"Voluntary is fundamentally a retail business.” In most ways,this is a true statement. Its intent is to underline the differencebetween voluntary and traditional employer-paid coverages. Involuntary, the employee is the buyer and the employer agatekeeper. In voluntary, needs are defined at the individual leveland purchasing is based on personal needs and preferences.
In voluntary, enrollment is an assessment, needs-based, relationship-buildingprocess, while in employer-paid coverages, it is an administrativeprocess. Voluntary producers need to understand these issues, tolearn about employee coverage gaps and employee-buying processes,and, basically, learn to communicate with and understand theemployee perspective.
It’s easy to be swept away by these facts and conclude thatvoluntary is an individual insurance, retail-selling business, thatit’s the traditional insurance agent function, only taking place atthe workplace. That would be wrong.
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