Is that all there is?

A few months ago, we wrote about the surge in employee benefit broker productivity: Today, brokers account for more than 57 percent of all voluntary sales. At the same time, takeovers have exploded, increasing from 12 percent of all sales in 2006 to 50 percent in 2013. It would seem logical that employee benefit brokers are accounting for much of this takeover activity.

That conclusion is supported by two other facts. First, most takeovers are in three product lines: term, disability, and dental, the three lines that many employee benefit brokers focus on. Second, takeovers at some traditional, true-group (employer-paid) companies have exceeded 85 percent of all new voluntary sales, while they remain below twenty-percent range at some carriers that are focused on traditional worksite brokers.