Leaders from winning insurance agencies impart advice
In need of insurance-career inspiration? Check out the recent webcast "Agency of the Year Winners: How to Enhance Business and Client Relations."
I wrote in the July/August issue of NU Property & Casualty magazine about how often insurance professionals express love for their work.
While true, agents, brokers, risk managers, underwriters, actuaries and insurance executives are only human. Even the best relationships sometimes hit the skids, and folks who love their jobs can suffer from burnout.
So this column is about insurance-career inspiration.
Anyone in need of such inspiration should seek out our recent webcast, “Agency of the Year Winners: How to Enhance Business and Client Relations.”
The conversation was a chance for winners of the 2021 Agency of the Year Award to reflect on their success and share some of the secrets to becoming leaders in the P&C insurance space.
This year’s winning agencies were represented by Amanda Bryant, director of operations at National Flood Insurance; Bill Johnson, chairman of The Liberty Company Insurance Brokers; and Kathy Post, owner & CEO, Post Insurance & Financial. I hosted the webcast, which was sponsored by Nationwide.
Driven by core values
I started by asking each agency leader what traits contributed to their ability to win the Agency of the Year Award. Amanda Bryant’s agency specializes in flood protection. It follows that she believes “expertise, service and innovation” enable National Flood Insurance to stand out. “Our staff has 70-plus years of combined flood-insurance experience,” she said. Wow! Talk about a job that engages people for decades.
Bill Johnson felt that his agency is singular because of its focus on staff development and culture. To his point: You’d be hard-pressed to find another insurance agency (or any business, for that matter) whose ranks include “a gifted healer” with the title Chief Wellness Officer. “We work at creating an environment where our people feel truly appreciated and cared for; an environment that inspires people to be healthier and pursue their entrepreneurial dreams,” he said of The Liberty Company.
Kathy Post wasn’t alone in calling out her agency’s “core values” as part of the recipe for success. At Post Insurance & Financial, those core values include “integrity, innovation and being family-oriented.”
After nearly an hour, we closed the webcast by exploring each agency leader’s “best sales pitch” for pursuing an insurance career.
“Insurance touches every aspect of our world… It’s foundational,” Johnson said. Insurance professionals are always learning and never bored. “If you think insurance is boring, try banking!” he quipped.
Clearly a pragmatist, Bryant pointed out that success-minded individuals can build an insurance career without necessarily investing thousands of dollars in higher education. “In this job market, sometimes that investment does not pay off,” she said. An insurance career “makes economic sense.”
Post talked about the importance of strong relationships.
“It really comes down to what insurance is all about,” she said. “It’s about helping ease the burden when somebody needs it the most. It’s about helping people at their most vulnerable time. The insurance business gives you that opportunity.”
All three of this year’s winning agencies sound like great places to work.
You can hear this webcast in its entirely and read articles about the 2021 Agency of the Year Award winners online at PropertyCasualty360.com. That’s an especially good idea for insurance pros in need of a bit of career inspiration.
Read more columns by Elana Ashanti Jefferson: