Greetings!
We've just finished our third BGNLive networking conference, and we feel it was the most productive and enjoyable session to date.
When we get together, we work hard. We take an honest assessment of our businesses and find ways to make them better. In this session, we reviewed the business from top to bottom and left with specific plans for each area of the business - from minimum expectations to advanced options.
Over the next few newsletters, we'll explore each of those areas we covered at BGNLive and give you some specific action items to improve the operations of your business, as well. This month, we're starting from the first point of contact with a prospect: Marketing.
I hope you find some valuable take-aways from these articles. If you'd like to talk about any of them in further detail, please feel
free to contact me directly: Kevin@BenefitsGrowthNetwork.com
 
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Are you sharing the right message with your employees, clients, & prospects?
Sharing the right message is of utmost importance in setting the stage for your relationships. If your clients and prospects get the wrong message about what to expect when working with your agency, then they will be surprised to find that what you say and what you do don't match - which is never a good thing. And if your employees don't know the correct message, then you can be certain that they are not delivering on that message. Marketing is the set of strategies used to promote your company message and value offering. Communicating this message is equally important to share with your staff as communicating it to your prospects and clients. Have a plan for both internal and external communication. Keep in mind that all marketing activities should be based on your larger company strategy (vision & goals looking forward about 3 years) and should be used as strategies and tactics to achieve your company goals. Key components of marketing strategy: - Clear and concise messaging defining the company purpose, core business offering, and competitive positioning
- Identified and defined target client
- Clear understanding of ideal client wants and needs
- Agency-identified areas of focus for expertise based on client wants & needs
- Documented plan of where and how you will communicate your message and value offering (internal & external)
Defining Your Message Answer each of these questions in clear and concise terms as the basis for your company message: - Who is your primary target client?
- What are these clients concerned about in their business on a daily basis?
- How are you able to help them resolve these issues?
- What do you want to have happen as a result of the relationship between you and your clients?
- What is it about the way you work with your clients that is different from the way your competition works with clients?
Once you've got your message defined, be sure to use it everywhere - replace current web site copy, print ads, online profiles, etc. Anywhere you promote your company should be clearly demonstrating the benefits of doing business with you.
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Competing For Talent
What is the price of providing health insurance - versus what will it cost me to drop it?
There has been a lot of talk of
late about employers getting out of the business of offering benefits, or at least the medical insurance business. You've probably seen studies such as the McKinsey & Co. study that found that 30% of all employers will "definitely" or "probably" stop offering their workers health insurance when mandates take effect in 2014.
Yet other studies, such as the one performed by Workforce Management and Business Insurance, have found that most employers won't drop their health insurance. Their survey found that 52.5% strongly disagreed that dropping coverage (and accepting a $2,000 fine per full-time worker) would be the right strategy, with another 15.3% somewhat disagreeing.
Most employers are evaluating their decision based on two factors:
1. Will it be cheaper for me to continue to provide medical insurance or to drop it and pay the fines?
2. Do I have the resources and understanding to deal with the increased compliance issues that will result?
Both questions are opportunities for you to help guide your clients and prospects to the answers that are right for them.
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