"Build a Better Mouse Trap"

by Keith Bell March 10, 2020

Keith Bell at USA Fulcrum Have you ever heard the saying "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door"? This quote is attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson from the late nineteenth century. I first heard this quote early in my career and it always stuck with me. If you had a better product, much better, wouldn't the customers line up to buy? I've heard people joke that if the product was that good, "you could fire all the sales people and put in a drive thru window". It's the same concept. A superior product should create a market demand for that product. I can tell you though I don't think this is universally true.

If you are selling a consumer good such as a chicken sandwich or an iPhone then yes I believe there is some truth to this. The average consumer gets some degree of personal joy out of these purchases and using them. However in something like financial services or insurance I don't believe this to be true at all. I think you can have a far superior product but you must go out and shout it to the world and show them why it is good for them. The lack of personal joy that one experiences in using these products probably leads to this phenomenon.

Why am I writing about this today? Well I have been in the insurance / financial services industry for almost thirty years now. In that time I have seen a lot of different ideas come and go. Many were supposed to revolutionize the way we consume health care or "bend trend" and the cost of health insurance. I have seen the rise of HMO's and PPO's, Point of Service Plans (POS), High Deductible Health Plans (HDHP's), consumer directed health plans and so much more. None of them really did anything long term to slow the rising cost of health insurance and the ever increasing cost of out of pockets. It just seems like costs keep rising and our insurance as consumers keeps getting worse.

All that changed about two years ago when I was introduced to a brand new concept. It was revolutionary yet simple. The skeptical underwriter in me tried to poke holes in it (ok, I'll be honest I tried to tear it apart). I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it. I couldn't though. I vetted it with colleagues, attorneys and anybody that would listen. It was a great idea. The idea was so great I not only bought into and brought it to my organization, I actually left my organization afterwards to go out and sell this product to other organizations. This product is by far the greatest idea I have seen in my career, it's a better mouse trap. What can it do?

It can provide significant savings year one and each and every year after

It can help you turn your liabilities into assets, something unheard of before

Immediately reduce your health insurance expenses

Improve the healthcare you offer your employees

Provide a more competitive benefit package to help you attract and retain the best employees

Not disrupt your current broker relationships

How can it do all of this? I would love to show you. It's a simple process. We start out with a short introductory meeting. From there we sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and exchange some information so we can model out some numbers for you. Everything remains confidential. If you decide to go forward it's a simple, painless process that requires very little HR lift. We have an experienced team that has been setting up these plans for over 17 years that handles the implementation.

Does this sound different? Think about this. You are hearing this from a life long underwriting executive, not a sales guy. I speak numbers, not golf. So when I walked away to pursue this path I can assure you the numbers made sense. Let me show you how we can save you significant dollar savings and step off the crazy annual health insurance renewal cycle you are on.

Keith Bell is the Partner, General Manager at USA Fulcrum providing Uniquely American solutions to help you turn liabilities into assets and unlock trapped capital.