A Step-By-Step Guide to Implementing the Industry’s Only Comprehensive New Agency Business Model

NASHVILLE, TN - October 22, 2012 - Agency growth consultant and industry thought leader Nelson Griswold reveals a reform-proof four-step business model for agency leaders to reinvent their benefit agency to survive and thrive in the post-reform world in his new book, DO or DIE: Reinventing Your Benefits Agency for Post-Reform Success. www.InsuranceBottomLine.com/doordiebook

For agency leaders, this book lays out a clear and specific business model designed to preserve their agency, income and independence while repositioning their agency for explosive growth in the post-reform world.

While PPACA isn’t fully implemented until 2014 and many still hope for its repeal, Griswold points out that the legislation already has forever changed the ground rules and market realities for benefits agencies.

“From agency compensation on the medical to the standardization of benefit plan design, the genie isn’t going back in the bottle,” Griswold asserts. “The old business model of spreadsheeting and carrying the lowest quote has become defunct. That’s now table stakes.”

Griswold makes the case that the problem for benefits agencies is not the PPACA healthcare reform. The real problem for agencies is an agency business model from the 1960s that is no longer effective in getting or keeping clients. Moreover, an agency with this outdated 20th-century business model will not be able to capitalize on the huge opportunities coming for nimble and adaptive agency leaders.

Along with most other industry experts, Griswold predicts a coming shakeout of benefits agencies, with 25-40 percent of agencies likely gone from the market within eight years. That’s why Griswold and his co-author, Scott Cantrell, assert in the book that it’s imperative for agency leaders to act now to reinvent their business:

“For most benefits agencies, how the leadership responds to the recent and impending changes in our industry is a matter of life and death for the agency. For the vast majority of benefits agencies, the status quo business model is no longer sufficient for success…or even survival. For the agency, it is do or die.”

“The bar has been raised for agencies,” Griswold observes. “Employers now are beginning to demand a much higher level of innovative solutions and value-added services from their benefits advisor. The post-reform winners will be those agencies that aggressively implement a new business model that allows them to provide meaningful value to justify their eventual fee-based compensation.”

The book, DO or DIE, is a detailed map for agency leaders to implement a reform-proof 21st Century Agency business model that repositions their agency for continued profitability and growth in the new benefits environment.

The book offers the industry’s only comprehensive plan for agency leaders to reinvent their agency for long-term success and growth regardless of what happens with PPACA.

“We incorporate best practices from our agency clients as well as other industries into the book’s four-point plan,” Griswold says. “The plan includes specific strategies for reinventing an agency’s portfolio; marketing; selling style; and operations & sales management.”

Strategies in the book include enhancing consultant services, selling more voluntary products, becoming more involved in health and wellness programs, and migrating from a commission-based to a fee-based model.

The 268-page book offers a complete plan for agencies to implement the 21st Century Agency business model with key strategies, tactics and several checklists. More information can be found at www.InsuranceBottomLine.com/doordiebook.

The book is the foundation of Griswold and Cantrell’s innovative Agency Growth Mastermind Network, an exclusive, executive peer-exchange program for agency leaders that guides them through the agency reinvention process to create a reform-proof 21st Century Agency in just 12 months. More information is available at www.21stCenturyAgency.com

DO or DIE: Reinventing Your Benefits Agency for Post-Reform Success is available for purchase online at www.InsuranceBottomLine.com/doordiebook for $19.95 plus shipping/handling. For bulk orders, contact info@insurancebottomline.com or 615-656-5974 for more information.

To schedule an interview with Nelson Griswold and Scott Cantrell, please contact Elizabeth Durrettat 615-656-5974info@insurancebottomline.com

About the Authors:

Nelson L. Griswold is president of Bottom Line Solutions, Inc., an insurance sales & marketing firm. Nelson and his firm consult with agencies across the country as well as with leading carriers including Humana, Assurant, Trustmark, Anthem/Blue Cross, Aetna, RBC Insurance of Canada and Allstate to help them increase their revenues and market penetration. A Contributing Editor and monthly columnist for Employer Benefit Adviser magazine, Nelson is regularly featured in other leading industry publications and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. He serves on the board of the Workplace Benefits Association. He and his family live in Nashville.

Scott Cantrellis a leading insurance marketing expert and serves as Chief Marketing Strategist with Bottom Line Solutions. He is an authority on high-ROI marketing and the use of direct marketing in insurance. Scott is a frequent speaker and keynote presenter at industry events. His writes for leading industry publications including Employee Benefit Adviser, Producers eSource and Canadian Insurance Top Broker. He lives in Nashville.