Most carriers in the workplace benefits space are looking toestablish relationships with new brokers. While they havecompelling reasons for leaning on their tenured advisors(especially those generating significant production), they need tofind future revenue sources in order to ensure long-termsuccess.

Where can carriers locate new distribution partners? Pursuing veteranbrokers is certainly appealing, but though those who arecomfortable may be resistant to change. Luring heavy-hitters withabundant books of existing clients might seem especially tempting;however, competition for these advisors is fierce, with manyplacing considerable demands on carriers seeking their business.While one should not discourage this pursuit entirely, a sensiblerecruiting plan could target less established, and therefore lessdemanding, salespeople.

Reach for tomorrow’s stars

Despite the ongoing challenge of an aging salesforce, theinsurance industry’s younger talent holds an optimistic view of thefuture. More than 80 percent of millennial insurance professionalswould recommend a career in insurance to their friends, and 39percent were recruited by friends in the industry. It appears thatrecent fears abou today’s youth having little interest in insurancecareers may be a bit premature.

Still, bringing inexperienced brokers up-to-speed is not easy.Growing pains are common, and often cause young advisors to shiftquickly towards a different career path. Carrier resourcesdedicated to these individuals quickly become sunk costs. Insurerscan minimize these expenditures, however, by selectivelytargeting less experienced salespeople.

Specifically, focus on brokers who are not entirely new to theindustry, yet still have a large capacity to expand their customerbase. With proper nurturing, these “up-and-coming” advisors holdthe key to boost tomorrow’s sales. The criteria used to targetthese partners will vary between carriers, depending on anorganization’s ambitions and resources. Using LIMRA’s “Partneringwith Carriers to Connect with Clients” study of employee benefitbrokers, we have defined “up-and-comers” as having:

• actively sold employee benefits for 1 – 9 years. They havesurvived at least one full year in the business but still have thebulk of their career in front of them.

• incomes between $50,000 – $199,999 in 2016. They are earningat least enough to stay in business, but are not (yet) eliteperformers.

The remainder of this article compares these up-and-coming brokers to the other advisors inthe study. Knowing these key differences better positions carriersto develop relationships with tomorrow’s star brokers.

Is age just a number?

Most up-and-comers have youth on their side. Only 45 percenthave celebrated their 45^th birthday (compared to 83percent of the other brokers). This accounts for divergentperspectives on technology. For instance, they hold betterimpressions on how carriers leverage social media, and ratethemselves higher in this area than do other brokers. Up-and-comersalso sense a greater need for customer access to online tools suchas web chat, portals, and those for claims submission.

“Make the billing real time and easy to use. In addition,make the implementation process smoother with more communication,go online and be proactive. It would be big to have flexibleunderwriting. It is all about making the employer and the brokersjobs a lot easier.”

Broker from Michigan; 7 – 9 years of industry experience; 2016income range of $150,000 – $199,999.

Up-and-coming brokers tend to focus on somewhat differentproduct lines compared to other advisors. They are more likely tosell permanent life products and the fast growing benefits typesthat commonly accompany high deductible medical plans (i.e.,hospital indemnity, critical illness, and cancer coverage).Conversely, up-and-comers offer disability options to their clientsless often.

Seeking greater knowledge

Up-and-coming brokers display significant interest in thetraining and development opportunities offered by carriers. Many ofthese advisors are in their formative years and eager to expandtheir industry knowledge. While learning specifics of carriers’product offerings has the greatest appeal, other training programsalso strongly resonate with up-and-comers (Table 1).

Table 1 — Importance of Carrier Training and DevelopmentOpportunities

Percent Strongly Agreeing ThesePrograms are Important

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Grading the carriers

When brokers consider what carriers can do to help them growtheir business, providing qualified leads is the top mention. Thisis especially true of up-and coming brokers (cited by 31 percentcompared to 18 percent of the others).

“Have a lead generation spot on their website and pass thosealong to the brokers. So many times, employers don't know where tostart when looking to put benefits in place so they reach out tocarriers. It would help us and the carrier grow business as you’reloyal to someone who helps give you a leg up on thecompetition.”

Broker from Georgia; 4 – 6 years of industry experience; 2016income range of $150,000 – $199,999.

Less experienced advisors also pay closer attention to the costof coverage and their compensation. They often consider priceimportant in selecting insurers, with over 70 percent agreeing thatit has the biggest impact on their recommendation (versus 58percent of the other brokers). The speed of policies/certificatesissue is another consideration more instrumental in up-and-comers’choice of carriers. Although they view claims processing as apriority (their second highest rated item overall), they place lessimportance on this trait compared to other brokers, and more oftenidentify it as an attribute that carriers need to improve upon.

Carrier impressions for up-and-comers generally align with orsurpass those of the other brokers. In addition to betterharnessing social media, they view their top carriers morefavorably when it comes to:

• informing them of regulatory/legislative changes

• helping them manage their business, and

• onboarding their clients

Brokers in the LIMRA survey experience the most challenges withcarrier onboarding and billing processes compared to other areas.Each item was selected by roughly 1 in 5 brokers overall. However,the up-and-comers find greater frustration in carriers’ reportingcapabilities than other brokers (13 percent versus 7 percent), andencounter fewer obstacles during the RFP process (4 percent versus9 percent) or with routine service provided to their employerclients (1 percent versus 7 percent).

Take the reins

Today’s distribution blueprint will determine tomorrow’s successor failure. While recruiting established veterans and developingrookie advisors can each pay dividends for workplace benefitproviders, professionals in-between these extremes offer greatpromise. Brokers with moderate earnings and industry experiencehave already made a commitment to the business and show a highpropensity for future success. In order to capture more businessfrom these brokers:

• Help them elevate their practices. Providing sales leadsaccelerates present growth, while meaningful professionaldevelopment will ensure a brighter future. Use these programs tobuild loyalty.

• Embrace technology as a differentiator. Update your company’stools frequently, closely monitor effectiveness, and constantlystrive for improvement. Almost all carriers now offer onlineenrollment and administrative systems. How many truly piqueconsumer interest via social media, or support real-time virtualinteractions with clients and prospects?

“I think that carriers can always work to improve theirtechnological capabilities and help service employees in differentways.”

Broker from New York; 4 – 6 years of industry experience; 2016income range of $50,000 – $99,999.

Developing early relationships with up-and-coming salespeoplecan pay off for years to come.