As we wrap up 2018, we asked brokers what strategies and tools they were leaving behind, and what they were adding.

You're not the boss of me

One thing I left behind in 2018 is working for insurance companies. I work for my clients and their employees, and no product or bonus will affect that relationship. I've never allowed any commission/income structure to influence me, but the mindset of how we get paid has changed. It should be a direct contract with employer and consultant.

The new idea is that employees deserve to understand the conversation we're having with their employer and why and how their employer is coming up with the strategy to better serve their employees. We work so hard helping employers understand, yet we need employees (consumers) to understand. It's imperative that they have the tools needed to make better decisions and understand why certain decisions are being made. It's time the conversations go deeper, and include employees and their families.

Taylor Y. Lindsey, Employee Benefits Consultants

Buh Bye, spreadsheets

The one thing I have left behind is spreadsheets. Time to move away from complicated spreadsheets of plans and rates. The one thing I have added is a fully staffed HR area in our firm, with a SHRM-certified HR professional and three additional HR consultants that help our clients on a project basis.

Barry Cohn, president & CEO, Really Great Employee Benefits

Bottom line decisions

I dropped spreadsheets and began focusing on long-term goals for my clients and prospects, implementing cost-containment tools. By doing this, we have been successful in lowering cost, allowing employees to access quality care, improve morale and add bottom line profits for employers. It's a win for all involved.

Marcy S. Heath, InoVentive Solutions

Doubling down

Everyone says health insurance costs as much as it does because health care is expensive. I spent much of 2018 talking with hospital CFOs to create direct contracts with my clients to eliminate the middlemen and lack of transparency. It means lower overhead for the hospital, and lower costs for my clients. That's the direction we all need to move in.

What I left behind? Spreadsheeting and offering other services for the purpose of deflecting from the challenge of doing what all our clients really want: to functionally and substantially lower costs and improve health outcomes for their employees. I still provide those things, but they are more of a “must have” as opposed to a value proposition.

David Contorno, founder, E Powered Benefits

Consistency is key

We have a lot of data supporting the effectiveness of our prospect engagement but have identified that not all of our producers consistently follow our methodology. We are going to streamline our prospect engagement so our brand is better represented. The data that gets us is: 1. Our style of engagement gets to the issues that are causing the prospect concern. 2. It teaches us when to discontinue and when we have a prospect that is worth our investment.

Our sales team will experience an increased amount of role plays, team appointments and situational tests to see if they're identifying key issues that our process is designed to target. We won't have a brand if it's not shared by our people.

Billy Potter, principal, Snellings Walters Insurance Agency

Big changes, big goals

This year has been a big learning curve, to say the least. One thing I will abandon is attending so many networking events that are non-revenue generating. In the past, I've said yes to every networking meeting, but now I'm realizing my time is valuable and I need to protect it.

One thing I will start doing is hiring someone to offload some work. It's harder than I had imagined to balance revenue retention vs revenue generating activities. Plus if I want to win BenefitsPRO Broker of the Year in 2020, I need to have some crazy growth!

Rachel Miner, founder, Thrive Benefits

No heroes here

I've added continued focus on effective calendar management—more calls equals more quotes, which leads to more production.

I've left behind the “hero mentality.” We're a team; we win as a team.

Nathan Queen, employee benefits regional VP, southern region, OneAmerica

Personalized approaches

In the past year, we've shifted more focus to address personalization for our customers. Key examples include machine learning and AI, which now let visitors ask questions and get answers 24/7. We've also enabled online chat for clients who want to talk to a real person. Our communications have become more personalized—meeting clients when they need us during the buying and onboarding processes. We added partners that provide our members with personalized white glove experiences in key areas of advocacy and caregiver support.

As we embrace personalization, we leave behind antiquated systems. This year, we said goodbye to our old CRM system. We've also replaced many internal manual processes with a suite of proprietary tools that allow us to scale. We'll continue to invest in systems that make our customer experience the best in the industry.

Tonia Degner, chief strategy officer, freshbenies

Educated empowerment

We began 2018 working with a business coach who has opened our eyes and has been instrumental in moving us forward.

One new thing is educating employers on the different ways to finance their benefits. There are many terms, trends, ideas and fads floating around out there and other brokers are using them to grab AORs, but we're using the information as knowledge. When we empower employers, they feel good about the decisions they make. There is nothing wrong with having a fully insured plan, and it can be a good fit for many businesses. We're passionate about education and empowerment agency and that is what I am preaching.

I'm most excited about what I'm leaving behind. I'm not talking about copays anymore! This doesn't mean I will never go over another benefit comparison, but gone are the days of being a spreadsheet advisor.

Change is going to happen regardless. We can roll with it or get rolled over by it. The ACA has brought a hurricane of change; it's been a long process helping our clients to adapt and get through it ourselves, but it's time to step it up or step out.

Jill Pedersen, partner, benefits advisor, Columbia Benefit Solutions, Inc.

Pain points

2018 has been a great year. We are very fortunate to be able to continue to grow our business, but the work is really just beginning. Insurance rates continue to inflate, and everyone is feeling the pinch. Solving that problem is what makes the industry exciting. More than ever, clients are in need of innovative ideas and strategies to help them manage health care and benefits costs.

We've dedicated a ton of focus and resources to primary care and prescription drugs. We've invested in several innovations, and started local partnerships with health care professionals and providers to deliver value-based care to clients at a fraction of the cost. We believe that when people are given easy and affordable access to great, value-based primary care, it changes everything. We've been able to help clients with high prescription costs through relationships developed this year, which has had a profound impact on many clients.

One thing we've left behind is the belief that nothing can be done to fix health care. I've met and collaborated with amazing people in our industry who have rekindled my hope that fixing our broken health care system isn't just possible, but is happening. It's an honor to work with them to scale, and I can't wait to see what 2019 has in store.

Josh Butler, president, Butler Benefits & Consulting

A few other changes we saw in 2018:

• The first domino has fallen: accelerating the death of payroll deduction
• IRS opens door for 401(k) sponsors to address student loan debt
• How broker consolidation and industry alliances are changing the industry