The results are all in, and 2012 turned has out to be an extremely good year for voluntary sales. This article is our first in a series of three that will share key results from the 2012 sales year.

According to our annual U.S. Voluntary/Worksite Sales Report, new business annualized premium (voluntary sales) was $6.03 billion in 2012, representing a 6.6 percent increase over 2011 results. The following graph shows the industry's sales since 1998.

Significant sales increases by some of the top players in the industry appear to have led the way toward these solid results. As a group, the top 15 carriers had an increase that exceeded the industry overall. Some had increases of over 100 percent. Just two of the top 15 has decreases compared to 2011. The top carriers accounted for over 80 percent of total voluntary sales.