Sun Life targets mid-size U.S. companies

The U.S. subsidiary of Sun Life Financial is continuing its expansion and repositioning in a market that has undergone several upheavals in the last two years. Medium-sized companies—those with around 3,000 employees—and smaller companies are the clients of choice for Sun Life in the U.S.

This is one of the strategies implemented by Westley Thompson, president of Sun Life in the U.S. Thompson spoke this week in Montreal as part of the Canadian Financial Services Conference, organized by National Bank Financial.

“Over the last two years we have refocused our efforts on products and markets that are more financially viable for the company. We’ve done this, frankly, by discontinuing certain product lines and withdrawing from certain markets,” Thompson said. The insurance sector represents the largest share of the company’s operations in the United States. In Canada, the insurance and asset management sectors are roughly equal.

Group products expandingWith its group coverage offering, the company now focuses on small-to-medium businesses. “It’s a very interesting market to explore. We’re not the only players, but we believe the potential is great. We’re centring our offering on the business owners and the emergence of small businesses in the country,” Thompson said. The strategy for group products, such as dental or disability insurance, also fits well with individual products. Sun Life U.S. is also focusing on life insurance products and other planning tools designed for business owners, who have to think about succession.

In addition to redefining its range of products, the company has reorganized part of its distribution scheme. This has been the case for the distribution of group products in particular. “In this sector, our 170 representatives were responsible for the sale of products in all segments of the market. This ranged from small to very large businesses,” Thompson explained. “We realized we were not getting expected productivity gains, especially from our more experienced representatives,” he added.

To remedy this situation, groups of more specialized representatives were created in the first quarter of 2010. That translated first into a decline in sales for about two quarters, due to the extent of the changes. But in the fourth quarter, this sector achieved record sales.

Brand recognitionThe Sun Life brand is well known in Canada, but this hasn’t been the case in the U.S.—until recently. “The survey results were very low—we really had no brand recognition. Our efforts to increase brand awareness have been successful thus far,” Thompson said.

The corporate headquarters of the company is in Wellesley Hills, near Boston, Massachusetts. Sun Life U.S. has just over 2,800 employees.