Ask The Experts

• On the road with Rob Nielsen: How do you fill your pipeline?

  For most of us in the employee benefit business, if we have been around long enough, picking up the phone and dialing for dollars has at one point or another been the "prescribed" method for success.

• Making good on the promise of superior service is a great way to make clients stick

  Many advisers will tell clients their strongest attribute is that they offer superior service. But if everyone thinks their service is the best, how does it really set an adviser apart?

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• If high quality prospects are the goal, thoughtful marketing is needed

  A key component to creating significant growth in your agency is a steady flow of high quality prospects. Too many benefit professionals have fewer than three appointments per month with new prospects. These benefit professionals tend to rely heavily on passive referrals for new business.

• On the road with Rob Nielsen - It's About Culture

  Well, we are now 90 days into the LeaderLabs odyssey. With over 40,000 air miles, 50 flight segments, and over 40 hotel nights, we have started to draw some definite conclusions. In working with the nine LeaderLabs partner firms from, one thing has been abundantly consistent in every office I have visited. In the journey to achieve optimum financial performance, the first step is invariably, culture. Study after study confirms it. Companies with the best cultures win. They are more productive, they have lower turnover and ultimately, stronger financial performance and profitability.

• Become the complete benefit adviser by fully engaging the prospect

  Last month I introduced you to the concept of change and its relationship to the sales process. The only way to motivate the prospect to implement a change is by asking really great questions that identify what the prospect wants.

• How are worksite and the Iraq war connected?

  Don't know? Give up? AIG's John Penko has some thoughts on the subject. Penko delivered a well-received talk at the recent Workplace Benefits Renaissance in Orlando, Fla., detailing the calling that worksite producers and other benefits professionals are answering when they communicate and educate employees about available products.

• HR executive and adviser look at claims experience from both sides of the table

  In the benefits world data matters. But benefit managers and advisers may have different demands on the data they seek.

• Become the complete benefit professional by motivating change

  Last month we looked at what it really means to be an employee benefit professional and the different facets of benefit planning. Before we can look at the skills involved in marketing employee benefit services, it is important to define what it is that you do.

• Are you experienced? An employer's and broker's views on obtaining health claims data

  Both Sides of the Desk is an EBN column addressing important benefits issues from the employer and broker points of view. No matter what side of the desk you're on, we know there is insight to be gained from both perspectives. This month, columnists Karrie Andes and Yvonne Waterman offer their thoughts on navigating carrier negotiations and obtaining meaningful health care data.

• Advisers who map their strategy discover hidden opportunities at conferences

  We are in the midst of a six-part series about maximizing sales results and profits, but we are going to take a break from that dialogue and focus this month's article on conference attendance and how proper planning will permit you to optimize your time and the many benefits you will derive. To get us started, reflect on your last conference experience.

• Why you should not ask clients for a broker of record letter

  Broker of record letters are the prize catch. A BOR states that this organization, agent or broker is the rightful and sole benefactor of a company's benefit plans - service and commissions. "It'll make you smile so wide you could eat a banana sideways", as Zig Ziglar says.

• Fresh Eyes

  The health reform conversation does not have to run very long before some start to question the role of the group broker. Leading industry lights are often stymied by the question of whether the major medical carriers really care whether brokers make it through the looking glass of oft-promised health care transformation. Not Independence Holding Company. The long time stop-loss bulwark and emerging player in the small-group medical market says its focus is, has been, and will continue to be on the role the adviser can play in helping employers and employees better manage health care costs.