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The secret to growing your business as a broker is simple: The most successful brokers fully understand commission structures and strategize accordingly.
Not all plans have the same value for brokers—some have a much better commission structure than others. Should you continue offering products with lower commissions or prioritize what’s in your customers’ best interest?
Here’s what you need to know about the best vision plans for brokers, what influences payouts, and how VCD contributes to an industry that is fair to patients, doctors, and brokers.
How Do Broker Commissions Work for Vision Care Products?
Did you know there are over 130 vision care plan carriers in the U.S.? Each company has a unique commission structure, with some more generous than others.
These payout schedules can vary greatly. In most cases, brokers earn an initial commission when a customer buys a plan, with a smaller follow-up renewal commission if the customer decides to renew.
Commissions are set as a percentage of the premiums, meaning the customer buying the plan covers them. It also means plans with higher premiums result in higher compensations for brokers.
The group size can also affect commission rates for brokers working with business clients. While carriers tend to reward brokers for selling to larger groups, commissions can drop past a certain group size threshold.
It’s important to note that broker commissions are separate from any fees they might charge clients. As long as they follow state regulations, brokers can ask plan holders to pay a fee in exchange for helping them find the right plan. These fees can help boost income for brokers, but commissions remain the primary source of revenue for most brokers.
Commission Structures for Brokers and Conflicts of Interest
Commission structures on vision products don’t necessarily align with what’s best for brokers and plan holders:
- For brokers, a plan with higher premiums can translate into a higher ROI.
- However, the plan with the highest commission might not be what’s best for the customer.
Recommending a plan with a higher commission can be tempting. However, it’s not a sustainable business practice.
Think about it: Encouraging customers to spend more for a plan that doesn’t match their needs means they won’t renew it. On top of losing the renewal commission, you’ll likely lose a customer as well.
While focusing on high-commission products can boost revenues in the short term, it creates a business model that prioritizes new customer acquisition over retention. Compared to retention, new customer acquisition costs a lot more, and you should know this cost keeps increasing.
The solution? Finding the right balance between vision products with fair commissions and putting plan holders first to build a brokerage business with plenty of repeat customers.
Earn a 10% Commission With VCD
At VCD, we offer a clear compensation schedule for brokers: a 10% commission on all our plans.
Besides offering compensation on the higher end of the spectrum for the vision market, this rate doesn’t change. Regardless of the size of the group you sign on, you’ll get that same 10% rate. The more plans you sell, the more you earn!
With business customers growing over time, building long-term relationships and positioning yourself as a benefits partner can really pay off. Besides, a simple compensation structure makes revenues easier to track and project.
Customer Satisfaction
Think of VCD as your growth partner. We do everything we can to enhance customer satisfaction, which translates to more repeat business for you and less focus on costly new customer acquisition!
How do we offer some of the best vision plans for brokers, plan holders, and optometrists? VCD is different from traditional plan carriers. Our products are pre-paid plans with negotiated savings. Instead of paying premiums and navigating a complex reimbursement process, VCD plan holders pay less for core optometry services like annual exams and benefit from transparent upfront prices. These factors directly support satisfaction and boost plan usage.
Flexible Plans
We also offer flexible plans with options that reflect a wide range of plan holders’ needs, including multi-generational workplaces. This approach fits into the holistic and personalized approach to benefits currently shaping the HR world.
Our affordable plans make savings on vision services accessible to everyone, especially small businesses. Besides opening up a wider pool of customers for your brokerage business, flexible plans mean you can guide plan holders toward an upgrade when the time is right.
Local Focus
VCD offers doctor-owned plans with a local focus. On top of using a fair compensation schedule for brokers, we pride ourselves in offering some of the highest reimbursement rates in the industry for optometrists. This means many optometrists throughout Oklahoma accept our plans.
Think about it: This is your opportunity to offer widely accepted, affordable, and flexible vision plans. These factors combine to improve customer satisfaction, generate steady renewals, and support long-term relationships with your customers.
Thanks to our local focus, your customers can spend money on a product that supports the local economy. For many businesses, this means offering benefits that reflect their core values!
Explore the Best Vision Plans for Brokers With VCD
While high-commission plans can be appealing, they don’t necessarily align with what’s best for your customers or your long-term growth.
The key to building a successful brokerage business is prioritizing products with fair commissions and features that directly support customer satisfaction and plan usage. It’s where VCD makes a difference.
By offering flexible vision products with a strong local focus, we can connect patients with optometrists and brokers around a common goal: making quality vision care more accessible.
Learn more about joining the VCD family and earning a 10% commission on our plans.
Summary: For brokers, high-commission plans result in more revenues but don’t always align with what’s best for customers. Find out how VCD is supporting brokers, customers and optometrists with affordable and flexible vision are products.
