The ER Conversation

Ice breaker questions:

·       How long have you been in Los Angeles?

·       How did you become an entrepreneur? Did you always know you wanted to be a business owner?

“Why” Statement:

·       I worked for the man for 14 years. But I wasn’t able to grow any faster than the company would let me.

·       This job lets me work out in the field, work with people, and learn from entrepreneurs like you.

Value Statement:

·       So, a little about what I do.

·       I work with businesses to form strategies using the voluntary marketplace.

·       Making voluntary, or employee-funded, benefits available to your staff is one of these strategies. Now, a lot of people don’t know what “employee-funded benefits” are.

·       But I can tell you two things:

o   They’re free…

o   They’re designed to leave more $ in your pocket (and ultimately keep you competitive)

·       Our business platform Everwell is the latest technology available to support small businesses. Here's what it looks like: (use your mobile device to show SCREEN SHOT)

·       It's a portable, paperless business platform.
·    It offers major medical, dental/vision, life, disability, and other supplemental health options not available on Covered CA.

·       It's powered by Aflac -- a very well-established company -- which is our top provider for benefits.

·       And it is entirely 100% free to the business.

Sales Trailer: The reason I’m talking to businesses now…

·       The economy has been rough

·       The job market’s been rougher

·       And with Health Care Reform fines and regulations on the horizon

·       The cost and risk of doing business is higher than ever

·       This is why, right now, about 1 in 5 businesses are turning to the voluntary marketplace

·       And trends show that in the next four years, that number is expected to jump to about 1 in 2

Confirm the Time and DM:

·       No more than 15 mins

·       Hope to show you why half a million companies have done this, and I think you’re gonna like what you see

·       But let’s just say that if you don’t like it, we’ll part ways and I won’t bother you again

·       All I ask is that if you do see value, we leave with next steps so we can avoid playing phone tag. Is that fair?

·       Before we go further, just want to clarify. If we were to find this to be a good match, would you be the one to make the decision on implementation?

The Value Case:

·       I can show you about six ways that voluntary can help you and your business.

·       But in observance of time, I find it’s always best to just ask what goals you’re trying to accomplish. What kind of issues are you facing?

·       Here’s what the voluntary marketplace can do for a business. It can help:

o   Keep you away from rising taxes, WC claims, or rising health insurance premiums

o   Prevent you from having to reduce the benefits you already have

o   Avoid high turnover (or increase retention)

o   Prevent low productivity due to absenteeism or presenteeism

o   Avoid fines due to Health Care Reform laws

o   Help your employees avoid financial devastation caused by sickness or injury

• Now, do any of these ring true to you? Which is the worst?

Exploratory Questions:

·       Company history?

·       Employee population, demographic?

·       Schedules?

·       Core benefits?

·       Payroll schedule?

·       Hours? Shifts?

·       Who handles scheduling?

·       Any mandatory meetings?

Discovery (Value Case): Find Alignment between Value Case and Voluntary Solution

·       Explain what Voluntary means

·       Explain how Aflac works

o   The 3 things that happen when someone gets seriously sick or hurt (costs go up, income goes down, and yet you still have to pay fixed family expenses). The 4 places they turn (their savings, their family, the bank, or their employer).

o   Employees pick and choose

o   Pre-taxing benefits

·       Explain how Aflac can help this business (contain costs, etc.)

·       What happened to you in the past that was a result of NOT having a solution? What’s happening now? What happens if you do nothing to address this?

·       What if there was something you could do to change it? What does that mean for you (personally)? What’s your goal 3-5 years from now? What if it were free?

The Setup:

·      Based on what we’ve discussed, I think it’s easy to understand why 1 out of 5 businesses have turned to the voluntary marketplace. And why this will be 1 in 2 businesses within the next four years.

The Close:

·      Unfortunately, you can’t poll employees to ask who wants more insurance. They’ll run for the hills.

·      I can present the information in the group, but that won’t allow employees to ask personal questions about to their family medical history, budgets, etc.

·      Because it’s not mandated by law, and we’re not asking you to pay for it, your employees need to be educated individually on how they work.

o   SHOW PDA

·      Everyone needs to have access to this benefit, especially because it’s a pre-tax program. If someone chooses not to participate, we have them complete a waiver acknowledging they had access to protect you so nobody can come back later and say they weren’t offered it.

·      All we need is an employee roster or a census, and the courtesy of a break room or conference room to conduct 15-20 minute consultations.

o   We can do a Group Presentation followed by 1 on 1

o   We can do 1 on 1

o   My recommendation is ____, but you know best.

·      SHOW URGENCY FLYER AND VISUAL

o   We have a great promotion this month where if we can get consultations started by Friday, we could give every employee a $25 Restaurant.com gift card, whether they participate or not. I have time on Friday at 9am.

o   What are days/times to avoid?

·      Coordinate with the Office Manager

·      This means a lot to me. Let’s shake on it.

The Buyer Stories:

Rising Taxes

·       We’ll setup a Sec125 plan. This is a service that five years ago would’ve cost you ~$100 per employee (God knows how much it is now). It’s used to setup Health Insurance deductions, 401ks, etc. We’ll do it for free. It’s a government-mandated tax shelter. Aflac is the #1 provider in the country for Sec125 plans.

·       Your employees will pay for their plans pre-tax. That will reduce your FICA liability.

·       On a group of 10 people, I can show you about a ~$300 tax savings per year.

·       What kind of margin do you operate on? If you’re at 15%, that’s about a $2,000 sale.

Workers Comp

·       Your Worker's Comp premiums are based on taxable salary. Therefore, like your FICA, your WC is reduced.
·       The incidence of claims go down. See example below:
·       Auto Body shop. He started seeing more workers comp claims. He started feeling skeptical.

·       He agreed to make Accident and Disability plans available to his employees. Over the next 18 months, he saw a decrease in the amount of Monday morning claims filed by 30-40%.

·       Viewpoint Study by Lieberman Research shows that almost have of small businesses saw declines in WC between years 3-5.

Health Insurance Premiums

·       A lot of my business clients can’t offer the health insurance plans they've always offered. 
·       The cost of health insurance premiums have gone up 20% each year for the past three years. 
·       Most employees have limited education about their health insurance. Ultimately many employers' plans are over-insuring their employees.

·       Installing a lower-cost, higher deductible plan while making Aflac available will still allow your employees the same level of protection. The market has already shifted to putting the risk on the consumer. This is just a way to let your employees choose to cover that risk, and reduce the fixed cost to the business.

Reduce Existing Benefits You Already Have

·       A lot of my clients can’t offer health insurance plans. Some can only afford ones with high deductibles.

·       The silver and bronze plans through Covered California are affordable, but many of them have a $12,700 deductible.

·       Easy way to keep a cheaper, higher deductible plan while still protecting your employees. The market has already shifted to putting the risk on the consumer. This is just a way to let your employees choose to cover that risk.

High Turnover

·       Forbes magazine stated that 50% of American workers are looking for a new job. The vast majority are willing to take a pay cut if they offer greater benefits.

·       Easy way to boost compensation and improve the overall environment without the high cost of perks like Food Truck Fridays

·       Voluntary gives employees greater choice, access and control over what they want to protect

Low Productivity – Absenteeism or Presenteeism

·       Most people live paycheck to paycheck. Most people have less than $1,000 in their bank accounts. That’s the sad reality of today.

·       Consequently, people can’t afford to take a day off work.

·       So, people come in when they’re sick.

·       Or they come in when their kids are sick.

·       When they know they’ll be able to be paid when their kids are seriously sick, they will take time off. Work responsibly. And you have a better idea of how to cover your nut.

Fines and Loopholes due to ACA Regulations

·       With new laws, as you probably know, when you are a large employer (i.e. have a staff of more than 50 full-time employees), you are facing fines if you don’t offer affordable access to health insurance.

·       Not only does this put a great burden onto businesses financially, they also lack the manpower to administer the benefits.
·       We are not only an insurance carrier, we're also the largest enrollment force in America. We will enroll your company's health benefits as well as the Aflac, at no cost.
·       Even if you have fewer than 50 employees, you may have employees with questions about how they can avoid fines due to not having health insurance. This is an easy way to offer your employees counsel to stay compliant. We can enroll them onto the exchange during open enrollment, and we can offer them optional -- and often more affordable -- products if they cannot access major medical outside of open enrollment.

Sickness/Injury

·       Do you know much about Aflac? Other than the duck? Aflac is the world’s leading provider of supplemental insurance. Or supplemental benefits… Different from FA, different from HI. Ultimately designed to protect people from the financial effects of being sick or injured

·       51% of America has less than $1,000 in their savings

·       Mom had cancer – immune system already low – got sick – compounded by sick kids – hospital for 11 days

·       Aflac paid $17k. After all expenses, she had $6k leftover and took the kids to Disneyworld

·       Guy at an auto body shop. Driving on 118 FWY. Broke his femur. Out for 7 days.

·       Aflac paid $4750.

·       I’m sure you know how SDI works. On the 8^th day. Since he was back in 7 days, he would’ve gotten nothing.

Value-Added Benefits

·       Section 125 (POP) plan. Free. Will save you a few hundred dollars and reduce your FICA and FUTA liability (for all plans, including existing Health)

·       Cobra administration

·       Benefit statements