While you are there, request a "free demo" password that gives you access to data for the state of Kentucky. (Your password and log-in ID will be e-mailed back in minutes.)

BCMS is a searchable data base of qualified group insurance plans that file 5500s with the IRS. You can search by state or metro area and by "all plans" or specific types of plans, including medical, dental, vision, life, disability, prescription drug, HMO and other. There are also advanced search options for everything ranging from industry type to number of participants and amounts of premiums. A search results in a summary screen that lists all insurance carriers or brokers doing business in the market area and type of plan selected. For each carrier or broker, you can quickly see the total number of participants, total premiums, and sponsors (companies) covered. Each of these fields can then be sorted to create a kind of "market map."

For example, I searched the whole state of Kentucky for all types of plans. I then sorted for the largest carriers operating in the state (by premium) and used BCMS' "Export Data" feature to send this data to an Excel spreadsheet. In about three minutes, I learned that the top 35 carriers in Kentucky cover 861,336 participants, capture $700.4 million in premiums, and work with 1,034 sponsors. While not all companies are required to file 5500s for group benefit plans, you can see that this is a large body of data for a modestly populated state like Kentucky.

Drilling Down to the 5500

The real value of BCMS is the access it offers to "drill-down" data on specific sponsors and their brokers. For example, in the Louisville market one of the largest brokerage agencies is Thompson Associates. (I'm not picking on them, just using them as an example!) It would take you less than a minute to determine that this agency is diverse in its business mix, with more than 20,000 participants covered and $50 million of premium written in Kentucky. Clicking on the company name link drills down to lists showing each of the 27 sponsors and 24 carriers with whom Thompson Associates works.

Clicking on just one of the sponsors, Brooklawn, Inc., shows that the broker handles five separate employee benefit plans for this company through four different carriers totaling $360,316 of premium and covering 418 participants. The renewal date for all five plans is 4/30. Clicking on the name of any one of these health, dental or vision plans drills down into all the detail contained on the most recently filed (and publicly available) Form 5500s, including decision-makers for employee benefits at the company, their phone numbers, and the amount of commission paid by Thompson Associates.

Through BCMS, competitive market data that has previously been buried is now accessible and affordable.

Ideas for Using BCMS

Here are a few of my best ideas for using BCMS in marketing and selling:

• BCMS can be an efficient front-end in building your own proprietary database of key business prospects in your market area. With about 50-70 hours of an administrative assistant's time, I believe you could have at your fingertips valuable details on up to 1,000 companies in your market including plans, participants, premiums, carriers, brokers, renewal dates, lines of business, decision-makers, phone numbers and addresses.
• Obviously, the months leading up to renewal dates are critical times for contacting prospects and offering new ideas.
• You don't have to compete directly with the brokers listed to use BCMS effectively. For example, perhaps the most lucrative financial services that could be offered to many of these prospects include non-qualified executive benefits such as Split Dollar, SERPs, 412i plans and directors' liability insurance. If you specialize in these areas, offer to team up with the broker (listed in BCMS) who handles the qualified group benefits. You can generate a list of brokers working in a given market, including addresses and phone numbers, by clicking "Generate Report" and then "View All Brokers." Contact these brokers and tell them how you can help them serve their business insurance clients better.
• If you have recently had success in developing a new business client, look up other clients who use the same broker (the one you replaced). You may find similar dissatisfaction or be able to repeat similar sales steps with other prospects.

To learn more about BCMS, including pricing, contact Judy Diamond Associates at 800-231-0669 and ask for Sales.