Be yourself and be authentic: A Q&A with Nolan Waterfall
There's a lot of challenges for brokers in today's world, but Nolan Waterfall is ready to tackle them head-on.
Paul Wilson: How did you get started in the benefits industry?
Like a lot of people, I fell into it by accident. I was going to school for finance, and I figured out three-quarters of the way in that I didn’t really want to pursue the path that a lot of my peers were going down. A customer who worked in employee benefits came into a retail place where I was working and I thought, “that sounds interesting, because it’s solving problems for multiple people at once.”
They ended up hiring me and I slowly worked my way up. I’ve only been working in the insurance field for about five and half years total, and only about four years on the benefits side, so it really hasn’t been that long.
PW: What has helped shape your mindset as a broker?
The main factor in the broker I am today is Rudy Garcia, who founded Qandun Insurance. I was at a brokerage before and we were doing things the typical way. We positioned and sold ourselves as a technology broker. I thought, “Wow! This is really it; technology is a differentiator.”
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I heard brokers saying, “No, that’s not it. It’s got to be you; it’s got to be the strategy and results,” but it fell on deaf ears for a while.
At about that time, I started talking with Rudy and seeing how deep he was going with his clients and the importance of asking the right questions and solving the right problems. If you’re not asking the right questions, your insight and guidance won’t be as impactful. That was very motivating to me. I saw him doing this at such a high level and it inspired me to go and do the same.
PW: What are the opportunities and challenges you face as a smaller brokerage?
One challenge is that some clients or prospects just want to see a big name. At that point, it’s on us to communicate our value, because we know we can do things that the big houses won’t do. They’re designed to do things a certain way, while we’re able to reinvent ourselves and pursue strategies that they’re not.
I feel like our industry’s biggest challenge is we need to start being more transparent. We need a little more leeway from carriers and suppliers so we’re able to be more transparent. We’re kind of strangled right now. We don’t tell people what we’re worth; we just rely on the commissions coming in to cover our costs. I feel like that’s a big deal. That’s a big challenge because if carriers keep cutting commissions—which they are—then we become chained to them.
PW: What have you and your firm done around compensation transparency and tying fees to performance?
We always present our prospects and clients with ways to do that. When we do, it makes some really excited and others, not so much. I think there’s a lot of fear around alternatives. A lot of employers we talk to say, “No, let’s just renew.” They just want to get on with their business. But I think it’s absolutely the future; it’s only a matter of time.
PW: What are the biggest challenges and successes you’re experiencing or hearing about from peers?
It’s a bit of struggle for a lot of broker right now, because we’re introducing new technology to clients and it causes more work for us. It’s very challenging to remain strategic when you’re also required to be so operational in nature. But as technology progresses and the everyday stuff becomes more automated, I’d like to think that we’ll be able to focus more on strategy.
The brokers I’m seeing who are really thriving right now are focused on driving spend down. They’re technicians who are honing in on key ways they can drive spending down and they’re really good at communicating how it’s done to people who may have never heard of some of these ideas and solutions.
I’m really passionate about how we motivate people to lead healthier lives. Things like meditation, holistic wellness, mindfulness and balance are just exploding right now. On my flight today, I overheard people talking about visualizing their day and being intentional about their commitments. This stuff is really powerful and I’m curious about how we can integrate it into health care.
PW: Does that mean you’re less of a cynic when it comes to wellness initiatives? There are definitely differing opinions in the broker space.
I know some really intelligent brokers who slam wellness, and they do it with data. I get it. I’m not going to come out against that philosophy, because they’re focusing on how to get the biggest wins versus time spent. A lot of brokers I talk to from the East Coast tell me that they’re not necessarily as into that as a culture, whereas if you go to Seattle, Portland or Los Angeles and start talking about meditation and eating organic, people are going to be into that.
I just don’t think there are enough examples yet to conclusively say holistic wellness isn’t going to help us drive down costs. But it’s definitely a long-term approach, which can be a problem when we’re often thinking in terms of quarters and years.
PW: How important has collaboration with other brokers been to your career?
I owe pretty much everything I know to collaboration; I’m always learning from other brokers. What we do is so complicated, and our clients are looking to us for so many things that I think it’s pretty much impossible for any one broker or company leader to stay on top of it.
I work with brokers in our area and we discuss what’s working and what’s not. I’m not concerned that they’re going to take my clients or that our opportunities will be reduced. What we gain from collaborating and helping each other get over obstacles so far outweighs any possible disadvantages.
I think it’s really scary to think about how the general public perceives health insurance right now. Unless we elevate our space and what it means to be a benefits consultant, I think we’re going to have problems. So let’s help each other out.
PW: What are your favorite things about your job?
The main thing that drives me is just the magnitude of the problem. We are constantly talking about the macro trends: how health care costs are skyrocketing and how it’s becoming unaffordable for individuals and businesses alike. The trends aren’t in our favor either, in terms of the health of the average person in our country.
My long-term vision is fueling businesses that are doing awesome things in the world. That’s why we focus on social enterprises and companies that have a mission beyond just making a profit.
That’s something I tell brokers: be yourself and be authentic. Look deep within and decide who you want to serve. That’s another reason why I’m not intimidated by competition; I think that if we all become specific about who we want to serve, there’s plenty of room for everyone. That’s a really powerful thing.
PW: As someone who’s relatively new to the industry, what advice would you offer someone who’s interested in joining?
Have a long-term outlook. When I think of were I am today, compared to when I’d only done it for two years, it doesn’t even feel like the same thing. I talk to brokers who have been doing it for ten years and they say, “Man, I’m still learning so much. I hope to have a firm grip on this in another couple years.”
It takes a long time because there’s so much going on. It’s such a vast industry and it means so many things to so many different people. There are so many different types of people in our space. If you want a business where you can essentially tailor it to your strengths, our space certainly provides that. If you surround yourself with the right kind of people, you can basically do anything.
When we think we’ve arrived, that’s the death of us. We can never have the mindset that we have it all figured out. We can’t think that way when our system is so broken.
PW: Finish this sentence: The key to success in this industry going forward is…
Integrity. If we had a family member working at one of our client companies, how would we serve them? Every person at each company we serve is part of someone’s family.