Q4intelligence, a marketing and sales firm that assists insurance agencies with acquiring new business, has partnered with HR tech provider GoCo to offer brokers a new benefits enrollment platform.
The GoCo.io platform is used by employers with up to 1,500 employees, but its sweet spot is smaller to medium size businesses with a limited HR department, according to Nir Leibovich, the tech company’s co-founder and CEO. It streamlines routine HR processes like employee onboarding through the use of electronic signatures and automated document management.
Documents such as W2s and benefits enrollment selections are stored on the GoCo platform and automatically routed to other systems, such as payroll and policy administration. Brokers who have access to the platform can view enrollment data to determine benefit uptake, opt outs and utilization. They can then use this to help optimize their client’s plan design and ensure that the employer remains compliant with all relevant laws and government regulations.
Kevin Trokey, a Q4intelligence founding partner, says Q4i will use the GoCo platform to support its broker clients and their consultative sales process. Having access to real-time benefits data, he says, will help brokers engage in conversations with their small employer clients that would otherwise be awkward and uncomfortable.
“It allows the broker to put the emphasis on the problem they can solve rather than the commissions they’ll receive,” he says.
It will also allow brokers to compete on more than just price.
“Agencies buy all of these value-added services,” Trokey says, “but what we see them do time and time again is continue to compete on price. They show during the renewal period begging for a chance to quote and leveraging any relationship they might have with the carriers.” As for their value-added services, Trokey says, the brokers do little more with them beyond “waving them in front of the client as a teaser.”
Poor technology muscle memory
Although many brokers have invested in various flavors of technology, Trokey says only a few “have effectively integrated it into the muscle memory of their sales process and client services.” That hurts them when it comes to supporting clients with issues such as managing new compliance and reporting requirements, and by limiting their agency’s operational efficiencies.
Trokey adds that many brokers do not know how to price for the value add services they do provide. Q4i plans to help them by creating price ranges for their services. Then, using data from the GoCo platform, the broker will be able to make an educated pricing decision that reflects both the workload required by the service and the context in which it will be provided.
“For clients with whom they already have a very rich compensation arrangement, the broker could go very lean and offer the services on a cost basis,” Trokey says. “But there will be other times when the broker’s current level of compensation doesn’t justify the additional workload.”
