3 Reasons to Love Annual Reviews

Sometimes the best opportunity for growth is your existing client base. You can significantly grow your business with benefit increases for existing policies and adding newly eligible members to GSI plans. In fact, half of The Standard’s GSI sales this year have been from increases and additions. To capture more of that business from your own clients, focus on the annual review process.

Top 3 Reasons to Love Annual Reviews

1. You’ll provide excellent service to your clients. Your clients will be happy that you’re ensuring their GSI plan is doing what it’s designed to do: protecting eligible employees’ income to the target percentage or maximum benefit. Are employees earning more? Without an increase in coverage, employees who’ve received recent raises or promotions may not be protected to the target income replacement percentage. We’ll increase coverage to match their higher incomes.
   
   Annual reviews also provide a touchpoint for you to check in with your clients. You can make sure their GSI plan is meeting their current needs — and find out if they have other opportunities that you can help with.
2. You’ll grow your revenues. We pay first-year commission on benefit increases as well as new lives. As your clients grow and add employees, you’ll grow your revenues, too. It’s not uncommon to see plans double — or even triple — in size within five years.
3. You can unlock future growth potential. When we review a plan, we’ll look for employees who reach the maximum benefit limit before meeting the target income replacement. If many would receive benefits lower than the target, The Standard may offer a plan-wide maximum benefit increase, opening the door for future increases.

How It Works

The first step is getting an updated census from your client. We’ll ask you for an updated census from the employer 90 days before their annual renewal increase date. When we receive the census, we’ll look for employees who are eligible for increases, typically of $250 or more. We’ll also look for newly eligible employees that may have been missed over the previous year. Make sure your clients know what to expect by sharing the GSI Annual Renewal Increases flyer.

When you receive notices of upcoming annual renewal increase dates, reach out to your clients to encourage them to provide their updated censuses as soon as possible. By working with your clients at annual review time, you’ll make sure their employees are receiving the coverage promised to them. And you’ll be growing your block of business.

If you have questions about the renewal process, contact your account manager. Our account managers — Jill Huffman, Peggy Whelan, Sarah Gordon, Vi Phaenephom — are experienced GSI experts. Combined, they offer 40 years of GSI experience and can help you with even the most complex situations.

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