Who is this For?
You’re a producer who had trouble transitioning to a virtual sales environment. Your new coworker is a shiny new AI or chatbot. You recently hit 20 years and all you got was an automated email and a company pen you already have.
You’ve never sold insurance before, but the prospect of turning your car into a taxi sounds like a dystopian nightmare. You want to pivot into a white collar industry but can’t afford to go back to school. You’re 3 years into food delivery and realize there’s no more room to grow.
You missed another soccer game, wedding, or vacation for a meeting you could have taken from your phone. You’re homebound but want to elevate your career. You’re adventure bound but want to keep your career.
You’re waiting for a white collar answer to the gig economy question.
Adam Michaels, CEO & Founder
I’ve spent over 20 years building and leading some of the most prolific teams in the employee benefits marketplace. I have millions of impressions on my Elevate series where I tackle topics like sales, leadership, and entrepreneurship and went on to write Sink or Shine, a book on attracting clients and talent.
I don’t say all this to flex or impress; I say this to prove I’ve always put my money where my mouth is: top-notch education creates better decision makers, and better decision makers make more money.
We have an education crisis on our hands. Though the average consumer will spend 66 days researching a $500 purchase of electronics, they spend a total of 32 minutes reviewing benefits[1] costing $22,470[2].
We have over-indexed on our wants while under-indexing on our needs, and we’re paying the price: 50% of employees are dissatisfied with their benefits package[3].
We know employees aren’t happy, and we know why. As a producer (or aspiring producer), it’s your time to shine. By prioritizing engagement and education, you can make real impacts on employees, hit staggering sales goals, and sustain long-term career growth.
Education and Engagement
What we’ll be talking about today is being an insurance advisor. For those lost, here’s the quick and dirty:
Insurance agents knock down doors, meet with employers, and sell them on insurance product offerings. The employer then turns around and offers these products to employees.
But who educates employees? In a lot of cases, no one. A passive enrollment - and even some active enrollments - usually consists of a hard to find post on the company intranet, or a vague email from a manager reminding you to sign up for insurance before it's too late.
Insurance advisors - benefit counselors, benefit consultants, benefit gurus - meet with employees and talk them through their options. For each of the products the employee decides to enroll in, the insurance advisor earns a commission or set rate.
According to a 2015 Trustmark Independent study, 93% of employees say they “need someone to talk to” in order to make good decisions[4].
Here’s how you can dive into the benefits education gold mine.
Carrier Agnostic
Insurance agents are loyal to a specific carrier or line of products as their bread and butter. The issue with this model is that producers are selling what they have instead of selling what clients need. What clients need right now is a package, not a product.
For each product, the employer talks to a different agent. The conversation focuses on the best product the agent can offer: “Bread & butter? Everyone loves bread & butter.” Every agent gets their bread & butter on the table, but no one stays around to watch the employees eat the meal. What they’d see is a group of very hungry, very frustrated employees staring at a giant pile of bread and butter.
According to a recent study at Penn Law, employees don’t get the benefits they actually need 80% of the time[5].
The sales model optimizes ingredients, but they don’t go well together.
Insurance advisors focus on the meal. A well-rounded product knowledge allows you to respond to acute employee needs, strengthen the relationship, and generate more revenue.
Sit down and think about how all the products relate to each other. Does someone with amazing coverage on their PPO really need an accident plan? How would a Long Term Care rider interact with a Critical Illness Plan? What makes sense in the employee’s budget? When you have all the answers, you move from salesperson to consultant.
Congratulations; you’ve established yourself as a subject matter expert. When brokers and enrollment firms invite you to new cases, they’ll have the confidence that you can adapt to their product offerings without tedious hand holding.
How does selling core and voluntary within the same conversation affect the performance of each product? In our most recent case studies, benefits consultants educating on all enrollment options increased participation across the board:
Core: 64%
Voluntary: 200%
Remote-First
Insurance agents are either making calls from the office or selling door-to-door. They need to build long term relationships, get to know the marketplace, and find new prospects.
As an insurance advisor, the opposite is true; the sales cycle for an employee appointment can be as short as one phone call. When you know products like the back of your hand - and you can build rapport and assess an employee’s needs over the phone - you can (and should) work from anywhere.
Remote-first practices - being able to work remotely at least some of the time - have incredible benefits. Producers stand to save $4,000 annually when compared to their office-bound counterparts[6]. Additionally, a study featured in Oxford’s The Quarterly Journal for Economics titled Does Work From Home Work? shows working from home increases productivity by 13%[7]. These are reassuring numbers for those worried they can’t afford to migrate to remote work.
If you’re planning on conducting appointments from a hammock in the Bahamas, you’d better have great internet connection, a quality camera, and a decent headset. Nothing ruins a vacation like getting fired over email. The goal is to have a remote-first equivalent to every in-person task. Do an audit of your daily responsibilities, and make sure you have the tools to complete them from anywhere.
Remote-first practices give you the ability to impact new populations, but you still need permission. Out-of-state licenses can get expensive, so be strategic about which opportunities are available to you before taking the dive. Additionally, always confirm carrier appointments for new states.
In AfterCollege's 2015 Career Insight Survey, 68% of millennial job seekers said a work-from-home option would greatly influence their interest in working for a company[8]. The trend has only grown over time, and 2020 was a virtual reality check.
It’s imperative producers be technologically advanced enough to work from home, as well as support employees in work from home environments.
Online Presence
For insurance agents selling a single carrier’s products and working in a physical office, new opportunities are straightforward; either someone is handing you your next assignment, or you’re walking to the next business on the block. What agents lack in flexibility and freedom, they make up for with consistency and locality.
Insurance advisors work on a case by case basis and, with the flexibility of multiple licenses and remote work, compete with producers on a national level. Being a big fish in a small pond no longer works. Drawing attention to yourself requires consistent promotion.
According to a CareerBuilder survey, about half of employers – 47% – said they wouldn't call a person for an interview if they couldn't find them online[9]. For budding insurance advisors, a strong online presence is the only way to find new work. But videos of your cat or a picture of a waffle fry shaped like Kentucky aren’t gonna cut it. In order to generate business opportunities, you need to have a business profile.
58% of employers are looking for confirmation of your qualifications. Having your licenses and carrier appointments clearly legible are the top priority. Additionally, be sure to list languages you speak and extra training you might have pertaining to benefits consultations.
50% of employers are looking for a professional online persona. Keep your personal profiles private, and direct business opportunities to your business profile. Make it clear that you are an insurance advisor searching for new work.
Lastly, 34% of employers want to see what other people are posting about you. Client testimonials, quotes, and good reviews help prove your credibility and introduce you to potential employers.
Developing your online presence allows you to make a great first impression on any broker or enrollment firm with a computer. It also demonstrates that you have an understanding of working in a virtual environment; when remote-first populations need enrolling, you’ll be the first call.
Summary
The agility of carrier agnosticism, accessibility of remote-first practices, and reliability of an online presence make being an insurance advisor an excellent career path for entrepreneurs interested in flexibility and competitive compensation.
By understanding the unique characteristics of being an insurance advisor, you can set yourself up for success before making your presence known in the marketplace.
Putting the Pieces Together
Until recently, the information and education required to enter the insurance marketplace was under lock and key. Let’s explore the challenges to becoming an insurance advisor and how to overcome them.
Carrier Agnostic
Going it Alone
Most insurance advisors amass their knowledge of insurance products through years of being an insurance agent. Knowledge of different carrier products requires working for each carrier individually; producers spend months in an introductory training program, and spend years with each carrier selling insurance. Further education isn’t free; producers can expect to spend $50 - $100 per class if they’re interested in selling new types of products.
Partnering with Enrollify
Enrollify has one of the largest professional development libraries for benefits education on the web, and it’s free. Users can take quizzes to test their understanding, and add completed courses to their business profiles.
Remote-First
Going it Alone
Building rapport and trust with a remote employer requires diligent communication and routine reporting. Today, these tasks are often automated or overseen through multiple software integrations. Producers who aren’t technically savvy have two choices; pay high prices for easy to use, non-technical software, or risk making serious errors.
Partnering with Enrollify
Enrollify automates the worst of it, so you can enjoy the best of it. All case management, video conferencing software, smart calendaring, reporting, and payment facilitation are integrated from Day 1. Enrollify has a remote-first alternative to every part of the enrollment process, allowing you to work from anywhere.
Online Presence
Going it Alone
Developing a website takes considerable time and resources, and the payoff is next to nothing if traffic can’t be directed towards the site. Maintaining a profile on LinkedIn is crucial, but qualifications can only be corroborated by your connections, and updating your profile takes time and attention to detail. At the end of the day, all an agency has is your word that the information is true.
Partnering with Enrollify
Your Benefits Guru profile stakes your claim in the benefits marketplace. As a fully integrated part of the Enrollify platform, your profile makes you available to agencies for new cases. Agencies will always have up-to-date information on your credentials and your profile automatically updates with career milestones.
Still with us?
Again, this is for entrepreneurs interested in a new category of opportunity in the benefits marketplace.
Using Enrollify
Here’s what to expect when you use Enrollify:
- You’ll have access to free training on a range of carriers, products, and insurance softwares.
- You’ll conduct appointments on your own schedule from anywhere with an internet connection.
- You’ll be front and center when agencies are looking to hire new talent.
- You’ll be Benefiting Humanity
The Enrollify System
Carrier Agnostic
Before Enrollify, benefits education was a high-priced commodity, only available to the specially initiated. Today, anything and everything you could want to know about the insurance industry is available at the low price of free.
Access a wide range of courses on carriers, products, insurance softwares, and industry insights. You’ll even see courses available with the rundown on your next case, giving you a clear roadmap before your first appointment.
Interested in a new license or continuing education? Enrollify has partnered with WebCE to offer preferred pricing on courses recognized by the Department of Financial Services for licensure and license renewal.
Remote-First
Before Enrollify, running cases remotely meant high prices, sophisticated software, and a large margin for error. Today, conducting a benefits consultation is as easy as setting up a profile.
The entire consultation process is housed within the Enrollify platform, meaning you can conduct business wherever you have an internet connection. You’ll receive and negotiate offers through the platform, and accept digitally. After providing your availability, smart calendaring will populate your schedule with employee appointments.
During the appointment, video, screen sharing, and text chat allow you to connect with and educate employees on their benefits options. After submitting the employee’s elections, all information is automatically sent to the implementation coordinator via the Enrollify platform, and your compensation is calculated in real time.
Did you earn a bonus on any of the products you sold? While commissions are only available after the underwriting process, bonuses are available the same day.
New to 1099s? Enrollify keeps track of all of your forms, and makes them easily accessible through the system when tax season comes along.
Online Presence
Before Enrollify, maintaining a presence online was only possible for software developers and niche micro celebrities. Today, Enrollify is creating a robust online community for producers in the benefits marketplace.
With integrations with the National Insurance Producer Registry, verifying your credentials is as easy as entering your NPN. The system will regularly update your profile with all the states you hold licenses in, as well as your carrier appointments.
Send real-time updates to your team and your profile. After each appointment, the products you sell will be sent to the implementation coordinator in charge of the case and added to your lifetime platform sales. Employees will also be prompted to review their experience, giving you access to glowing reviews and testimonials. Your benefits guru profile grows with you, opening the door to new job opportunities.
Create an Account
Create your account now! The platform is free, and connection to the National Producer Registry makes profile set up as easy as 8 digits.
New to health and life insurance? Sign up as an Aspiring Guru and get instructions on how to get licensed, as well as preferred pricing on courses through WebCE.
Working for an agency that could use Enrollify? Connect with us on how agencies can onboard their producers and utilize our platform.
Act Fast
New cases are starting everyday, so make sure your profile is ready while agencies are still looking!
Free for Producers
Creating a benefits guru profile and accessing the professional development library are completely free. Even if you don’t join a case, you’re welcome to use the Enrollify platform to expand your product knowledge and sales expertise.
Enrollify
We’re creating a new category of opportunity for insurance producers in the benefits marketplace. Whether you’re a veteran producer or new to the scene, Enrollify has the tools you need to work independently and enjoy financial freedom.
