What type of enrollment method gets the best results? This is aquestion we've been debating for years and one that we often getasked. Historically, our carrier and broker surveys have shown thehighest participation rates come from one-on-one, face-to-facemeetings with employees. But in recent years, group meetings withemployees have been showing virtually the same results. Theenrollment method chart shows the recent results reported bycarriers.

From a statistical standpoint, the face-to-face meeting andgroup meeting results are the same. This might be a bit surprisingto some readers, but if you look a bit deeper it makes more sense.Face-to-face, one-on-one meetings are conducted most often bytraditional “worksite” producers (classics and specialists). Theseproducers sell more UL, cancer, critical illness and accidentproducts—products that really need more explanation. Group meetingsare the enrollment method of choice for benefit brokers whotypically enroll term, dental and vision—products needing lessexplanation. Thus, the types of products being enrolled should be astrong consideration in deciding which enrollment methodology touse. Interestingly, dental and vision products have the highestparticipation rates of all products, regardless of themethodology.

Surveyed employees also say they like the opportunity to talkwith someone about their insurance needs. As the chart below shows,they prefer meeting with a benefits counselor and in group meetingswith other employees.