Guest Post: How to Position Yourself in a Post-Reform World

This guest post comes to us courtesy of Dean A. Hill, an independent life and health agent in Michigan who specializes in individual health and small to mid-sized business planning. He founded Brightside Consulting in 2005.

Now more than ever, we must remain positive about our role and maintain clarity of purpose in our daily dealings.  The mere peddlers of product will certainly fade in to the background, making way for the true thought leaders and health plan navigators of our time.

If you are excited about this, please read on.  If the skepticism remains, we wish you well.

The final decision on how we are compensated in the future is, in many ways, yet to be determined.  Rather than reacting, we can respond to reform through our actions and interactions with clients and prospects.  Through these conversations and deeds, we can position ourselves as industry experts who just happen to sell health insurance as a byproduct of our role.

If we can paint that picture with our clients and prospects, then the “commission question” becomes inconsequential.  We become their consultant, not their agent.  We become their advocate and business partner.  Advocates and business partners not only will be guaranteed a living – they will be guaranteed a life.

A case in point

Several years ago, I worked with a client who owned a chain of retail auto parts stores.  Many of their employees were morbidly obese, and the sedentary nature of their job didn’t help this problem.