With Thanksgiving days away, it’s the perfect time to reflect on 2022 and consider the things for which brokers might be thankful.
An improving economy: While unemployment is still higher than leaders in California and Nevada would like, hiring is up in 2022. While some businesses still face challenges filling job openings, unemployed resident numbers are down dramatically.
In Nevada, unemployment peaked at 28.5% in April 2020; this summer the jobless numbers fell below five percent. In California, unemployment was 4.1% in August after dropping below 4% in July 2022. It hit a high of 16.1% in May two years ago.
Unlimited income potential: As an independent health insurance professional, you have virtually no income ceiling. Few industries outside of health insurance and financial services offer individuals with little work or sales experience the opportunity to earn a potentially large paycheck quickly.
You can set your own goals, choose what hours you want to work, and decide when and where you want to meet with your prospects and clients. You earn a commission on each sale – and you have opportunities to earn added bonuses, too.
Customers and prospects need you: Shopping for health insurance for a small business can be complicated. For a larger business, it can be even more challenging. Prospects and customers routinely seek out insurance and benefits professionals to help them make purchasing decisions. They rely on your experience and expertise to ensure their access to the doctors, hospitals, and other health care professionals – and the prescription drug medications – in the plans they are considering.
A competitive marketplace: Thanks, in part, to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), small business health insurance is very competitive. Your clients have access to a wide range of carriers and plans, including options in all four ACA metal tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. According to information from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) published in late 2021, more than half (58%) of small firms and 99% of large firms offer health benefits to at least some of their workers. The opportunity is there, and you can help your employer clients identify coverage designed to meet the needs of their employees, while still controlling costs for their businesses.
Available support from a general agent (GA): A general agent can provide you, your colleagues, and your agency with a variety of valuable tools and resources. A GA can help relieve you of some of the back-office, enrollment, and administrative tasks associated with group health. That allows you to focus on what is really important: sales.
When you partner with Word & Brown as your GA, you can take advantage of five things that set us apart from other general agencies:
-WBQuote: The successor to our breakthrough Quot-O-Matic® quoting technology introduced in the 1980s, WBQuote is the most advanced quoting engine in our industry. It gives you an easy way to compare carriers and plans, view highlighted rate differences, and select the coverage that best fit your clients’ – and their employees’ – needs. Or, quote anywhere with our mobile-friendly WBQuote Lite. You can customize your output to reflect you and your brand – adding your logo and your client’s company logo – and export in your choice of PDF, Excel, or PowerPoint.
-An experienced and talented team: From Sales to Underwriting to Client Experience, there’s no one better to partner with than Word & Brown. We’ve been providing Service of Unequalled Excellence to brokers for 37 years. We are committed to helping you deliver effective health plan solutions to your clients and providing you – and them – with value-added extras, too.
-Integrated Provider and Rx Search: Instantly search, confirm, and build quotes with the doctors, medical groups, and hospitals most wanted by your clients. Our integration ensures you have the most up-to-date information when looking up providers available with the plans your clients are considering.
-Online Enrollment and HRIS: To expedite your groups’ enrollments, we offer Online Enrollment (OLE) tech from Ease – plus Human Resource Information System (HRIS) technology to enable your clients to manage their payroll, HR, and benefits. You can also offer clients access to HR support from Mineral.
– “Week of Webinars” Training: California brokers can take advantage of our annual online training event to easily earn valuable Continuing Education (CE) Credits, simplifying your license renewal. (Sorry, Nevada brokers are ineligible to earn CE Credits through this online training due to state regulations.)
We are thankful to those of you who have chosen us as your partner in 2022. We are working every day to earn your business and your trust. If there’s anything more we can do to help you, don’t hesitate to reach out to your Word & Brown representative or any of our offices across California and Nevada. Best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving, a successful Q4, and a prosperous 2023!
