New Eastbridge Report Looks at Which States Offer the Greatest Voluntary Opportunities

AVON, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Two of the states with low voluntary sales coverage are also two of the most populous states in the country, according to a recently released report by Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc. But is the Midwest, which includes one of these states, a good place to focus your sales efforts? Is the second state, which is located in the Northeast, really underpenetrated enough to make it worth your while to market?

A new report from Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc. puts the spotlight on questions like these by providing state-by-state voluntary sales and inforce data. The raw state data is vital to voluntary companies, but by itself, it really doesn't answer these questions. “That's why we also provide other measures that go a step further and relate the sales and inforce data to the number of employed Americans in each state, arriving at an overall penetration number for both data,” explained Gil Lowerre, president of Eastbridge. “In doing so, companies can use these data to build their own measures of state penetration and the relative opportunity within each state.”

The ESI (Eastbridge Sales Index) and EPI (Eastbridge Premium Index) provide measures of real sales coverage (ESI) and penetration (EPI) on a state level. Bonnie Brazzell, vice president at Eastbridge, adds “The ESI and EPI change the way you look at coverage, penetration, and therefore, the opportunity for voluntary expansion.” The new indexes provide both surprises and disappointments when compared with the commonly held beliefs about future growth possibilities.

This new annual report, US State ESI and EPI Data for 2010, will be important for all companies working to plan their distribution, expansion, and marketing campaigns. It is an adjunct to Eastbridge's annual U.S. Worksite Sales Report^© and includes sales and inforce data by state, as reported by the survey participants. The ESI and EPI figures will be published annually and used in other contexts. Eastbridge also plans to track the two indexes over time, by state, to watch how the voluntary business evolves within different states and regions.

The report is free but available only to survey participants. For more information on becoming a participant in the 2011 survey, contact the company at info@eastbridge.com or call (860) 676-9633.

Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc. (www.eastbridge.com) is a marketing advisory firm serving insurance and financial services organizations in the United States and Canada.