Mel Schlesinger

After the June 28 Supreme Court ruling that found the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to be constitutional, many group medical producers felt that their business was over. I want to begin by saying that there has never been more opportunity than there is right now and that there will be for the foreseeable future.

If you are looking for an idea that can capture the attention of employers, consider helping them provide employees the means to bridge the gaps in their medical plan. I have identified five distinct gaps that, if addressed, can create a huge sales opportunity for group health agents.

From the agent's point of view, critical illness insurance can help open the door to new clients as well as to differentiate from other agents. Most important of all, it can significantly increase the agent's revenue.

If you are like most of the group health insurance agents that I speak with you sell new groups one of three ways: 1) You wait for the occasional referral; 2) You call companies asking for a chance to quote on their health plan; 3) You call companies asking for an opportunity to stop by and introduce yourself.

Agents are missing a huge sales opportunity with group term life insurance. Most of you think that you actually sell group term life insurance - but you are 100% wrong! You may take orders for group term, but when was the last time that you encouraged an employer to offer group term life where none existed before? Or you initiated a conversation with an employer about voluntary group term life insurance?

Over the last two months I have discussed the use of video and article marketing in growing your business. This month, I am going to focus on public speaking, which is a great complement to the work that you have done during the past two months.

This month we discuss the use of article writing in your marketing and positioning yourself as an expert in your industry.

In last month's column I introduced you to the concept of expert positioning. This is when you utilize tools such as article writing, public speaking and video marketing to establish your credentials as the expert in your industry.

I want you to imagine that you are sitting at your desk and you get the following call:

Are you writing as much business as you would like? Has your revenue been steadily increasing over the last six to 12 months? Do you want to write more business and increase your revenue in the next 60 days?

Over the years of working with benefits professionals, I have seen three common mistakes that are costing them business and raving fan referrals. More importantly, these three mistakes also are costing them money through staff and infrastructure expenses.

After 10 years as a sales coach to benefit professionals - both core and voluntary - I have had an epiphany of sorts. My epiphany was this: Sales success is really very simple, regardless of your product or service. It boils down to this:

To be successful in the sale of voluntary insurance products the agent will have to be transformed into a member of the business owner's employee benefit advisory team.

Run a website primed for sales by putting yourself in the mindset of customers and prospects.

One of my hobbies is searching the Internet for sales and marketing ideas. In this quest I look at virtually every industry imaginable.

For the benefit professional who hates making cold calls or following up on direct mail, networking can be the next best alternative. But, like any marketing strategy - and yes, marketing is necessary - networking requires consistency of action over a period of time. Too many benefit professionals join a local Chamber of Commerce, go to one or two events and fail to generate even one appointment and then never return, believing that networking is a waste of time and energy.

There are numerous reasons to move the sale of ancillary products to the forefront of your sales strategy, not the least of which is a significant increase in your revenue.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you are already aware that at least one major carrier has announced that premiums for groups of 51 employees or more will no longer include commissions. The agent can specify the commission level desired and it will be billed by the carrier, but it will be a line item visible to the client.

It's now February - the perfect time to take stock of where you are and where you are going.

With the new year in mind, I have a question for you: Are you working from a blueprint for success in 2011, or are you simply doing exactly what you did in 2010 and hoping for a different result?