The latest results of Eastbridge Consulting Group's Voluntary Industry Confidence Index survey are mixed. Though the overall index dipped to 98.4 percent after reaching a high of 102.1 at the end of 2010, participants say sales are surpassing expectations.
"The results of the survey are interesting," says Gil Lowerre, Eastbridge president. "In the survey, more participants reported that 2011 sales had thus far exceeded their expectations, making the negative predictions difficult to understand."
In fact, almost 40 percent of participants said year-to-date sales exceeded expectations, 39 percent said they were in line with expectations and only 22 percent said they were below expectations.
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Yet despite the optimism, all three components of the index declined compared to the year-end 2010 results. The index is calculated using three key expectation measures about the voluntary industry: sales growth, profitability of the industry and employee enthusiasm about voluntary products.
"The biggest dip was in the expectations around industry profitability," says Bonnie Brazzell, vice president of Eastbridge. "For the profitability measure, fewer respondents believe that the industry will be "much more" or "a little more" profitable than last year. "A higher percentage of our respondents this time feel industry profitability will be 'about the same' or 'a little less profitable."
The Voluntary Industry Confidence Index study is conducted semi-annually and includes responses from individuals active in the market—carriers, brokers and vendors. Like other confidence indices, the index is a single number that compares the current results to a baseline measure.
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