• What would their voluntary business look like if they changed just one-third of their business plan to better reflect today's employee benefit environment?
  • Is their view of voluntary benefits simply following the status quo?
  • Are they taking the same approach to voluntary sales as they did many years ago?
Related: Hi, my name is Eric, and I'm a recovering carrier rep
  • Ignore the products unless a client asks about them;
  • Outsource sales to a single carrier;
  • Hire an in-house VP of voluntary or equivalent position;
  • Partner with a carrier-agnostic firm.
Long-term strategy   enhanced benefits employer strategy
  • A mission to shop and analyze the market.
  • A goal to discover best-in-breed products and services.
  • A search for findings about the competitiveness of the market, including most-favored benefits by employers and employees.
  • A proposed solution that includes a strategy complementing the existing health plan design that avoids wasteful employer and/or employee overspending.
  • A plan of action for the next steps moving forward.
How to compete   Also: Young brokers get to the heart of the issues facing today's industry can
  • Will you or your sales reps compete directly with me?
  • Who do you represent, yourself or me?
  • Are you carrier agnostic?
  • Do you use shelf product and product dump?
  • Do you create and customize plans and ensure they dovetail with my health benefit strategy?
  • Do you provide access to a single point consolidated invoice? Do you charge extra for it?
  • Do you handle initial strategy to service and claims?
  • Can you handle multi-location and multi-state enrollments?
  • Do you have an enrollment arm with vetted, agnostic counselors who are bilingual?
  • What kind of enrollment platform do you use? Do you charge extra for it?
  • Do you provide access to ben admin and HRIS systems for the broker and the employer?
  • Do you have enrollment tools such as auto-schedulers, ringless voicemail, text messaging and videos? Do you charge extra for it?
  • Are you fully transparent with every aspect of enhanced benefits?
  • Do you have industry-best contracts for compensation and underwriting?
  • Do you audit enhanced benefit compensation?
  • Do you share compensation, including renewals, from the top down?
  • Do you share carrier bonuses and allow brokers to earn their own?
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