Many brokerage firms see employee benefits as just that –employee benefits. But Lacher, the 2011 Broker of the Year andpartner at Lacher & Associates in Souderton, Penn., approachesbenefits with his clients' overall strategic goals in mind. Whetherreducing the bottom line or increasing employee productivity is theclient's ultimate goal, benefits play a key role.

Along with using benefits to achieve strategic goals, Lacheroffers business development services as well, and thisdifferentiates his business from others in the industry, he says.Sales training and developing a social media plan, for instance,are two ways Lacher helps further his clients' ambitions. Sure,benefits are a large part of reaching organizational objectives onmany levels, but it doesn't stop there. Benefits are ultimately away to mitigate risks, and providing business training is just anextension of that.

“We might be engaged with a client who is not only working withus on the employee benefits side but while we're going through ourprocess with them, we found out they had some real needs in sales,for example,” Lacher says. “We're actually able to help use some ofthe things we've done at our firm and actually sell ourintellectual capital around sales.” Lacher also finds success inthis competitive industry because he focuses on client fit.

Rather than trying to round up all the business he can, Lacherservices mid-market clients, which bring in $15 million to $1billion in revenue per year. Lacher looks for more than justbusiness, he says; he looks for a partnership. “A lot of ourcompetitors were and are focused on a price, product and avendor-type relationship to their clients, but those are really bigno-no's in our shop,” Lacher says.

“Not that the deliverables aren't important from a productstandpoint, but we've created a model where we engage our clients,where the ultimate decision about working with Lacher andAssociates isn't about the product and the price, it's about theclient experience that we have created for these individuals orcompanies.”

After Lacher was named Broker of the Year at the BenefitsSelling Expo in Nashville, Tenn., Benefits Selling sat down withLacher to get his thoughts on the benefits industry and where it'sheading.

Benefits Selling: How does it feel to winBroker of the Year?

Lacher: It feels really good. I feel honored tobe Broker of the Year. Not only was I honored as a finalist butbeing the overall winner is great. I want to thank everyone whovoted for me: clients, friends and associates.

BS: With health care reform, competition surelymust be tough. How do you excel in the industry?

ML: We've become a niche boutique firm, and weintend on staying that way. So we really work hard at finding theright client fit first, and we make sure we create a businesspartnership between the client and ourselves. Specifically relatedto health care reform, some of the things we've done are makingsure we have diverse solutions we can offer clients, so it's notjust products or basic client services but really a suite ofsolutions that might be outside of your typical brokerrelationship.

We are very much not a product-driven firm; we're asolution-driven company, so the basic distinction is we don'tnecessarily look at the products we sell as a solution for theclient. We look at areas like creating a communications strategy orcreating an engagement strategy as a solution for the client. Theproduct is a byproduct.

BS: Do you anticipate handling benefitsenrollment differently than in the past because of the newlyadopted regulations?

ML: One of the key areas of communication is tomake sure it's happening throughout the year. Oftentimes,communication is just this once-a-year event around benefits, sowe've partnered with some other firms that specialize incommunications specifically as well as we've developed acommunications platform in house that we deliver to ourclients.

BS: Your employee benefits division has grownso much in the past few years. How do you plan on keeping thatmomentum?

ML: We really focus on client fit, so the waywe go about prospecting and developing the pipeline is very muchreferral based or center of influence based, so we work with HRconsulting firms and attorneys and accounts and so forth to findclients we think would really value the kind of businesspartnership we seek in our client relationships. We really believein the power of strong social networks. That has been reallysuccessful.

BS: Wellness is such a large part of yourbusiness. Why do you think those programs are growing?

ML: We've been in the wellness space for aboutthree years now, and we have a partnership with another firm. Webelieve the area of employee engagement and managing the health andproductivity of your employees—managing your human capital needs—ismore important now than it's ever been, especially with thedownturn in the economy.

Instead of talking about vendors and products, we're talkingabout how do we get results and manage results effectively. One ofthe ways we can manage is by focusing on the health care costs andlimiting absenteeism and worker comp claims and providing healthand productivity, so I think that message is ready because healthcare costs are incredibly expensive.

BS: What is the most important thing you'velearned about business that has helped you in the benefitsindustry?

ML: No. 1 is having a constant curiosity toclients and your business. To the business side, that is reallycritical. No. 2 is be client centric. When we engage with ourclients, we have a four-step process that we work through withthem, and that process really starts with listening to them andunderstanding the challenges they face in their business that maybe benefits related or may be unrelated. It's understanding thestrategic goals of your clients. That's very much a businessapproach to benefits.

BS: What does 2011 hold in store for you?

ML: We expect to continue to have north of 30percent growth in the benefits area, and as a firm overall, we alsothink we'll continue to grow, which is exciting. We're certainlystill facing some challenges, but there are still some largeopportunities for this year and beyond.

As an industry, I see continued consolidation, so I think thosehigh-growth firms will be able to maintain market share and besuccessful in future years.