Brokers seeking to expand their business and, at the same time, strengthen their business relationships may want to consider bundling health insurance products for customers.

Here’s a brief outline of why it’s a great idea to offer bundled options.

• Carriers often are willing to offer discounted premiums for bundled packages.
• Bundled options that include vision and dental coverage fill gaps in typical health insurance coverage for employees in an affordable way. It costs employees more to purchase vision and dental plans outside their corporate employment environment.
• Small and mid-sized businesses save money by shifting to offering employees a bundled plan that includes voluntary vision and dental benefits. The employer may still opt to offer, for example, one free eye exam or one free set of dental X-rays, but all the rest of the voluntary benefits are out-of-pocket expenses.
• Businesses that don’t have staff dedicated to employee benefits will find bundled options easier to understand and manage. You create a “one-stop shopping” relationship with customers.
• For you, the broker, cross-selling bundled products increases your revenue stream and is likely to help you expand your customer base.

Clearly offering bundled product options is a win-win-win solution.

So let’s look at how to bundle insurance products for your book of business.

Bundling medical, dental and vision coverage

What’s missing from some medical insurance coverage is either dental or vision insurance—or both.

One way to start is to approach the carriers with whom you work. Let them know that you want to create a winning solution for them to expand their customer base by developing bundled product options—especially medical, dental and vision products—that you can sell to your current and potential customers.

• Do your homework. Choose carriers that have adequate network providers in your region and who have great relationships with those providers.
• The next step is to revise your pitches and social media marketing materials. Let current and potential customers know that you now offer bundles which are beneficial to both companies and their employees. Underscoring that win-win aspect is key.

A second avenue to bundling insurance products for your book of business is to buy another broker’s book of health insurance customers.

• Caution: this route has its risks. The most significant risk is not knowing how many customers will decide to make the transition to you as their broker once the sale goes through. Make sure you do adequate research and, if possible, have the seller-broker introduce you to current customers in their book prior to the sale as a way to increase the likelihood that those customers will stay with you as their new broker.
• A second risk is that the seller-broker plans to open a competing business shortly afterwards. To ward off that possibility, make sure you include a non-compete clause in your sales contract.

The bottom line? If you offer bundled product options to customers—especially in cases where the ancillary plans will be voluntary—you are creating a cost-savings solution for customers and their employees, while at the same time, working on expanding your customer base. It’s a win-win-win approach which keeps customers happy and employees healthy.