One of the bright spots in Omaha, Neb., every June is the College World Series. It's a great sporting event that attracts thousands from around the country, including dozens of brokers who specialize in selling benefits. And in addition to attending games, many of them choose to visit our office for our CWS Broker Roundtables.

At these sessions we don't have a set agenda, aside from a few questions to prompt discussions (“what's on your mind” is the essence of the discussion). This gives our home office team the opportunity to hear from brokers in an open-ended format.  So what's on their minds? During our discussions we received a great deal of insight in this area, and can boil down the concerns to a big three.

In brief: health care reform, the economy, voluntary products, and … repeat ad infinitum. One item, health care reform, is an imposed driver of change for brokers and their clients. The second, the economy, is an environmental force driving employers to seek efficiency and pricing economy. The third, voluntary benefits, is driven to increased prominence by the first two partly because both health care reform and the economy have squeezed broker margins.

One common thread running throughout the sessions was employers' need to receive good advice from their brokers on these areas, because they all represent areas of change and uncertainty for employers. One broker, Mark Viehmann of BB&T Insurance Services in Louisville, Ky., expressed this concept with such clarity that I asked if I could share his statement.

To paraphrase Mark: If employers are looking to just ask every broker that has ever had connections with them to bid on their business, they are looking for a vendor. If they want my organization's professional advice on how to best manage change, and will work with us on selecting the products we recommend, they are looking for a partner. As much as possible, we want to be partners and not just vendors. I thought that was great advice for both employer clients and brokers (not to mention insurance companies).

If health care reform, the economy and voluntary benefits are three areas where employers need advice, then we need to build and foster our organizational expertise here. We need to position ourselves to be partners in planning and managing successful change, and not just vendors of products. Forming that kind of relationship with clients is not easy in this era of price shopping for the best deal. It means we have to become part of the client's benefits planning team.

We have to listen to the client's concerns, and understand the issues specific to the employer as they relate to our three topics. At all times, we need to be able to provide honest advice that serves the best interest of the client. Like Mark, we have to concentrate on building a partnership, not a vendorship, with our most valuable customers.

Marty Traynor is vice president of voluntary benefits at Mutual of Omaha. He can be reached at [email protected].