America's Benefit Specialist January-February 2023

VOLUNTARY DISRUPTION

many highly respected mentors and advisors who were kind enough to form an intervention that allowed me to see the light. In fact, while initially begin ning treatment and going to fictitious recovery meetings, I was courted by a number of very large carriers that threw everything you can imagine at me— from small sales quotas to maximize their bonus system to very significant signing bonuses that truly did make me think twice before passing on them. FIRST PRIZE: A CADILLAC EL DORADO. SECOND PRIZE: A SET OF STEAK KNIVES. THIRD PRIZE: YOU’RE FIRED. Let’s be clear, I’m not “high and mighty” and I am certainly no better than anyone reading this. And by the way, no, I didn’t give back any of the prizes or large bonus checks I earned over my carrier-rep years. Nor did I call Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones to ask if I could borrow the shiny memory eraser they used in “Men in Black” to help me forget about the wonderful memories I have with my family and friends on all of those “free” trips I went on each year. I worked very hard and earned those luxuries. Everyone has a past and I’m incredibly proud of mine and make no apologies. In fact, it’s these exact expe riences that allowed me to learn how I no longer wanted to operate in the “voluntary benefits” status-quo—how I wanted to do the exact opposite of what I had been addicted to for so long. During my carrier-rep days, I was really no different than a doctor who’s pushing patients into the more prof itable part of the “healthcare system,” which provides an opportunity for un necessary prescriptions, diagnostic ex ams and procedures to be recommend ed. No different than pharmaceutical sales reps wining and dining doctors to push their name-brand drugs.

HI, MY NAME IS ERIC, AND I’M A RECOVERING CARRIER REP “Hi, Eric!” said the fictitious group of attendees joining me at this week’s recovering Carrier Reps Anonymous meeting. Now, before you judge me for poking fun at very serious topics like gam bling addiction and those constantly seeking an adrenaline rush and the need for speed—continue reading and only then, if you believe it’s warranted, judge away. You got me—I’m guilty as charged. I’ve lived the enhanced benefits carrier rep “lifestyle” and, boy, was it sweet. You name it, I “won” it year after year in sales contests, where I received the latest and greatest prizes that could ever come out of Silicon Valley. Lavish all-expense-paid trips of a lifetime that created memories that I will forever cherish. Quarterly and annual bonus checks that were so obnoxious they made me blush. There really was some thing magical about pulling the lever on those shiny slot-machines—those incredibly loud bells and bright glean ing lights that kept me so hooked on the “dream” I was sold and the “dream” I was charged with “selling.” I’ll never forget the image of a carrier rep manager who raced into my office and started bragging about the large commissions he just made from dump ing excessive product into a new case with zero strategy whatsoever. He was a huge racing fan and I vividly remem ber him describing his adrenaline rush in such a way that could only be com pared to how a professional NASCAR driver must feel after winning the Daytona 500. It was at that moment that I realized he wasn’t only addicted to large commissions and going over the speed limit, but also the carrier-rep lifestyle. Guess what? So was I. I can assure you that I would still be a single carrier addict if it weren’t for the

By Eric Silverman Silverman Benefits Group Towson, Maryland eric@voluntarydisruption.com

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