Consultative Approach to Selling Voluntary Employee Benefits

Rackman describes the foundation of consultative selling as:

• Helping customers understand their problems, issues and opportunities in a new or different way;
• Showing customers new or better solutions to their problems;
• Acting as advocate within provider organizations.

Voluntary premiums are growing as much as 10 times faster than employer-paid premiums, according to a 2011 report by McKinsey & Company. And it’s estimated that voluntary benefits will contribute more to industry profits than employer-paid plans by 2015. And some 30% of employers in the U.S. are considering adding a voluntary benefit with the next two years, according to LIMRA.

Speakers at the Benefits Selling conference in San Antonio in March suggest:

• Brokers focus on state-of-the-art benefits administration and enrollment innovation, and take the employer out of the middle;
• Focus on employees’ overall health and wellness needs, retirement savings and income, and protection from catastrophe;
• Develop a broader knowledge of benefits rather than a specialty approach;
• Expand relationships beyond decision makers to a team of stakeholders.