Marketing

Many employees are unaware of the causes of disability leave and about gaps in their coverage, and a DI advocate inside the firm can help educate individuals about these common misconceptions.

By now, some of your clients have come to you with a problem: How do I address this tax filing for IRS 6055/56? For some reason, their payroll vendor is unable to deliver or wants an arm and a leg to do the filing. You hold out hope that somehow this will blow over and get resolved. But as we get into the summer months, a greater number of your clients lacking in options will…

Commentary: The changes you may need to make to compete effectively in a future benefits world may be dependent on some prediction as to where you think the market is going.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but all 350 MHBT employees will join MMA under a new company name.

A bee will travel miles to pollenate an attractive flower, but it will only tell its hive about the experience if the nectar was wonderful. The same lesson applies to customer experience — and it’s one benefit advisers must keep in mind in this age of growing consumerism, said Martha Rogers, founding partner at management consulting firm Peppers & Rogers Group. …

HR technology company Namely has launched an internal benefits brokerage as part of its goal to be an end to end HR solution for growing startups. But the company wants to work with other brokers, not in competition with them.

Upgrades to benefits management solution help brokers upload files faster, streamline carrier management and defend against errors and omissions claims.

A new partnership will soon give independent insurance agencies access to a program designed to help brokers change their service model and increase profitability.

Brokers need to change the conversations they are having with clients away from the Affordable Care Act and toward other topics, including voluntary, since little will change with the law until the next presidential inauguration, a carrier rep says.

There’s plenty of complexity when it comes to determining premiums, and brokers can help clients understand exactly what’s in their policy.

Commentary: At the end of an unsuccessful enrollment campaign, an adviser may wonder why participation was so low after they spent time and money on communications. It’s simple, says David Melton: Brokers employing the same old strategy will not succeed.

With year three open enrollment on the horizon, state-run health care exchanges are busy building out systems and processes while renegotiating contracts, all to improve the customer experience, data flow and costs.

A new $250,000 national advertising campaign running on several popular political TV programs casts the Affordable Care Act as a positive force that is saving lives. It also seeks to counteract continued threats of repeal or scaling back the landmark legislation.

Chances are you have seen article after article claiming brokers need to buy more technology to help sell and service clients this year. Although partially true, blindly accepting these blanket statements can be costly for brokers. What I want to share with you is my experience working with these technology systems and a simple yet powerful approach you can take to make sure you don’t waste time and money on inefficient technology solutions. …

Commentary: There’s no worse way to set your business up in the eyes of your clients than to call yourself a free service, says columnist Wendy Keneipp.

Commentary: By reframing and renaming these benefits, you can avoid any knee-jerk reaction to or bias against “voluntary benefits,” says columnist Nelson Griswold.

Commentary: Small things get big in a customer’s mind, and the next thing you know, the customer is gone — for good.

Commentary: Many benefit brokers live by the idea that face-to-face onsite service is the only way to provide quality service. Certainly that is one of the advantages a local broker has, being local. But times change, says HR Technology Advisors’ Joe Markland.

Success on Wall Street and buyer demand has created ‘a crazy marketplace right now.’

Of the five types of sales profiles, one sticks out as significantly more successful than the rest, but in order to emulate that success, advisers must change their habits.