There are so many new opportunities to explore in the insurance business, but future success requires going beyond the traditional sales & marketing endeavors.
The insurance business is undergoing rapid change in sync with all of the changes happening throughout our society and culture. Have you identified these changes? Is your agency or company organization embracing them? Can you envision where your business will be in the next three, five or 10 years? Let's examine some of the key elements.
|People
The current workforce is aging and their vast knowledge and experience is not being replaced fast enough. Millennials entering the workforce don't seek careers in the insurance industry, nor are they aware of the potential opportunities for equity. This could be a solution for those owners who haven't finalized their exit strategy. Because the millennial work force has the digital technology and IT savvy so important to Sales & Marketing in using social media for the distribution of insurance products and services, they present a valuable resource.
Team-building should combine the knowledge and experience of mature workers with the tech skills of younger employees. Joint sales calls should be mandated. More effort can be made to make the insurance industry more attractive to millennials: Sell them on the importance of insurance in the world economy and how without insurance there is no commerce and no financial security for families to protect property and assets from financial loss. Insist that new employees deliver insurance claim checks to customers to get a feeling for what insurance proceeds bring to a customer at their time of loss.
|Products
New insurance products are being created to reflect new exposures, so insurance education should be emphasized. Younger employees potentially have greater insight into the risks and benefits associated with technology. For example, insurance products for the rapidly emerging Alternative and Renewable Energy businesses present opportunities for new revenue growth. Energy sources from wind, water, solar, and natural gas are replacing oil and all of these new industries need insurance for their products and services.
New products in the Financial Services and Wealth Management areas are also being developed to address several fantastic opportunities. Here are just two:
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Life Insurance — Life sales are down. Millennials are not buying much and many of the life insurance and annuity products on the market are too complicated. But this is changing and the potential for new sales is high. All P&C producers should be required to obtain a Life and A&H license.
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Wealth Management — The largest transfer of wealth in history will soon take place when the millennials mature and inherit the wealth that will transfer to them. If you do not have NASD-licensed producers in your organization, I urge you to establish a relationship with a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) to cross-sell and deliver each other's services to each client base.
The office
The traditional office as a work environment is (slowly) becoming extinct. The need to continue to build or lease more “space” to accommodate growth is no longer valid because:
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Shared work stations are becoming more prevalent as people work remotely more frequently;
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Small satellite offices can expand a firm's physical footprint. Many new 'shared space' facilities are being built in various industrial complexes, former warehouses and on campuses that provide shared conference rooms, reception areas, and even office equipment;
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There is little need for file cabinets to take up expensive floor space or for having to lease space to store paper files offsite. Use of data storage and retrieval technology (the cloud) can reduce costs dramatically;
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The need for an executive-type corner office is fading together with the old traditional heavy wood furniture often found in insurance and bank offices.
What a great time to be in the insurance business! Know which direction you are headed in, identify how change can best work for you, then, as they say in the Army: “Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.”
Barry Seigerman is an independent broker/producer. Email him at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are the author's own.
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