Three Things Small Business Owners Don t Always Tell Their Benefits Brokers It isn t always easy to create connections with your small business clients but when you do, you can reap the rewards of long-term relationships and business growth.
Table of Contents How to build relationships that help business owners and grow your business... 2 Time and trust... 3 Information kept close... 4 Creating a relationship.... 6 1
How to build relationships that help business owners and grow your business Building a successful business includes taking care of employees, and for many small business owners that means providing them with benefits. In fact, small business owners recognize the value employee benefits bring to their organization. Nearly 8 in 10 say that benefits are extremely important for employee retention and productivity, according to MetLife s 14th Annual Employee Benefit Trends Study. Moreover, both owners and employees say benefits provide peace of mind for the unexpected. For you as a benefits broker, the small business market represents a vast opportunity to establish relationships and grow your business right alongside your small business clients. Yet connecting with small business owners can be a challenge. As a group, they re especially protective of their time, and they can be reluctant to divulge information about their business to brokers who haven t earned their trust. You have to break through that trust barrier to establish a real relationship, says Kelly Riggs, president and founder of Business LockerRoom, a sales coaching and leadership consulting firm. The key to doing so is to provide small business owners value from the beginning, creating a true partnership that better benefits both parties. 2
Time and trust As president and founder of San Diego-based KCD PR, Kevin Dinino has constant demands on his time. His 10-person firm, which specializes in public relations for financial service and fintech companies, has tripled in size over the past two years. I want to spend the majority my time growing the business and working with clients at a high level, he says. But I m also out there prospecting and being the face of the brand, too. It s tough. For most small business owners, there s nothing small about the work they re doing. There are not enough hours in the day, and every minute is valuable. Indeed, in a recent survey small business owners reported not enough time to do everything as one of their top two challenges. 1 As a result, many small business owners are especially protective of their time and selective about answering phone calls or taking lunches that don t offer some sort of value. Oftentimes sales people or service providers would offer to take me out to lunch just to meet, and I hated that, says Elicia Putnam, former owner of a small ad agency and now founder of the Portland-based Brand Genie, an online brand and logo generator. In addition, many business owners are equally protective of and passionate about their companies. While they re happy to discuss what their companies do, most only dive deep into the details of their current business struggles and future plans with truly trusted advisors. The good sales professionals are the ones that actually follow up after a sale. They genuinely care, and they make it more of a relationship, Dinino says. Not a lot of people actually do that. PRO TIP As you get to know new clients, recognize why they re being cautious with information and proactively address their concerns. For example, help them understand that by providing accurate and complete information, you ll be able to provide them with better plan recommendations and prevent surprises and dissatisfaction down the road. 3
Information kept close Whether it s that protective mentality or simply not considering their benefits broker as part of their trusted circle, small business owners report that there are things they don t reveal about their companies. This is especially true in the early stages of their relationship with their benefits broker. Employee details. Ilka Ramirez, lead account manager at TIA Group, an insurance benefits brokerage in San Antonio, Texas, says clients often don t provide individual salary information, specific employee counts or job titles. It s challenging, Ramirez says. Sometimes we need to (redo their proposal) because they didn t provide enough information. When it comes to new clients, small business owners admit that they worry too much information about their employees, from ages to individual salaries, will affect the rates their company pays for insurance benefits. The age of my employees played a huge role in the cost of health insurance benefits for my last business, says Kent Schnepp, CEO of Bend, Oregon-based Odysys, a digital marketing platform for independent hotels. So this time I didn t want to talk about age that much. PRO TIP Ask your small business clients about their recruitment and retention efforts and whether they struggle with high turnover. Show them how they could offer ancillary benefits such as vision or dental to help attract and keep staff. Employee retention and recruitment. One-third of businesses with 50 to 100 employees report that hiring is their top challenge. 2 And benefits play a key role in recruiting as well as retaining quality hires. Compensation and benefits definitely matter, says David Niu, founder and CEO of TINYpulse, a Seattlebased employee retention and engagement software company. Niu started his company three years ago, and it recently grew to over 100 employees. Still, many small business owners don t think of their benefits brokers as resources for ideas on how to improve their recruitment package or reduce turnover. Brokers can offer suggestions to help small business owners expand their benefits or meet their employees needs, even with smaller budgets, says Karen Carter, an account manager with MHBT, an employee benefits broker in Texas. Employers are really surprised when they can do things like offer vision on a voluntary basis, Carter says. They ll think it s not important, but then they ll get 100% participation from employees. 4
Future plans and growth projections. Many small business owners view their relationship with their benefits broker as transactional, and are less inclined to talk with them about their projected growth and plans for the future. Yet such discussions can open up new opportunities for brokers and business owners, such as the potential to alter plan designs to fit an evolving workforce, addition of a valuable new coverage options or introduction of service efficiencies. Niu, with TINYpulse, says that he wants his benefits broker be a partner. We like to understand what we should be looking out for as we continue to grow aggressively, he says. For example, as his own workforce changes, he s increasingly interested in how benefits work for remote workers, an issue that a proactive broker might uncover early in discussions about the company s future. PRO TIP Ask your small business clients about their plans for growth over the next year or two. Be on the lookout for issues that may affect the company as it expands, whether it s having a dispersed team or an older workforce that is staying on past typical retirement age. 5
Creating a relationship Reservations or apprehension from small business owners is common, says Riggs, of Business LockerRoom. Absent any relationship, the last thing business owners need is someone imposing on their time. This is where many sales people falter and fail: they don t earn the right to sell. The remedy for creating more open, collaborative connections with your small business clients is to start with a relationship instead of a sale in mind. Riggs, who has 35 years of experience in sales, as well as executive and small business management, offers three key tips: 1. Do more company-specific research. Dinino, with KCD PR, is amazed at how many calls he receives from sales professionals who haven t even done a two-minute web search to learn what we do, he says. You don t need to be an expert in the small business or its market, but doing a basic amount of research goes a long way. Business owners want to do business with people who have done their homework, Riggs says. Before you even pick up the phone, visit the company s website and read up on the common challenges facing its particular industry. 2. Understand their problems. If you already know what a business does and some basic challenges its industry faces, then you can ask the small business owner about specific issues. For example, they may struggle broadly with competing with larger companies for talent, or they may be on the hunt for a more affordable dental plan. You become someone who provides solutions, instead of just selling a product, Riggs says. 3. Bring value to every interaction. Putnam, with Brand Genie, says that she s amenable to meeting with brokers, as long as they have something real to share. I would love if someone came to me and said, Here s the issues we ve seen with other agencies like yours and here s how we helped them save money, she says. Riggs notes that if you ve already researched the company and delved into its problems, then offering something of value, whether it s information about best practices or your experience with similar-sized businesses, becomes easy. You want to have reason for having a conversation, he says. These tips ensure that you move away from a once-and-done or once-a-year transaction and toward a long-lasting business relationship. You create trust with the small business owner, and the time they spend with you is valued. The big secret: small business owners want this, too. I think it would be a huge value add to connect with a broker that understands your business and business model, Dinino says. That person becomes a resource that I can turn to as my business grows. The relationship grows into more of a true partnership. The business owners find someone that really helps and serves as a consultant, Riggs says. And for the broker, the relationship is pure gold. They re being paid not for the product, but for the value they re bringing to the table. 6
1 Does Small Business Ownership Really Provide Freedom of Lifestyle? Survey Says... Credibly, January 2016, https://www.credibly.com/trending/does-small-business-ownership-really-provide-freedom-of-lifestyle-survey-says/#_ftn2 2 State of Small Business Report, Wasp Barcode Technologies, 2016, http://www.waspbarcode.com/small-business-report 1606-605765 CS 2016 METLIFE INC. L0416464650[exp0717][All States][DC,PR] PEANUTS 2016 Peanuts Worldwide LLC Metropolitan Life Insurance Company New York, NY 10166 www.metlife.com