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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Kevin Trokey

President & Coach, Benefits Growth Network

Kevin Trokey is a coach and an implementer of business strategies. He works with agency leadership, department managers, and producers of benefits agencies to craft strategies and lead them to successful transformations by breaking down the complexity into manageable steps.

He regularly speaks about the role of HR within an organization and working with agencies to help them work with their clients on benefits/HR issues.  An important aspect of this is addressing the changing role of the broker, especially in light of healthcare reform.  At BGN, we focus on the overall management of agencies and tightly integrating the sales system into the operations and culture of the company, so topics along those lines are fair game as well.

See something that peaks your interest?  Contact us to find out if Kevin would be a good fit for your group.

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Sample Speaking Topics

Aligning HR with organizational goals/objectives

As organizations start to emerge from the survival mode into which they have retreated during the recession, they will find the actions taken to survive are quickly becoming obstacles to future growth.  The key to removing these obstacles and putting the organization on a path to meeting goals and objectives will largely depend on HR’s ability to become a strategic driver. We will focus on the “Why” and “How” of the issue.

How to move from a sales process that focuses on the placement of a product to one that focuses on the creation of value for the client

To move beyond a commodity sale and a position of a vendor with clients, sales people have to understand how to position themselves more strategically.  We will discuss the key areas of where decision makers ask questions and look for answers when crafting their own strategies.  From there, we will discuss how brokers can become the answer by identifying the opportunities to more strategically align their solutions.  As a result, brokers move from being expenses to investments and from vendors to trusted advisors.

The new broker role being forced by health reform

The pressures to change their marketing approach and value proposition have never been greater for brokers than what is being felt as a result of healthcare reform.  For those who successfully navigate the transition, the reward will be unprecedented opportunities for growth.  However, without a purposeful plan of how to make that transition, many brokers and agencies will find themselves victims and casualties of reform.  We will discuss what needs to be done to prepare for this new role.

Past Speaking Engagements

• Employee Benefit Adviser Summit
• Extreme Networking, Sitkins International (regular engagements)
• BGNLive!
• GBT, an affiliated group of independent multi-line agencies located throughout the Midwest
• Intersure
• St. Louis Association of Health Underwriters

What Others Are Saying

Rich Hill, UNICO Group, Inc., member of Benefits Growth Network

“During the past 12 – 24 months as I have been involved with NAHU & NAIFA concerning health care reform, I had attended several conferences and heard many presentations that suggested that as a benefits broker we would need to become more consultative in our approach.  In addition, we would need to become less focused on product and service and more holistic in our approach.  While I understood the need to make this change, I was not sure how we were going to accomplish it.  I knew that we would not just be able to say, ‘now we are one’.  In mid August 2010, I attended a meeting at which Kevin Trokey with Benefits Growth Network (BGN) was a presenter.  While his presentation was not a commercial for BGN, after the presentation I felt like I had just heard from an individual who would help us, at UNICO, make the transition we needed to make.”

Jay Tuson, CEO, Megson Fitzpatrick Insurance Services

“Why is it that a topic of interest to you can sometimes fall flat in presentation?  I believe the missing ingredient is usually passion.  The passion to not only learn the subject but the passion invest emotionally in your subject and your audience.  Kevin Trokey has that passion and is able to transfer it to his audience…a rare gift to be shared.”

Brandon White, Insuramax Risk Services

“I had the opportunity to listen to Kevin at a networking event that I recently attended in Denver, CO regarding The Benefits Growth Network and their unique approach. Kevin immediately commanded the audience with his confidence and candor on a topic that is confusing even the best prepared businesses with whom I talk every day. Kevin’s delivery is direct and educational with his focus on corporate vision, culture and accountability being exactly what businesses need in today’s economy. Kevin is a rare advisor who can funnel down a lot of noise into a simple, no-nonsense message of how to win.”

Just browsing, but want to learn more?  Interested in having Kevin speak at your event?  Let's chat.

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with some of the details - what, where, when, and an idea of topic - to get the discussion started.