Summer 2007 / No. 72
Too many group companies don’t “get” enrollment
Group carriers are often too willing to pass the enrollment function off to third parties, often without a clear appreciation for the importance of that decision or the dangers that accompany it.
In the employer-paid business, enrollment is a post-sale function, part of the administrative process of installing a case that has already been sold. In the voluntary world, enrollment is the sales process. Yes, it’s the last of the famous three sales, but it’s the most important, it’s the one that counts!
We need to appreciate that the employee is the customer who is buying and that the enrollment process is the primary way that potential customer experiences us. To simply delegate it away as an inconsequential part of administration is to say that we do not care what experience our customers have.
We need to understand the importance of enrollment as the heart of the selling process, design the experience we want our customers to have, and then deliver it relentlessly. With that mind set, third parties can become a valuable marketing tool rather than simply taking a burden off our shoulders.
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