Did you know that with a handful of clients, 2-3 years, and an online platform you could make sizeable commissions from ancillary benefits? With the right system and tools in place, you could be selling clients on ancillary benefit lines, which means you’re making more money form clients you already have without having to spend more on marketing.
Step 1. Acquire enhanced enrollment tools
The entire process of increasing your ancillary commissions rests on having an online platform and enrollment tools; specifically, a decision-support tool. So, if you don’t have them, you’ll need to get them, and you can either partner with a company that offers them or create your own in-house.
Clarity Benefit Solutions connects brokers to these tools. Our decision support tool, Emma, asks employees a series of questions about their health and their dependents’ health. She then uses their answers to search through hundreds of plans and benefits to present a side-by-side comparison of the best options. Clarity also offers automated systems for benefit enrollment and education.
Step 2. Create a process for selling ancillary benefits that guides employees through enrollment and decision-making
The sheer number of benefits available to employees is overwhelming. However, each of these benefits serves a purpose, including the voluntary ones—in some cases, especially the voluntary ones.
For example, a 20-year-old employee has at least a 25% chance of missing a year or more of work during their career due to a disability.1 Yet, 51 million Americans lack disability insurance, which means a sizeable percentage of the workforce will face a financial crisis when missed work, a lack of savings, and rising medical costs combine to create the perfect storm.2
As a broker, you’ll need to help employees sort through their options. But, you don’t need to be there at the start of the process. You can save time and still increase your commission by putting a system in place (e.g., a decision support tool) that helps clients sort through the mass of available benefits to find the top three or four they really need. You (or a team member) come into play when the client’s ready to buy and wants to consult with you—the ultimate expert—about their top choices.
People still want personalization, but they do like to do research on their own first, and that research is best guided by decision-support tools, because there are simply too many benefits to sort through if you’re unfamiliar with the benefit industry. However, it’s the broker’s reassurance right before the purchase is made that closes the sale.
Step 3. Market your enrollment tools and processes
Decision-support tools are only useful if they’re used. So, you need to make sure that your clients know you have these kinds of tools and processes in place. You also need to make sure they tell their employees about them. To this end, we find the following tips are most useful for brokers looking to get the word out about their resources, so they can increase their ancillary commissions:
• Share materials that advertise your enrollment processes and tools. Brag about offering a decision-support tool and face-to-face guidance. This is exactly the combo clients want to see because it’s what their employees need.
You can share this information in several ways: status updates on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, a blog post on your website, as part of your bi-weekly newsletter, etc. Of course, you’ll also want to have printables to hang at your clients’ office so employees see the information.
• Market your face-to-face guidance as a coaching service. Your clients and their employees are reading a lot of content on the web, so they’re probably familiar with the rise of online coaching. People have triathlon coaches, nutrition coaches, postpartum health coaches, and more. Instead of regurgitating the same old industry jargon when marketing your tools and processes, describe the guidance you offer as a coaching service.
• Bring important ancillary benefits to the forefront of the discussion. There are a lot of voluntary benefits that don’t get used, and that’s problematic. Just look at disability insurance—most people need it, few people have it. Use real life stories to showcase the value of voluntary benefits, and let people know that your online platform, decision-support tools, and one-on-one support sessions ensure such benefits are not overlooked. Your process makes sure clients and their employees have the coverage they want and the benefits they don’t realize they need until it’s too late.
Better Ancillary Commission Start with a Reliable Partner
As a broker you need a way to save time while maximizing your potential for commission. That’s what a reliable partner will offer. By connecting you to the right tools and platforms, a partner ensures you have everything you need to grow and succeed. Learn more about Emma and other resources, including COBRA administration services, at Clarity Benefit Solutions today.
Sources:
1. Social Security Administration, Disability and Death Probability Tables for Insured Workers Born in 1997, Table A.
2. http://disabilitycanhappen.org/disability-statistic/
