Sales and marketing

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.

Leverage the changing ways employees access and consume technology to improve benefits communications and “look like a rock star” to your clients.

Insurance company CEOs discuss the essential role of the broker and how they can make themselves stand out as new players enter the insurance space.

Commentary: Technology is easily duplicated. Even for those who excel at it, technology is not their greatest asset. Brand, marketing and service model make a company.

Commentary: In the popular Netflix series, the main character schemes his way to the pinnacle of power in Washington. Despite his despicable character, viewers cheering him along. But why? Columnist Nelson Griswold suggests a reason that is relevant to your business practice.