Raising their game: How brokers can sell benefits (and help clients boost retention)

As a benefits professional, you want more business. This means deepening relationships with current clients and getting them to refer other business owners with high praise. You want to be “invested” in their success. It has been said commercial bankers and accountants build strong client relationships because they understand the business as well as the owner! Why can’t benefits professionals fit into the same category? Can you be a problem solver instead of a cost center?

Businesses have always faced the problem of retaining experienced employees. Many competitors see hiring a competitor’s employees as a cost-effective alternative to running a training program and cultivating home grown talent. How can your business-owning clients take steps to build employee loyalty?

1. Offer a good benefits plan – and make sure they understand it. This is your product area, so it makes sense to lead off with your strength. You know there are benefits you provide and others you don’t, like vacation days and tuition reimbursement. Suggest each new hire gets a package explaining their benefits. Support this with in-house workshops for new hires. Once a year, review how the benefits plan works.
2. Introduce profit sharing. Many businesses pay employees on a salary plus bonus basis. This keeps salaries at a more manageable level. Does your client work on this system? Does this apply at all job levels, from lowest to highest? People like the feeling they are part of a team. When the firm does well, everyone on the team benefits.
3. Do their employees recruit new employees? In today’s tight job market, there are always job vacancies. The business owner has certain channels available to them. All probably come with a dollar cost. Your employees likely socialize with others doing similar jobs elsewhere. They might belong to a professional association. They know who is unhappy because they got a new manager, or the company politics are difficult to navigate. How do you encourage employees to do your recruiting for you? If they are going to persuade someone to join the team, they need to be happy enough to “sell” the team.
4. Do they offer a signing bonus? If your employees do your recruiting for you, the new hire can feel their friend at the firm is incentivized to do whatever it takes to get them through the door. If you offer a signing bonus to the new hire, it should come across as a much fairer system. The new hire gets a portion of the money for joining, the current employee gets a portion too.
5. Have they met all their employees? Do they know their names? The practicality of this idea depends on the size of the company. My wife worked in the JC Penney HQ years ago, when the company was based in New York. Every new hire met “Mr. Penney” personally. She still remembers this experience decades later. Knowing your employees and addressing them by name demonstrates you care for them as individuals.
6. Are complaints handled fairly? This can be a touchy area. Word spreads fast within the workforce if infractions reported to management are handled fairly and impartially or brushed under the rug. You need to have a process and make everyone aware how it works. There should be a route to senior management if someone feels the system is broken.
7. Does the company feel like a family? Does the business owner meet with the employees as a group and explain what is going on? Do employees know if the business is doing well or poorly — and how they can help? This can help eliminate the “us” and “them” mentality.
8. Does the company have social activities? Are there interdepartmental softball games? Is there a company picnic? Does the firm have a talent show? These activities may not be important to all employees, but they mean a lot to some employees. This can be important for employees new to the area of employees with young families.

Related: Message received? Delivering effective benefits education (even on a tight budget)

Only the first idea rings the cash register and puts money in your pocket. By sharing these other ideas in conversational form with the owner or through brainstorming sessions, you can show them you have an interest in helping their business attract good employees, retain them and keep them happy.

Bryce Sanders is president of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc. He provides HNW client acquisition training for the financial services industry. His book, “Captivating the Wealthy Investor” is available on Amazon.