Posted on Tuesday, June 17, 2014

The State of the Insurance Industry

It’s hard to pick up a paper without reading about the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). This groundbreaking legislation is having a major impact on many industries—including insurance and financial services. But this is not the only pressure facing the industry.

Changing demographics, new models for the sale and distribution of insurance products, new communication tools, the worry of suffering a data breach—are all issues facing insurance companies, insurance agents, and technology vendors.

These changes are forcing a conservative and slow-to-change industry to adapt faster or face significant disruption of existing business models. It’s not easy.

In June of 2013 a group of industry consultants (including myself) published An Open Letter to Independent Insurance and Benefits Agencies outlining what we felt was required of the industry to position themselves to lead the change.

Has any progress been made? It depends.

The three players that make the industry work need to put aside self-interest and work together faster.

Insurance companies create the products and pay the claims when disaster strikes.
Insurance agents create relationships with consumers, evaluate their needs, and sell the best coverage at a competitive price.
And the insurance industry technology vendors create the platforms the others need to gather and store information, provide premium quotes, and move information between each other.

The insurance industry is ripe for disruption. Others see opportunity where many within only see problems and have many reasons why it can’t be done.

Innovation is at the core of what needs to change.

So, is the insurance industry going to follow in the footsteps of the music business (think iTunes), the publishing business (think Amazon), the film business (think Kodak), or the entertainment business (think Netflix)? Are insurance agents and carriers going to wake up one day and find that they were not able to adapt fast enough and have allowed others to take market share?

Yet, the insurance industry serves a vital function in our society. For hundreds of years insurance has helped make people become whole after a disaster. It is an unbelievable industry that has helped many achieve both personal and financial rewards for those willing to work hard. There are great income opportunities, better work/life balance than most other professions, the ability to work with diverse and interesting business owners, and the potential to make a significant impact on the lives of individuals and businesses.

The unacceptable response is to stick your head in the sand and pretend everything is going to be okay. If you don’t like the current state of the industry, become part of the solution. Create a plan for moving forward. Help begin the process of changing legacy thinking into agile thinking. Look for the opportunities and ways that you can help overcome the problems.

What do you think: is the insurance industry doomed? Or do you see bright spots that change is happening?

Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Why Every Producer Needs Their Own Website

I have said many times: consumer-buying habits are changing dramatically — both for individual consumers and business consumers.

A larger percent than ever of individuals are starting their purchasing research online. And if you’re not findable online you are invisible to a growing segment of the buying public.

This is why I believe that every producer in an insurance agency needs to have their own branded website.

I understand that most producers have relied on the agency to create the agency website and enhance the agency’s Internet presence. And that’s worked fine for the last 10 years. But consumers continue to change and if producers want to continue to be successful they need to begin working on mastering their own Internet presence.

Producers can no longer rely solely on the agency to market the products and services they offer. Producers need to work on their own personal brand in their own personal marketing so they are visible to the prospects and clients they want to do business with.

People buy from people they know, like, and trust.

The best way to help people know who you are, begin to like you, and learn to trust you with their financial resources and future is to demonstrate your expertise online. And one of the primary ways to do that is by creating a personal website.

Your website may be the most intimate way you touch your reader or sales prospect. It is also the platform best suited to educate prospects on why you are the authority on insurance protection and the person they should work with.

In a recent presentation I was talking about the advantages of creating a virtual agency. I gave a couple of examples of successful agencies that have no physical office. During the break, a participant approached me and asked if I would be willing to share contact information for these agents. I did give him the contact information.

I found out later that the participant did try to contact one of the agents. The agent in my example sent me an email asking me about this particular person and where I had seen him. He could not find any information online about this particular agent. It caused him to question whether he should respond to the email or not.

This is one simple example of the negative consequences of not showing up online. I am absolutely convinced that prospects search for information about you online before they ever agree to allow you to take up their time by setting an appointment.

Creating your own personal branded website is easier than you think. Begin now to take those steps to create the website and then add articles and information that show your expertise.

Posted on Monday, May 5, 2014

Internet Explorer XP Security Hole – The Biggest Problem is Not What You Think

Editor’s Note: This is a version of my article that was published on LinkedIn last week. I decided the information was important enough to include in this post. Even if you have already upgraded your systems and are no longer using Windows XP, you will want to pay attention to the Internet Explorer vulnerability and take steps to protect your organization.

An insurance agent approached me just last week during a break at a seminar I was teaching to ask: “Does my five-person office really need to change to a new operating system when Windows XP is working just fine?” I suspect there are a lot of businesses – especially small and medium-size – asking the same question.

In truth, nothing will immediately change. No features will be disabled, you will not be forced to upgrade, and even technical support will still be relatively easy to come across. Literally millions of articles have been published about Windows XP, and they won’t disappear overnight.

But – and it’s a big but – the biggest problem your organization faces is the financial ruin you will suffer when you have a data breach because you have allowed personal and private client information stored on your systems to be exposed. Federal and state data breach laws will come down on you hard. And you will have no excuse or defense.

Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Do You Need a Virtual Assistant?

I remember the days when most executives had a personal assistant who helped screen phone calls, reviewed incoming mail, organized calendars, and did hundreds of other little things that allowed executives to concentrate their time on what they do best.

The electronic world has allowed us to do more of these activities ourselves. As a result, most agency owners no longer have executive assistants. Now may be the time to consider bringing the executive assistant role back to your agency. And it’s easier today than ever.

When you are able to delegate repetitive tasks it frees your time to concentrate on creative work and allows you to do a better job of interacting with clients and prospects.

The world has changed. You don’t need to hire a regular full-time or part-time employee. You can leverage a virtual assistant (VA) for a fraction of the cost of a full-time person. This personal assistant doesn’t even have to be local. In fact, he or she can live on the other side of the country (or the planet). In many cases, it might work better to have a VA that isn’t in your time zone.

Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Delivering a “WOW” Experience During the Claims Process

I recently received an email from an agent asking about how his agency can do a better job of following up on claims. He was involved in a car accident and, in his opinion, Geico and Progressive handled it better than his own carrier. He wanted to know what systems were available to him as an agent to be able to communicate better and follow up regarding a claim. My answer…

Deliver WOW customer service An insurance policy is simply a promise to our clients to “make them whole” and get them back to the same place they were prior to an accident. A claim situation allows us to deliver on that promise when a claim occurs. Geico and Progressive understand that a key part of “good service” during a claim is communication. There are several activities any agency can create and build into a process that will help clients have a great claims experience—as well as others involved in the accident. Here are a few ideas: