How To Win Broker Business

SAN DIEGO -- Health brokers are at a crossroads, said John Sbrocco of Questige Consulting. It's like the stockbrokers of the 1980s who faced a changing culture on Wall Street.

The smart ones diversified and became wealth managers, said Sbrocco, formerly a professional poker player. Health brokers are in a similar atmosphere, with declining commissions and an uncertain delivery system.

"Health care costs aren't sustainable," he said during day one of the National Association of Health Underwriters' annual conference. "You're going to have to start providing advice on how to lower health care costs."

Sbrocco urged attendees to shoot bigger when pursuing business. He quickly outlined his "Trojan horse" strategy: a series questions to find out what a prospect wants on the macro level.

That is, what their goals are, what their frustrations are, where they want to be in three years, and so on.

"They give you everything to set you up to help them meet their goals," Sbrocco said. "You've positioned your sale of the Trojan horse to be exactly what they want.

"I'm going to provide you expert advice on XYZ, the problems you just told me you had. They can't tell you no."

Dig Deeper

If you can do that, get a foot in the door, you'll be able to dig deeper into the new client's needs, Sbrocco said. And if their broker isn't getting the job done, just feeding the client facts will allow them to come to the realization.

"Once I'm in as a paid advisor, I'm doing my job," Sbrocco said. "The reality is there's not much competition out there. This provides a way for you to get into the business."

Getting started down the road to consulting in a macro way starts by getting your name out there, and marketing yourself as an expert in the field, he added.

That means books, articles, and establishing "social proof," Sbrocco said. Be a presence in the community and let other people say great things about you, he said.

Video marketing is just one way to make yourself unique, he said.

"if you're not doing video marketing, you're missing out on the future," Sbrocco said. "Here's the thing -- everybody in this room is afraid of doing it, so if you're doing it, you're ahead of everybody here."

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.

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