What do you get when you combine some 800 brokers, a bunch of exhibiting companies, a couple of politicians, nearly two dozen educational breakout sessions and a lot of energy? The Benefits Selling Expo 2011, held in the Nashville, Tenn. Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. This year's expo was the biggest yet, with health care reform still at the forefront of attendees' minds and questions circulating about what government changes will mean for brokers and their future.

Inside the massive resort, experts in the field educated attendees on selling trends, connecting with clients and business strategies in a recovering economy. And outside the massive grounds of the resort, there was still some line dancing and hee-hawing going on celebrating being in Nashville.

Katz kicks off the show
Keynote speaker Alan Katz opened this year's Benefits Selling Expo with a look at how brokers can be prepared for the shifting landscape and how they can improve their bottom line.

With health care reform looming, change in the benefits industry is inevitable, Katz explained, and the most successful brokers are those who are ready. Sure, there's talk about repealing or cutting funds for the Affordable Care Act, but Katz doesn't expect either of those to happen. He instead called for brokers to be prepared, and that starts with looking at where you are and determining where you want to be.

Katz recently interviewed 200 insurance agents in six states who work with individual, small-group and senior medical to find out how they achieved success, specifically because products in those markets are so heavily regulated that brokers can't rely on promotions to close sales. “You can't negotiate,” Katz said. “It's the same price for everyone.

Consequently, a worker's sale success is based on what he or she does or does not do, not your ability to come up with gimmicks or games to make it work.” The top insurance agents were designated as high-growth producers for expanding their business at least 20 percent in the last year.

Those who grew their business by less than 20 percent were named low-growth producers, and insurance agents whose business remained stagnant were referred to as no-growth producers. After sifting through research, Katz determined there are three pathways for optimal success: positive attitude, business acumen and sales insight.

As part of a positive attitude, Katz's research found the most successful insurance agents possessed responsible confidence and pragmatic persistency character traits. With these character traits, high-growth producers recognize challenges will happen, but despite those hurdles, they'll take the time to understand and address the objection, Katz said. “An optimist thinks a lost sale is going to affect them forever,” Katz said.

“If you have a positive attitude, you're going to try harder and try harder, and as a result, you're going to overcome those objections, instead of walking away.” With business acumen, high-growth producers approach sales with a business-like perspective by planning for growth, Katz said. They make a business plan, which is monitored and evaluated for results, and these measureable results are then adjusted.

A business plan is especially important, he adds, because it keeps your team on the same page. “When you align your team to common goal, you use resources effectively,” he said. And, finally, sales insight, which is how sales are perceived, is the last piece of high-growth producers' success plan.

By possessing sales insight, you offer a sense of trustworthiness, and this can be achieved by listening, asking questions and then listening again, Katz said. “Clients are looking for our expertise, especially in small groups,” Katz said. “They don't know enough to make the right decision, and you want to be worthy of this trust. That's what sales professionalism is.”

Politicos agree health care's a mess
When you stick U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson and former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers in a room for a chat, you might not think they would have much to agree on. But in the case of defining the state of America's health care system, they both agreed: It's a mess. “We speculate on global warming, on how much is mandated, but this is much more than an imminent threat, this is a freight train coming down to get us,” Thompson said during the health care reform debate April 7, the keynote address during day two of Benefits Selling Expo.

The former Tennessee Senator addressed the urgency of change for health care. But both he and Myers admitted during the debate they weren't sure how much, and when, it would change. The two first addressed the problem of affordability, Thompson calling it “absolutely out of hand.” Myers said it was “plaguing not just people in the health care industry but has been plaguing our economy for decades,” adding that her own insurance premium has more than doubled in the last five years.

“That is unsustainable,” she said. “Every 30 seconds someone in this country is going to go bankrupt because of health care costs.” What else is “unsustainable,” she said, is that millions of people in the richest country in the world don't have health coverage. “We can do better than that,” said Myers, who was the first White House Press Secretary under President Clinton for two years. She currently acts as a political commentator. What garnered more debate between the two was what the government has done about health care in the past year.

“The Affordable Care Act has tried to address both these things [affordability and access]… with this 30 million people who didn't have coverage will get it, including people with preexisting conditions, and the cost of the system will be a billion dollars less than what it was. These are systematic changes that will reduce the cost of health care over the long-term,” Myers said. While the Act isn't perfect, it's a step in the right direction, Myers explained. As for its future, Myers said it won't get shut down: “There's more incentive for them to come to a consensus.”

Thompson, though, says the bill has too much to do with taxes, which has resulted in too many waivers and has angered too many people in the process. “We've never had a piece of legislation of this significance in the past that was practically passed in secret against the will of the American people.” Passing the Act was a case of rushing and doing what the government wanted, and the consequences were only an afterthought, he said. “People like myself believe we are in dangerous territory economically,” Thompson said. “I talked about this when I was senator and while running for president.

Anything that can't go on forever, won't.” Myers said to Thompson that most people are calling for specific changes to the plan and not a repeal of it. As for what their respective parties should do about health care, Myers said Democrats need to continue to educate people about the plan, implement the system, and hope that people experience some benefit to it. There also needs to be flexibility: “We can't have a one-size-fits-all plan for 300 million people in a country as diverse and with as many adversities we have.”

Thompson said Republicans only have limited opportunity to change it because “the president is the president” and Barack Obama is the one essentially calling the shots. “The Republicans are going to obviously have to have their own strong ideas about how we want to go.” What's going to happen is reform is going to “cost a heck of lot more than people are expecting or people will be rationing care.”

More people will end up losing their coverage, Thompson said, and the key to health care cost is “intertwined with Medicare and Medicaid, which is killing states right now.” Myers predicted Obama will definitely be reelected, explaining it has a great deal to do with the number of jobs he's recently helped create, resulting in a growing economy.

Thompson agreed Obama will be tough to beat in 2012 but he's not sure what will happen before Election Day in regards to reform. “We've come to the point where we can't go on like this,” he said.

Mini meds: Looking beyond 2014
Ask brokers why limited medical coverage is important and there's a simple answer: it provides choices. So said panelists during Benefits Selling Expo's day two session, “Limited Medical Panel: It Ain't Over Yet.” Brian Robertson, executive vice president of Fringe Benefit Group, moderated the event with panelists Charlie McLamb of Southern Benefits Plans; Lewer Agency Vice President John Owens and C.R. Duley, from Duley Bolwart Association.

A limited medical plan simply allows employers choices and supplemental coverage, they agreed. “If there are people who don't go to the doctor and they want to pay as little as possible, this works for them,” Duley said. Panelists discussed the Affordable Care Act and the implications it's having on their business. Brokers are now required to turn in waiver requests to Health and Human Services, which calls for more communication between brokers and the employers who are purchasing the plans.

McLamb said the Act is really perplexing to a lot of clients and human resources staff, and that it's the role of the brokers to help alleviate problems and concerns. To help, they are doing market analysis, consistently showing options and keeping the doors open, panelists said. Owens said the limited medical plan options are usually an afterthought for employers, but are still an attractive option for employers who have part-time or hourly employees.

When they talk to individual employees, “we'll describe what it is and what it's not,” Owens said. With the new Act in progress, people are going to need to think about supplemental health coverage. “You're going to see these plans for some part-time folks that are going to need access to doctors or X-rays, but not necessarily a prescription plan,” McLamb said. “Companies involved in this business will evolve products and we may see these types of plans grow and go into middle and upper class. We can protect things that won't be included in the outlook plan.”

Owens said he's already been seeing the effect of this kind of coverage in other countries with universal health care: “We've been operating in Canada for 40 years and it's an interesting market in that we provide a supplement, which is pretty much the same for everybody.” Not only do they get more participation in Canada but “the quality is far better than what we offer here,” Owens said. “There's a lot more discretion in income for those employees to buy those products.” As for clients, most think it's a positive option.

“The feedback we get from employees is that they love it. They get to make decisions on today,” Duley said. “They aren't looking at 2014; they want to keep their doors open.” Owens warned that health brokers—and carriers—need to think beyond 2014: it's not just about preparing for a future until January 2014, it's about the future beyond that. But nothing is certain. “The next 12 months will bring as many changes as the last 12 months. And we just don't know,” Robertson said. “It's important to be engaged.”

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Benefits Selling Expo 2011: Post-Show Report

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