Paper apps come back wrong.

People sign in blue ballpoint pen when the application clearly says black ink only. It happened to us more than once.

Tracking means calling HR.

“Before we had enrollment tracking, we were pushy.” We only pushed for a decision, yes or no, and still came off as pushy.

Groups sit one app short.

“A group is almost always one application short because the person whose application is missing doesn’t want to participate and cares so little that they don’t even worry about notifying HR.”

Nobody knows the ratios.

“You cannot manage what you don’t measure.” If you can’t say how many emails it takes to get an appointment, the CRM isn’t logging enough.

Commission statements get split by hand.

Someone takes each carrier’s report and works out every producer’s share in a spreadsheet.

If you place a handful of groups a year, a census spreadsheet is fine.

You don’t have employee contact information.

I built an online enrollment platform, and it ran in production for one group. No employee enrolled through it, and the group went to paper. A QR code on a booklet wasn’t enough. “You have to meet people where they’re at.” Get the emails before you build the platform.

A benefits admin platform already does it.

If your groups enroll in Employee Navigator or Ease and it sends the data to carriers, there’s less to fix.

Nobody will approve anything.

My tools draft and wait for a click. If nobody clicks, nothing moves.

Is my agency too small for this?

The test is volume: how often someone on your team retypes a census.

Do I need a new CRM first?

No. I built my CRM while I still had HubSpot, and kept HubSpot updated with agents.

Can you do commission tracking?

I haven’t built it yet. I’d give an agent the carrier reports and your split list, and scope it in discovery.

What if I’m not ready?

Discovery will show it, and the $1,500 comes back.

Is your benefits agency ready for enrollment automation? Signs you are, and signs to wait

I’m Chris Cordon, and DoBetter (dobetter.plus) builds enrollment and operations tools for benefits agencies. Here’s how I’d tell.

What is the clearest sign an agency is ready?

The clearest sign is census work done by hand. At my desk, we sifted through an Excel workbook to find the three sheets that held the data. Then we filled a spreadsheet with about 11 columns, and turned around and filled one with 163 columns. If that’s still happening at your agency for every new group, you’re ready.

We’d already stopped asking clients to fill out census information twice, once in the health application and once in a spreadsheet. That was one too many, so we took it in house. That’s how the typing ends up on your team.

What other signs say an agency is ready?

Other signs an agency is ready for enrollment and operations automation:

Paper apps come back wrong.: People sign in blue ballpoint pen when the application clearly says black ink only. It happened to us more than once.
Tracking means calling HR.: “Before we had enrollment tracking, we were pushy.” We only pushed for a decision, yes or no, and still came off as pushy.
Groups sit one app short.: “A group is almost always one application short because the person whose application is missing doesn’t want to participate and cares so little that they don’t even worry about notifying HR.”
Nobody knows the ratios.: “You cannot manage what you don’t measure.” If you can’t say how many emails it takes to get an appointment, the CRM isn’t logging enough.
Commission statements get split by hand.: Someone takes each carrier’s report and works out every producer’s share in a spreadsheet.

What signs say an agency should wait?

An agency should wait when the work isn’t repeated often enough, or the groundwork isn’t there:

Groups are rare.: If you place a handful of groups a year, a census spreadsheet is fine.
You don’t have employee contact information.: I built an online enrollment platform, and it ran in production for one group. No employee enrolled through it, and the group went to paper. A QR code on a booklet wasn’t enough. “You have to meet people where they’re at.” Get the emails before you build the platform.
A benefits admin platform already does it.: If your groups enroll in Employee Navigator or Ease and it sends the data to carriers, there’s less to fix.
Nobody will approve anything.: My tools draft and wait for a click. If nobody clicks, nothing moves.

Waiting isn’t a failure. Discovery will say so if the timing is wrong.

What should I have ready before the first call?

Bring the files the tools would read. The most useful things are:

A recent census export from a real group.
The carrier enrollment templates you fill most often, blank.
The list of groups enrolling in the next few months, and whether you have employee emails for them.
An export from your CRM, or a description of what gets logged today.
A few carrier commission statements and your list of producer splits.

What I’d do first with that: map the census export to your carriers’ own templates, so every new group stops getting typed twice.

Quick answers

Is my agency too small for this?: The test is volume: how often someone on your team retypes a census.
Do I need a new CRM first?: No. I built my CRM while I still had HubSpot, and kept HubSpot updated with agents.
Can you do commission tracking?: I haven’t built it yet. I’d give an agent the carrier reports and your split list, and scope it in discovery.
What if I’m not ready?: Discovery will show it, and the $1,500 comes back.