Benefits Think How to overcome two of your biggest sales hurdles
Commentary: A new series from industry veteran Kyle Hodges highlights products designed to improve your bottom line.
Kyle Hodges
The Brokers Broker
Sales and marketing
Benefits Think How to turn around a decline in revenue
Commentary: Theres much to learn from rapidly growing firms. Columnist Jack Kwicien shares the business philosophies that make market leaders successful.
Jack Kwicien
Daymark Advisors
Benefits Think Rules of employee engagement
Commentary: True employee engagement comes from understanding the decision-making process and the brokers critical, proactive role, says columnist Nelson Griswold.
Benefits Think Improve employee contributions with a strong connection
Commentary: Getting started on better engagement can be a daunting task. Columnist Wendy Keneipp shares three areas to focus on in order to begin creating stronger connections with your employees.
Wendy Keneipp
Q4intelligence
Benefits Think 2 ways to fill your pipeline with the right prospects
Commentary: Agency growth is completely dependent on producer pipelines. Yet, we typically see producers struggling with one of two situations: either they have empty pipelines or ones filled with the wrong opportunities.
Wendy Keneipp
Q4intelligence
Finding the right carrier partner
The broker-carrier relationship, especially one as long-lasting as Bob and William Taylors with Florida Blue and Darnell Smith, is dynamic and continuously evolving. EBA examines what makes this necessary partnership tick and introduces the top large-group insurance carriers in the country.
Benefits Think How to do self-promotion the right way
Commentary: Six ways to engage customers that are most helpful, according to sales expert John Graham.
John Graham
GrahamComm
Benefits Think The four leadership positions every employee benefit firm needs
Commentary: These C-suite level positions are needed for a brokerage to run right, says MarshBerrys Rob Lieblein.
Robert J. Lieblein
MARSHBERRY
Benefits Think The demise of small- and mid-sized benefit brokers is greatly exaggerated
Commentary: Sometimes the market changes in a way where these size businesses may be better positioned for success. Now may be that time, says tech adviser Joe Markland.
Joe Markland
Nfor1
Benefits Think Involuntary unemployment insurance: An important new benefit for a new age
Commentary: Brokers who can step in and learn the business of voluntary benefits and some of the newer products hitting the market will be well-suited to bring in new clients and keep them protected against financial loss with a combination of relevant and cost-efficient solutions, says AmWINS' Sam Fleet.
Samuel Fleet
AmWINS Group Benefits
New AXA U.S. benefits unit launching mid-2015
AXA S.A. is entering the U.S. employee benefits market, citing its assessment that employers with between 20 and 200 employees are under-served.
Health care sector flying high 5 years into ACA
The many tradeoffs that health insurers had to make from both a regulatory and plan-design standpoint in order to adapt under the Affordable Care Act appear to be paying off as the landmark legislation approaches its five-year mark.
New website wants to be the Yelp of the agent community
Agentreview.net launches this month, aiming to give consumers one location to find and critique local insurance agents.
Benefits Think Referrals are dead. Long live referrals!
Commentary: Want to grow your business? Then never ask a client for a referral, says columnist Nelson Griswold. Referral marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies, but it must be done the right way, he adds.
Benefits Think The time for reinvention is now
Commentary: The market place has changed and your role must adapt. Columnist Jack Kwicien proves his point through an analogous set of market dynamics.
Jack Kwicien
Daymark Advisors
Benefits Think The employers protest
Commentary: Step up your game or your clients may choose to become your competitors, says the head of Pittsburgh Business Group on Health
Jessica Brooks, PHR, MPM
Pittsburgh Business Group on Health
Call for nominations: Rising Stars in Advising
EBA is looking for industry leaders age 35 and younger to be featured our April issue.
Private exchanges to become new normal?
When it comes to private exchange operators, Array Health differs from most, in that the technology company powers many insurers private exchanges, including Highmark Blue Shield in Pittsburgh and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. The companys CEO shares how private exchanges are changing the way health care is sold in the United States.
VSP deal with Google Glass intact
It was just a year ago that VSP Global and Google, Inc. teamed up to offer Google Glass prescription lenses and frames at a subsidized price. But Google Glasss announcement last week that it was halting sales of the product raises questions about VSPs future role.
Benefits Think Are you using these two key growth strategies?
Commentary: To survive the ongoing thinning of the herd, columnist Nelson Griswold asks what are you planning to do differently in 2015 to remain relevant to your clients and grow your business?