Adding workplace benefits to your practice is a great way to increase your revenue and secure more business.

HEALTH

Big Voluntary Opportunity in Small Business Market N  ow any health insurance advisor can branch out into the employee benefits field. By Susan Rupe

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f you are a health insurance advisor considering the voluntary workplace benefits market but thought that your clients might be too small to qualify, it might be time to take another look. “Every single workplace is a potential customer,” said Jennifer DeProspo, regional director of development with Wexford, Pa.based BOST Workplace Benefits. “How do you make the leap? You start small.” As more companies seek a piece of the workplace market, they are making it eas-

ier for smaller sized workplaces to qualify for benefits, DeProspo said. “Workplaces with as few as two or three employees can qualify, depending on the company providing the products. This is a great market to begin going after because many times these small workplaces think they can’t qualify for coverage.” Faced with decreasing commission revenue from health insurance premiums, many health insurance advisors are finding that adding voluntary workplace benefits to their product offerings can help offset the loss of health insurance commissions. “Adding workplace benefits to your practice is a great way to increase your revenue and secure more business,”

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DeProspo says. “If you’re not doing it, someone else will.” The workplace benefits market offers new opportunities not just for more revenue but also for better client service. “The more lines of business you have in a company, the greater your retention rate,” DeProspo said as one reason why workplace benefits offer a reliable source of income. “The more lines you have to offer, the more your clients will look at you as a one-stop shop.” Diversification into workplace benefits is not only for health insurance advisors, DeProspo said, with more traditional life and disability insurance carriers also diversifying into this market.