EP #392: Small Group Strategies — with Nancy Giacalone

This week's episode is about small group businesses. Our guest, Nancy Giacalone, is the president of Olympic Crest Insurance, a locally owned and operated insurance brokerage firm. In this episode, she discusses the difficulties that small business owners face, as well as some strategies and opportunities for advisors.What You’ll Learn From This Episode:02:21 What drew Nancy to specialize in small group business?5:53 What impact did the ACA have on her practice.13:22 Other vendors in the small group market.16:48 Nancy’s desire to leave a legacy.Quotes:4:14 “One of the things that I actually really enjoy about working with, especially a closely held business, is when you’re talking directly to the owner and that owner has given up a paycheck to make sure that their employees have benefits have their wages met, they are very invested in every penny and every decision that’s being made. And they’re very grateful for any assistance that you can provide that is going to make their life just a tiny bit easier.”8:41 “Health insurance and healthcare are two very different things and the minute we start treating them as if they’re the same, that’s when we get in trouble.”10:17 “The problem comes in when ill-informed people make decisions or recommendations without full disclosure to the employer or to the employees.”11:19 “Another thing that really is overlooked in the small group market is education. No one’s taking the time to educate the employer, and no one’s taking the time to educate the member. It’s astounding to me how often, I still have the conversation about what a deductible is, what coinsurance is, and what a maximum amount of pocket is, and how it really affects somebody.”19:36 “When you help other people rise up, everybody gets better.”