Chelsea Whalley wishes someone would have told her about the difficulties she would face as she went against industry norms. So she's making sure to tell you. (Image: Shutterstock)
Have you ever left a conference feeling inspired and re-energized about your business, only to return to your work with no idea how to implement the new ideas you learned? It's easy to remember the people who spoke and a few of the buzzwords they said, but how do you actually DO IT?
The innovative benefit concepts we learn about at conferences can be mesmerizing. I vividly recall sitting in a benefits conference session four years ago and listening to presenters talk about "cost containment," "transparency" and "supply chain management." I was on the edge of my seat, as these concepts were exactly what my business partner and I committed to when we merged our agencies together. I remember listening harder and harder as the presentation went on, waiting to hear the specific and tangible actions I could take to actually start doing these things.
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Instead of learning how, I heard about the big dollar amounts saved for employers and learned even more buzzwords to add to my list. The information was undeniably compelling, but how do I do it? What are the negatives with these strategies? How will it change my business?
Be sure to attend Chelsea M. Whalley's Motivational Track session, "What No One Tells You About Being a Transparent Benefits Agency" at the BenefitsPRO Broker Expo, August 18 at 9:30 a.m.
I ended up leaving that session with more questions than answers, but it did kick-start a transformational process for our agency. We invested immense time and money into learning these transparent strategies. Fast forward to 2021, and we do more transparent and innovative benefit business than anything else. Looking back, I wish that someone would have told us about the difficulties we would face as we went against industry norms.
At our BenefitsPRO Broker Expo session, "What No One Tells You About Being a Transparent Benefits Agency," we will share all of it: the good, the bad and the ugly. We will take a deep dive into the three major areas an agency will need to change in order to institute these innovative benefit strategies.
1. External processes
Undoubtedly, the most substantial change is learning how to adapt all client-facing processes. Changes in communication start in the sales process and continue all the way through to how the agency services a group's employees.
2. Internal processes
The internal agency workflows will also inevitably change with unbundled benefit packages. The agency will become the quarterback of multiple vendors who each have multiple ways of processing business and multiple methods of reporting. The agency needs to acclimate to these new systems, consolidate all of the information and have the ability to present it in a digestible way.
Processes need to be established ahead of time to solidify how the team will manage the new employee experience. Our industry has always stressed the importance of employee communication, but it truly is more critical than ever when utilizing alternative benefit strategies.
3. Revenue modeling
The harder you work, the more you earn, right? Maybe. It depends on how you design the self-funded plans. While there are many options, be advised that most of them differ from the traditional percentage of premium. Agencies will no longer earn an increase when the client receives an increase on renewal. We will show agencies what compensation changes they can expect when transitioning to transparent benefits.
As a forward-thinking benefits agency, our sole purpose is to show employers that there is a different way to do health care. We do this by shedding light on how health plans actually work. We are committed to bringing this same transparency to our session. We want to show you what being a transparent benefits agency really means from a business perspective. You will leave the session with specific and tangible action items; the ones we wish we would have known four years ago.
We look forward to sharing more in August. We can't promise it will all be pretty, but we can promise it will be authentic.
Register now for the BenefitsPRO Broker Expo.
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