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Strange & Wonderful

Like any long-term relationship, agent/insurer liaisons have their ups and downs. Representatives from both sides show how to improve communication and pave the way to greater profitability.

By Dave Lenckus | Updated on August 31, 2013
Producers and insurers tend to view their relationship much like legendary Chicago Bears Head Coach Mike Ditka once described his own with quarterback Jim McMahon: “We have a strange and wonderful relationship—he’s strange, and I’m wonderful.”

As with members of any team, that does not mean producers and insurers always agree with how the other approaches the game. And plenty of examples, from shifting responsibilities to producer compensation to new business development, according to industry observers, show that. Many agents have the same criticism about insurers they have had “for the last 50, 100 years,” said John Wepler, president of industry consultant Marsh, Berry & Co. of Willoughby, Ohio. “It’s the perception that carriers, in general, don’t understand their business.”

But that opinion isn’t shared by agents who find ways to adapt to evolving market dynamics, said Tim Cunningham, a principal at OPTIS Partners LLC of Chicago. Overall, those agents’ relationship with insurers has “gotten better” over the past several years, he said. The “old-school guys” who resist change have the poorer relationships with insurers, he said.

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