"Voluntary is fundamentally a retail business.” In most ways,this is a true statement. Its intent is to underline the differencebetween voluntary and traditional employer-paid coverages. Involuntary, the employee is the buyer and the employer agatekeeper. In voluntary, needs are defined at the individual leveland purchasing is based on personal needs and preferences.

In voluntary, enrollment is an assessment, needs-based, relationship-buildingprocess, while in employer-paid coverages, it is an administrativeprocess. Voluntary producers need to understand these issues, tolearn about employee coverage gaps and employee-buying processes,and, basically, learn to communicate with and understand theemployee perspective.

It’s easy to be swept away by these facts and conclude thatvoluntary is an individual insurance, retail-selling business, thatit’s the traditional insurance agent function, only taking place atthe workplace. That would be wrong.

It’s amazing how many insurers and brokers, peeling only thisone layer off of the proverbial onion, start their strategydiscussion with the need for consumer marketing: consumersegmentation, categorization, needs analysis, value propositioncreation, etc. These are laudable (and ultimately useful) tasks,but they do not drive overall sales. Segmentation that has its goalto focus on attractive segments, at the expense of others, assumeswe can pick and choose which employees we want to engage andenroll.

The danger is that we forget that pesky gatekeeper. The firststep in selling a voluntary account is to sell the account.Business segmentation, segment strategies and employer valuepropositions help get us new accounts. Our success at getting newaccounts determines whether we ever get to engage the employees.Employee-level strategies are exciting in that they drive thingslike sales presentations, tailored language and bundled productsolutions, but they do not drive account prospecting, approaches,or closes. And if we don’t get the account closed, all of theemployee segmentation will be wasted.

Once the account is landed, we want to serve all employees thatwe can profitably underwrite to the degree we can build employeerelationships that recognize their differences and similarities.But first, we need the account. We’d rather get 30 percentparticipation in thirty accounts than seventy percent in one. Oncewe reach the point we can sell thirty accounts, we’ll sustain ourbusinesses and focus on increasing participation.

It is this fact that keeps voluntary squarely within the realmof employee benefits rather than individual insurance. Your carriermay have tailored brochures and bundles for soccer moms andempty-nesters, but do they help you get new accounts? If not,demand more.