3 Steps to More Effective Benefits Communication at Enrollment

Over the years, I've noticed employer groups have tried to move away from face-to-face enrollments with employees. Instead, there's been a trend to rely more and more on email and other passive forms of electronic tools to communicate with employees and to enroll benefits.

While it would be nice to have everyone read everything you send out, understand it and enroll without any help, in real life it doesn't work that way. You know many employees don't take the time to read everything if they read it at all.

And since employees are spending a small fortune on their benefits, it only makes sense to take them through a better enrollment process than a self-service approach. We need to do this even though you and I both know they should be more proactive themselves.

So, if you find yourself saying "I've sent out 80 emails and there is only so much I can do," then it might be time to take a more active approach to enrollments.

What I've done here is list three very simple but effective steps that you can use to improve your level of benefit's communication.

Let me walk you through each of these three steps and how they work.

Step 1: Conduct face-to-face benefit presentation meetings where employees know they won't be required to sign up at that session.

The first step is to actually start meeting with employees to walk them through how benefits work. These meetings need to be done by the insurance company or brokers who are experts in how they work.

These meetings can be done with groups of employees at a time or in individual one-on-one sessions. What's most important about these meetings is that employees know that they won't have to buy anything at them. It's information only.

At these meetings, you'll have these major goals:

• Diffuse resistance to hearing the information Many employees don't want to go through an enrollment process where they feel they will be pressured into buying something. By letting employees know up front that this part of the enrollment process is just to explain how the offer works and they can take the information home to review it, helps reinforce a no pressure atmosphere.
• Explain the enrollment process How the enrollment process timeline works is important information. If people know what you need them to do and when you need them to do it, they are more likely to do it. This is the time to explain how the enrollment process works.
• Explain the products and underwriting offers The next goal is to explain how the products work as well as any underwriting concessions that have been made by the insurance company and why they are important. You'd be surprised at how many employees say I didn't know you could do that and enroll in benefits they initially didn't want to hear anything about.
• Answer questions Once you are done, employees usually have questions. You'll want to make sure that they get those answers at that meeting. That's why having experts on hand facilitates this process by making sure they get the right answers to their questions.
• Allows them time to get documentation If employees need to find out social security numbers and things like that, you can let them know.
• Reinforce the enrollment process At the end of this meeting, you want to reinforce the next step of the enrollment process so employees don't forget. If you don't remind them what they have to do, they won't be ready to enroll when you need them to.

That's a good rundown of the first step in the enrollment process. It's all about walking employees through what the offer is, how it works and letting them know what the next steps are.

Before I move onto step 2, here's a video of me talking about the presentation meetings.

Step 2: Give employees a day to review the information to decide what they want to do.

After meeting with the employees, your next step is to let people take it home to take a look at it so they can review it. This step is important for a variety of reasons. Those are:

• It eliminates sales pressure When employees learn you are ok with them taking the information home, it eliminates the pressure that can materialize in the enrollment process. If you skip step 2, employees feel pressured even if you don't care what they do and are just trying to save time. It's not unusual for employees to tell you up front, if they have to decide today, the answer is no. Letting people review stuff privately is what you want even if they don't take advantage of it.
• It gives employees time to review what they have Allowing time to review lets them check and see what they have in place already and how everything fits in with what they have.
• It allows employees to see what their spouse has Employees will often hold up the enrollment process mid enrollment because they suddenly realize they need to check and see what their spouse has. This reduces the number of incomplete employees left to enroll.
• It gives them time to make sure they want what they get Since they can take the information home first, they can talk with their spouse or other family members to get advice. They can check their budget. That way when they sign up for stuff, they'll generally keep it unless some strange circumstance like divorce changes it.
• They can get personal family information If social security numbers or other family documentation is needed, employees will have time to get it.

In order to save time, many enrollments skip step 2 entirely and expect employees to sign up the day they are presented to. This subconsciously puts pressure in the process when it isn't needed even if that isn't your intent.

I typically present one day and let employees know I'll be following up on the next day. This gives them the night to check what they need to but moves the process along.

No matter what followup period you choose, whether it's a day or a week, you'll always have a few employees who need more time. I eventually settled on the next day as follow up because I noticed even if you give employees a week, some will still delay after that amount of time which makes the process take too long.

I'll discuss how to handle employees who tell you that they haven't decided when you follow up in the next step.

Before I move onto that, here's a short video I did about the review step if you have time to watch it.

Step 3: Follow up with employees individually to find out what they want to do.

Finally, your last step is to meet with all of the employees individually to see if they want to sign up. If you have done your job right, then most of the employees will know that you were coming back and have decided what they want to do.

When you followup, your focus is on the following items:

1. You want to answer any outstanding questions The first thing I try and always ask employees is did they have any questions. If they do, then I can make sure those are answered. If not, then I can move onto the next step.
2. Find out if they want to enroll or not Next, I found out what they want to enroll in if anything. If they want to sign up, I take care of those requirements and let them know what to expect in terms of deductions and when they will receive their paperwork.
3. Accept the no's If I followup with an employee and they say they don't want to do anything, I accept that and move on. It's important to accept these answers and move on so that you don't pressure employees. You've presented the offer, you let them review it and they decided. Accept it.
4. Handle the undecideds The last item on the agenda is to handle those employees who for whatever reason weren't able to decide and work out a plan to followup with them. I let those employees know that I'll be back the next day to followup and repeat the above process. After that, for the most part, those employees who don't know on the second followup day just aren't comfortable saying no to you. Not always, but most of the time. So, I just let them know how to followup with me. If I don't hear from them, I just consider them no's and move on.

The main thing about the followup process is that you live up the how you said the enrollment process was going to work and don't go trying to turn no's into yes's and start pressuring employees.

When you do that your enrollments this way, subconsciously everyone realizes that you are there just to help. And that's what you want.

Before I wrap this up, here's one last video that talks about the followup step in more detail.

Conclusion

While these steps are simple in nature, they are extremely important. If you try and cut corners by combining steps or by dropping the ball and not following up, your enrollments won't be nearly as beneficial to the group you are working with.

However, when you follow these steps, you'll be able to know that employees truly understood the benefits and offers that were made to them and made a decision based on real information that you wanted communicated to them in the first place.

This three step process is by far the most effective way to communicate benefits information to your employees.

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments. I'll be happy to help.

The Employee's Guide to Open Enrollment

The end of the year is the most common time for employer groups to enroll employees in their core benefits like health, dental and vision insurance. But as much as employers try to prepare their employees for enrollment time, many employees don't put as much time as they should into the benefit selection process.

In fact, most employees don't read benefit information that's sent out, don't attend benefit meetings and show up without important enrollment information to facilitate the process. Instead, many usually approach enrollment with the "just give me what I had last year" approach.

Because of that, I thought I would write down some important tips for employees to help get them ready to either self enroll in their benefits or be more ready to discuss their benefits with a benefits counselor who might assist them.

With that in mind, here's my employee's guide to be better prepared for open enrollment.

• Pay attention to the benefit information sent to you Prior to enrollment, you'll probably receive information about any changes, updates and other related information. Read it so you know what's going on.
• Attend any pre-enrollment benefit meetings These meetings are a great time to learn more about which benefits you should enroll in and why. Don't assume you know everything. Even if you don't think you will take advantage of an offer made to you, at least hear the offers.
• Review your spouses benefits Many employees don't think to check into what benefits their spouse has enrolled in until they sit down with a benefits counselor. Make sure you review what your spouse has before you enroll so when you get to enrollment you'll have a clear idea of what you want to do and don't have to check and come back.
• Check for spousal carve out provisions Do either you or your spouse's employer have a spousal carve out that prevents you from covering the other spouse at their employer?
• Consider continuing coverage on dependents Make sure that you consider your children into overall medical cost for your whole family.
• Review last year's medical expenses Did you meet your deductibles? How much did you spend on prescriptions, copayments and coinsurance. Knowing this information will make it easier to determine which medical plan is right for you and your family.
• Compare the summary of plan benefits for each medical plan Read each plan's Summary of Benefits & Coverages and pay close attention to the premiums, deductibles, copayments and coinsurance for each one.
• Don't base your selection on lowest premium Most plans that cost less require more out of pocket when you use the plan. If you are a heavy user of your medical insurance, it might be better to choose a higher premium since you'll most likely spend that amount anyway. Remember premiums are pretax benefits. If you don't use an HSA or outspend your FSA, that'll most likely be paid with after tax dollars.
• Check your networks Make sure the medical, dental and vision providers you use are in the networks of the plans you enroll in. Most insurance companies put their networks online for you to review. When you check for your providers, make sure you are looking at the correct networks. Insurance companies often have more than one network.
• Make an estimate of your medical insurance needs for next year Are you having any procedures in the upcoming plan year? Do you think the upcoming year will be basically the same as last year?
• Consider utilizing either the Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or Health Savings Account (HSA) If you are heavy user of your medical plan, an FSA might be a better option for you since you might end up not having enough to save. The idea behind an HSA is to be able to save money from year to year. So if you don't ever go to the doctor an HSA will be more attractive to you. 
• Check your FSA balance Since an FSA contribution can be lost if you don't claim it, you want to see if your FSA is use it or lose it or has a carry over provision so make sure you check your balance. 
• Get your wellness screenings done Does your plan give a rate reduction for completing your wellness screenings. Be sure and take advantage of it.
• File wellness claims Some benefits offer annual wellness benefits. Make sure you file those claims to receive any wellness cash you have a right to claim.
• Get your tobacco surcharge removed If there are any tobacco users in your family and the medical plans have a tobacco surcharge, see if a tobacco cessation program will get that surcharge removed and enroll in it. Your plan might reduce the rate just by going through the program even if you don't manage to quit.
• Don't lie on insurance applications Your coverages are based on your truthful answers on applications. If you lie about smoking or other treatment related questions, your insurance may not pay out in those circumstances. Insurance companies do check things before they pay claims.
• Visit with benefit's counsellors If there are representatives on site to help you enroll in your plans, be sure and go see them without people having to hunt you down.
• Don't wait til the last minute to enroll Benefits counsellors are usually paid a flat daily rate no matter what you enroll in. Each day you drag out the process costs money. In addition, enrollments are on tight deadlines. If you miss the deadline, you might be out of luck.
• Have your family information Show up prepared with your families names, birthday's and social security numbers ready. Insurance carriers often change from year to year. Your information often doesn't carry over.
• Bring last year's enrollment confirmation Remember, in most cases, these benefits are structured under what is called a "group contract". Because carriers can change from year to year, benefits are sometime taken over by the new carrier. Your coverage might be an exception to the rules of the new company. These exceptions are often grandfathered in. But you'll need to pay attention to your statement or you could lose that exception and might not know you did. I've heard of employees losing out on benefits because things slipped through the cracks. Benefits counsellors might not be provided with your selections from the previous year.
• Pay attention to pre-existing condition clauses Insurance plans are sometimes subject to a pre-existing condition clause. If you are pregnant and want to enroll in short term disability, there's a good chance that will be considered a pre-existing condition and not covered. Pre-existing condition clauses are often grandfathered in when carriers change. 
• Change beneficiaries if needed Make sure you verify your life insurance beneficiaries are who you want them to be. Otherwise, your ex-spouse might be very happy when you die.
• Convert or remove child term life riders Children covered under term life insurance riders will expire at certain ages. Premiums will continue in many cases unless you remove it even if your children are to old to be covered. If you are interested in converting a child term rider, you want to make sure you don't miss the opportunity before it expires.
• Understand age reduction schedules if you are 65 Group term life insurance often reduces once you reach age 65. Every plan is different. Don't be surprised if no one knows what happens but check into it and find out.
• Understand the difference between attained age and issue age plans Group plans are set up with specific rate structures. Some are set up to change as you get older. Review these benefits annually to see if it still makes sense to keep it. Issue age plans keep you at the age you were when you signed up. If you get offered issue age plans when you are young, this can really save you money down the road. Keep in mind that group coverage isn't guaranteed to never change. Plans can and do change so you have to verify whether things are based on your attained age or your issue age each year. Each benefit could be different too! 
• Enroll in your retirement plan Insurance isn't your only concern at enrollment time. Don't forget about your retirement contributions. Make sure to take advantage of any company match and consider increasing your contribution each year.
• Consider each benefit option carefully Make sure you understand how each benefit being offered works before you turn it down. I've seen employees turn down options without even knowing how much it costs. Depending on your age, some of these benefits are cheaper than you think. I try and make sure each employee knows how much their benefit options cost. After finding out the cost and how something works, many employees I've talked to sign up for things they would have skipped because they didn't want to know.
• Take advantage of guaranteed issue If you have any medical problems, make sure you take advantage of any guaranteed issue offers that come your way. The "no one ever told me about it" excuse doesn't work once that enrollment closes.
• Are you retiring soon? Understand which benefits you can keep when you leave and how much they cost.
• Read your confirmation carefully Everybody does their best to make sure your elections are what you requested and that grandfathered coverages carried over but sometimes mistakes can happen. Your benefits confirmation statement is your proof you enrolled if there are any questions.
• Make sure you can afford your selections It's easy to sign up for stuff and not pay attention to how much you are spending. The last thing the insurance companies want you to do is sign up for stuff and then cancel it. That costs everyone money. Sign up for what you know you will keep.
• Keep a list of your insurance companies and agents Make a list of all insurance companies, register for online access, and get agent names and phone numbers.
• Make a folder of all benefit elections Keep all enrollment confirmation, plan documents, agent phone numbers in one place so you can refer to it during the year.
• Download mobile apps for insurance companies you have benefits with Many insurance companies have apps that make it easier to determine in network providers, flexible spending account balances and more. Take the time to download these.
• Confirm your deductions Once your deductions start, make sure they match what you signed up for.
• Keep an eye out for ID cards Any ID cards you'll need to confirm your benefits should arrive later. Some are mailed to you but some have to be looked up online and printed out.

Those are some steps you can take to make open enrollment go a lot smoother for you. So at your next open enrollment, take the time to get the most out of it.

If you have any questions or additional tips about how to prepare and enroll in your benefits, please put them in the comments below.

6 Reasons Employees Enroll in Permanent Life Insurance

When I talk with decision makers in many employer groups, there's often some discussion about whether or not employees have any interest in a permanent life insurance program. While it is true that not all employees are interested, there are many who are. Here are six reasons why employees want a permanent life insurance solution offered at work.

Reason #1 - Employees With Chronic Health Conditions Need Help Getting Approved For Life Insurance

The first reason that employees want permanent life insurance is due to the fact many of them have chronic medical conditions.

Chronic medical conditions are medical problems like:

• Cancer
• Diabetes
• Hypertension (High blood pressure)
• Stroke
• Heart disease
• Pulmonary conditions
• Mental illness

If you deal with the health insurance renewal process for your company each year, then this should not come as a surprise. You already know that employees in your group have medical problems. Otherwise premiums for the company's group health insurance coverage wouldn't be skyrocketing.

But if you need additional statistical confirmation that your employees have chronic medical conditions, the National Health Council estimates that half of all adults have a chronic medical condition. Many have multiple chronic conditions. They also estimated that 75% of all health care costs are related to chronic medical conditions.

Here's the problem with chronic medical conditions. Employees who have them can't buy life insurance on their own. You have to be approved by the insurance company in order to buy life insurance. Many of these same employees would have to pay significantly more for life insurance or worse, be turned down.

Employees that have medical problems also are more likely to want permanent life insurance because they want something they own. They want to have control of it so no one can take it away from them.

You can help those employees get policies through your groups negotiating power to reduce or eliminate the underwriting requirements most employees have to go through to buy life insurance on their own.

Reason #2 - Most Employees Will Outlive Their Group Term Life Insurance

The second reason that employees want permanent life insurance is because group life insurance terminates someday. As much as you might try to work employees to death, it just doesn't happen. Even if employees do work until they die, the life insurance age reduction formula will usually reduce any group term life insurance.

Most basic group life insurance terminates when an employee leaves your employment. While supplemental term life insurance may be portable, employees rarely keep it. If they do keep it after they leave, it will terminate at some point. Either at a certain age or when the premiums get so expensive that the employee can't afford it anymore.

Insurance companies know that most employees will outlive their group term insurance. The average life expectancy of a person living in the United States is almost 79 years old.

Group term life isn't designed to last that long. This leaves employees without life insurance when they need it most - when they actually die.

Many employees want some permanent life insurance coverage that lasts into retirement to pay for expenses like their funeral.

Reason #3 - Employees Want Additional Coverage For Their Family Members

It's not unusual for employees to want coverage on family members. They want it for the same reasons they want life insurance for themselves. To provide a death benefit if the worst happens. Or maybe, they have a child with a medical problem and need help getting approved for a policy.

Often, older employees are put into a position where they are taking care of their grandchildren. While older employees might not want to get additional coverage for themselves, they know if the worst happens and a grandchild dies, they'll be responsible for paying for it. That means they'd be interested in buying life insurance for grandchildren.

Group term insurance does allow coverage for family but not usually without the employee buying coverage. Unless grandchildren have been adopted, they can't be covered under a group life policy.

Employees can cover those family members with permanent life insurance without the restrictions group plans put on them in order to do it.

Reason #4 - Employees Need Payroll Deduction To Keep Their Policies From Lapsing

A lot of employees have trouble keeping their policies in force because they don't do a good job of paying premiums on their own. In fact, an article on the Huffington Post describes the number of insurance policies that lapse as massive.

Because so many policies lapse, insurance companies just get to collect the premiums and get richer. For an employee with a chronic medical condition and a permanent life insurance policy, it's even more important to keep it in force.

Payroll deduction of the premiums help accomplish that and you have a lot of employees who really need that help.

Reason #5 - Employees Need A Life Insurance Agent To Talk To

According to LIMRA, a source of insurance industry statistics, eight in ten households don't have a life insurance agent. As a result, that same study by LIMRA, life insurance ownership is at it's lowest level in over 50 years. The reason is because agents just aren't calling on your employees like they used to.

But that's not all the LIMRA study revealed. There's more.

Sixty percent of baby boomers want to buy life insurance by speaking with someone face to face. Younger employees want to get help with life insurance at work.

You are in a unique position to help those employees get the personal attention and advice they want and need when you offer a permanent life insurance plan to your employees.

Reason #6 - Employees Want More Life Insurance

A 2015 Life Insurance Barometer Study by Life Happens and LIMRA found that nearly one third of American's believe they need more life insurance.

It's no coincidence then that there's a good chance that if you offered a permanent life insurance program that about a third of your employees would take advantage of it.

My 20 plus years experience is that 25-45% of your employees will participate in a permanent life insurance option when I offer it to them. That seems to back that statistic up.

That's because most Americans don't have plans to see an agent in the next 12 months. But when they do, the elect to buy additional life insurance on themselves or one their family members that they feel they need.

Conclusion

Those are my top six reasons that employees want permanent life insurance offered at work. As the employer, you have the ability to help your employees fill a need they want to take care of but don't know how to.

For me though, the most important reason is to help those employees who have chronic medical conditions get coverage that they couldn't otherwise get.

What are some of the reasons you can think of to offer permanent life insurance to your employees?

How to Get a (Great) Guaranteed Issue Offer for Your Employees

As I discussed in my types of underwriting offers employees can get at work article, employees just can't go to their insurance agent and get life insurance without any medical questions. In order to get a policy, they have to go through what is called the underwriting process. If they have a history of any medical problems, they will either get turned down or have to pay a much higher premium than someone who doesn't have any medical problems.

An employer group is in a great position to negotiate insurance for their employees without any medical questions and to get the same rate for all employees. The ability to get medical questions waived is the real "benefit" of insurance provided through the employer.

So why is it that an employer group can negotiate this kind of offer for their employees and employees just can't walk in and get it on their own?

Why Do Insurance Companies Waive Medical Questions For Insurance Purchased At Work But Not When Purchased Outside Of Work? 

There are two reasons why insurance companies will eliminate medical questions when insurance is purchased at the workplace.

1. Spreading the risk The first reason reason is that the employer group can help the insurance company spread the risk of insuring those with medical problems by also helping those who don't have medical problems.
2. Payroll deduction The second reason is because they know if employee's pay their premiums through payroll deduction, the chances premiums are going to get paid is much higher than if employee's pay it any other way. After all, there is a reason why taxes are also collected this way.

Whenever I work with an employer group, I basically have to negotiate two things with the employer. One is the collection of premiums through payroll deduction and the other is getting the offer heard by the employees. While both are sometimes significant hurdles to cross with an employer, getting the offer is heard is the more challenging of the two.

Employer groups often think that just because they ARE an employer group, that the mere fact they are a group should be enough to get guaranteed issue for their employees. But it's not. A guaranteed issue offer's most important component is insuring that risk is spread across the whole group of employees - not just the unhealthy ones.

Two Ways Insurance Companies Spread Risk Across Employees

In order to insure this happens, insurance companies will provide guaranteed issue using one of two methods. Those are:

1. A participation requirement Insurance companies will waive medical questions if a certain percentage of the eligible employees purchase coverage. A common participation requirement is a 20 percent participation. In that case, if 20 percent of the eligible employees sign up, then all employees get coverage regardless of health. If less than 20 percent of the employees sign up, then either no one gets coverage or only the healthy employees do.
2. A presentation requirement Insurance companies will waive participation requirements and waive medical questions if they know that all employees will at least hear the guarantee issue offer.

Of the two methods, a presentation requirement is the best method for getting guaranteed issue because I can not only get the medical questions waived, but I can also eliminate the requirement that a certain number of employees have to buy the insurance as well.

This is a key point. The reason is because employees need to know any offer presented to them will be backed up and followed up on. Otherwise, if it isn't, everyone looks bad. Nothing is more disappointing to an employee who has health problems than finding out they can't have insurance because enough people didn't buy coverage. You can't let that happen.

Access To Employees In A Face-To-Face Enrollment Secures The Best Underwriting Offer For Your Employees

But the insurance company also can't promise everyone they'll get a policy without any kind of consideration in return. That consideration is making sure that risk is spread across the greatest numbers of employees. When everyone at least hears the offer in a face-to-face enrollment, this facilitates that.

When risk isn't spread, the quality of offers goes down for everyone in all groups. But when risk is spread properly, the best possible offers show up. And the bottom line is that's what you want for your employees, the best possible offers - especially for your employees with medical problems.

So the tricky part is fulfilling requirement number two - spreading the risk - with an underwriting process everyone can live with it. And that's where I come in, because I am very skilled in helping make sure that can happen in the best possible way and therefore getting the best possible offer for your employees.

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments or feel free to contact me.

5 Reasons a Face-to-Face Enrollment is Needed

The biggest challenge I face in helping your employees is negotiating the access I need with you. If I can't work out a plan to see your employees, I can't present a guaranteed issue offer to them. Below, I've summarized five specific reasons why I need to meet with your employees in a face-to-face enrollment. This is to help you get a better understanding of why it's necessary so that you'll grant me the access I need.

The problem is that the insurance company will only let me make that offer when I can arrange to meet with your employees. If I can't get that arranged then I can't give employees guaranteed issue.

The biggest losers in that situation are the employees who have medical problems.

So in this article, I wanted to talk about why I need to see your employees and the benefits the employer gets when they allow me to do a face-to-face enrollment.

With all of the talk that's going on today about insurance exchanges and electronic enrollments, it appears as if letting computers do all of the enrollment work is the ideal way to help your employees. The push in this direction is what the big players in the industry will have you believe is the right course to take. Yet, after 20 years of enrollments, I still specialize in meeting with employees in a face-to-face enrollment for all my programs because it's the right way to help your employees and it's also the right thing to do.

My experience in personally walking thousands of employees through the process I will walk you through below tells me that eventually, if the big players have their way, knowing how to effectively do what I do will fast become a lost art. The real losers in that battle though, will ultimately be your employees and the quality of the offers they receive from insurance companies.

In this article, I wanted to share my reasons for not abandoning the face-to-face enrollment and then spend some time talking about the right approach for how to conduct a face-to-face enrollment - the right way.

First, let's talk about the reasons why face to face enrollments are so important to your employees.

• I can get the best possible underwriting offer When I take a proposal to an insurance company, the first thing that insurance company wants to know from me is what kind of enrollment it's going to be. How I answer that question determines how good the offer I'll get back is going to be. If I tell them that it's an email campaign, self-elected computer enrollment, some insurance companies just aren't even interested. Those that are, will be very conservative in the offers they'll make. However, if I can assure the carrier that the offer they put on the table will indeed be communicated and explained to the employees, the offer I will get back will be very good. Because of that, to get the best possible offers and underwriting concessions from the insurance company, it's in everyone's best interest to conduct a face-to-face enrollment.
• Employees with medical problems need the coverage I can't tell you how often I've been thanked by employees I've helped obtain insurance that just couldn't get coverage anywhere else. Those employees that are uninsurable are truly thankful to be able to enroll in lifetime coverage that no one can take away from them and will gladly pay 100 percent of the premiums. The only reason that employees who have medical problems are able to get all the medical and other requirements waived and get covered was because of my commitment to doing a well communicated face-to-face enrollment to all employees.
• Employees don't have agents that help them anymore Seeing people face to face is expensive. Years ago, lots of life insurance was purchased at the kitchen table. But now, many agents don't even call on families anymore because they can't afford to. If you don't have a sizable income or estate, it's unlikely you'll even hear from an agent - ever. Therefore, many employees don't ever see any agent and by extension get no insurance advice.
• Employees want and need the education One of the most common phrases I hear after I meet with an employee is that they didn't know they could do what I told them they could do and they were happy to learn exactly how the underwriting offer worked to their advantage. In fact, because I've talked to so many people over the years who were so very grateful that I explained things to them, it's the main thing that drives me to continue to stress the importance of a face-to-face enrollment just so they don't miss out.
• Employees need the focus Everyone is so busy. People work shifts. Kids are in so many events. After work, people are exhausted, many employees do what I do and that's just take a nap. Making time to focus on what's available helps those employees tremendously.

IMPORTANT CONCEPT: Of all of those reasons I've listed above, getting the very best possible underwriting offer from the insurance company is the single most important benefit for conducting a face-to-face enrollment.

Now that you have some background about why I'm so committed to my process, it's time to walk you through the actual steps I take to get it done as easily and smoothly as possible.

I personally have four objectives when I conduct an enrollment. Those are:

1. Do the enrollment for you My first objective is to do all of enrollment work for you. Many agents expect you to enroll your employees for them and do all of the legwork of the enrollment for them. I see it the exact opposite way. It's my job to do the enrollment. Obviously, I need your support but it's up to me to do the work at hand. After all, that's what you hired me to do.
2. Make sure each employee at least hears the offer My second objective is to walk each employee through the offer so they at least know what the offer is that is available to them and that they decide what they want to do to satisfy the underwriting requirements.
3. Complete the enrollment quietly My third objective is to do the enrollment in such a way that if I didn't report in as to what is happening, you wouldn't even know I was even there.
4. No complaints My final objective is complete my enrollment with no complaints.

With those objectives in mind, let's go through my four steps to conducting a good face-to-face enrollment:

1. STEP #1: Meet with department heads The first step is to meet with each department head individually to explain the reasons for the enrollment, exactly what the underwriting requirements are and then to develop a plan that works best for everyone involved to help move their employees through the educational process.
2. STEP #2: Personalized education meetings The second step is to meet with the employees to explain what the underwriting offer is and exactly how it works.
3. STEP #3: Give employees time to review the offer on their own The third step is to let employees take the information home to review it, discuss it with their families and decide on their own if it makes sense for them. This is the secret sauce to making a face-to-face enrollment go smoothly. Once employees realize that you are indeed there to educate and facilitate a process, and not worried about whether they sign up or not, only that they understand the offer, everyone goes through the process without a hitch.
4. STEP #4: Follow-Up The final step is to follow-up with each employee, answer any questions they may have and to ask them if they want to sign up or not.

This is the basic frame-work I follow for every enrollment I do.

TESTIMONIALS: If you want to read some comments from people who worked for employers I've actually worked with and taken through this process, you can read their comments on this page.

Now you know why I'm committed to meeting with employees face to face, what my objectives are each time I do an enrollment and an overview of the key steps I take to complete my work effectively.

As always, if you are an employer group or broker, I am interested in working with you. Feel free to leave your questions below or to contact me.