I see many brokers, carriers and clients operate from a position of fear rather than abundance. Fear drives behaviour, such as fighting in channel conflict wars, dealing with LOA requests, or a client refusing to hand over data. I urge you to refuse to work on this basis and instead, operate from a position of abundance and strength: there's plenty of business to go around, most if it will come your way, and you've not absolutely nothing to worry about -- you only need to worry about how to track all the business coming your way.  

There is a huge increase in merger and acquisition activity (M&A) in Canada, and when your group benefits client is a business that has just been sold to a new company, you are at risk of losing that group. When you are defending the group from terminating your services, you need to keep 5 things in mind: have confidence, it's all about the money, impress the new owners, polish up your presentation skills, and recognize who the other broker is. These sales dynamics are different than the normal politics of losing a group, such as when your client hires a new HR manager, or the owner's family member just got their life license and is looking for a favour.

Although I'm a licensed agent, I am not on the hunt for new business... I rely on our strong broker network to do so. That said, there are 8 things that I do in my life that inadvertently bring me an average of 3 new leads per week. They are: writing for industry magazines, direct mail, my personal network and social media, providing outstanding service to existing customers, learning the google search engine tools and maximizing SEO, hosting lunch and learns, leveraging co-working spaces, having a strong partner referral network, and insurance carriers themselves. In this podcast, I go into detail on how these specifically played out and translated into new business. 

The seasons of the year do matter in employee benefits. Claiming patterns and practices can change depending upon the time of the year or the industry. For example, construction may lay off people in the winter months and recall them in the spring. A school may hire new teachers in September and provide a fixed term contract until June, but still have a Jan 1 start date for their benefits year. Keep this in mind for renewal.

It's so important that all group benefits advisors read a group benefits booklet and contract from cover to cover. It's critical because most of the answers are in there, and 90% of people will never read it from start to finish. Highlight anything you don't understand and ask someone for help - an insurer, peer or mentor. In this episode, we cover a few examples of how contract wording can cause the broker to win an account or worse, lose an account. 

Anti-selection is the practice of choosing to not buy insurance when you are healthy (or don't need to make a claim) and only buying insurance when you know you are about to make a claim. This is why there are rules in group benefit plans around enrolment windows, late applicants, waiting periods, and mandatory group participation. It's important as a broker to follow these rules. It's important as an employer to follow these rules also, and this podcast will dive into why. 

What does it mean when a benefit is experience-rated? How can you negotiate down your premiums with more knowledge and more clarity into how premiums are priced? In this episode, we discuss how the majority of the benefits categorized under "health" or "dental" are not insurance. They are an expense account that is outsourced to a third-party who happens to be an insurance company.

Getting licensed to sell benefits is simple. Here, we outline the steps on how to get set up:

1 in 6 couples of child-bearing age are struggling with fertility. They are having to pay out -of-pocket for treatments such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF), IUI or AI (artificial insemination) because they have a medical condition that requires some additional help to conceive. It's not just women - sperm counts have plummeted over the last 20 years according to the WHO (thanks to cell phones in pockets or plastics in the water - estrogen reduces sperm), and it's not just because people are waiting longer. Many people are in their 20s and 30s and need help because the incidence of infertility has increased.

While governments may cover some IVF, it is not enough. People are going into debt or asking their family for help conceiving. Private insurance may cover it if its a large employer, large insurer, or grandfathered contract -- but many employers have the choice to remove fertility coverage because it's impacting premiums. 

I believe it's our role -- as health insurance professionals -- to find ways to help employers keep this coverage without adding costs. The most seamless way to do so is to couple fertility coverage with a managed drug formulary. We use either the Reformulary through Co-operators Life or the Conditional Drug Formulary through Green Shield Canada. It typically negates any increase for fertility (+3% to health rates) by a decrease (-3% to health rates) as a result. 

Do you agree or disagree? Let us know - follow us on social, @Beneplan.

When you are selling a group benefit plan, you have to interact with Users and Choosers. Users are Plan Administrators and Plan Members - that is, employees who make claims and the office admin staff who have to administer the plan on a daily basis. Examples include HR Managers, Office Managers, CFOs, Controllers, and so on. There are also Choosers - the group who ultimately make the decision and sign on the dotted line. These are CEOs, Owners, Board Members or they could be a CFO or HR Manager if they've been given the unilateral authority to hand off control. In this episode, we explain the difference and what motivates each party. You'll need to work hard to win over all parties even though they have opposite financial motivations.