November 2014

Ep #34: Self Funding Tactics, Strategies and Opportunities – With Craig Lack

By   Shift Shapers Podcast   3 Comments

ShiftShapersCoverArt

Today, we’re talking to Craig Lack, CEO of Premium Reduction Strategies. He is a best-selling author and nationally-recognized health care expert and an expert on self-funding who has appeared on ABC, CBS and FOX as well as in a number of national publications.

Craig’s 25-year experience in the industry has given him a deep understanding of the challenges facing benefit advisors in a post-ACA world. We invited Craig to discuss strategies such as the “Spousal Incentive HRA” and other opportunities for self funding created by the Affordable Care Act. He will also share why premiums are just “CRAP”.

Seasoned self funders and advisors new to the world of self funding will learn how to engage employers in compelling conversations that create differentiation and value.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • The difference between fully-insured and self funded.
  • Why the premiums are just C.R.A.P.
  • Why this isn’t the typical renewal discussion.
  • How ACA has impacted the world of self funding.
  • What the Spousal Incentive HRA is.
  • Whether you should create a deductible rewards program.

Featured On The Show:

Listen To The Full Interview:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Enjoy The Show?

Subscribe-with-iTunes-small Subscribe-with-Stitcher-small

Ep #33: A More Authentic Approach to Group Benefits – With Mindy Lamont

By   Shift Shapers Podcast   2 Comments

ShiftShapersCoverArtOur guest on the program today is Mindy Lamont, the creator and founder of The Insurist. The Insurist, as Mindy calls it, is a down-to-earth approach to insurance and employee benefits.

After her 14-year career in one of the largest insurance companies in the world, Mindy decided to walk away from the big corporate life and start her own insurance business, selling to groups online. Her more authentic and irreverent approach attracts a diverse crowd of clients, making The Insurist a thriving online company.

I invited Mindy to share her inspiring journey of becoming an independent broker as well as her unique approach to insurance. Find out how she was able to successfully evolve The Insurist from an online term life company to a successful group benefits advisor using old-world agency management techniques coupled with new-world technology.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • How Mindy got into insurance market.
  • Why she left corporate America to start an “internet project.”
  • How she branched out from term life to a wider array of benefits.
  • Mindy’s unique approach to benefits.
  • Her upcoming insurance projects.

Featured On The Show:

Listen To The Full Interview:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Enjoy The Show?

Subscribe-with-iTunes-small Subscribe-with-Stitcher-small

Ep #32: Guaranteed Standard Issue DI Is Tailor-made For Benefits Advisors – With Bob Tretter

By   Shift Shapers Podcast   Add new comment

ShiftShapersCoverArtYour existing groups are a perfect place to prospect for Guaranteed Standard Issue individual DI. The market is wide open, the underwriting is more accommodating than writing a single DI case and you can be creative with constructing the benefit for your clients. How do you do that?

This week we decided to do something a bit different today and invited Bob Tretter for our first in-studio interview. Bob is the Director of the Guaranteed Standard Issue Disability Income (DI) program at Ameritas. He is also a former president of the National Association of Health Underwriters and has spent his entire career in the DI market.

On this episode, we speak to Bob about the DI marketplace in general and guaranteed standard issue DI in particular. Tune in to find out how you can deliver more value, drive more revenue and differentiate your practice with this often overlooked product.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • Bob’s background in disability income insurance.
  • The state of the disability income market in general.
  • What the market penetration of DI is.
  • What the opportunities are in DI market.
  • The definition of guaranteed standard issue disability income.

Featured On The Show:

Listen To The Full Interview:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Enjoy The Show?

Subscribe-with-iTunes-small Subscribe-with-Stitcher-small

Ep #31: Does Your Culture Eat Your Strategy For Breakfast? – With Rick Bauman

By   Shift Shapers Podcast   Add new comment

ShiftShapersCoverArt

In may practices and organizations, the laser focus on strategy overshadows another critically important component of business – our culture. Rick Bauman, our guest for this episode, will explain why culture defines your organization, and drives brand, customer satisfaction and has a direct correlation to productivity. In an age where differentiation is a huge challenge for many organizations, culture is perhaps the biggest differentiator of all.

Rick Bauman is a serial entrepreneur, and the founder and head coach of Intellectual Capital Coaching Corporation. I invited Rick to speak about culture, where it comes from, how it’s created and why it’s critically important to individual practices and organizations alike. Join us to learn how to understand, define and sharpen your culture to deliver superior results.

At the end of the interview, learn how to get a free copy of Rick’s Cultural Engagement Assessment Tool which will help you create a starting point for improving your culture. This is a special exclusive offer for ShiftShapers listeners.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • What culture is exactly.
  • How culture is created within organizations.
  • Whether culture can be measured.
  • The correlation between engagement and profitability.
  • The importance of giving feedback to your employees.

Featured On The Show:

Listen To The Full Interview:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Enjoy The Show?

Subscribe-with-iTunes-small Subscribe-with-Stitcher-small

Ep #30: New Strategies To Keep Employees Educated, Empowered and Energized – With Phil Wilkins

By   Shift Shapers Podcast   Add new comment

ShiftShapersCoverArt

Today, we are very pleased to speak with Phil Wilkins, director of Partner Development at GuideSpark. Phil is an expert on the subject of modern communication strategies and he shares his thoughts on new strategies to communicate important benefit concepts to employees.

In this era of communication immediacy, multimedia strategies have begun to replace paper booklets and often, enrollment meetings. More than three quarters of all Internet users today engage with videos as a means of learning. Tune in to learn about using these new tools to create emotional connections that engage today’s employees.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • Why employee engagement is so important.
  • Whether paper is now a dead medium for communicating with employees.
  • The importance of making an emotional connection with employees.
  • How to deliver engaging content on the device an employee chooses.
  • How benefits advisers can use this information to differentiate themselves in today’s market.

Featured On The Show:

Listen To The Full Interview:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Enjoy The Show?

Back to top