Broker Finder was built to provide an online venue that connects employers with benefits brokers and consultants. The platform's simple tools allow employers to find brokers, compare options, and hire the right broker for their unique needs.

These three terms have come to be used interchangeably in the market. Traditionally, a consultant works on fee for service and a broker works for commission. However, many brokers now work on fees and many consultants will work for commission. “Advisor” has become a popular moniker for Brokers to connote a strategic, advisory orientation towards clients versus “brokering business” which historically means “shopping for coverage”.
When hiring a broker, consultant or advisor, our recommendation is to ignore the title and instead focus on what they do, how they do it, and how they get paid.

The service is free for employers. We will be implementing additional features in the future that may require employers to pay a one time or recurring annual fee.

The employer's search criteria are used to create a list of brokers to display. Brokers are then ordered by how closely they match the criteria submitted. Brokers with Featured listings will be listed first followed by those with an Enhanced listing - these organizations provide the most information for employers to make informed decisions.

The Brokers utilizing a Featured listing have invested in their directory entry, providing employers assurance they adhere to certain standards and business practices. They agree to undergo additional vetting and comply in 5 areas :

1. Licensing: The company and staff are properly licensed
2. Accuracy: Their broker finder profile information is accurate
3. Insurance: They have E&O insurance in place
4. Transparency: They agree to commission and fee transparency with clients
5. Security: They confirm they adhere to certain data security and data storage protocols

Either they have not heard of our site, or they have chosen not to participate at this time. If you choose to evaluate the broker market using our site, they cannot participate without signing up. You can invite any broker directly from your Employer Dashboard.

We would be happy to help. Visit our Contact page and get in touch!

The Document Center is a central repository for documents related to your benefits. Employee benefits is a complex and highly regulated function. The Document Center provides a mechanism to store critical, non PHI documents you may need during the RFP process.

We have features and uses for every size employer, from the two-employee company that may want to use the broker finder and documents center, to large multi-national employers that want to run the most sophisticated broker RFP (Request for Proposal) process.

A Request for Proposal is a document used to elicit a response from potential broker vendors. The Broker Finder platform provides a way to thoroughly vet, score, and select candidates in a compliant manner.

Absolutely. The days of having to combine answers in Word, Excel or other tools are over. We have dramatically simplified and shortened the time to run an RFP process and public entities and purchasing departments can save time and money by using our RFP tool.

We offer a fully customizable template with multiple sections that can be added or deleted, a scoring system that includes interview scores, and a hiring guide at the end of the selection process. The system is useful for a group of a few employees just trying to prepare for broker interview meetings, as well as the largest public employers looking to execute a thorough, transparent bid process.

Our RFP template is quickly and easily customizable for any company of any size that wants to dig deeper into broker capabilities. The system is useful for a group of a few employees just trying to prepare for broker interview meetings as well as the largest public employers looking to execute a thorough, transparent bid process.

There are many simple ways to evaluate your broker’s performance. You can explore content on this site to help you learn more about what you should expect from your broker. You can search our broker listings and submit questions to other brokers. Or, you can run an RFP and hiring process and see if a change is warranted. If you would like to Contact us, we are here to help guide you to the right answer.

Yes, we can provide employers with a sample contract document by submitting a Contact form.

Our platform is designed to guide you through a thorough, clear, and insightful broker selection process. It is not designed to recommend a specific broker. Selecting the best broker for your firm requires your evaluation and we highly recommend an interview process. We'll help you understand how brokers compare, and help set your organization's priorities. The platform can guide you to a choice you’ll feel great about, and we appreciate any feedback that might help us improve the experience.

Broker Finder was built to provide an online venue that connects employers with benefits brokers and consultants. The platform's simple tools allow employers to find brokers, compare options, and hire the right broker for their unique needs.

SHRM Broker Finder is an enhanced directory of Benefit Brokers that allows employers to locate brokers within their area who specialize with organizations like themselves. The directory includes additional content on the broker selection process as well as an RFP tool to assist employers in their outreach for broker selection.

We built a customizable experience so any size employer can run a successful broker selection process. Brokers can control the size and location of employers that find them in their profile information so that they don’t get information requests from employers outside their target market. Also, when contacted, brokers can always decide when to compete for an account.

The service is designed to provide employers with a simple, effective broker selection process, and to help them make an excellent choice based on their unique goals and objectives. The platform is not designed to rank the best brokers and automate a choice in the employer’s target market, but instead to help employers build a high quality panel of brokers, ask the right questions, and understand the answers.

The Brokers utilizing a Featured listing have invested in their directory entry, providing employers assurance they adhere to certain standards and business practices. They agree to undergo additional vetting and comply in 5 areas :

1. Licensing: The company and staff are properly licensed
2. Accuracy: Their broker finder profile information is accurate
3. Insurance: They have E&O insurance in place
4. Transparency: They agree to commission and fee transparency with clients
5. Security: They confirm they adhere to certain data security and data storage protocols

Since these brokers have purchased this upgraded listing and provided the most information, they are placed at the top of search results. Additionally, Featured listings can build a more extensive profile on the site, and get special offers not available to Basic and Enhanced listings.

Find a Benefits Broker- Basic Search Tool: Our search algorithm matches an employer with brokers based on their location and number of employees. Featured broker listings appear first in these listings.

Request For Proposal: We provide employers with tools to create a customized Request For Proposal (RFP) to send to brokers they are considering, so that they can get informed before holding broker meetings. While many brokers avoid RFPs because they prefer to present their story face-to-face, our RFP process has been built in partnership with brokers, to save both brokers and employers time and effort while enhancing quality.

We have changed the game so that these RFPs are fast, easy and benefit both employers and brokers. This has been accomplished by simplifying the RFPs themselves, allowing brokers to store their answers, and by making the information exchange online and immediate.

We agree that historically many RFPs have been a waste of time for both brokers and employers. Here are four reasons why this service helps good brokers win more business, faster.

1. The RFP process is not meant to enable employers to select a broker without relationship building. It is built to ensure the employer understands a broker's resources when they are speaking with you. It facilitates great questions. Bottom line: If you are a high quality broker this process will help you win new business. If you rely mostly on salesmanship but don't have depth for a given client, you probably won't fare as well.
2. The system is built so that you set the characteristics of the cases ‐ size, geography, industry, public entities vs for profit companies etc., where you want to compete. In addition to setting these parameters in your profile, you can also decline any RFP for any (or no) reason.
3. The time for you to complete an RFP has been drastically reduced. Once you complete your first RFP, your responses are stored for future use.
4. Employers using the system are asked to follow best practices to attract excellent brokers to compete for their business in an open, transparent manner. We recommend to employers:

Initially consider no more than 5 brokers and eliminate unlikely choices quickly.
Hold finalist meetings with 3 or fewer brokers.
Tell brokers why they are in the market for a new relationship.
Tell brokers how they will make their selection.

If you have more questions about this process, contact us and we will be happy to discuss this process with you.

Yes! Just contact us to send us the RFP, and we’ll work with the employer to input the RFP into our system and resend it to you online. The employer can use our online scoring and comparison to make their job easier.

The employer's search criteria are used to create a list of brokers to display. Brokers are then ordered based on the level of listing purchased. Each level requires additional information to be supplied by brokers in an improved employer experience. The levels include Featured Broker Listings, Enhanced Listings, and Basic Listings.

No, any employer can visit and use brokerfinder.shrm.org via links from within the SHRM public site or by typing in the URL. Also, any benefits broker or consultant can use the site. However, as an important not-for-profit and leading voice in HR and Benefits a SHRM membership is worth considering.

The platform has been built for employers to find brokers nearest their zip code that serve groups of their size while also providing the opportunity for brokers who selected an upgraded listing to increase their visibility to employers. The employer can then view your profile and ask questions of brokers to drill down to make sure the broker is best suited to their needs.

Here is how Brokers appear in search results:

All Featured listings within 100 miles of the search are listed first. If the employer is not signed in only the first 5 will appear. These brokers have the most information for our users, and therefore have helped create a higher quality experience.

Next, Enhanced listings within 50 miles are listed. They have more detailed listings than Basic listings, also contributing to a better user experience.

Basic Listings within 25 miles of the zip code are listed after Featured and Enhanced listings.

Please note that to provide employers with a selection of brokers within their specific location, we will expand the the range of Featured listings to ensure a minimum of five (5) brokers appear in each search.

Absolutely. You will be able to gain access to SHRM - The Society for Human Resource Management's - audience of 310,000 HR professionals and over 1.8 million monthly website visitors. While you will not have access to the additional features of the Enhanced and Featured listings, you can benefit from content, learning webinars and special offers.

We allow one listing per office location. If you would like to discuss multiple listings please contact us.

Your Broker Membership has several components: brand building, lead generation, business building tools and resources in the Advisor Arsenal and industry intelligence. Visit our broker page to learn more about how we add value to your business, or contact us to discuss how to get the most out of your membership.

Staying on top of all the products, services and solutions for your clients has become virtually unmanageable. The Advisor Arsenal has two distinct areas. The first area is an online marketplace for brokers and consultants to find solutions for their clients, such as Wellness vendors and Insurance carriers. The second area is an online marketplace of business building tools and resources including quote engines, sales training, and technology for your agency.

We’d love to hear from you! Please visit our Contact page.

One type of partner is any vendor or solutions provider that sells employee benefits products and services through brokers to employers and their employees (example: health insurance carrier). A second type of partner is any solution provider that offers a product or service that can help an employee benefits broker or consultant grow their business (examples: Agency technology, sales training).

Broker Finder was built to provide an online venue that connects employers with benefits brokers and consultants. The platform's simple tools allow employers to find brokers, compare options, and hire the right broker for their unique needs.

Any company that sells to or through brokers and consultants can benefit from and should join our platform as a partner.

We have services for employers with as few as two employees up to large, multinational employers.