How does Service 1st Benefits support my business during open enrollment?

We personally manage the entire open enrollment process — from educating employees to handling enrollment forms and answering plan questions. Our goal is to make open enrollment smooth and stress-free for everyone.

Can employees contact you directly for help?

Yes. Employees can reach out to us anytime for questions about claims, coverage, ID cards, or plan details. We act as your team’s benefits partner, not just your broker.

What size businesses do you work with?

We specialize in serving small and medium-sized businesses, typically ranging from 1–200 employees. If you’re growing or planning to expand, we help scale your benefits as your team grows.

Do you handle communication with insurance carriers for us?

Absolutely. We take care of claims issues, employee changes, renewals, and any carrier communication so you don’t have to spend hours on hold.

Do you offer voluntary or supplemental benefits?

Yes. We can provide optional add-ons like disability, accident, or critical illness insurance to enhance your benefits package at little or no cost to the employer.

What types of group benefits do you offer?

We provide comprehensive group health, dental, vision, and life insurance options for small and medium-sized businesses. We help you compare plans, handle enrollment, and manage carrier communication.

What information do you need to provide a quote?

We typically need: Number of employees Basic employee census (age, gender, ZIP code) Current plan (if applicable) Desired benefits or coverage goals We keep the process as simple as possible.

Do you charge fees for your services?

No. Our services — including plan comparison, open enrollment, and year-round support — are provided at no additional cost to your business.

What Actually Happens When Your Broker "Markets" Your Renewal

Service 1st Benefits

Oct 2

2 min read

Updated: Oct 7

"We're marketing your renewal" is a phrase brokers use a lot. Here's what it actually involves, step by step.

It Means Going Back to the Open Market

Marketing a renewal means your case doesn't just get a renewal rate from your current carrier — it goes back out to the market as if it were being quoted fresh. Your census, current plan design, and claims experience get packaged up and sent to other carriers to see what they'd offer.

Every Carrier That's a Fit Gets Asked

This isn't limited to one or two names. Every carrier that's actually a fit for your group's size, industry, and location gets asked to quote — not just the ones you've already heard of, and not just whichever one happens to be top of mind.

Carriers Who Decline Still Count

Not every carrier that's asked comes back with a number. Some pass on quoting entirely, for reasons that can range from your industry to your claims history to simply not having room in their book that year. A no is still useful information — it's part of confirming the market was actually tested, not just glanced at.

Every Quote Gets Compared Against What You Have Now

Once quotes come back, the real work is comparing them against your current plan — not just the headline rate, but plan design, network, and deductible structure side by side. A lower number on a plan with a materially different network isn't automatically a better outcome, and that comparison is where a marketed renewal earns its value.

What You Get at the End

The result isn't a guess or a general sense of "the market's probably competitive." It's real, firm quotes from real carriers, compared against your current plan on the terms that actually matter to your group — so a renewal decision is based on actual numbers, not just the one your current carrier sent you.

Final Thoughts

"Marketing your renewal" isn't a formality — it's the process that turns a single renewal number into an actual decision with real alternatives behind it, including confirmation of what the market did and didn't offer.