Most 1099 contractors mistakenly believe they are beholden to one insurance carrier for enhanced benefit enrollment services. Most folks who consult on voluntary or, as I call it, enhanced benefits, have an enrollment arm to their business that acts as an in-house enrollment firm. They also have in-office counselors who conduct one-on-one meetings with employees to educate them on various enhanced …
Create urgency to close the deal
Have you ever seen, around Thanksgiving, a TV commercial for the local car dealer that says, “Come in for a test drive, and receive a free 30-pound turkey. No purchase necessary.”? There’s a reason they make those crazy offers. It works, and it happens all the time. In the insurance world, I encourage advisers to follow suit — within their …
Disrupting the voluntary benefits market
BenefitsPRO published this article in June about my BenefitsPRO Broker Expo. In his BenefitsPRO Broker Expo presentation, voluntary expert Eric Silverman outlines what advisers need to do to move beyond a status-quo enhanced benefits strategy. When it comes to creating a new vision of voluntary benefits where the products play a central role in the lives of employees and the …
Defined contribution = benefits shopping spree
The concept of defined contribution (DC) is not widely used in the enhanced, or voluntary, benefit space. But communicated properly, approaching enhanced benefits from the DC perspective is a powerful and innovative tool that brokers can bring to their clients. I start the conversation by asking employers, “Why do you pay for benefits such as life, dental, vision and disability?” …
Jimmy Fallon Shouldn’t be the Only One Writing Thank You Notes!
Have you ever considered sending a handwritten note to thank a prospect for hanging up on you? One of my favorite comedy bits on the new Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is his Friday night “thank you notes” segment. Sure, they’re hilarious and witty, and the musical interaction with his band member and his cohost is comedy gold, but what I like …
How ‘National Cupcake Day’ built my social brand and how other advisers can do the same
One Tuesday morning in December 2015, I sat at the kitchen table with my daughter Dylan as she ate her “daddy’s cereal”— Special K with Red Berries. With the morning news on in the background, we both heard the anchorman say, “It’s going to be a delicious day. It’s National Cupcake Day!” At six years old, Dylan thought this was …
Be coachable: how brokers can stay out of their own way
Trust the experts to know how to overcome objections and close the sale. When I take on a new client, I start by telling them how the relationship works — and how it doesn’t work. In other words, I’m a big believer in laying down ground rules: What I expect from them as a partner, and what they can expect …
For Benefits, Word Choice Can Prove Paramount
How “Ancillary” and “Voluntary” may be hurting your enhanced benefit sales I just closed my first 50-life case and couldn’t wait for the employee group meeting. Visions of 80% employee participation were letting my mind cash checks that inevitably my mouth hadn’t yet written. While presenting, I proceeded to, innocently enough, refer to the majority of their employees as “tow …
Millennial advisers who are transforming their family firms
The average age of someone in the insurance business is 54, and for most firms, recruiting a younger generation into benefits has been very challenging, to say the least. I’m pumped that I was able to secure three millennial rock star benefit strategists who are breaking through the benefits status quo and taking their geographic markets by storm to speak …
Hi, my name is Eric, and I’m a recovering carrier rep
There’s little concern about the damage carriers’ always be selling mindset is causing employee policyholders, and even sales reps. “Hi, Eric!” said the group of attendees joining me at this week’s fictitious recovering carrier reps anonymous meeting. Now, before you judge me for poking fun at very serious topics like gambling addiction, or those constantly seeking an adrenaline rush and …