It seems to me that renewal is a fixation of every benefits advisor when it doesn’t have to be. You’re actually better positioned to serve the needs of your clients by shifting your focus to mid-year for a lot of reasons.

See clearly

You are able to present options without the pressure of a deadline. Your client is better able to see the issues without feeling rushed to a decision. The worst decision in a late renewal that we see over and over again is NO decision. Inertia is often the culprit that keeps clients locked into higher rates and same old plan designs. All plans can use improvements and have opportunities for cost containment and/or benefits enhancement. Implementation of new plans and improvements can take time and require explanation, so it’s far better to start the process while you have the time to prepare your client and their employee population too.

Be available to ALL your clients

Moving these types of conversations out of the “crunch time” right before renewal helps advisors not just to keep their sanity but it opens up bandwidth so you’re available to all your clients. It also helps you demonstrate that you work for them all year round.

Be a retention machine

The ideal client is an employer whose head count grows year-over-year. Don’t get pigeonholed by your clients as a great small group advisor but not one who can meet the challenges and needs of a larger group. You need to show that you can be the advisor who grows with them by pro-actively presenting your client with creative solutions for cost containment and improved benefits. Your client should have trouble keeping up with you and not the other way around.

An easier path forward

We recognize that conducting mid-year strategy sessions and evaluating multiple vendors for each client can be very time consuming. Allay makes it it easier for you to explore changes – both small and large – to how they purchase healthcare so you and your clients can achieve desired benefits goals. With Allay it’s easy to evaluate many potential plan improvements and changes that, when implemented, can have a big impact on employee experience, access, and/or costs.

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