We’ve been blogging for a while now, and we’ve decided that we need to start giving some shout-outs to some of the vendors we use and partner with to share some insight and a peek behind the curtain. We’ll be doing these from time to time to highlight some of the exclusive relationships we have with vendors OR highlight positive, new, and creative things in the industry.
The first one we are going to start with is Beam Dental. Beam is a very unique company when it comes to dental insurance providers who focus on the employer market. With Beam, anyone who enrolls in one of their dental insurance plans will never need to buy anything related to dental care again, and the reason is simple. Beam sends all of their enrollee’s electric toothbrushes (we’ll talk about that later), but they also send toothpaste, floss, and replacement brush heads for their brushes. That in and of itself makes them stand apart from all other dental insurance providers out there as nobody else does such a thing, but wait, there’s more…
In addition to all of the supplies mentioned above, we need to take a few minutes to talk about the Beam toothbrushes. You see, these things are smart. How smart, you ask? They are wifi and Bluetooth enabled! They talk to the Beam app on your phone and help track the brushing so Beam can see your brushing habits and those of your entire company. Why, you ask? Another very innovative thing Beam is doing is collecting data from toothbrushes. Overall, if the company does a good job brushing and tracking their brushing through the app, your company can get discounts applied to future years’ dental costs. Imagine that. Your costs get lowered simply because your employees and their families are brushing their teeth. Hopefully, they’re doing this already, but this does allow for some opportunity to engage your population and make dental insurance something a little more fun than just getting your teeth cleaned a couple of times a year.
I know this sounds like a lot, and there is a level of engagement that has to take place for this to work and for the discounts to get applied down the road, but please note that I am writing this because nobody else is doing this in this industry. Most of the companies in this space have been around for decades. They haven’t changed much of anything at all, so our nerdy insurance brains get excited whenever an exciting and new approach comes along because there usually is SO little change in this space.
Another thing to consider, Beam is taking the consumer issues out of oral care. Employees no longer have to worry about buying supplies. Truth be told, a good number of people out there would never spend money on an electronic toothbrush, yet most of us know that you get a much better brushing and cleaning experience using an electric brush versus a normal plastic one. This cost barrier is removed, and they go a step further. As mentioned before, Beam sends toothbrush replacement heads, floss, and toothpaste as well. For employers who have a lot of turnover (or possibly a good amount of hourly workers who aren’t bringing home a ton of money), this can help build some loyal fans internally. This loyalty doesn’t apply just to Beam but to your company since you are the ones that brought this offering to the table for them.
The brushing can also be made to be fun. My daughter and I started brushing together many years ago using our Beam brushes, and it’s kind of become our thing. We brush our teeth together morning and night. Still, it’s an enjoyable experience that is so important for younger children who are first starting to learn the importance of oral care, so there is an opportunity for engagement and possibly gamification at the employer/employee level. It’s possible with your employee’s families as well.
Last but not least (and part of the reason we’re writing this blog), over the previous 6 – 9 months, we have seen here in North Texas (where we and the majority of our clients are based) that Beam has been getting much more competitive from a benefits and cost perspective. And, in many cases, they will work with our clients and us if they need to get more competitive on a case-by-case basis. This is pretty awesome because we specialize in the small and mid-sized employer market, and it’s no secret that many insurance companies don’t want to work in this space. They want to work on giant company opportunities, and they ignore the majority of the companies out there, similar to most of the big agencies out there as well, but I digress.
Let’s be honest, you can have all the coolest bells and whistles in the world that you want, but if you are a lot more expensive than the other options, you’re not going to have a lot of people beating down your door to work with you. We’ve placed several clients with Beam recently and have several more teed up to make a move over the next few months, and hopefully (fingers crossed!), this great, business-friendly attitude and partnership that we have with Beam will continue for the long term. We’re excited that they continue to innovate and improve and are proud to say that as a company, we’re one of the very early adopters and the first to be offering them to employers here in the Great State of Texas.
If there are any vendor spotlights or things you’d like to see us touch on, please let us know. We’re happy to shed insights on anything you would like to hear about (within reason, of course). 😊
Thanks for the read!
