Employee Benefits

Getting Set for Sales Success…
How Voluntary Benefits Can Offer Value to Your Clients and their Employees
by Tony Giumetti

Many of your clients are probably looking for ways to cut expenses in this economy. The employee benefit package may seem like a logical target for the chopping block, but it doesn’t have to be.

Voluntary or 100% employee-paid coverage can allow your clients to maintain their benefit package and even enhance it for little cost beyond administrative expenses. Voluntary benefits help your client save money while allowing employees to purchase benefits through convenient payroll deduction on a guaranteed issue basis at more affordable group rates. Employees generally spend less on voluntary benefits than they would by purchasing coverage on their own. Also, when you and your clients do the legwork, employees don’t have to spend time researching options.

Offering voluntary coverage in the workplace indicates an employer’s endorsement, which can encourage employee participation and that could be good news for you and your bottom line.

Establishing the Need for Voluntary Benefits

Many employee benefit carriers have created non-medical benefit products, keeping in mind the budgets of your clients and their employees. But you must establish the need for coverage before you have the opportunity to discuss the value of voluntary benefits. You can do that by encouraging clients to think about the needs of their employees and their businesses.

For example, with disability insurance, you can point out that people are living longer. Ask them how long their sick leave would last if something happened to an employee. Would they be able to keep an employee on the payroll who is unable to work due to illness or injury? When discussing life insurance, ask how their employees would protect their families’ futures in the event of an untimely death. Would there be enough assets to maintain the lifestyle they enjoy? With dental coverage, you can talk about how dental benefits can help improve dental health as well as overall health. That can translate to medical insurance savings for the employer and reduced employee absences.

Talking with employers can help you determine whether voluntary benefits are a good fit for a group and help you determine which benefits best fill gaps in coverage.

Voluntary Term Life Insurance

One third of adults in the United States don’t have life insurance, according to LIMRA International. Voluntary term life insurance offers a solution to this gap in coverage and a convenient and timely way to purchase coverage on a guaranteed issue/non-medically underwritten basis.

Life insurance is a strong source of financial security for families, even in these trying economic times. Over the past year, stock values and interest on savings accounts have taken serious hits, but term life benefit amounts do not fluctuate during economic downturns. Beneficiaries can count on receiving the benefit amount purchased in the event of a loved one’s death.

Voluntary Disability Insurance

Voluntary disability insurance can help protect employees’ income if they’re unable to work due to injury or illness. But, employers need to understand that some plans provide more comprehensive coverage compared to plans that only cover the most serious disabilities. The definition of disability, in a disability insurance contract, determines the circumstances under which a benefit will be paid. Most benefit carriers offer a choice of definitions at a variety of price points.
With an incremental disability plan, employees can purchase coverage in dollar units up to a specified percentage of salary. It’s possible for employees to get very affordable, but solid disability coverage. Your carrier sales representatives can help you identify the most appropriate plans for your clients.

Voluntary Dental Insurance

Employees say dental coverage is the most important benefit after medical insurance, according to a 2003 study by LIMRA International. About 70% of people with dental insurance get regular preventive care compared to only about 51% of those without coverage, according to a 2000 Surgeon General’s report. Voluntary dental insurance plans provide an affordable way for your clients to offer coverage and help employees get the regular dental care they need to maintain not just their oral health, but also their overall health.

A variety of plans offer a choice of annual maximums, deductibles, and coinsurance. Your client can also select the level at which preventive, basic, and major services will be paid. According to claims data from my employer, more than half of all dental procedures, rendered during 2007, fell under the preventive or basic services categories. I’d caution you to suggest that your clients consider plans designed to cover the majority of dental care provided rather than the minority.

Getting Set For Sales Success

Once your client has decided which voluntary benefits to offer, it’s important to work with them to implement an enrollment campaign that leads to high participation. An effective campaign raises awareness of the coverages being offered and the upcoming enrollment.

The campaign can include mailings, e-mails, alerts in company newsletters and intranet sites, payroll stuffers, and posters displayed in the workplace. The more tactics employed, the better. The goal is to get employees thinking about benefits they may not have considered or knew they needed.

The mandatory employee meeting is the most important element of the voluntary enrollment process. Getting in front of employees and demonstrating why they need coverage and how they can benefit from it can lead to amazing sales results.

In the employee benefits arena, it’s-critical for you and your clients to stay ahead of the curve. When you establish a need for the voluntary products, you can sell and follow through with a successful enrollment while offering a valuable benefit opportunity for employers and their employees.
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Tony Giumetti is sales manager for Assurant Employee Benefits’ Orange County and San Diego sales offices. Assurant Employee Benefits specializes in employee benefits and services including long-term and short-term disability, life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance, dental coverage, and disability reinsurance management services. Assurant Employee Benefits is the brand name for insurance products underwritten and issued by Union Security Insurance Company and for prepaid dental products provided by affiliated prepaid dental companies. Plans contain limitations, exclusions and restrictions. For more information, call 800-348-1460.