We all know that voluntary is quickly becoming the key driverin benefits sales. We've discussed the desire of employers toreduce and control benefit costs, the trend toward greater employeechoice, the larger product variety, the impact of Obamacare and arange of other issues driving increased voluntary sales. And unliketraditional employer-paid benefits, half of all voluntary sales are new coverages rather thantakeovers.

Sales grew in the great recession years of 2008 and 2009. Giventhat, is something else contributing to this track record?

First, skeptics have pointed out that more than 70 percent ofemployers now offer at least one voluntary benefit and thesaturation point must be near. But looking at employer data, aninteresting phenomenon appears.

Many employers (30 percent) have resisted offering voluntaryplans and many of these are at the very small end ofthe size spectrum. For years, executives cited perceived complexityand the fear of administrative burdens as barriers, but the numberoffering has continued to increase.

Read: Employersincreasingly adding voluntary benefits

On the other hand, those offering only one voluntary productrarely stay at that level for long. Maybe because they haveovercome their fear based on their initial experience, employerswho offer a voluntary product tend to quickly add a second, then athird (and so on) voluntary product.

Twenty percent of employers say that they plan to add at leastone new voluntary product over the next two years. And 21 percentreport that they are considering moving at least one employer-paidproduct they currently offer to a voluntary equivalent.

Unlike employer-paid coverages, voluntary accounts represent acontinued source of sales opportunities. Today, roughly 38 percentof Americans own at least one voluntary product and they, likeemployers, are more apt to add additional voluntary products asthey become available. Still, another 39 percent of employees havenot yet purchased, even though they work for an employer who offersvoluntary. Obviously, re-enrollment is a key factor in voluntarysales.

In both cases, the limitation seems to be distribution.Employers are ready and are adding more voluntary products.Employees are accessible and are favorably disposed to buy.

But it's worth noting that the sales potential of neither ofthese trends is dependent on opening new accounts. In times ofeconomic stress, brokers can access both the increasing likelihoodof employers to enhance benefits with a voluntary product and thelarge numbers of employees who have not yet bought or areconsidering buying an additional voluntary product.

By the numbers: Market penetration estimate

114 million: Total U.S. employees

88 million: Worksite offered

43 million: Current voluntary customers

45 million: Potential customers in voluntaryaccounts

26 million: Potential customers in accountswithout voluntary