Brokers are responding to an increasingly competitive voluntary marketplace by shifting their top products sold to meet the needs of their clients, found Eastbridge’s latest Spotlight™ Report Brokers and Voluntary Benefits – The Competition Intensifies. While life and disability products are an important part of voluntary sales, the majority of brokers said they are selling more supplemental medical products, like accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity today compared to a few years ago. In addition, brokers said they have been selling non-traditional products more often over the past few years. A few other findings from the report include:
- Benefit Brokers sold dental most frequently while Voluntary Brokers sold accident most frequently in 2017.
- About 30 percent of all respondents are feeling high or somewhat high levels of competition for voluntary sales, with some broker segments feeling this more than others.
- Voluntary Brokers are more likely to use two carriers for voluntary products per account while Benefit Brokers are more likely to use one.
- The most common reasons for changing carriers are service issues with the previous carrier, the new carrier’s benefits/features or wanting a carrier to handle the entire case. (read more).