November 10, 2025 • 28 mins
Change can energize or paralyze—so we chose energize. We sat down with Eric Silverman, founder of Voluntary Disruption and a four-time guest, to unpack what’s actually moving the needle in enhanced benefits today. The surprise? Products haven’t radically shifted, but execution has. Simple, high-interest options like pet insurance, ID protection, legal plans, and life paired with long-term care continue to win attention. The real breakthroughs are how teams communicate, guide choices, and run enrollment with less friction and more trust.
We dig into decision support tools and their mid-market roadblocks, then map how AI can personalize choices with Amazon-like clarity. Think smart nudges that connect plan design to real life: a high-deductible plan paired with accident coverage, or young families steered toward urgent care-friendly options. We also trace a major distribution shift—from carrier direct to advisor-led strategies—where brokers step up to own the full package: medical, pharmacy, disability, life, and voluntary. That move isn’t just good practice; it’s how you reduce risk across absenteeism, presenteeism, and unexpected costs.
Communication is where results jump. Text-first outreach beats inbox fatigue. Short, captioned videos from HR leaders outperform generic vendor clips. Family-focused messaging, including the emergency contact, turns open enrollment into a shared decision. We share a practical playbook: launch midweek, keep enrollment windows short, host content on a 24/7 microsite with searchable chapters, and go off the January 1 cycle to escape fourth-quarter chaos. Virtual, self-service enrollment replaces one-on-one sales pressure and leaves a clean digital trail that cuts buyer’s remorse and HR headaches.
If you advise employers—or lead HR—and want better participation without arm twisting, this conversation gives you the modern blueprint. Subscribe, share with a colleague who needs a smarter enrollment strategy, and leave a review with your top takeaway so we can dive deeper next time.
This episode is sponsored by Benepower, the platform of choice for a modern benefits experience. Benepower is an AI-powered benefits platform offering access to top products and services, enabling consultants and employers to create customized plans, optimize usage, and measure effectiveness. www.benepower.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
David Saltzman (00:01):
What's new and what's trending in the world of
voluntary or enhanced benefits?
We'll find out on this episodeof Shift Shapers.
Announcer (00:12):
Change either energizes or paralyzes.
The choice is yours.
This is the Shift ShapersPodcast, bringing the employee
benefits industry interviewswith individuals and companies
who are shaping the industryshifts.
And now, here's your host,David Saltzman.
David Saltzman (00:31):
And to help us answer that question, we've
invited my old buddy EricSilverman, who is now a
four-time guest and has lived totell the tale.
He's a founder of VoluntaryDisruption.
He's a podcast host, an author,and the 2017 EBA benefit
advisor of the year.
Hey Eric, how you doing?
Eric Silverman (00:49):
Hey, what's up, David?
Thanks for having me back for arecord fourth time.
David Saltzman (00:53):
A record fourth time?
I'm gonna have to get you likea little award to put on your
mantle back on your shelves backthere or something.
I will last time we talked wasback in 2023, almost exactly two
years ago now.
Um and I know a lot has changedin a variety of different ways
pertaining to what you callenhanced benefits.
Um let's let's dig in and let'sstart at the at the very
(01:15):
bottom.
What's changed in terms ofproduct?
Have product offerings gottenbroader, more pointed, um pulled
in?
Where's that at?
Eric Silverman (01:24):
You know, I I I often think about the evolution
or what carriers would like tocall revolution of products in
in our space, or I should say myspace, the enhanced benefit
space.
But to be honest, I haven'tseen anything crazy
revolutionary, uh, even evenevolutionary over the last uh
handful of years.
Um I'd say it's a lot of thesame old.
(01:46):
Um, you know, some of the uhnon-insurance programs are still
gaining more and morepopularity and traction because
let's just face it, uh petbenefits and ID theft and
prepaid legal as not sexy asthose sound, I agree.
Um they catch the employees'interest and they catch the
human resource professionals'interest and they're simple,
(02:09):
quick add-ons that uh thatemployees appreciate.
And and to be honest, they'rethings that they get offered
anyway.
When you go to, I don't have apet anymore, unfortunately.
My Mike, I'm a cat guy, theypassed away a few years ago.
But when I would deal with aPet Smart or Petco, the cashier
is gonna ask you if you want tobuy pet insurance or pet plans.
Um, so employees are gettingthem anyway.
Norton Lifelock, God blessthem, they advertise like crazy
(02:31):
on the radio.
So employees are getting thesethings anyway.
So employers have realized ifthey just offer it on a group
platform at time of enrollmentand new hire, they can actually
make it a true employee benefitand give employees a discount.
Uh and the other, the onlyother benefit I've seen growing
in more engagement andpopularity, I would say, is uh,
and this is a good one, uh, isuh life insurance with uh with
(02:54):
long-term care.
Um there's really not much of astandalone long-term care
market anymore on the grouplevel.
So tying it in with a life planhas been about as innovative as
I've seen, and it is quitepopular.
David Saltzman (03:05):
Yeah, the pet insurance uh was one of the most
sold benefits last year.
I I read someplace in anepisode of EBA or something.
Um so it, you know, obviouslythese things are desirable, and
you're right.
If if you can do it at work,you know, why not?
So if if the benefits haven'tchanged in terms of you know
what's being offered all thatmuch, has there been more change
(03:26):
technologically?
For example, uh is there morebenefit decision support tools?
Um, or are there more benefitsupport tools?
Um, and you know, how areemployees taken to those?
Eric Silverman (03:38):
Yeah, I mean, there's a plethora of uh
companies out there that havebeen in the decision support
tool uh industry, I should say,uh, for years.
Um, and there's new ones, Ibelieve, coming out quite often.
I see them at a lot ofconferences uh trying to get a
corner on the market.
Um, and they're quite useful.
They really are.
Uh the challenge that that isthe decision support tool model
(04:01):
uh has been and and still is,and I believe will be for the
near term at least, uh, is theaffordability and the perception
of the value that it brings.
So a mega company, right, aHome Depot size company, I don't
have one of those, I wish Idid, but those types of
companies put it in, it's no bigdeal.
It makes sense.
Their advisor carriers help payfor it.
(04:21):
The heck, the company mighthelp pay for it, and that's
fine.
Um, but when you try tostreamline it down to the uh
even the mid-tier, let alone thelower tier market, you know,
20, 50, 100, 200, 500 lives, um,it's still very costly.
Uh I highly recommend it.
I would love to use it and doit, um, but it becomes very,
very cumbersome to put in valueand money-wise.
(04:43):
Uh so I think, like anytechnology, right?
You and I love technology, it'sgonna continue to get uh
better, it's gonna continue toget more affordable as as it
scales.
Uh, but I personally haven'tseen it there yet.
David Saltzman (04:57):
That's interesting.
So it, you know, do you thinkthat as AI becomes more
pervasive and easier to use andmore interactive, that that will
be one of the things thatdrives engagement of that of
those kinds of tools?
Because I know employees lovethem.
Eric Silverman (05:11):
Yeah, I mean, I I they're they already exist.
I'm not gonna sit here and namevendors for the sake of naming
vendors, but they can they canreach out and sponsor you if you
want, if they want.
Um, but with all seriousness,um, no, uh, there's no question
AI is gonna help.
It already is.
We use it every day.
And with respect to decisionsupport, you know, I would love
uh uh with a with a passion tosee something on scale that we
(05:34):
can implement in a 10-man groupthe same way we can do a hundred
and a thousand and a tenthousand-man group.
And I would love to seesomething to the effect of
Amazon, whereby, you know, youliked this, you probably would
love this.
Most people who get this alsoadd these three things.
I can easily see a world wherethat is ubiquitous in offering.
Um, and it exists, don't get mewrong, but again, it would be
(05:56):
super helpful for the low,mid-size market um and very,
very valuable for employeesalike.
David Saltzman (06:02):
Well, sure.
I mean, if if it looks at thecensus and it knows that, you
know, you're a young parent withthree boys, it's going to say
accident insurance is somethingthat you've got to have.
Right.
So, you know, it'll but it butit'll come.
Have you seen any changes indistribution?
Is it still pretty muchbroker-based?
Eric Silverman (06:17):
Uh, you know, it so I mean, I'm I'm I I like to
think I'm still young, but I'vebeen in the business now 26
years.
When I started 26 years ago,everything was one-on-one old
school enrollments, uhknee-to-knee, face-to-face,
mandatory this, mandatory that.
Uh, you had to horn swaggleemployees into trying to buy
stuff, whether they need it ornot.
I'm just telling you how it is,right?
(06:37):
Or was.
Um these days, increasinglyover the last many years, I'd
say even the last decade, letalone the last five years, um,
it's been increasingly more uhpopular for employers uh to
actually go through theirmedical broker, advisor, or
consultant.
Uh years ago, I guess my pointis it was more direct.
(06:58):
You had carriers that were umswarming the market and going
direct cold-calling businessesacross the country.
That still exists by all means,good, bad, or indifferent, love
it or hate it, not here toargue that.
But I've seen more and more ofthat going away and more and
more advisors, brokers,consultants, ABC, getting into
the market and continuing todive feet first into the market,
(07:20):
uh, partnering with companieslike myself and others who can
really streamline what they usedto not be able to do or uh
really just help advisors trulyown the benefit package, as
opposed to, you know, we stillmeet brokers who will do medical
and they'll do pharmacy andthey stay in their own little
world there.
And then when I ask them aboutthe enhanced benefit side or
(07:41):
even the employer-funded sidefor core, disability life, et
cetera, brokers will say, Yeah,we don't really touch that.
It kind of just rolls over, orwhatever the carrier says we
should do, we do.
And I find that unfathomable,to be honest with you.
Um, I see brokers too often,uh, more often than not.
And if you're listening andyour advisor, please don't hang
up on me, but I see it.
I'm just spating facts.
(08:02):
The reality is uh advisorsspend so much thought and
purpose and time puttingtogether a strategic medical and
pharmacy plan for theiremployer group clients and their
employees who are the trueconsumers of healthcare.
The challenge is they don'tgive an iota or a you know what,
a flying you know what, when itcomes to um strategically
placing disability life, dentalvision, accident critical
(08:25):
hospital, let alone pet benefitsor anything of the like.
So uh we just want advisors andbrokers and consultants to,
this is harsh.
This is really harsh.
I just want them to stop beingtoo-faced.
And if they're gonna say theycare about the holistic approach
of the employer and theemployee spend, really own it
and really mean it.
And that means every benefit.
(08:45):
Because let's be honest, abenefit is a benefit, is a
benefit, regardless of who paysfor it.
Anything you can get workingacross the street at a
competitor is and was and alwayswill be considered a benefit.
So the more an employer canoffer, whether it's employer
funded or employee funded orshared, the more they can offer
it and a package, the moreperception-wise it's gonna be to
(09:08):
work there.
Great, it's gonna be greater towork there from an employee
perspective.
David Saltzman (09:12):
Well, I mean, it's also it's also a risk tool.
I mean, I we say a lot,especially when we're talking
about self-funded plans on theprogram.
There's really only threethings you can do with risk.
You can take it, you can shareit, or you can give it away.
And, you know, maybe part of itis risk to the employer, but
part of it is risk to theemployees as well.
Um, and then, you know, youcircle back when it's just a
risk to the employee, it alsotouches the employer because you
(09:34):
have absenteeism, presentedism,all of that other stuff that,
you know, we we all like to talkabout.
But it can it can be alucrative part of somebody's
practice, can't it?
Eric Silverman (09:42):
Oh, extremely.
And, you know, I don't hear itas often nowadays, but I still
hear it.
And I certainly heard it yearsago where an advisor broker
consultant would say, well, youknow, we just don't touch that
side of the house, the enhancedbenefits, voluntary, uh,
ancillary, whatever.
We don't really get into itbecause it's kind of a pain and
there's really no profit in it,there's no margin, the benefits
(10:03):
are the benefits, it's it's nobig deal, where nobody's getting
rich on it.
And and they don't say itcandidly to be offensive.
They're being very blunt anddirect, and I appreciate and
respect it, but they're justmissing out because they don't
understand how this side of thefence works.
It would be the equivalent if Ijust all of a sudden tried to
start selling health insuranceand and self-funded medical
plans.
If I didn't have somebodyguiding me and showing me the
(10:25):
way, I wouldn't know any better.
And I too may think it's a painin the butt and there's no
money in it.
So um, you have to have thatsubject uh matter expert to
guide and and really, in mycase, just partner with works
what works even better.
David Saltzman (10:39):
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And now, back to ourconversation.
So one of the concerns thatthat always happens when you
start adding more benefits andmore employee choices is
communicating properly.
Are are you seeing any changesin the way I mean, we used to
just get everybody at openenrollment meetings and plaster
them with materials and whatnot?
Are you seeing any changes inhow that's happening?
Eric Silverman (12:04):
Uh yeah, I mean, and I could go on forever with
it, but one of the biggestfocuses we're making uh over the
last couple of years and andnow even more so than ever, is
uh a targeted message focused onthe family uh of the employee,
the the true consumer ofhealthcare themselves, the
employee.
And, you know, when I presentthis concept to advisors,
(12:27):
brokers, consultants, I alwaysstart there because that's my my
client.
Um, and then before we meetwith employers, but even
employers, they kind of scratchtheir head and say, well, how
can you do that?
Well, you know, one kind of protip for anybody that wants to
give it a shot, it works sowell, is you want to make it a
family decision.
And more often than not,husband, wife, mom, dad, um, you
(12:48):
know, yeah, the uncle who's afinancial planner, they'll say
to their uh their family memberwho's going through open
enrollment, well, geez, I didn'tknow it was open enrollment.
What do you mean it endstomorrow?
How long has it been open?
It's been open for three weeks.
Ah, yeah, well, here's thatpacket of information.
Um, if you you can take that uhout of the equation by just
going direct to the source, thefamily member themselves.
(13:09):
And the way you do it, a lot ofpeople say, well, geez, how?
Within most and all benefitplatforms, whether it be uh a
payroll service enrollmentplatform or an employee
navigator type system, God blessthem.
Um the reality is the emergencycontact number is more often
than not we find a husband, awife, a uh a significant other
of some source, and we justmessage them.
(13:32):
And the message is simple.
You can use chat GPT to helpyou, but it's something simple
like, hey, we see you listed asthe emergency contact, and we
make fun.
Great news, no worries,everybody's fine, but we wanted
you to be aware that uh it'sbenefit season and benefits are
a family decision.
Click here to help your uhsignificant other of some sort,
uh, et cetera, et cetera, uh dotheir open enrollment and pick
(13:53):
their benefits.
So uh, and there's a sciencebehind it, and we have um
scripts and hundreds andhundreds of templates we have,
but the reality is when we diveinto that feature alone, um it's
uncanny how the enrollmentrates go up and we get feedback.
We don't do every group doesn'tdo a post-enrollment survey,
but if and when we do, we uh wehear and see comments about how
(14:15):
they really appreciated gettingtheir family member involved.
Uh and I'll be sexist for aminute.
A lot of times it's the wiveswho will comment and say, Hey,
geez, I'm so glad that youmessaged me because Joe, my
husband, hasn't told me aboutopen enrollment yet.
David Saltzman (14:27):
Well, you know, those of us who are married,
have been married, et cetera,know that the wives are usually
smarter and certainly more ontop of this kind of stuff.
So um, you know, we're moreinterested in other things.
So it escapes our mind.
Are there different modes ofcommunication that you find work
better?
Are you doing like, you know,kind of internal podcasts or uh
texting or other things?
(14:48):
What's what's working?
Eric Silverman (14:50):
Yeah, so I mean we take uh uh and I didn't
create the term, but we take anomni-channel approach.
So we tell employers all thetime, hey, you're already
sending out a massive email,you're already doing it, uh,
fantastic.
Don't stop.
You're already putting up asign old-fashioned style in the
break room above a time clock.
Great, don't stop.
We're not telling them tocancel or change what they're
doing.
If they like it, they don'tmind doing it, and they believe
(15:10):
that it works.
What we're trying to do, excuseme, is just be more additive.
We're simply saying, let'saugment what you're currently
doing with the mode ofcommunication that people value
and trust more.
So nowadays it's text messagecommunication.
And I probably said that whenwe met a few years ago, but the
reality is that hasn't gottenworse.
It's gotten increasinglybetter.
Um, so we're identifyingourselves as the employer
(15:32):
enrollment team.
Uh, we're using their image,their logo, their likeness,
they're they're approving it.
And um, and people recognize itimmediately.
And they have hyperlinks thatthey can click on to go directly
into the enrollment platformusing their uh what I have I
didn't coin it.
Chris Wolper, my good friendcoined it, the remote control of
everybody's daily life, whichis their smartphone, their
Android, their Google device,their iPhone, or what have you.
(15:55):
Um, so that's one, but it'salso a two-way text
communication platform.
So, you know, these days, andwe see it all the time, uh,
particularly to be to be honest,we hear the younger generation,
they have what's called uh uhphone anxiety, uh voicemail
anxiety.
They don't know how to use thephone uh properly.
And I think it's sad, butthat's a uh topic for another
day.
So they have grown up textingand they prefer it.
(16:18):
So if you're communicating withthis generation and then some,
you want to make sure you'recommunicating with them and
meeting them where they're at,which in this case is using that
same technology.
We're taking it a step further,though, because we're getting
the employer to recordthemselves on a video that we
blast message to all theemployees, where I can tell you,
(16:40):
ma'am, if it's me on a video,nobody cares.
Nobody knows who I am.
If it's my counterpart,advisor, broker, partner, uh,
consultant uh uh puttingthemselves on video, they don't
care about them either.
No offense to my partners.
What they do care about, maybeat least a little bit better
than us, is the employer, headof HR, putting themselves on a
one-minute video and we blastthat out and we put a progress
(17:02):
bar and we put captions and wemake it look fancy, we make it
look like a TikTok without thedancing, we make it look like an
Instagram reel without the umthe music, because we're trying
to appeal to a generation thatis so used to that type of video
format.
And then to round it all out,not only are we doing it in
multiple languages, all of whatI just told you, uh, if and when
needed, but we're also doinginternal webinars that I would
(17:25):
call more of an internal podcastwhere we're having employees uh
who we ask if they'd be on theshow or an employer, where we
can literally blast out a quickum 30 second, 60 second, or two
minutes about a certain productor a certain uh part of the uh
the benefit side that we want toget across to that employer.
And those tend to be bite-sizeddrips of information, very
(17:48):
similar to when I do my podcastjust like you, we clip out the
best parts and we send them outto the social media feeds.
Very much the same thing whenit comes to uh to it to talking
about benefits throughout theyear.
David Saltzman (18:00):
You know, one of the things we talked about
off-air was um self-serviceenrollment.
Is is that becoming morecomfortable and more available
because of the generationalshift?
Eric Silverman (18:11):
Yeah, I mean, hands down, my goodness.
Um yeah, I haven't literally,no joke, in in more than a
decade, I haven't organized aone-on-one in-person enrollment
in more than a decade.
And uh business has never beenbetter and employees have never
been better educated because ofthe tools at our fingertips.
Now, I know there's a lot ofnaysayers that will argue that,
particularly the uh voluntarycarrier reps that make a living
(18:32):
doing one-on-one lip uhenrollments.
And I did that for 15 years,almost 15 years.
But the reality is technologyis at us at such a high and it's
increasingly getting betterthat we're doing multiple tens
of thousands of employeecompanies as well as the 10-man
company uh virtually.
I mean, we have 99% of ouremployer group clients and our
advisor partners that bring usin.
(18:54):
I've never even met in person.
I'm not bragging, I'm simplysaying I there's no need.
We do a virtual handshake onZoom, we close the deal, we set
up the open enrollmentcommunication and technology,
and we're off to the races.
And when I explain it properlyto a human resource
professional, an employer ofsorts, even an advisor who
doesn't know any better, theirhead explodes in the best way
(19:14):
possible because David, they'renot used to it because they
don't know any better andthey're not convinced that it's
gonna work.
And here's the interestingthing uh that that happens in
the best way possible.
We're seeing enrollment ratesuh at at highs, just like if
they were meeting one-on-onewith an employee or a uh a 1099
commission counselor.
And in this case, there's nocommission counselor.
(19:35):
Uh, counselor is a term forsalesperson.
Um, and moreover, uh, we're nothaving pushback on the back end
because back in the old daysand still to this day, if you uh
are an employee and you meetwith a uh a 1099 commission
salesperson who's gonna uh tryto sell you a bunch of stuff you
may or may not need, whathappens is night follows day is
(19:55):
a couple of weeks or a monthlater, you have buyer's remorse
and you try to get out of it.
And if there's pre-tax, there'sa whole challenge of getting
out of it if and when it can beallowed.
In our case, we have a digitaltimestamp of when the employee
themselves went in and madetheir election and how many
times they went through theplatform over open enrollment
before they made an election,which makes there's they can
(20:15):
have buyer's remorse, God bless,but it's very, very difficult
for them to say they didn't wantit because they weren't forced
to do it.
They did it manually on theirown.
So there's no headaches on theback end for us as advisors,
brokers, and consultants.
And there's certainly uh verylittle to no headaches to the
employer, the HR departmentalike.
David Saltzman (20:35):
Now, as as we've talked, obviously you deal with
open enrollments like all thetime.
Um, and I know you're prettymuch become an expert on that.
Are there things that um somefirms are doing that are
actually hurting theirenrollments or things that
brokers are doing?
Eric Silverman (20:52):
Yeah, I think the uh and I I I'm really
passionate about this.
I kind of uh uh I say there'sthere's basically six to seven
different things that uh thatemployers are doing wrong and
their advisors are helping themdo wrong without even realizing
it, uh, as far as you know,what's the term in any industry
is what are the best practices,right?
So, some best practices, someof the biggest things that I see
(21:14):
that we try to overcome, andonce I explain it, we very
readily overcome it with ease.
Um, and then random order.
Um, one, yeah, I mean, if youreally want to host an in-person
meeting, that's fine, but why?
Why do you need to um to takepeople off the line if it's an
assembly line?
Why do you have to pull peoplein if they work from home?
Why are we still trying to armwrestle people to do in-person
(21:37):
meetings?
So virtual works so muchbetter.
Um, also, when you do a virtualmeeting, uh, make sure you
record it.
And when you upload it to theircustom micro site that we make
for them, uh, so it's 365, 247for the employees and their
families to view it.
Um, uh, I'm sure peoplelistening are familiar with
YouTube chapters, right?
So if you put an hour video upon YouTube, you can scroll to
(22:00):
see the chapter that you want toactually check out.
I'm a big car fan, I'm anenthusiast, and I'm not shy
about it.
So when I watch a lot of carvideos, I might not want to see,
no offense, I'm a host as well.
I might not want to see theopening part, but I want to see
them get to the fun part.
So I'll scroll to what I careabout, right?
And it saves me a lot of timeand effort.
Why aren't you doing that withbenefit videos?
So if you record, it doesn'thave to be an hour, but if you
(22:22):
recorded an hour meeting livewith the 27 people that came to
the Zoom or the team's meetinglive, when you put it on uh the
website for employees to see thebenefit site, why not chapter
it out?
So extract the dental and justput the four minutes on dental
so they can click on only thedental if that's what they
really care about.
Extract the 37 seconds onprepaid legal or pet benefits,
(22:44):
extract the one minute onaccident and the seven minutes
on medical.
You get the idea and the twominutes on pharmacy.
So the chapter um segmentationis instrumental.
Um, don't rely just on email.
We kind of touched about thaton uh earlier, but email I don't
want to say is dead, but peopleget email anxiety the same way
they get voicemail anxiety.
So again, you got to use thatomnichannel approach.
(23:06):
Um, here's a big one.
Don't drag out the openenrollment window.
Uh the 80, 20, 10, or I shouldsay the 70, 20, 10 rule is is is
very much a thing.
So uh if you do an openenrollment um launch today, on
the day we're recording thismessage, um you're gonna have a
lot of type A, not a lot, you'regonna have the type A
(23:26):
personalities go through rightaway.
Fair.
And we love those, by the way.
You're gonna have most peoplenot do anything in the middle of
the two or three or four weekopen enrollment companies like
to have.
And then you're gonna haveeverybody rush at the end, and
then HR's pulling their hair outtrying to arm wrestle people to
go through open enrollment.
The shorter the open enrollmentwindow, the better.
(23:47):
So uh you can always extend itby a few days if you need to,
but stop for the for the life ofme, stop telling employees they
have a three-week openenrollment or a four-week, even
a two-week.
Our maximum open enrollmentwindow that we like to promote
is a week and a half tops, andeven that is too long.
And people always say, Well,but we have you know 1,400
employees.
(24:07):
You can't possibly do it.
Really?
The system can handle 1,400employees on the same second at
the same day if that happened,right?
So, what do you mean you can'tpossibly do it?
They're scattered around thecountry.
Of course you can do it.
It's just you've never done itthat way.
So you have to be open-mindedto something different and new
and unique that will help savethem and you time.
Procrastination is the uh isthe detriment to all good open
(24:29):
enrollments.
Here's another tip when itcomes to launching open
enrollment.
We've never opened launch anopen enrollment uh for a new
account or a re-enrollment on aMonday.
I don't care if the employer,um, if the employee themselves
work on a Monday or if that'stheir off day, Mondays are just
a Monday, right?
There's the old saying, youhave the case of the Mondays,
right?
Sunday night, people don't wantto get up for Monday morning.
(24:51):
Launch on a Tuesday orWednesday or Thursday.
Heck, we love launching on aFriday because we promote that
the weekend is a perfectopportunity for them to make it
a family decision.
And then we leave it open forthe next five to seven days or
what have you.
Um, a couple other finalthings.
Uh, one would be um January oneis not the only option.
We increasingly encouragebrokers and advisors and
(25:13):
consultants to help theiremployer clients move their
effective date off of Januaryone.
So it helps us as advisors,brokers, consultants, and it
also helps the employer and theemployees not have to do it
during the crazy world that isfourth quarter.
Um, we're doing a uhsupermarket chain right now and
they're doing it during fourthquarter, but we told them this
(25:34):
will be the last year.
If they're open to it and theyloved it, we're moving them to
next year.
We're doing a short plan yearnow, and they were like, oh my
gosh, it's a new advisor tookover the health.
We never were told that.
We didn't know that was athing.
We thought we had to be January1.
So if you explain how asupermarket that makes turkeys
for Thanksgiving for theircustomers, you don't have to do
(25:55):
it in your busy season.
Let's move it off cycle so youdon't have to deal with the
rigmarole ever again.
Um, and you know, I guess thebottom line is stop as an
advisor broker consulting, stoptaking orders from your clients
that think they know whatthey're doing only because some
bad broker told them that's howit had to be years ago.
Start consulting and guidingthem to the best practices that
(26:18):
I outlined and then some thattruly can make benefits open
enrollments uh great again.
I I don't know why I said that,but it's gonna be funny for
people that don't like thatsaying.
David Saltzman (26:28):
Well, we won't we won't make any red hats, I
promise you.
But that's you know, the thatthat's the thing.
If if you want to differentiateyourself as an advisor, advise.
You know, I get that questionall the time, and and that's the
answer that I've been givingfor, I don't know, at least the
last five, six years, is is isbe an advisor.
Don't just be a product peddleror a product placer.
It's way more than that.
(26:48):
It's anybody there.
Right.
Anybody can do that part of it.
The part of it where you'rereally a value to your client is
your insight from how many everyears you've been in the
marketplace and the things thatyou've learned and to make it
easy for them.
It it's it's not rocketsurgery, as somebody once said.
It's it's really pretty simple.
Hey, Eric, if folks want towork with you and want to get in
touch with you, what's the bestway to do it?
Eric Silverman (27:09):
Sure, I appreciate it.
Uh, so voluntarydisruption.com, two words,
voluntary disruptionaltogether.com.
Uh, I'm pretty darn uh darnactive on social media,
particularly LinkedIn.
Um, so just Eric Silverman andLinkedIn, uh combined uh 70,000
of you already follow me or areconnected.
So love to have more.
(27:29):
And if we haven't met yet, sendme a message.
Let's connect and and figureout uh how we can work together.
And even more so, because thisis what I'm passionate about.
If you want to just talk cars,um, send me a message or follow
me on Instagram.
I'm Toys for Dad.
Um, and you can see all my funtoys.
David Saltzman (27:43):
Toys and fun fact, you know, from somebody
who's known Eric for a longtime.
If you really want to win hisheart, buy a mistake.
Eric Silverman (27:49):
Mistake, or take me to an Orioles game.
David Saltzman (27:52):
Yeah, well, you can take him to an Orioles game
too.
Eric, thanks so much forsharing your expertise.
We appreciate it, and weappreciate having you back on
again.
Eric Silverman (27:59):
Thanks, everybody.
Thanks, David.
Announcer (28:02):
The Ship Shapers podcast is a production of Ship
Shaper strategies and may not bereproduced or quoted in whole
or in part without our expresswritten permission.
Copyright 2020, all rightsreserved.
What's new and what's trending in the world of
voluntary or enhanced benefits?
We'll find out on this episodeof Shift Shapers.
Announcer (00:12):
Change either energizes or paralyzes.
The choice is yours.
This is the Shift ShapersPodcast, bringing the employee
benefits industry interviewswith individuals and companies
who are shaping the industryshifts.
And now, here's your host,David Saltzman.
David Saltzman (00:31):
And to help us answer that question, we've
invited my old buddy EricSilverman, who is now a
four-time guest and has lived totell the tale.
He's a founder of VoluntaryDisruption.
He's a podcast host, an author,and the 2017 EBA benefit
advisor of the year.
Hey Eric, how you doing?
Eric Silverman (00:49):
Hey, what's up, David?
Thanks for having me back for arecord fourth time.
David Saltzman (00:53):
A record fourth time?
I'm gonna have to get you likea little award to put on your
mantle back on your shelves backthere or something.
I will last time we talked wasback in 2023, almost exactly two
years ago now.
Um and I know a lot has changedin a variety of different ways
pertaining to what you callenhanced benefits.
Um let's let's dig in and let'sstart at the at the very
(01:15):
bottom.
What's changed in terms ofproduct?
Have product offerings gottenbroader, more pointed, um pulled
in?
Where's that at?
Eric Silverman (01:24):
You know, I I I often think about the evolution
or what carriers would like tocall revolution of products in
in our space, or I should say myspace, the enhanced benefit
space.
But to be honest, I haven'tseen anything crazy
revolutionary, uh, even evenevolutionary over the last uh
handful of years.
Um I'd say it's a lot of thesame old.
(01:46):
Um, you know, some of the uhnon-insurance programs are still
gaining more and morepopularity and traction because
let's just face it, uh petbenefits and ID theft and
prepaid legal as not sexy asthose sound, I agree.
Um they catch the employees'interest and they catch the
human resource professionals'interest and they're simple,
(02:09):
quick add-ons that uh thatemployees appreciate.
And and to be honest, they'rethings that they get offered
anyway.
When you go to, I don't have apet anymore, unfortunately.
My Mike, I'm a cat guy, theypassed away a few years ago.
But when I would deal with aPet Smart or Petco, the cashier
is gonna ask you if you want tobuy pet insurance or pet plans.
Um, so employees are gettingthem anyway.
Norton Lifelock, God blessthem, they advertise like crazy
(02:31):
on the radio.
So employees are getting thesethings anyway.
So employers have realized ifthey just offer it on a group
platform at time of enrollmentand new hire, they can actually
make it a true employee benefitand give employees a discount.
Uh and the other, the onlyother benefit I've seen growing
in more engagement andpopularity, I would say, is uh,
and this is a good one, uh, isuh life insurance with uh with
(02:54):
long-term care.
Um there's really not much of astandalone long-term care
market anymore on the grouplevel.
So tying it in with a life planhas been about as innovative as
I've seen, and it is quitepopular.
David Saltzman (03:05):
Yeah, the pet insurance uh was one of the most
sold benefits last year.
I I read someplace in anepisode of EBA or something.
Um so it, you know, obviouslythese things are desirable, and
you're right.
If if you can do it at work,you know, why not?
So if if the benefits haven'tchanged in terms of you know
what's being offered all thatmuch, has there been more change
(03:26):
technologically?
For example, uh is there morebenefit decision support tools?
Um, or are there more benefitsupport tools?
Um, and you know, how areemployees taken to those?
Eric Silverman (03:38):
Yeah, I mean, there's a plethora of uh
companies out there that havebeen in the decision support
tool uh industry, I should say,uh, for years.
Um, and there's new ones, Ibelieve, coming out quite often.
I see them at a lot ofconferences uh trying to get a
corner on the market.
Um, and they're quite useful.
They really are.
Uh the challenge that that isthe decision support tool model
(04:01):
uh has been and and still is,and I believe will be for the
near term at least, uh, is theaffordability and the perception
of the value that it brings.
So a mega company, right, aHome Depot size company, I don't
have one of those, I wish Idid, but those types of
companies put it in, it's no bigdeal.
It makes sense.
Their advisor carriers help payfor it.
(04:21):
The heck, the company mighthelp pay for it, and that's
fine.
Um, but when you try tostreamline it down to the uh
even the mid-tier, let alone thelower tier market, you know,
20, 50, 100, 200, 500 lives, um,it's still very costly.
Uh I highly recommend it.
I would love to use it and doit, um, but it becomes very,
very cumbersome to put in valueand money-wise.
(04:43):
Uh so I think, like anytechnology, right?
You and I love technology, it'sgonna continue to get uh
better, it's gonna continue toget more affordable as as it
scales.
Uh, but I personally haven'tseen it there yet.
David Saltzman (04:57):
That's interesting.
So it, you know, do you thinkthat as AI becomes more
pervasive and easier to use andmore interactive, that that will
be one of the things thatdrives engagement of that of
those kinds of tools?
Because I know employees lovethem.
Eric Silverman (05:11):
Yeah, I mean, I I they're they already exist.
I'm not gonna sit here and namevendors for the sake of naming
vendors, but they can they canreach out and sponsor you if you
want, if they want.
Um, but with all seriousness,um, no, uh, there's no question
AI is gonna help.
It already is.
We use it every day.
And with respect to decisionsupport, you know, I would love
uh uh with a with a passion tosee something on scale that we
(05:34):
can implement in a 10-man groupthe same way we can do a hundred
and a thousand and a tenthousand-man group.
And I would love to seesomething to the effect of
Amazon, whereby, you know, youliked this, you probably would
love this.
Most people who get this alsoadd these three things.
I can easily see a world wherethat is ubiquitous in offering.
Um, and it exists, don't get mewrong, but again, it would be
(05:56):
super helpful for the low,mid-size market um and very,
very valuable for employeesalike.
David Saltzman (06:02):
Well, sure.
I mean, if if it looks at thecensus and it knows that, you
know, you're a young parent withthree boys, it's going to say
accident insurance is somethingthat you've got to have.
Right.
So, you know, it'll but it butit'll come.
Have you seen any changes indistribution?
Is it still pretty muchbroker-based?
Eric Silverman (06:17):
Uh, you know, it so I mean, I'm I'm I I like to
think I'm still young, but I'vebeen in the business now 26
years.
When I started 26 years ago,everything was one-on-one old
school enrollments, uhknee-to-knee, face-to-face,
mandatory this, mandatory that.
Uh, you had to horn swaggleemployees into trying to buy
stuff, whether they need it ornot.
I'm just telling you how it is,right?
(06:37):
Or was.
Um these days, increasinglyover the last many years, I'd
say even the last decade, letalone the last five years, um,
it's been increasingly more uhpopular for employers uh to
actually go through theirmedical broker, advisor, or
consultant.
Uh years ago, I guess my pointis it was more direct.
(06:58):
You had carriers that were umswarming the market and going
direct cold-calling businessesacross the country.
That still exists by all means,good, bad, or indifferent, love
it or hate it, not here toargue that.
But I've seen more and more ofthat going away and more and
more advisors, brokers,consultants, ABC, getting into
the market and continuing todive feet first into the market,
(07:20):
uh, partnering with companieslike myself and others who can
really streamline what they usedto not be able to do or uh
really just help advisors trulyown the benefit package, as
opposed to, you know, we stillmeet brokers who will do medical
and they'll do pharmacy andthey stay in their own little
world there.
And then when I ask them aboutthe enhanced benefit side or
(07:41):
even the employer-funded sidefor core, disability life, et
cetera, brokers will say, Yeah,we don't really touch that.
It kind of just rolls over, orwhatever the carrier says we
should do, we do.
And I find that unfathomable,to be honest with you.
Um, I see brokers too often,uh, more often than not.
And if you're listening andyour advisor, please don't hang
up on me, but I see it.
I'm just spating facts.
(08:02):
The reality is uh advisorsspend so much thought and
purpose and time puttingtogether a strategic medical and
pharmacy plan for theiremployer group clients and their
employees who are the trueconsumers of healthcare.
The challenge is they don'tgive an iota or a you know what,
a flying you know what, when itcomes to um strategically
placing disability life, dentalvision, accident critical
(08:25):
hospital, let alone pet benefitsor anything of the like.
So uh we just want advisors andbrokers and consultants to,
this is harsh.
This is really harsh.
I just want them to stop beingtoo-faced.
And if they're gonna say theycare about the holistic approach
of the employer and theemployee spend, really own it
and really mean it.
And that means every benefit.
(08:45):
Because let's be honest, abenefit is a benefit, is a
benefit, regardless of who paysfor it.
Anything you can get workingacross the street at a
competitor is and was and alwayswill be considered a benefit.
So the more an employer canoffer, whether it's employer
funded or employee funded orshared, the more they can offer
it and a package, the moreperception-wise it's gonna be to
(09:08):
work there.
Great, it's gonna be greater towork there from an employee
perspective.
David Saltzman (09:12):
Well, I mean, it's also it's also a risk tool.
I mean, I we say a lot,especially when we're talking
about self-funded plans on theprogram.
There's really only threethings you can do with risk.
You can take it, you can shareit, or you can give it away.
And, you know, maybe part of itis risk to the employer, but
part of it is risk to theemployees as well.
Um, and then, you know, youcircle back when it's just a
risk to the employee, it alsotouches the employer because you
(09:34):
have absenteeism, presentedism,all of that other stuff that,
you know, we we all like to talkabout.
But it can it can be alucrative part of somebody's
practice, can't it?
Eric Silverman (09:42):
Oh, extremely.
And, you know, I don't hear itas often nowadays, but I still
hear it.
And I certainly heard it yearsago where an advisor broker
consultant would say, well, youknow, we just don't touch that
side of the house, the enhancedbenefits, voluntary, uh,
ancillary, whatever.
We don't really get into itbecause it's kind of a pain and
there's really no profit in it,there's no margin, the benefits
(10:03):
are the benefits, it's it's nobig deal, where nobody's getting
rich on it.
And and they don't say itcandidly to be offensive.
They're being very blunt anddirect, and I appreciate and
respect it, but they're justmissing out because they don't
understand how this side of thefence works.
It would be the equivalent if Ijust all of a sudden tried to
start selling health insuranceand and self-funded medical
plans.
If I didn't have somebodyguiding me and showing me the
(10:25):
way, I wouldn't know any better.
And I too may think it's a painin the butt and there's no
money in it.
So um, you have to have thatsubject uh matter expert to
guide and and really, in mycase, just partner with works
what works even better.
David Saltzman (10:39):
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(11:43):
And now, back to ourconversation.
So one of the concerns thatthat always happens when you
start adding more benefits andmore employee choices is
communicating properly.
Are are you seeing any changesin the way I mean, we used to
just get everybody at openenrollment meetings and plaster
them with materials and whatnot?
Are you seeing any changes inhow that's happening?
Eric Silverman (12:04):
Uh yeah, I mean, and I could go on forever with
it, but one of the biggestfocuses we're making uh over the
last couple of years and andnow even more so than ever, is
uh a targeted message focused onthe family uh of the employee,
the the true consumer ofhealthcare themselves, the
employee.
And, you know, when I presentthis concept to advisors,
(12:27):
brokers, consultants, I alwaysstart there because that's my my
client.
Um, and then before we meetwith employers, but even
employers, they kind of scratchtheir head and say, well, how
can you do that?
Well, you know, one kind of protip for anybody that wants to
give it a shot, it works sowell, is you want to make it a
family decision.
And more often than not,husband, wife, mom, dad, um, you
(12:48):
know, yeah, the uncle who's afinancial planner, they'll say
to their uh their family memberwho's going through open
enrollment, well, geez, I didn'tknow it was open enrollment.
What do you mean it endstomorrow?
How long has it been open?
It's been open for three weeks.
Ah, yeah, well, here's thatpacket of information.
Um, if you you can take that uhout of the equation by just
going direct to the source, thefamily member themselves.
(13:09):
And the way you do it, a lot ofpeople say, well, geez, how?
Within most and all benefitplatforms, whether it be uh a
payroll service enrollmentplatform or an employee
navigator type system, God blessthem.
Um the reality is the emergencycontact number is more often
than not we find a husband, awife, a uh a significant other
of some source, and we justmessage them.
(13:32):
And the message is simple.
You can use chat GPT to helpyou, but it's something simple
like, hey, we see you listed asthe emergency contact, and we
make fun.
Great news, no worries,everybody's fine, but we wanted
you to be aware that uh it'sbenefit season and benefits are
a family decision.
Click here to help your uhsignificant other of some sort,
uh, et cetera, et cetera, uh dotheir open enrollment and pick
(13:53):
their benefits.
So uh, and there's a sciencebehind it, and we have um
scripts and hundreds andhundreds of templates we have,
but the reality is when we diveinto that feature alone, um it's
uncanny how the enrollmentrates go up and we get feedback.
We don't do every group doesn'tdo a post-enrollment survey,
but if and when we do, we uh wehear and see comments about how
(14:15):
they really appreciated gettingtheir family member involved.
Uh and I'll be sexist for aminute.
A lot of times it's the wiveswho will comment and say, Hey,
geez, I'm so glad that youmessaged me because Joe, my
husband, hasn't told me aboutopen enrollment yet.
David Saltzman (14:27):
Well, you know, those of us who are married,
have been married, et cetera,know that the wives are usually
smarter and certainly more ontop of this kind of stuff.
So um, you know, we're moreinterested in other things.
So it escapes our mind.
Are there different modes ofcommunication that you find work
better?
Are you doing like, you know,kind of internal podcasts or uh
texting or other things?
(14:48):
What's what's working?
Eric Silverman (14:50):
Yeah, so I mean we take uh uh and I didn't
create the term, but we take anomni-channel approach.
So we tell employers all thetime, hey, you're already
sending out a massive email,you're already doing it, uh,
fantastic.
Don't stop.
You're already putting up asign old-fashioned style in the
break room above a time clock.
Great, don't stop.
We're not telling them tocancel or change what they're
doing.
If they like it, they don'tmind doing it, and they believe
(15:10):
that it works.
What we're trying to do, excuseme, is just be more additive.
We're simply saying, let'saugment what you're currently
doing with the mode ofcommunication that people value
and trust more.
So nowadays it's text messagecommunication.
And I probably said that whenwe met a few years ago, but the
reality is that hasn't gottenworse.
It's gotten increasinglybetter.
Um, so we're identifyingourselves as the employer
(15:32):
enrollment team.
Uh, we're using their image,their logo, their likeness,
they're they're approving it.
And um, and people recognize itimmediately.
And they have hyperlinks thatthey can click on to go directly
into the enrollment platformusing their uh what I have I
didn't coin it.
Chris Wolper, my good friendcoined it, the remote control of
everybody's daily life, whichis their smartphone, their
Android, their Google device,their iPhone, or what have you.
(15:55):
Um, so that's one, but it'salso a two-way text
communication platform.
So, you know, these days, andwe see it all the time, uh,
particularly to be to be honest,we hear the younger generation,
they have what's called uh uhphone anxiety, uh voicemail
anxiety.
They don't know how to use thephone uh properly.
And I think it's sad, butthat's a uh topic for another
day.
So they have grown up textingand they prefer it.
(16:18):
So if you're communicating withthis generation and then some,
you want to make sure you'recommunicating with them and
meeting them where they're at,which in this case is using that
same technology.
We're taking it a step further,though, because we're getting
the employer to recordthemselves on a video that we
blast message to all theemployees, where I can tell you,
(16:40):
ma'am, if it's me on a video,nobody cares.
Nobody knows who I am.
If it's my counterpart,advisor, broker, partner, uh,
consultant uh uh puttingthemselves on video, they don't
care about them either.
No offense to my partners.
What they do care about, maybeat least a little bit better
than us, is the employer, headof HR, putting themselves on a
one-minute video and we blastthat out and we put a progress
(17:02):
bar and we put captions and wemake it look fancy, we make it
look like a TikTok without thedancing, we make it look like an
Instagram reel without the umthe music, because we're trying
to appeal to a generation thatis so used to that type of video
format.
And then to round it all out,not only are we doing it in
multiple languages, all of whatI just told you, uh, if and when
needed, but we're also doinginternal webinars that I would
(17:25):
call more of an internal podcastwhere we're having employees uh
who we ask if they'd be on theshow or an employer, where we
can literally blast out a quickum 30 second, 60 second, or two
minutes about a certain productor a certain uh part of the uh
the benefit side that we want toget across to that employer.
And those tend to be bite-sizeddrips of information, very
(17:48):
similar to when I do my podcastjust like you, we clip out the
best parts and we send them outto the social media feeds.
Very much the same thing whenit comes to uh to it to talking
about benefits throughout theyear.
David Saltzman (18:00):
You know, one of the things we talked about
off-air was um self-serviceenrollment.
Is is that becoming morecomfortable and more available
because of the generationalshift?
Eric Silverman (18:11):
Yeah, I mean, hands down, my goodness.
Um yeah, I haven't literally,no joke, in in more than a
decade, I haven't organized aone-on-one in-person enrollment
in more than a decade.
And uh business has never beenbetter and employees have never
been better educated because ofthe tools at our fingertips.
Now, I know there's a lot ofnaysayers that will argue that,
particularly the uh voluntarycarrier reps that make a living
(18:32):
doing one-on-one lip uhenrollments.
And I did that for 15 years,almost 15 years.
But the reality is technologyis at us at such a high and it's
increasingly getting betterthat we're doing multiple tens
of thousands of employeecompanies as well as the 10-man
company uh virtually.
I mean, we have 99% of ouremployer group clients and our
advisor partners that bring usin.
(18:54):
I've never even met in person.
I'm not bragging, I'm simplysaying I there's no need.
We do a virtual handshake onZoom, we close the deal, we set
up the open enrollmentcommunication and technology,
and we're off to the races.
And when I explain it properlyto a human resource
professional, an employer ofsorts, even an advisor who
doesn't know any better, theirhead explodes in the best way
(19:14):
possible because David, they'renot used to it because they
don't know any better andthey're not convinced that it's
gonna work.
And here's the interestingthing uh that that happens in
the best way possible.
We're seeing enrollment ratesuh at at highs, just like if
they were meeting one-on-onewith an employee or a uh a 1099
commission counselor.
And in this case, there's nocommission counselor.
(19:35):
Uh, counselor is a term forsalesperson.
Um, and moreover, uh, we're nothaving pushback on the back end
because back in the old daysand still to this day, if you uh
are an employee and you meetwith a uh a 1099 commission
salesperson who's gonna uh tryto sell you a bunch of stuff you
may or may not need, whathappens is night follows day is
(19:55):
a couple of weeks or a monthlater, you have buyer's remorse
and you try to get out of it.
And if there's pre-tax, there'sa whole challenge of getting
out of it if and when it can beallowed.
In our case, we have a digitaltimestamp of when the employee
themselves went in and madetheir election and how many
times they went through theplatform over open enrollment
before they made an election,which makes there's they can
(20:15):
have buyer's remorse, God bless,but it's very, very difficult
for them to say they didn't wantit because they weren't forced
to do it.
They did it manually on theirown.
So there's no headaches on theback end for us as advisors,
brokers, and consultants.
And there's certainly uh verylittle to no headaches to the
employer, the HR departmentalike.
David Saltzman (20:35):
Now, as as we've talked, obviously you deal with
open enrollments like all thetime.
Um, and I know you're prettymuch become an expert on that.
Are there things that um somefirms are doing that are
actually hurting theirenrollments or things that
brokers are doing?
Eric Silverman (20:52):
Yeah, I think the uh and I I I'm really
passionate about this.
I kind of uh uh I say there'sthere's basically six to seven
different things that uh thatemployers are doing wrong and
their advisors are helping themdo wrong without even realizing
it, uh, as far as you know,what's the term in any industry
is what are the best practices,right?
So, some best practices, someof the biggest things that I see
(21:14):
that we try to overcome, andonce I explain it, we very
readily overcome it with ease.
Um, and then random order.
Um, one, yeah, I mean, if youreally want to host an in-person
meeting, that's fine, but why?
Why do you need to um to takepeople off the line if it's an
assembly line?
Why do you have to pull peoplein if they work from home?
Why are we still trying to armwrestle people to do in-person
(21:37):
meetings?
So virtual works so muchbetter.
Um, also, when you do a virtualmeeting, uh, make sure you
record it.
And when you upload it to theircustom micro site that we make
for them, uh, so it's 365, 247for the employees and their
families to view it.
Um, uh, I'm sure peoplelistening are familiar with
YouTube chapters, right?
So if you put an hour video upon YouTube, you can scroll to
(22:00):
see the chapter that you want toactually check out.
I'm a big car fan, I'm anenthusiast, and I'm not shy
about it.
So when I watch a lot of carvideos, I might not want to see,
no offense, I'm a host as well.
I might not want to see theopening part, but I want to see
them get to the fun part.
So I'll scroll to what I careabout, right?
And it saves me a lot of timeand effort.
Why aren't you doing that withbenefit videos?
So if you record, it doesn'thave to be an hour, but if you
(22:22):
recorded an hour meeting livewith the 27 people that came to
the Zoom or the team's meetinglive, when you put it on uh the
website for employees to see thebenefit site, why not chapter
it out?
So extract the dental and justput the four minutes on dental
so they can click on only thedental if that's what they
really care about.
Extract the 37 seconds onprepaid legal or pet benefits,
(22:44):
extract the one minute onaccident and the seven minutes
on medical.
You get the idea and the twominutes on pharmacy.
So the chapter um segmentationis instrumental.
Um, don't rely just on email.
We kind of touched about thaton uh earlier, but email I don't
want to say is dead, but peopleget email anxiety the same way
they get voicemail anxiety.
So again, you got to use thatomnichannel approach.
(23:06):
Um, here's a big one.
Don't drag out the openenrollment window.
Uh the 80, 20, 10, or I shouldsay the 70, 20, 10 rule is is is
very much a thing.
So uh if you do an openenrollment um launch today, on
the day we're recording thismessage, um you're gonna have a
lot of type A, not a lot, you'regonna have the type A
(23:26):
personalities go through rightaway.
Fair.
And we love those, by the way.
You're gonna have most peoplenot do anything in the middle of
the two or three or four weekopen enrollment companies like
to have.
And then you're gonna haveeverybody rush at the end, and
then HR's pulling their hair outtrying to arm wrestle people to
go through open enrollment.
The shorter the open enrollmentwindow, the better.
(23:47):
So uh you can always extend itby a few days if you need to,
but stop for the for the life ofme, stop telling employees they
have a three-week openenrollment or a four-week, even
a two-week.
Our maximum open enrollmentwindow that we like to promote
is a week and a half tops, andeven that is too long.
And people always say, Well,but we have you know 1,400
employees.
(24:07):
You can't possibly do it.
Really?
The system can handle 1,400employees on the same second at
the same day if that happened,right?
So, what do you mean you can'tpossibly do it?
They're scattered around thecountry.
Of course you can do it.
It's just you've never done itthat way.
So you have to be open-mindedto something different and new
and unique that will help savethem and you time.
Procrastination is the uh isthe detriment to all good open
(24:29):
enrollments.
Here's another tip when itcomes to launching open
enrollment.
We've never opened launch anopen enrollment uh for a new
account or a re-enrollment on aMonday.
I don't care if the employer,um, if the employee themselves
work on a Monday or if that'stheir off day, Mondays are just
a Monday, right?
There's the old saying, youhave the case of the Mondays,
right?
Sunday night, people don't wantto get up for Monday morning.
(24:51):
Launch on a Tuesday orWednesday or Thursday.
Heck, we love launching on aFriday because we promote that
the weekend is a perfectopportunity for them to make it
a family decision.
And then we leave it open forthe next five to seven days or
what have you.
Um, a couple other finalthings.
Uh, one would be um January oneis not the only option.
We increasingly encouragebrokers and advisors and
(25:13):
consultants to help theiremployer clients move their
effective date off of Januaryone.
So it helps us as advisors,brokers, consultants, and it
also helps the employer and theemployees not have to do it
during the crazy world that isfourth quarter.
Um, we're doing a uhsupermarket chain right now and
they're doing it during fourthquarter, but we told them this
(25:34):
will be the last year.
If they're open to it and theyloved it, we're moving them to
next year.
We're doing a short plan yearnow, and they were like, oh my
gosh, it's a new advisor tookover the health.
We never were told that.
We didn't know that was athing.
We thought we had to be January1.
So if you explain how asupermarket that makes turkeys
for Thanksgiving for theircustomers, you don't have to do
(25:55):
it in your busy season.
Let's move it off cycle so youdon't have to deal with the
rigmarole ever again.
Um, and you know, I guess thebottom line is stop as an
advisor broker consulting, stoptaking orders from your clients
that think they know whatthey're doing only because some
bad broker told them that's howit had to be years ago.
Start consulting and guidingthem to the best practices that
(26:18):
I outlined and then some thattruly can make benefits open
enrollments uh great again.
I I don't know why I said that,but it's gonna be funny for
people that don't like thatsaying.
David Saltzman (26:28):
Well, we won't we won't make any red hats, I
promise you.
But that's you know, the thatthat's the thing.
If if you want to differentiateyourself as an advisor, advise.
You know, I get that questionall the time, and and that's the
answer that I've been givingfor, I don't know, at least the
last five, six years, is is isbe an advisor.
Don't just be a product peddleror a product placer.
It's way more than that.
(26:48):
It's anybody there.
Right.
Anybody can do that part of it.
The part of it where you'rereally a value to your client is
your insight from how many everyears you've been in the
marketplace and the things thatyou've learned and to make it
easy for them.
It it's it's not rocketsurgery, as somebody once said.
It's it's really pretty simple.
Hey, Eric, if folks want towork with you and want to get in
touch with you, what's the bestway to do it?
Eric Silverman (27:09):
Sure, I appreciate it.
Uh, so voluntarydisruption.com, two words,
voluntary disruptionaltogether.com.
Uh, I'm pretty darn uh darnactive on social media,
particularly LinkedIn.
Um, so just Eric Silverman andLinkedIn, uh combined uh 70,000
of you already follow me or areconnected.
So love to have more.
(27:29):
And if we haven't met yet, sendme a message.
Let's connect and and figureout uh how we can work together.
And even more so, because thisis what I'm passionate about.
If you want to just talk cars,um, send me a message or follow
me on Instagram.
I'm Toys for Dad.
Um, and you can see all my funtoys.
David Saltzman (27:43):
Toys and fun fact, you know, from somebody
who's known Eric for a longtime.
If you really want to win hisheart, buy a mistake.
Eric Silverman (27:49):
Mistake, or take me to an Orioles game.
David Saltzman (27:52):
Yeah, well, you can take him to an Orioles game
too.
Eric, thanks so much forsharing your expertise.
We appreciate it, and weappreciate having you back on
again.
Eric Silverman (27:59):
Thanks, everybody.
Thanks, David.
Announcer (28:02):
The Ship Shapers podcast is a production of Ship
Shaper strategies and may not bereproduced or quoted in whole
or in part without our expresswritten permission.
Copyright 2020, all rightsreserved.
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