As the competitive landscape for benefits brokers gets tougher, effectively communicating benefits strategies with clients—and helping them better communicate those strategies with their employees— becomes even more critical. The ultimate goal of communicating benefits strategies is to increase employee retention—and a broker's business is on the line if communication is weak, says Elizabeth Halkos, chief marketing officer of Purchasing Power, an Atlanta firm that offers employee purchasing programs through payroll deductions.

“If communication to employees is not strong, there is a potential for brokers to get feedback from their clients that their benefits are not as effective as the broker pitched them [to be],” Halkos says. “But the reality is that it could have to do less with the products themselves and more about whether they are being communicated in the right way.

The broker needs to be getting the client on board.” First on the agenda should be finding out how each employee likes to receive information – via a website, an email or a text message, through social media, on paper or in person. Studies show that a third of employees still prefer to have their benefits explained in person. “It takes a lot of listening and learning, and brokers need to educate their clients about this issue,” Halkos says. Just as critical for the broker is learning how employers like to be contacted, as many clients still prefer to spend quality face time with their brokers, she says.