You’ve probably heard the expression, “Stay in your lane.” One of DBL Center founder David Cohen’s favorite quotes was “Stick to sewing.”
Both expressions relate to finding what you’re good at, honing your skills and knowledge in that area, and not wasting time on diversions outside that field. Find the right people to support you in your business who can provide the skills you don’t have – or don’t have the time to pursue.
The DBL Center has always held to this adage, using it to build a national sales force specializing in specific regions or specific areas of coverage. We used it to build a top-notch outsourced marketing team that works in collaboration with our president and CEO Michael Cohen to keep our website one of the top-ranked in the industry. We used it to create an IT and cybersecurity department that, in the future, will be offering tips to our brokers to help ensure their systems and security are where they should be as we enter 2022.
Most importantly, for 45+ years, we have focused on building our niche as a wholesale/General Agency for statutory insurance and ancillary benefits in a growing number of states.
When David Cohen launched The DBL Center in 1976, he chose a nascent niche that didn’t have many competitors. DBL and TDI were statutory benefits, which should have made for an easy sale. But the real challenge was customer education. No one knew they needed these benefits in New York and New Jersey. Shortly after growing in the New York tri-state area, Cohen took the business to Hawaii, becoming the only TDI insurance company on all the islands.
But: Why Not Offer Health Insurance Policies?
Over the years, many of our brokers have asked why we don’t write health insurance. Impressed by the rates we negotiate with top carriers and our concierge-level customer service, our brokers would love to write all their policies with us, giving them a one-stop shop for employee benefits.
But the nuances of the health insurance industry would require stepping out of what we’ve known for 45+ years. It would require hiring specialists in those fields and diverting our attention away from the areas where we excel.
The carriers in the health insurance field are, largely, different. The policies differ dramatically. And the products, themselves, are more complex than anything we offer today.
Our Expertise In Statutory and Ancillary Benefits Can Increase Your Profitability
By staying in our niche, we can continue to provide concierge-level service in a highly focused field. Our brokers don’t have to know everything about DBL and TDB coverage, because we do. They can turn to us with any questions and to be their full-fledged back-office staff.
When the New York State governor introduced Paid Family Leave in 2017, The DBL Center was on the cutting edge of the news. We were able to get up-to-speed quickly and guide our brokers through one of the most confusing closing periods in our history. We collected censuses, billed premiums, and wrote the necessary riders to DBL policies in New York. All while giving our brokers opportunities and tools to upsell customers to enriched DBL to provide a better benefits package to all employees – not just those who were parents or expecting to become parents soon.
We even provide a platform enabling our brokers to easily track commissions, cancellations and renewals, and we can email reports on demand or on a weekly or monthly basis so they can follow up with their clients.
Our expertise in statutory benefits and ancillary benefits and now, voluntary worksite benefits, enables our brokers to focus on health insurance and other products, knowing that statutory benefits virtually sell themselves. Ancillary benefits, too, are an in-demand addition to benefits packages right now to improve employee morale and combat high quit rates.
Branching Out in Ways that Make Sense
However, through partnerships with other companies, The DBL Center is now in a position to make referrals for healthcare coverage. Through our vast industry connections, we can now introduce you to wholesale insurance agencies and carriers that share our philosophy and values, which we’ve upheld since 1976.
We have always guided our brokers to the best rates and coverage for their clients seeking statutory and ancillary benefits. Now, we can help you grow your business and increase commissions in other ways when it comes to employee benefits and human capital management or absence management.
Hang on, because 2022 is going to be an exciting ride for all of us. We’re glad to have you along for the journey.
