In a recent Eastbridge/BenefitsPRO survey, brokers wereasked about their perception of current sales competition. Theresponses show that between 20 percent and 40 percent of brokerssense that competition is higher thanaverage. We believe that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Other than an upheaval in business fundamentals, the level ofcompetition for salespeople usually revolves around threevariables: the number of other people trying to capture a givensales opportunity; the activity level of those people (the numberof opportunities they can manage at a time); and how well-equippedthey are to win.

In the voluntary/worksite arena, theflood of new brokers entering the field over the last 10 years hasgreatly increased the number of overall competitors and, in theory,the number who can focus on any given case. But over the last fouror five years, we have also seen voluntary productivity among thesenewer entrants (especially traditional employee benefit brokers)begin to soar.

That movement towards handling a larger number of cases andopportunities each year has magnified the perception of increasedcompetition. On the third variable, the increased productivity ofthese newer players has allowed them to gain more experience andmove up the learning curve more quickly. They are rapidly learningthe intricacies of the business, the quality of the variousplayers, the short-cuts and the pitfalls. If you are a long-timevoluntary broker, you are seeing greater numbers of competitors,each handling more cases, and each doing it better than before.Given that, it is not surprising that almost 40 percent of voluntary brokers say thatcompetition is higher than average.

But if you are a newer entrant, such as a traditional groupbroker who is new to voluntary, you do not have that basis ofcomparison. You may not be able to appreciate the trend towardshigher activity and greater expertise. You have been part of alarge-scale migration that has shaken every aspect of the voluntarybusiness. But the migration is now coming to an end. Roughly 95percent of all employee benefit brokers now offer voluntary. Thenumber of new entrants is dwindling.

Whichever camp you are in, it is only logical to expect theactivity and quality variables to keep moving skyward. Given thedrop-off of new entrants, if sales are increasing (which they are),then the average broker must be gaining more experience and at afaster rate.

And if that's true, the average broker must be learning newskills and refining old ones. Therefore, it is unavoidable that wewill all face more competition from more highly-skilledcompetitors. And that means, if you stand still, your share of thepie will shrink. Get better, get busier, or get left behind. Youand your business need to strive to improve. Starting today.