Continuing the topic of integrating social media tools into business operations, here we take a look at how to begin thinking about what that might look like.

If you’re looking at social media as a sales channel, you’re going to be very disappointed and give up, rightfully so. Instead, take the time to explore what it could mean to each of the functional areas within your company. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Sales team: Connect with clients, prospects, centers of influence. Share relevant articles and ideas with them, promote their activities, help them make necessary business connections with people you know. (Social makes amazing relationship management tools!)

Customer service: Answer client questions (obviously some things need to be off-line for privacy, but there are plenty of generic issues that arise), conduct employee communications for your clients (host a benefits communication platform for all client employees or feed that information for clients to post on their own platform), provide information on local issues that people need or might want to be aware – like risks and hazards, or health related events.

HR: Search the platforms for talent – find people who fit the profile for your ideal staff. Connect with them and keep a running pipeline of potential future employees. Find out what they like in an employer and in a job. Watch their interactions and see how they handle themselves. Be sure they know what’s happening in your company that makes it a great place to work.

Marketing: If you have a marketing person, they should be scouring the airwaves for any company mentions, industry trend discussions, conversations that are happening about any relevant topics – not necessarily about your agency (e.g., company benefits, open enrollment, wellness programs, hazard risk, business risk, etc.). Watch these conversations for trends, and gather ideas from the complaints and praises you hear.

CEO: This is a biggie. The CEO should definitely be participating online. In fact, if no one else does, it should be this person. The head of your company is the name, the face, the person most closely associated with the company. It’s such a great opportunity to have your top person talking online because your clients and prospects are able to make the direct connection with him/her, and from that, the CEO can then perform the most important role for your sales organization – rainmaker. They set the tone, share the company ideas, philosophy, values, culture and promote people within the company who are making it the great organization that it is.

Social media tools should be integrated into the big picture of what you're trying to accomplish. They should be tools you use as tactics to help you accomplish your strategic objectives, rather than "social" being the end game itself. There are as many ways to use these platforms as you can envision. And that’s a great place to start. Even if you’re already on Facebook or blogging or Tweeting, it would be beneficial to think about this, and have some team discussions for (new) ideas on how to connect with your audience instead of just talking at them.

I’d love to hear some ideas you’ve got on how to use social media effectively for your organization – feel free to share with the rest of us.

Coming up next in this series will be some ideas for getting a team together to tackle this business evolution.

Photo by Lenore Edman.

@wendykeneipp

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As you probably saw in a previous post, Kevin recently spoke at the 6th Annual Employee Benefit Adviser Summit in Dallas, TX. His message was about making changes in the broker model due to current and coming industry challenges.

Brian Kalish, with Employee Benefit Adviser, attended Kevin’s session and wrote up a great synopsis of the message. Follow the link below to read the full article.

Advisers must move ‘faster and stronger’

DALLAS – It is time for brokers and consultants to face the much talked-about upcoming challenges head on and move forward “first, faster and stronger” than their competitors. The goal is to make clients understand that the cost of doing nothing might be the “most expensive, more detrimental thing to a business,” a former adviser said Monday.

Click here to read full article at Employee Benefit Adviser.

Photo by ptooey.

@wendykeneipp

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Independent insurance and benefits agencies face pressures from changes brought about by healthcare reform.

September 21, 2011 - St. Louis, MO - Kevin Trokey, President & CEO of Benefits Growth Network, has been selected to speak at the 6th Annual Employee Benefit Adviser Summit. He will present on the pressures benefits and insurance agencies are facing as a result of healthcare reform and what they can do to successfully navigate the transition.

Trokey believes that the current changes facing the industry may look familiar, but are actually quite different than the challenges the industry has seen in the past decades. He will explain the differences, explore the challenges, and offer ideas on how to modify the agency business model in order to compete in a new environment.

“There are unprecedented opportunities for growth in the benefits industry as a result of the healthcare reform changes being forced on agency businesses. However, without a purposeful plan of how to make a successful transition, many brokers and agencies will find themselves victims and casualties of reform,” says Trokey.

In the session, brokers will get an idea of how to create a new vision and strategy for their agency that takes a different marketing approach and value proposition to clients. Through this new model, agencies focus on helping clients build more successful businesses by improving the investment employers make into their staff.

The 6th Annual Employee Benefit Adviser Summit will be held in Dallas, TX September 25 – 27, 2011. The conference is focused on building businesses by providing the basics for broker/adviser staff, as well as advanced marketing and management techniques.

About Benefits Growth Network
Benefits Growth Network, based out of St. Louis, MO, is an international membership-based consulting firm specializing in growth strategies for independently owned employee benefits agencies and brokerages. Through the exclusive Benefits Growth System™, members get individualized planning, coaching, training, use of proprietary systems and access to a network of thriving benefits agencies. For more information about Benefits Growth Network, visit www.benefitsgrowthnetwork.com.

Kevin has been selected to present at the 6th Annual Employee Benefit Adviser Summit in Dallas, TX. The conference starts this coming Sunday, September 25 and runs through Tuesday, September 27. 

His topic is about the pressures that benefits and insurance agencies are facing as a result of healthcare reform and what they can do to successfully navigate the transition.

While the current changes facing the industry may look familiar, there are significant differences from the challenges the industry has seen in the past decades. He will explain the differences, explore the challenges, and offer ideas on how to modify the agency business model in order to compete in a new environment.

Are you attending the conference? If so, be sure to connect with Kevin in person. He’ll be presenting Monday afternoon in the track Health Reform Impact on Brokers. Want to get in touch? This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Also of note, one of our BGN partners, Jen Benz, Chief Strategist & Founder of Benz Communications, will be a Key Note speaker on Monday morning. If you’re there, be sure to attend that session, as well.

@wendykeneipp

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Broker of the Year. That’s quite a title to achieve. There are thousands of licensed independent benefits agents, and to be selected as THE one that is considered a stand-out takes a pretty different twist on the usual in order to be selected.

This year, Benefits Selling magazine selected Mark Lacher, partner with Lacher & Associates, as their 2011 Benefits Selling Broker of the Year. There has been a lot of excitement generated about this: an on-stage presentation at 7th Annual Benefits Selling Expo in Nashville, TN, press releases, Tweets shared, and a great spread in the Benefits Selling magazine with fun photos of Mark looking quite snappy.

Now, before going any further, I need to let you know that Lacher & Associates is one of our BGN members. So, am I a bit biased? Definitely. But is he deserving of this award aside from my bias? If you believe that businesses need to evolve with the changing needs of clients and the marketplace, then yes, he is.

So what was it that got him to this place of recognition?

Thinking differently. Not being bound by the confines of the business model given to him by the traditions of the broker/agent system. Sure, it’s been a good business model for them for 53 years, but as he and his brother took over the business from their father in 2007, they brought with it a new perspective. That all businesses need help – everyone needs a coach, a mentor, an advisor, a sounding board, someone to listen and help them think through things. Good as we may be individually, thinking alone and solving all of our own issues will just not yield the same results as having some additional trusted ideas and help along the way.

That’s what Lacher is doing for clients.

He knew the benefits industry would be changing, and he knew he had to start doing things differently - and a small tweak here and there isn’t enough to save a business or an industry under attack.

Mark took the leap to radically think about his business and his clients’ businesses from a completely different perspective.

Instead of thinking,

“How can I find more clients or sell more products to make up for lost commissions resulting from healthcare reform?”,

he started asking,

“What challenges are my clients facing? What changes are they experiencing as a result of health care reform? Or the economy?”

The answers are many and varied, and they are the same challenges that Lacher himself was facing in his own business.

He had been seeking help to take his firm to a new level and drew from that same concept to use with his clients. If he needed help navigating through changes, plateaus, and being an innovator and leader, didn’t everyone else? Well, the obvious answer is Yes. And he decided to take what he had and what he knew and build upon it to grow into something that is beginning to look very different from the typical insurance broker.

So yes, Lacher’s vision for what he could do for his clients is worthy of note. But an even bigger lesson to take away from Mark’s story is the focus and speed with which they embraced the changes to their business model.

Instead of thinking about making these changes, or dabbling in a few trials here and there while waiting to see what happens as health care reform unfolds over a span of four years, he jumped in and made it happen now.

Regardless of what happens with exchanges and commissions, Lacher has squarely positioned himself and his firm to be a valuable resource to clients – medical policies & benefits packages aside. His clients turn to him for advice to help better manage the performance of their businesses.

I applaud Mark and the entire Lacher team for their foresight, tenacity, and courage to take a good business and turn it into a great business by thinking and acting differently and becoming a stand-out player in their industry!

@wendykeneipp

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Making connections with people is by far the most motivating and rewarding part of what we do – “we” meaning BGN. Making an impact on someone else and the way they think about their business is the key to our job, and I believe it’s why I was put on this lovely Earth. I surround myself with people who want to challenge themselves and want to challenge others.

We’ve recently made some connections through a new member agency, Lanier Upshaw – a group of folks engaging in social media who are not only open to being challenged, but are challenging us as well.

Does social media scare the pants off you?

Bill Dorman is one of our new friends. He is openly and sincerely documenting his social media journey through a blog where every day he is challenging himself and others, and asking others to do the same for him, as well.

I’m a much more keep-to-myself person than Bill, but I have had many of the same thoughts, and challenges as he’s experiencing. One of those ideas is making the connections – knowing how far to take a conversation, how deep and wide to go, and knowing how it fits into your goals (personal, business, combination, fun, entertainment, education, etc).

To continue with the idea that Kevin brought up in his Voyeurism post, I think the idea of interacting with other people – strangers in many cases - scares the pants off many people. It’s so much easier to be a voyeur and just read what other people write, take away an idea or two, and maybe tweak it to fit your own situation.

The problem with that way of not interacting with the people who post the information, and a layer deeper, the people who comment, is that we’re not taking the opportunity to challenge and educate others with our own ideas.

And we’re not stretching ourselves to take advantage of this amazing new way of

• educating ourselves
• building relationships
• developing innovative ideas for our own businesses and for our clients

All of these things lead to an opportunity for increased business success. It may not be someone buying from you directly, but remember - the cornerstone of building a business is through the connections you make and the education you provide.

By not interacting and simply watching, you're not taking the opportunity to make the idea better, and you’re not letting other people know what you think about and how you might be a valuable contributor to their team. And you’ve completely missed the chance to get to know new people who may enrich your life and challenge you to be a better person.

Now, I’m not saying that you need to comment and interact all the time, but by not venturing out and at least trying it, how do you know if it’s going to hurt? Or not work for you?

Everyone has their own reason for not commenting. Here’s just a few I hear regularly:

I don’t have time. Really? If you’ve got time to read articles, I’m sure you can take another 2 or 3 minutes to compose a thought once in a while.

Comments are just left by ranters and spammers. Well, if you read articles on Yahoo, this is true. Just like there are certain coffee shops I avoid, I also avoid those blogs. There are many, many intelligent, insightful people who regularly participate in discussions. Go there instead.

I don’t know what I could add that hasn’t already been said. You know that little voice talking while you’re reading? The one that calls BS or nods vigorously or conjures up an image or asks a question? That’s what you comment about.

There have been many articles written, and a plethora of discussions following these articles (and links to other similar articles) about the value of commenting. If you’d like to check some of them out, you might be amazed at the quality of conversation and debate – while you’re there, think about how this might translate to your business. Would you like to have ongoing discussions with your clients and prospects about topics near and dear to your business? Yeah, me too!

Mark Harai – Not Commenting or Answering Comments on Blogs is Lame

{grow} by Mark Schaefer – The silent majority: Why people don’t comment on your blog

SpinSucks  - Five Ways to Lose Your Commenting Virginity

It starts by digging in deep and getting involved in the discussions and becoming a regular reader and commenter. If you don’t, people don’t know you’re there and can’t help you except by happenstance of a relevant blog post. Bill has proven it can be done and has developed amazing relationships along the way. I’m taking his advice and following his lead – so if you see me around in your neighborhood a lot, feel free to blame Bill for that!

How are you making online interactions work for you and helping you build a better business?

Photo by Joi Ito.

@wendykeneipp

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No, not that kind of voyeurism!  And, yes, you can consider the title a little bait and switch, but we wanted to get you to read our post.  Sorry about that, but we’re happy you’re here.  So, here’s the switch:

We’re at a loss and can’t seem to figure the answer out on our own.  So, instead of guessing, we have decided to just go direct to the source of our confusion and ask for help.

Our first blog post went up on July 13th, 2010.  We have been posting consistently ever since, usually twice a week.

Our purpose in starting our blog was twofold:

First, we wanted a platform to share our thoughts and ideas around managing an agency and a book of business – what we’re overtly passionate about.  Thoughts and ideas that we feel may benefit, or at least stimulate thought in, others. 

The other purpose was to create a platform that would drive a dialogue between our readers and us, and even between the readers themselves. We believe that any good idea can become exceptional when debated, challenged, and questioned by others.  In fact, we believe that’s perhaps the only way an idea can become exceptional.

Here’s our dilemma.  While we get good traffic and are extremely appreciative of the positive feedback we receive (tweets, e-mails, personal feedback), we are still trying to figure out how to generate that dialogue here on the site.  However good, or bad, our ideas may be, knowing who our readers are – like you - we know the ideas can all become better, maybe even exceptional, with your participation.  We are committed to building a blog, or better yet – a community - where readers receive the benefit of countless perspectives on a subject, not just ours.

So here’s our question:

How can we get you to become a blog participant and not merely a blog voyeur?  We certainly don’t expect you to comment on every blog, and we actually hope that you don’t just comment on those with which you happen to agree.  Tell us when you think we’re wrong, misguided, or just out in left field. 

Really, we just want to help facilitate a conversation amongst the community that gathers here a couple of times a week and are looking to you for some guidance as to how we can get that started.

Is it something we’re doing? Or not doing?

Or are you a little comment shy? Feel a little intimidated about committing yourself? If so, this is a great place to test the waters. We want to hear what you have to say, and we won’t bite – promise!

So there you go, help us out and give us your thoughts.  Please!!!!!

Photo by Colin Kinner.

@kevintrokey

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We’ve been talking a lot about taking control of your business model because the status quo is no longer good enough to run a thriving business.  It’s imperative for the future of independent benefits agencies to begin thinking differently, and as such, it’s definitely something you’ll hear us talking about quite a bit.  Because it’s that important.

My ponderings on this topic have taken me to asking the question,

“Is there a difference between being a benefits/insurance agency and being some other kind of business or company?”

There are some technical differences but more so, I think it’s a mindset difference. That mindset seems to contribute to cultural behaviors expected of an “agency”.  And that mindset and culture might be holding you back from thinking bigger.

Agencies are businesses that represent insurance companies to buyers and sell the products/services of the insurance company at the prices determined by the insurance company.

Non-agency / non-franchise businesses are a creation of the owners’ ideas and passions brought together to fill a consumer need.

These non-agency businesses represent their own products, services, and skills. In order to stay in business, they must continuously deliver what consumers want to buy.  Staying current with consumer needs and trends is an important part of their business models.

As an agent, someone else does a lot of this for you.  The carriers do the market research, develop the products, and also create marketing materials and programs.  It can be very attractive from a workload perspective, but relying on that as your entire business model does not allow or encourage you to develop yourself as an autonomous business. 

You are a private business as an agency in that the carrier does not employ or own you/your business, but you are not truly independent if you are completely reliant on the insurance carriers as your sole source of income.  With the changing industry, it’s time to find your own source of passion around which you can “start a new business.”

Think about one of your best clients and his/her independent businesses.
As a stand-alone business, they are responsible for generating their own income, and they have to hustle to make it happen and remain a relevant and competing business.

Ask yourself -

• What do they sell / what service do they offer?
• What customer needs do they solve?
• How do they earn new clients & retain them?
• How do they drive revenue & profit?
• How do they invest time/money to stay current with trends and customer demands?

Now compare that client business to your agency.

What are you doing about those same things?  Are you actively looking for ways to help your clients improve their business beyond selling policies for a benefits program?

If you couldn’t answer a definitive Yes to actively looking for new opportunities, then it’s time to change your mindset.

• In order to be an independent business, you’ve got to think about yourself like all the business owner clients you have.  Look at their business challenges and see what resources you can bring together to help them better run their businesses.
• Drop the “Agency” part.  Give yourself a new identity that implies to clients, as well as to yourself and your staff, that you are more than a representative of the insurance carriers’ products.

When you realize that you no longer need to limit yourself and your business model to what the carriers offer, it will free you up to look at your clients in a whole new way.  Instead of only seeing their insurance product needs, you’ll be able to relate to them on a peer level and have meaningful conversations about the struggles of running a business.  It’s during those conversations that the solutions and the model will come clear.

Allow yourself to become an independent business that relies on its own internal ingenuity, vision, and expertise to grow and sustain a successful business model.

@wendykeneipp

Photo by Betsy Webster.

As the revenue stream of benefits producers continues to come under attack as a result of healthcare reform, producers find themselves scrambling to figure out how to replace the lost commissions.  Unfortunately, their short-term solution will, in many cases, be their long-term curse.

Some of the more common strategies I have heard include:

• Start selling voluntary products
• Buy books of business from other producers/agencies
• Start selling P&C
• Just sell more of what they’re already selling

Here’s the problem: none of these are solutions where the producer is taking control of the product or the model.  In every situation, they continue to rely on someone else’s product and they continue to allow someone else to determine how much they get paid (i.e. the carrier determines the value and pays accordingly through their commission schedule).

Another part of the problem comes from how the prospects/clients view producers who are using this approach.  With every one of these strategies, the producer will either be viewed as the same as every other benefits producer, or even worse, just an insurance generalist.

Regardless, the client will view what the producer sells as a commodity, which does nothing to improve profit margins.

Today’s benefits producers have to make a shift in how they get paid
In order to stay a relevant business, producers need to change their model to get paid for the value they create for their clients rather than for the placement of a product (which is what other benefits producers and insurance generalists do).

Producers must reposition themselves to be seen as a specialist & produce the results of a specialist
Clients hire specialists because they are looking for business results. They hire benefits specialists because they want to improve employer – employee relations, better serve their clients, and improve profitability.  As a specialist, producers need to be able to identify the opportunities to help clients achieve these goals and deliver the solutions to drive the results.

As far-fetched as this may sound for benefits producers, it isn’t as far away for most as you might think.  Many producers are already having this kind of impact on client businesses, but, unfortunately, it’s a byproduct of their efforts, and largely goes overlooked (by the producer and the client) rather than being the defined purpose of their efforts.

Becoming a specialist

1. The first step to becoming that specialist is to make sure that the reason you are hired is no longer about a spreadsheet, but about your ability to deliver a better business solution to your clients.
2. Additionally, continuing that client relationship has to be based on the results the producer delivered, not the renewal rates the producer delivered on behalf of the carrier.

Advantages of being a specialist

• Instead of talking about the multitude of ways you can make a small impact on the client business, you can now talk about the one way you can make a significant impact on their business
• Confidence that comes from having less competition
• You now control what you are selling
• Specialists always create more value than a generalist and, therefore, are paid more
• Easier to be positioned as an “expert”

Put yourself in the place of the buyer
If you received a letter from the IRS, would you want a main street lawyer working on your behalf or an attorney who specializes in tax law?  If you developed a life threatening condition, would you want a family practitioner or a specialist working to keep you healthy?  The answer is obvious.  When you want to work with someone who can deliver the best results, you ALWAYS want a specialist. 

When presented with the option, what makes you think your prospects/clients are any different?  They aren’t; they want a specialist who is going to deliver a better business solution and help them deliver better business results.  Make sure it is you they see you as a specialist and not your competition.

Photo by WeiSheng Zhang.

Independent insurance and benefits agencies discuss the future of selling benefits in a changing environment.

August 31, 2010 – St. Louis, MO – Kevin Trokey, president of Benefits Growth Network, was invited to speak at the GBT conference in Chicago, August 18 – 19. Trokey presented on the factors which are driving a need to change both the producer and agency models.

“Not only will health care reform push us in that direction, but challenges being faced by clients will pull us in that direction,” notes Trokey. “Agencies who will thrive under the new system are writing a new definition of what is means to be an independent benefits agency. They are building business models and systems that move beyond benefits, and even HR, to include driving greater returns on the investment their clients make into their employees.”

Trokey took the group through an in-depth look at one potential benefits agency/producer value proposition, followed by group discussion which included the following topics:
* What are the talents and skills needed by the future producer?
* What will the future agency look like, and how will that transformation take place?
* What services and products will be sold?

GBT is an affiliated group of independent multi-line agencies located throughout the Midwest who come together on a semi-annual basis to discuss the most pressing issues agencies are facing. Topics for this meeting included: 
* value added services
* hiring producers
* social networking among the member agencies
* health care reform
* the changing role of the benefits producer/agency

About Benefits Growth Network
Benefits Growth Network, based out of St. Louis, MO, is an international membership-based consulting firm specializing in growth strategies for independently owned employee benefits agencies and brokerages. Through the exclusive Benefits Growth System™, members get individualized planning, coaching, training, use of proprietary systems and access to a network of thriving benefits agencies. For more information about Benefits Growth Network, visitwww.benefitsgrowthnetwork.com.