“The traditional broker model is gone,” says Joaquin Santos, senior vice president of sales for Zywave, a company that provides resources and services to brokers. “The broker of today needs to be much more consultant-based, much more resourceful, much more proactive—that’s a key word.”
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Because of Zywave’s focus on helping the people who help employers, it has a high-level view of what you should expect from your broker. We spoke to Santos not for insights on what else you can do for your benefits program, but on what your broker should be bringing to the process.
“Our survey says the employers out there are demanding more,” Santos explains. “They want more immediate answers, they want regular contact, and they need resources to help them do their job better.
“We work with 3,500 brokerages across the country, and 94 of the top 100,” he continues. “We have clients of all sizes, from one-person consultants to very large brokerages.”Zywave has been working with brokers for more than 20 years, Santos says, and the last several have been a time of unprecedented change.