Voluntary/worksite sales declined 2.85 percent in 2010, according to new analysis from Eastbridge Consulting Group. It's the first time the voluntary industry has seen sales slow since 1997, when the advisory firm began tracking the market.

"In the last report (2009), we saw an increase despite the recession so we were hopeful that the industry would once again be resilient enough to weather the recession," says Lowerre. But it was just not to be.

"Interestingly among the top 15 companies in the market, we saw a mixture of results," says Bonnie Brazzell, vice president. "As a group, the top 15 had a sales decrease of 2.6 percent. But six of the top 15 had increases—four double-digit increases," adds Brazzell. Six more of the top 15 had decreases and three were flat as compared to 2009. "The number one carrier (with a 26 percent market share) saw a decrease of almost five percent and that's very hard to overcome," says Lowerre.