Young insurance agents: In their own words

Editor’s Note: Jennie Buth is a sales specialist at Fred C. Church Insurance, which is headquartered in Lowell, Mass. Craig Most is principal of Florida’s Most Insurance and president of the American Insurance Marketing and Sales Society (AIMS). Both are CPIA designees with AIMS.

Describe your insurance practice in 25 words or less.

Craig Most (pictured at right): I’ve been in the industry for 16 years. My business operates in the greater Tampa area, with three locations, and is working toward expanding locations and adding staff to continue to grow a standard preferred personal and commercial lines agency.

Jennie Buth: I have been in the insurance industry for more than seven years. I started my insurance career in North Carolina. My husband was in the Air Force at the time, and he was stationed there. We then moved back to my hometown, Lowell, Mass., where I currently work as an inside sales specialist at Fred C. Church. Our agency provides risk and management services throughout the New England area.

What led you to consider the insurance industry as a job and then a career?

Jennie (pictured at left): Like many of us who have found careers in insurance, I did not grow up aspiring to be an insurance agent.  After I graduated from college, I moved to North Carolina and got my first entry-level claims adjuster position at Sentry Insurance. Working in claims was challenging. Some of my responsibilities were to negotiate with claimants to settle claims and to review insurance policies to determine coverage.

What was shocking was to find that the majority of clients did not carry enough coverage or did not have coverage at all. Unfortunately, there is little that we can do for someone who did not have coverage or enough coverage.

It was devastating to see the financial burden that clients would go through because they didn’t understand their insurance policy. From that experience, I realized the importance of educating clients about coverage so they can protect what’s most important to them. I became passionate about helping and educating people, and so I transitioned into an insurance agent. So that’s how it happened, from adjuster to agent.

Craig: My introduction is not as glamorous. Insurance was the family business. My father was an exclusive Nationwide agent going back to 1973. After a variety of experiences, I moved back down to Tampa in the warmer weather to join his agency. It really wasn’t going to be a job. I had done a number of different things, whether the software industry or the military. It was going to be a career right off the bat for me.

Growing up, I had the benefit of seeing how it impacted [my dad’s] life and my life — whether it’s the flexibility this industry affords or the newness of every day with every client. I really saw it as way to make a positive difference daily.

If you look around at other generations besides your own, what’s the biggest compliment you give to someone that you’ve worked with, whether younger or older?

Jennie: The biggest compliment I give to another generation in the insurance industry is having the courage to take on a profession that tends to be overlooked. Like many professions including lawyers and accountants, insurance agents are also trusted advisors and risk managers who take care of people when they really need it. We have hard-earned education designations such as CISR (Certified Insurance Service Representative) and CPIA (Certified Professional Insurance Agent), which is one I currently hold.

Before we write an insurance policy, we must understand an individual’s exposures by examining their family situation and financial goals. Only a professional agent can act as a trusted advisor and get you the highly customized policy that protects you and your assets. Although we may be overlooked, I commend agents for having the courage take on a challenging profession to educate and protect families.

Craig: The biggest compliment that I give to another generation in the industry is my time! I say that because, whether they are newer or if they have more experience than I do, there’s always something that can be learned and shared. Whether educating, learning, sharing or networking, what all of that boils down to is my time. My time is my greatest resource that I can offer my clients, to my staff, to my colleagues. When I share my time, that’s all I’m focused on. That is the most important person I am focused on at the point on that day!

“Sharing” is a term often used with social media. Do you see that social media is a tool to do that — is it actually helping?

Craig: I think it can. Social media is a portal to a broad audience. Many agents leverage social media aggressively to educate, and that can be very powerful. Yet many in the industry use social media to commoditize our industry.

As Jennie said, there’s a lot of education and expertise that goes into what we, as professionals, understand and can offer. Social media can be a positive tool but also a detriment at the same time.

Jennie: With the technological focus of today’s generation, there are benefits but also disadvantages. Millennials are tech-savvy, price-conscious clients who look for instant gratification. When you see all these advertisements on social media, the majority of these advertisers are training customers to focus on price when purchasing insurance.

Although social media helps with marketing and brand awareness, the difference on whether it is helping is if the customers are looking to learn and educate themselves on our products and services as opposed to focusing their purchase solely on price.

What’s one piece of guidance you have for someone in another generation in the insurance industry?

Craig: Find a mentor. It doesn’t matter where you start in your profession. It doesn’t matter at what age. There are many people who come to the industry having retired from the military or another career. It’s really not an age standpoint. Find someone who’s walked through those paths, and who understands some of the challenges you will face.

Most of us, and I know I’m wired this way, need to step and fall in that hole until I learn that lesson. Having a mentor to guide you might help you not step in the hole as blindly as you would before. Having a mentor also helps with getting connected to the industry. It’s really a small world of some extremely bright people, and it’s great to be able to help one another.

Jennie: My advice to both established producers and future insurance agents is to develop a habit of engaging with clients regularly. It’s easier said than done! It could be as simple as sending an email to wish your client a “happy birthday” or sending a Christmas card. From that it usually pivots to another conversation and uncovering more of your client’s needs. It is important to prioritize the customer experience from the start, so you can establish a foundation for a lifetime relationship.

I highly encourage agents to proactively reach out with the right advice during important life moments to earn a client’s trust. I believe the shift from being a reactive agent to proactive gives clients a new look on how we value customer relationships, and how we can lock in loyalty for years to come.

What has your generation already done that has been the most benefit to the industry and to the client base?

Craig: I’m smack dab in middle of Generation X from a label standpoint. What I see really as the biggest positive change that this generation has delivered is the transition to the use of technology in the industry.

The insurance industry is very conservative by design. Many times it is slow to embrace progress. But we’ve seen drastic changes, whether it was the electric typewriter to then a computer system. But more important than the technology that has come on board is the agents and agencies in my generation who have helped embrace that. Whether it’s management systems, raters, just embracing the Internet — now you’re embracing the web for all of the opportunities.

Jennie: I can piggyback on that. The biggest positive change our generation has already delivered is the digital technology that allows us to enhance our personal relationships with our clients.

The way we go about insurance today is much different that it was 20 years ago. With today’s technology, the practicality of face-to-face customer service isn’t quite as common anymore. With smart phones and tablets, clients can use instant message or email from the start of requesting for a quote to completing an application. There are also capabilities to access policies from phone apps and to request changes on your policy.

What is your generation’s next signature accomplishment before you retire, even if it’s a long time off?

Craig: Please don’t be in a hurry to see us out the door! I’ve got many, many more years to go in the industry.

The stretch challenge is encouraging and cultivating future generations as insurance professionals. We need to do what we can to show how noble of a profession that this is. We pick people up at their absolute lowest points in life and help them rebuild lives. There isn’t much more noble a thing you can do.

You can go in any direction. The opportunities in the insurance industry, whether it’s working for a large company or a small agency, are almost endless.

It’s a matter of encouraging future generations and showing them how valuable this profession is, and what an opportunity it is for great people. There are some amazingly talented people in this industry, and it’s not just a retirement-aged person’s business. This is something you can do for your entire life. Managing, cultivating, encouraging, developing newer generations into the industry is our challenge.

Jennie: Although there are many technological benefits in today’s generation, there are also disadvantages that come with that. Like I mentioned, millennials are tech-savvy, price-conscious clients who look for instant gratification. The biggest challenge in our generation is understanding how and when to use technology without losing sight of educating and advising our clients about their coverage. With competitors advertising price, clients are wired to focus their insurance purchase based on price.

What we can do as an independent agent to differentiate ourselves from these direct competitors is to add value by providing a high level of customer service.

We need to take the time to educate our clients, advise them, and then offer. We need to do so in a way where clients look at insurance from a value focus perspective as opposed to price focused.

Jennie Buth can be reached by sending email to jbuth@fredcchurch.com. Craig Most can be reached by sending email to cmost@mostins.com.

See also:

• A dozen ways to advance your insurance career
• Career longevity advice from a ‘risk manager for life’
• 10 tips for a successful insurance agency blog

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