You’ve no doubt heard the phrase, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” I, along with a number of my Zywave colleagues, recently met with 20 employee benefit agency owners from across the country to discuss how health care reform is changing the way they operate. These leaders are optimistic and taking that phrase to heart as they embrace the opportunities presented by the PPACA.

One reason these agencies are so positive is because they are using their Zywave products to help tell their “story,” build their reputations, acquire new clients and deepen their current customer relationships. The following are five examples of how they are doing just that:

1. Enhancing internal knowledge and client services:

Using Broker Briefcase’s Health Care Reform toolkits, legislative briefs, videos, webinars, pay or play calculator and employee communications, brokers are increasing internal understanding, while building their external reputation as a Health Care Reform thought leader. Many are positioning these resources as a value-added service to address their customers’ current compliance burdens, but all see this service as a future fee opportunity.

2. Offering fee-for-service:

Packaging HRconnection, MyWave Elements and Broker Briefcase’s HR resources (e.g., employee manual, total compensation statements, HR articles, policies and Q&A series, employee newsletters, employee benefits communications, and federal and state compliance articles) and offering those as part of their products and services for a fee to employers with overworked and stressed out HR departments and office managers.

3. Shining a spotlight on wellness:

In 2014, the maximum permissible reward under a health contingent wellness program will increase to 30 percent of the cost of coverage. Some of the innovative brokers I met are already using the Broker Briefcase workplace wellness resources (e.g., needs and interests survey, wellness environment assessment, wellness how-to articles, action plans, wellness newsletter, and wellness initiative supporting materials) to help employers create results-based wellness programs. Not only does employee health improve, but health costs decrease, creating a more affordable and sustainable health plan for the employer.

4. Cross-selling workplace voluntary benefits:

The brokers implementing this strategy are using the Benefits Insights and Know Your Employee Benefits articles in Broker Briefcase to educate both employers and employees on voluntary benefits.

5. Customizing content:

Successful brokers are customizing the client and employee newsletters and educational articles in Broker Briefcase, and using them to attract new, qualified prospects. These brokers are creating efficiencies by delivering the content through Broker Briefcase’s drip-marketing functionality.

How are you, like the agency owners I met, making lemonade from lemons and seizing the opportunities created by health care reform?