Have you been struggling with reaching brokers that you know would find great value in your solution?
There are many vendors out there that are disrupting ‘business as usual’ for employers and some will stay and some will fade. With the increase in digital marketing in the sales process–there are now more opportunities for you to reach people outside your circle.
However, one thing is certain–and that is how challenging it remains to reach brokers with your message…
It’s no secret that benefit firms have continued to grow over the years. Many are simply getting bigger through acquiring other brokerage firms–and as a result–are now even harder to reach. (There is a layer of complexity with firm acquisition that makes outreach challenging. However, there’s also opportunity in this chaos.
The opportunity is that firms often recognize that more structure and formality is needed in certain business processes (like how to find and evaluate vendors on behalf of their clients) and then put resources in place to streamline this process.
The challenge is that it takes time for these firms to start acting like “one” brokerage firm and therefore there may still be a fragmented or siloed approach to how they speak with both vendors and other co-workers that are part of the same firm.
What does this mean for you as a vendor trying to reach them? It means that the process continues to be an uphill battle. To help you in this battle, I’m sharing some tips on how to reach brokers.
For vendors that understand how important the brokerage channel is to sales and distribution, there’s often a firm-by-firm approach or a regional approach to sales.
In some cases an individual is assigned a few brokerage firms and owns the relationship between those firms and their own company, regardless of where the brokerage firm is located in the country. In other cases, the individual is assigned a territory (ex. Northeast) and they own all brokerage firm relationships that are located in the states assigned to them.
However, in either case, the broker relationship manager or partnerships team will need to employ a series of tactics to work with their assigned brokerage firms or territories. Here are 4 ways you can begin to reach more brokers:
In all of the above cases–the RELATIONSHIP is the key. By getting to know each individual broker (producer, account manager, etc) you are starting to build trust.
However, if the vendor is new to the benefits space or has relied on direct sales to the employer, understanding how important the broker relationship is in sales and distribution is going to be key. (Pro tip: Approaching this by dipping a toe into this won’t get the results you need.)
Committing to the channel means allocating resources and also understanding that it’s not a sprint, but a marathon. Forming strong relationships takes time. Nurture the channel over time and stay relevant with content that helps the broker to help their client. Remember that it’s not about you/your company - it’s about them and their clients. How can you help them?
Over time it is also important to decipher how each benefit firm approaches the vendor space. Some firms have dedicated people or areas who are tasked with meeting and evaluating vendors. Some have a team of people who have other day jobs, but are also tasked with keeping up on the latest and greatest vendors out there. In both of these cases, the way they decide which vendors get a meeting is tied to both relationships (see above) and also tied to marketplace trends. Let me expand.
If caregiving (for example) is trending and the brokerage firm isn’t as strong with their vendor relationships in this space, they would look to meet vendors and learn how each one approaches the market. Some will put you into a queue where their innovation/vendor teams will schedule monthly calls to meet different vendors. Others that have a dedicated area will prioritize you based on market trends and your relationship with them.
Other firms are not as streamlined as it relates to vendor evaluation, so the key is to determine where the larger markets are and who the key producers/account managers are. Utilizing the tactics I shared above will come in handy here, but it does take time.
In any of the above instances, it always helps to have at least one of the broker's employers as a happy client before reaching out to the broker.
There’s also an overarching strategy that should be employed – marketing – to support any and all direct sales efforts.
In the past, this could be tricky as it’s more of a broad based approach that today includes ads and content pieces in publications, conferences, keyword marketing and other tactics.
With an uptick in how sales and marketing overlap in the digital space it can be overwhelming to figure out how and where to reach your audience.
In any of the above instances, it always helps to have at least one of the broker's employers as a happy client before reaching out to the broker.
A few ways you can align your sales and marketing efforts is to take advantage of tried and true practices:
If you’re playing in the digital sandbox then this is also where BenefitPitch can really support you. With our platform, you can utilize Smart Messaging which allows you to customize a banner communication that is placed in the brokerage firm’s instance of BenefitPitch. So, think of it as being allowed to advertise on their internal vendor management system. The message, the content, the links - everything can be customized for a specific firm.
There’s no denying that this is a tough market to sell in - lots of competition, challenges in reaching the brokerage firms, not enough budget or staff to do all that needs to be done - but don’t lose hope. Remember, it's all a long game. But there are new ways to speed up the number of conversations (with aligning your sales and digital marketing). Most importantly, remember to consider these newer, digital opportunities when thinking about how to reach new brokers.You will miss out on a lot of business if you simply sit and wait.
Learn how over 8,000 users are seeing transformational benefits from implementing the turnkey BenefitPitch platform–as a supplement to their sales and marketing strategy.