We have discussed the dangers faced by brokers who have not developed meaningful value-added, consultancy-based services for their employer clients. Those whose value propositions still revolve around shopping for products and services are simply waiting to be disintermediated. They will be disrupted as surely as Uber is disrupting the taxi industry. Shopping services involve collecting, compiling, and presenting data, tasks that can be accomplished in many different ways.

Employers agree. In one Eastbridge study, only 6 percent of employers described their benefits broker's key attribute as being a "trusted advisor" while 38 percent said their broker's key attribute was "comparison shopping" and they (the employer) did the due diligence and made all the decisions. Employers who consider their broker a "shopper" are likely to consider other ways to get that task accomplished.

BV (before voluntary), things were simple. Life insurance was life insurance, and it was very different than disability, which was different than medical. Selling success revolved around shopping tasks and relationship building skills. Today, the benefit landscape is different. Benefits are more intertwined, related, and strategic. Shopping may still be important, and relationship-building will always be important, but now knowledge and consulting skills have joined the list of requirements.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.