DISCLOSURE
“I know you want to know this, but we don’t disclose that to our clients. But neither does anyone else you’ll work with.”
Have you ever heard those words? If so, it wasn’t from us.
The employee benefits world has many consultants working in it that operate primarily as brokers – they shop the best price from half a dozen carriers and you get the best price. Not all firms do this, but there are many. And along the way, insurance carriers encourage them to sell more of their products through trips, gifts, events, etc. This isn’t confined to the benefits world, it happens in all kinds of industries.
We don’t have a problem with this, we just prefer to handle it differently. Here are a few things you need to know about us:
- We don’t go on insurance carrier paid junkets, and we don’t attend out-of-town conferences unless we pay our own way.
- We don’t let the staff of our suppliers buy us lunch, coffee, drinks etc. As a matter of fact, we often grab the bill so that we’ll be above reproach.
- If an insurance carrier sends us tickets to an event or game, we always try to give them away to a client of ours who has their insurance with that carrier.
- Sometimes we are paid a commission, and sometimes we are paid a fee for service, depending on the case.
- We don’t accept gifts.
We’re not looking for a free lunch. We’re looking for clients with complex benefits problems who want someone to take a closer look at them.
We take a little pride in being the ones who wreck the statement, “no one else will disclose that either.” If you have questions, we’ll give you answers, not secrecy.