AVON, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- According to Eastbridge Consulting Group’s U.S. State ESI and EPI Data for 2011 report, the employer segment with over 2,500 employees accounted for the largest mix of voluntary sales. This segment accounted for almost one-third of all voluntary sales.
Voluntary Sales by Employer Size
| Employer Size Segment | Estimated 2011 Sales (millions) | ||||||||
| <10 employees | $179 | ||||||||
| 10-25 employees | $392 | ||||||||
| 26-99 employees | $781 | ||||||||
| 100-499 employees | $1,120 | ||||||||
| 500-999 employees | $587 | ||||||||
| 1,000-2,500 employees | $662 | ||||||||
| >2,500 employees | $1,752 | ||||||||
| Total | $5,478 | ||||||||
“Still, the sales numbers alone can be deceiving,” say Gil Lowerre, president, Eastbridge. “If you look at the ESI (sales divided by the employee population) for each employer size, it becomes clear that some segments are underpenetrated while others are more penetrated,” adds Lowerre. “Specifically, the very large market (2,500 and over) is underpenetrated even though it accounted for the largest portion of sales given that there was such a significant difference between the sales mix and actual mix of employees for that size,” adds Lowerre.
The most penetrated market segment for 2011 was the 500-999 segment. While sales were just $587 million, the segment had the highest ESI.
However, the percentage of sales coming from any particular segment tends to change a great deal from year to year,” says Bonnie Brazzell, vice president at Eastbridge. For example, in the 2010 report, sales from the under-100-lives segment exceeded the percentage of employees in that segment (41 percent compared to 36 percent), but the 2011 numbers show a sales mix of just 24 percent compared to 36 percent of the total employees. “So the under-100 lives-segment went from contributing a proportionally higher than expected percent of sales to lower than expected,” adds Brazzell.
This second annual report includes state-by-state sales and inforce data and provides two measures that relate these data to the number of employed Americans in each state. The ESI (Eastbridge Sales Index) and EPI (Eastbridge Premium Index) provide these measures of real sales coverage (ESI) and penetration (EPI) on a state level. In addition, it provides information on sales by employer size and inforce premium by line of business. This information changes the way carriers can look at real sales coverage and penetration, and therefore, the opportunity for voluntary expansion.
The report is an adjunct to Eastbridge’s annual U.S. Worksite Sales Report© and is free but available only to carriers that participate in the survey. For more information on becoming a participant in the 2012 survey, contact the company at info@eastbridge.com or call (860) 676-9633.
Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc. is a marketing advisory firm serving insurance and financial services organizations in the United States and Canada.
Eastbridge Consulting Group
Jennifer Davis, 860-676-9633
Source: Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc.