Broker blog

What if I said selling employee benefits to employers isn’t the main goal for brokers? While reading our freshbenies book of the quarter, The Little Red Book of Selling, I was reminded a broker’s role isn’t to sell benefits packages, but to give companies the opportunity to buy benefits for their people.

How do you introduce new services to your clients? 

Your client is never eager to hear about another product. They don't want to take time to hear about another product. And they don't have money for another product. Stop taking them products.

BUT, your client always has time, interest and money to solve their problems. So, don't shy away from talking about client problems. Even when the problems have to do with their benefit programs.

How long have you been in the insurance industry? Whether it’s 5 or 25 years, you’ve had opportunity to see a lot of change. Premium and out of pocket costs are skyrocketing.

How are you painting a valid vision of the future for your clients? As a consultant, you know the industry trends well. You probably also know the challenge of equipping employers and educating employees with much-needed consumerism help in today’s market.

Have you seen this finding from a MetLife Employee Benefit Trends study?

“As the number of benefits offered in the workplace rises, so does employee appreciation, including their intent to stay….”

It begs the question: how can smaller employers compete with larger companies when it comes to their benefit plans? 

With skyrocketing healthcare costs, how can employers afford employee coverage and still offer dependent benefits? This is a very real challenge facing employers today. 

Now that we’re into a new year, it’s a season when many employee benefit consultants turn their sights to earning new clients. Do you still chase new business? Simply getting your foot in the door can be the ticket to earning a group's business, even if they already have a broker. The challenge becomes: how do you get them to open the door?

This is such a simple idea that I don’t want to clutter it up with a lot of words. So here are just a few quick points that should help you apply it to your business: