ahead

There is value to offer and money to make in the benefitsinsurance industry, but today's salespeople will need specific waysto access it.

First, Starkman says, benefits professionals need to accept thatthe changes in the industry are likely permanent.

“Some people still don't believe that the Affordable Care Act isgoing to stick,” Starkman says. Even if PPACA isn't the final wordon health care coverage in the United States, the industry isalmost certainly not returning to the version of the world thatpreceded it. The future will only be more complex—not less.

Based on that acceptance, salespeople must invent new ways toplay on the new field.

“The consultants and brokers who survive health care reform willbe bringing more value to their customers than we've seen before,”Trokey says.

They won't just provide benefits; they will find ways to helpend clients improve their overall businesses. In addition tocommissions, some salespeople will earn consulting fees.

“You want to be a concierge of advice, not someone who comes intwice a year,” Rasmussen says. “A lot of brokers have a ton ofinformation about human resources, hiring, payroll, and otherbusiness issues. Those things don't tie to a specific product theysell, but they can still be a consultant on those issues.”

If agencies are going to survive, they will have to bring valuein ways that they never have before. They need a process. Up tothis point, Trokey says, they've been able to get away withouthaving one.

Ideally, that process would involve structured sales-trainingprograms for new hires, offering both fundamental skills for thosewho are new to the industry and a refresher course for old hands.Lenhoff notes that Northwestern Mutual, Guardian, and New York Lifeall offer salespeople solid training. He hopes that more firms willjoin their ranks.

If agencies don't step up and provide training, salespeople willfind their own resources. “There are training programs, books, selfeducation,” Trokey says. “I don't think there's just one way. Youhave to commit to being a professional. If you want to selleffectively, you have to commit to lifelong learning.”

Finding and paying for a sales training program is one option;books, blogs, and other online information are other good sourcesof expertise.

Partnerships are another way to gain skill and knowledge.

“We recognize that salespeople are not necessarily experts, sowe brought in people who are nothing but experts and can sit sideby side with salespeople who have all the other ingredients,”Starkman says. “Those two people work as a pair for a while, andthe salesperson learns the subject matter. Salespeople are neverthe best and most highly qualified experts, but the salesperson hasto have at least a competence in the subject matter area.”

Industry and sales-specific professional organizations can help,too, sometimes by arranging mentorships and peer groups. There's alot to learn in deliberate groups of mutually supportivesalespeople, Trokey says.

“Groups bring people together to network and share ideas andresources. They ask questions and answer questions. If you don'thave a group to lean on that's going through the same struggles,you make things harder than they need to be. That's a fool'sgame.”

The best groups, Rasmussen says, combine salespeople fromterritories all over the country, so that members aren't naturallycompeting with one another.

“I know a group of about a dozen folks who originally all workedfor the same company, and they still get together a couple of timesa year as a mentorship group. And they're rocking it. In theircategory, they are feared competitors. They are looking toward thefuture and developing new strategies.”

“Today, a salesperson has to take responsibility for educatingthemselves. They need to read, go to conferences, and have groupsthat can give advice without eating their lunches. Nobody owes thema living,” he says. “The people who continue to develop theirskills and act as consultants are the ones who are going tosucceed.”

Also read:

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• How to be a bettersalesperson