Enhancing the Request for Proposal Experience

A Better Experience for New Business

A Better Experience for New Business

Through communication, collaboration and best practices, we’re working to streamline the Request for Proposal process.
A Better Experience for New Business
When your clients are looking for a potential new carrier for their employee benefits or adding new lines to existing business, the Request for Proposal (RFP) process should be as painless as possible. By leveraging our partnership and working together proactively on the front-end of the RFP, we can be more successful in providing a detailed, tailored solution for our mutual clients.
 
“As a sales representative with more than 16 years of experience, I understand how important it is to accurately assess risk when selling new business and how it impacts our ability to retain our clients. When I ask my partners for additional information for the RFP, my intent is to help provide a proposal that will meet the long-term goals of both our client and The Hartford,” says Jared Cohen, regional account executive for Group Benefits at The Hartford.
 

Recommended Best Practices

Each client has unique needs. Understanding those needs and the individual traits of their business enhances our ability to deliver a complete and meaningful proposal.
 
  1. Align questionnaire with client goals: Ensure the questions directly address the client’s pain points or requirements, because solutions differ between carriers. This helps get a more direct, insightful response.
  2. Use supporting documentation: Include in-depth details on current rates, rate and plan change history, and claims experience data with your submission. A complete and accurate census should also be enclosed.
  3. Provide clear guidelines and stay timely: Include deadlines, milestones, sample documents and other parameters defined by the client’s needs. Submitting a detailed RFP sooner rather than later allows us enough time to prepare a comprehensive, strategic and accurate response.
  4. Give details on client technology vendors: Tell us which platform the client is using for their benefits administration experience along with the products being quoted. This information helps carriers better position available services at the time of sale and also review enrollment results for each platform.
“From an underwriting perspective, we seek to have a full understanding of the risk we may be assuming when quoting a case. The process to underwrite a case is complex and data needs may vary for several reasons such as client, case size or industry. Our intent when requesting client data is to allow our underwriters at The Hartford to provide the most accurate and competitive quotes.”
 
– Catherine Preysner, director of underwriting for Group Benefits at The Hartford.
 

Getting Specific: An RFP Example

When your client is looking for a carrier that can integrate with their HR Technology platform, more information up-front is helpful. Such details may include:
 
  • Name of human capital management provider
  • Name of benefit administration platform or where employees are enrolling
  • Name of payroll vendor
  • Who is doing the build (is the group using a builder/integrator)
  • Is there a tech fee request for the marketing, build or ongoing benefit administration associated with our products and services on a particular vendors platform?
  • What are the expectations around duration of payment? Will it be a one-time funding request or ongoing? If ongoing, what continued services related to our products are being provided?
Having these essential pieces of information from the beginning will help insurance carriers develop a comprehensive proposal for your client’s unique needs quickly and efficiently.
 
For more information on how we can help better the RFP experience for your clients, contact your representative at The Hartford.

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A Better Experience for New Business
Through communication, collaboration and best practices, we’re working to streamline the Request for Proposal process.
 
 
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The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., (NYSE: HIG) operates through its subsidiaries, including underwriting company Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company under the brand name, The Hartford,® and is headquartered at One Hartford Plaza, Hartford, CT 06155. For additional details, please read The Hartford’s legal notice at www.thehartford.com. All benefits are subject to the terms and conditions of the policy. Policies underwritten by the underwriting company listed above detail exclusions, limitations, reduction of benefits and terms under which the policies may be continued in force or discontinued.