There is a paradigm shift occurring in the small and mid-sized employer market that affects the way many prospects choose their benefits broker, and it may impact how agencies think about their business growth strategies in 2019.

Increasingly, to be given the opportunity to solve an organization's benefits challenges, brokers also have to provide advice and solutions for the rest of the prospect's HR concerns.

The rise of Zenefits showed that there is a sizable segment of the market that buys this way, and that segment will only continue to grow as tech-savvy millennials rise into decision-making positions within their organizations.

Because benefits is so intertwined with the rest of HR, many employers and HR leaders are looking to their broker for advice across all of HR — not just benefits.

Technology as the solution

To take advantage of this opportunity, and with the proliferation of HR technology available to small and mid-sized businesses, more brokers are recognizing the need to offer a comprehensive solution to clients. As a result, advisors who have lost one or two groups due to this trend could see that number grow over the next few years.

This shift in buying may necessitate a shift in sales strategy. The HR department plays a pivotal role in a company's benefits decisions, and to sell to this market, it's smart for brokers to care about what HR cares about.

The HR department certainly cares about benefits, but the time they spend thinking about benefits represents a small part of their year and task load. There are dozens of other administrative challenges that burden the HR department, slow down the organization and affect the employee experience. Brokers have an opportunity to add significant value by addressing these issues alongside their benefits expertise.

What does HR care about?

Today, HR is focused on hiring. In the current highly competitive job market, most small and mid-sized businesses are struggling to recruit and retain.

The entire hiring process is a big undertaking for HR, and the success rate of the process has downstream consequences on the rest of the business.

Most small employers don't have a solution for challenges like applicant tracking or onboarding, and providing HR tech to these employers can be a significant competitive differentiator for brokers.

Further, when it comes to hiring, the benefits connection is clear. The point of offering benefits is to attract and retain employees, and it makes sense for comprehensive advisors to have a hand in the rest of the recruit/retain process, which is why consulting in this area will increasingly need to become a part of an agency's scope of services.

To address this trend, brokers can begin asking prospects and clients what challenges they face when it comes to hiring, retention, and the rest of HR. Likely, there are many areas where your agency could provide immense value, and this may help shape your sales strategy and 2019 action plan.

Alex Tolbert is the author of “Online Benefits Technology: The Strategic Broker's Guide” and leads BerniePortal, an all-in-one HR platform built for brokers by brokers. Before he started the BerniePortal, he worked primarily as a group health insurance broker.