Remember the days when you used to call a travel agent to book your annual family vacation, your business trips, or a quick getaway?

Do you still get a daily newspaper to read over coffee in the morning? Do you use newspaper classified ads when you need to sell something? Or do you use Craigslist.com or an equivalent online resource?

Nashville, where I live, is known for its music. Yet, many people I know who work for record labels are struggling to figure out how they can stay relevant in the age of MySpace and GarageBand. Anyone with a few hundred dollars can record a CD and market it effectively online, keeping 100% of the profits.

Are there lessons insurance agents can learn from these industries? I think there are, if we will listen.

These industries are suffering today because they did not recognize the changes they were facing. Or, they tried to stop the changes from happening. Change is coming. The insurance industry needs to learn how to adapt.

Today, with the increasing number of online insurance quoting and information sites, insurance agents are beginning to fight the same battle for survival that these industries faced—and have lost or are losing.

Fortunately, insurance agents still have time to adapt to the changing needs of their prospects and clients and avoid the same plight. However, between regulatory changes, government mandates and, most importantly, buyers who want to handle more of their interactions online, insurance agents have a relatively small window to proactively establish an effective online presence.

The pages of The Anderson Agency Report over the last year have outlined what is changing about the way people want to purchase their insurance. We have established that customers of all ages are online—buying, researching, banking, and networking. We also know that the “silver tsunami”—the massive wave of Boomers retiring within the next 10 years—is becoming more comfortable conducting more of their activities online.

If agents don’t adapt and do so quickly, they will lose a major opportunity. Why is this so important? Because research continues to show that an increasing percentage of buyers are going online to determine who they want to do business with. As a result, if an insurance agent doesn’t have a high-quality Web site, there is a good chance they will also lose customers.

Agents who don’t have a solid Internet strategy in place today are at risk of losing their customers in the near future. Simply putting your logo on a quoting engine is not enough. Having a high-quality Web site is a critical piece of the toolkit that agents need.

I realize I am preaching to the choir. However, even if you have a high-quality, interactive Web site, you can’t simply sit back and think you’re done. Learn from others, adapt, and be willing to think differently and you will be able to do what travel agents haven’t—thrive.