Employees are 70% more likely to remain loyal to their employer if they’re satisfied with their benefits. And, to be honest, traditional healthcare alone just isn’t cutting it.
More employees are prioritizing health benefits now than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, 26% of employees are more likely to accept a new job because of its health and wellness benefits than before COVID.
But today’s workforce is also looking for companies that offer benefits beyond traditional healthcare, giving brokers ample opportunities to upsell. That’s where ancillary benefits come into play.
What Are Ancillary Benefits in Health Insurance?
Ancillary benefits are additional benefits not included in traditional health plans. Examples of ancillary benefits include:
- Dental insurance
- Vision insurance
- Life insurance
- Accident insurance
- Disability insurance
- Critical illness insurance
Some ancillary benefits may even assist with medical expenses incurred over a hospital stay, such as costs for:
- Medical supplies
- Blood draws
- Prescriptions
- Ambulance transportation
While ancillary benefits certainly serve groups and employees, the sale of ancillary benefits can also provide many benefits to you as a broker.
Selling ancillary benefits as a health insurance broker offers increased selling opportunities, helps you retain customers and can set you apart from competitors, all of which can make your business more successful.
How Can Selling Ancillary Benefits Increase Revenue?
Brokers who choose to sell ancillary benefits have the potential to increase their commission by as much as 30%. The more benefits you offer and sell, the more your cash flow as a broker will increase, and the more your clients will trust you and perceive you as an expert in your field.
Upselling ancillary benefits is an easy pursuit that offers you the opportunity for ancillary revenue, or revenue that is produced by marketing new or additional products or services.
When selling ancillary benefits, it helps to present them as a package, bundle, or easy add-ons to your client’s already planned or purchased health insurance.
How Can Offering Ancillary Benefits Help with Customer Retention in the Health Insurance Industry?
When it comes to client confidence, offering ancillary benefits demonstrates your willingness to meet more than just the basic healthcare needs of your clients. Ancillary benefits enable you to meet all of your clients’ healthcare needs in one place that is easily accessible to them.
According to the American Institute of CPAs, 80% of Americans prefer workplace benefits over a higher salary. Employees clearly value workplace benefits, which means employers that offer ancillary benefits will be more attractive to top talent.
How Can Selling Ancillary Benefits Give You a Competitive Advantage?
Marketing ancillary benefits to clients not only helps with customer retention – it also distinguishes you from your competitors to earn new business. If you’re not offering ancillary benefits to your current or prospective clients, someone else will, and your client could switch to someone who does include these benefits.
Offering ancillary benefits:
- Adds a level of convenience for your clients that want to offer their employees benefits beyond traditional health insurance
- Increases the credibility of your brokerage
- Positions you as an expert in your field
When you’re viewed as the go-to expert in both health insurance and beyond, clients will seek you out as a one-stop shop for all of their employee benefit needs.
So how exactly can you use ancillary benefits to keep you ahead of the game?
- Enhance traditional healthcare packages: Bundling ancillary benefits with traditional health insurance plans showcases a whole-person approach to employee health and wellness.
- Promote preventive care: Offering ancillary benefits results in more preventive care for employees, which will result in lower healthcare costs for your clients in the long run.
- Increase employee happiness: Employees who have the option to add ancillary benefits to their health insurance will be more satisfied with their healthcare package, making them happier, increasingly productive and more loyal to their workplace – all of which benefit your client.
- Lower costs for employers: Stacking ancillary benefits with traditional health insurance reduces the cost to your clients while offering them more.
When you have more to offer than your competitors, you inherently gain a competitive advantage for new prospects and give your current clients more reasons to keep coming back. When your clients see the potential of the ancillary benefits you have to offer, sticking with you will be a no-brainer.
What Are Some Popular Types of Ancillary Benefits to Offer with Health Insurance?
1. Dental Insurance
The number of health plans offering dental benefits has more than doubled since 2018, according to a survey by West Monroe. You don’t want to miss out on this common upselling opportunity.
There are a variety of dental plans in the marketplace that you can offer to clients, including:
- Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO)
- Dental Health Maintenance Organizations (DHMO/Capitation Plans)
- Indemnity Plans
- Direct Reimbursement (DR)
- Point of Service (POS) Plans
- Discount or Referral Plans
- Exclusive Provider Organizations (EPO)
- Table or Schedule of Allowances Plan
2. Vision Insurance
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) guidelines specify that vision care is an essential benefit for children and teens under the age of 19. If you’re not offering your clients vision benefits for their employees, someone else will.
There are an assortment of vision plans in the marketplace, including:
- Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO)
- Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) Plan
- Point of Service (POS) Plan
- Indemnity Insurance Plan
3. Disability Insurance
More than 25% of today’s 20-year-olds can expect to be out of work for at least a year before they reach normal retirement age because of a disabling condition, according to the Council for Disability Awareness. Disability insurance is more commonly used than you might think.
Examples of disability insurance plans you could offer clients include:
- Short-term and long-term disability options, which can include either:
- Any-occupation disability insurance
- Own-occupation disability insurance
- There are three types of own-occupation disability insurance, including true own-occupation, transitional own-occupation and own-occupation not engaged.
- Mortgage disability insurance
- Supplemental disability insurance
- Social security disability insurance
- Worker’s compensation
- Disability overhead expense insurance
4. Life Insurance
According to a Forbes Advisor survey, at least three in four American adults have some form of life insurance. With the majority of Americans holding life insurance policies, you want to be your clients’ go-to source.
Some life insurance plans to consider offering include:
- Whole life insurance
- Standard universal life insurance (UL)
- Variable universal life insurance
- Indexed universal life insurance
How to Effectively Market Ancillary Plans
As noted by the statistics above, ancillary benefits are in demand, and you have the opportunity to be the market’s go-to resource and provider. But, in order for you to effectively sell these benefits, your clients need to know you’re offering them.
Below are a few key tips to help you productively market (and sell) your ancillary plans.
Use Social Media
If you’re not using social media to market your services, you’re missing out on substantial opportunities to build your brand, sell your services and gather information about your target market.
Approach the marketing of your services on social media by following these steps:
- Nail down a strategy: Know your approach before you begin. Ask yourself the following questions to help you build your strategy:
- What is my goal on social media?
- Who is my target audience?
- On which social platforms is my target audience most active?
- What is my competition doing?
- How can I create compelling content?
- Be consistent: Be sure to share content on a regular, consistent basis. A few tips for being consistent on social media include:
- Find your brand voice and keep your content homogeneous
- Plan ahead by setting aside time for content creation
- Use scheduling tools to ensure you’re posting frequently
- Build engagement opportunities: Endorse opportunities for client engagement. Some ways to initiate client engagement on social media might be to:
- Create shareable content, such as educational content that is easily digestible and relevant to your audience (i.e. a short video explaining the different types of dental insurance plans)
- Know when to post based on which days and times your audience is most active
- Engage with your audience by asking questions, conducting polls, and answering comments
- Track and analyze: Track your audience, monitor engagement, and adjust accordingly.
Most importantly, your social media channel should aim to funnel users to your website in order to see your products and services, receive quotes, or ask questions. Remember, the purpose of marketing is to generate qualified leads.
2. Create a Website
Having a strategic, well-designed website grants your clients a one-stop shop they can count on for all of their health insurance needs.
Some website features to incorporate when selling insurance include:
- A transparent and genuine “About Us” page to give your prospects a sense of who you are and what makes you different
- Easy-to-understand service and product descriptions
- Informational blog content to establish yourself as an expert in the industry
- A quote calculator
- Testimonials to establish trust and credibility
- An easy-to-find contact form for prospects to quickly get in touch and ask questions
3. Host Webinars
Webinars are one of the most effective ways to keep your clients and prospects educated and to position yourself as a thought leader. These can be pre-recorded and uploaded to your website for free additional, helpful information for your current or prospective clients.
A few webinar topics to cover when it comes to ancillary benefits might be:
- Advantages employers can gain from each type of ancillary benefit offered, including dental, vision, disability, and life insurance
- How ancillary benefits assist in attracting and retaining employees
- How to get started with ancillary benefits
- Current stats on ancillary benefits and the workplace
Why You Should Start Selling Health Plans with Ancillary Benefits Today
Ancillary benefits are important to employees, which means they are also important to employers. The market is looking for more when it comes to healthcare, and ancillary benefits are the answer.
By selling ancillary benefits, brokers can experience increased cash flow, improved client retention and a competitive, marketable edge. You should purposefully and consistently highlight dental, vision, disability, and life insurance through all of your marketing channels – including social media, an effective website, and informational webinars – to help communicate your value proposition.
Interest in selling Redirect Health plans in addition to your ancillary benefits? Learn more today at www.redirecthealth.com/brokers/