Attracting future agents: 5 keys for independent agencies

Across the board, finding the right talent is more challenging than it’s ever been for independent agencies. And with new talent trends emerging daily — encompassing everything from hybrid work and the Great Resignation to quiet quitting and even quiet firing — the challenges continue to mount for independent insurance agencies to recruit and retain talent.

Competing for the best agents is far different today than it was just 24 months ago. Employees aren’t as interested in straight career paths as they once were. Instead, they’re willing to look outside of their industries to find opportunities that best match their situations and sensibilities. While sign-on bonuses and higher wages offer quick fixes, the secret sauce for agencies is to blend attractive compensation with opportunities that better align with prospective agents’ work-life balance.

To do so, agencies must rethink their future state. Will they remain a community-based agency with newfound digital skills? Will they become a full-fledged digital agency and grow their books of business across geographic boundaries? Once you determine the right approach for your agency, you can start to rethink your hiring strategies to meet employees where they are today.

Let’s look at five key considerations for finding and training the agents of the future for 2023 and beyond.

1. Find the right skill sets

In the past, service alone defined many independent agencies. In the future, the new differentiator will be marketing. The way agencies define and present their brand, attract new clients and educate those clients about their products will create business success. As a result, the skill sets you seek in future agents will be different from those you looked for in the past.

Increasingly the industry has looked to non-insurance professionals to fill talent gaps. Whether from Wall Street or Silicon Valley, MBAs or real estate MVPs, the insurance industry has recognized transferable skills from other industries and mapped promising career paths for those professionals willing and able to make the transition. And this need is likely only to increase.

When recruiting and reviewing potential candidates, one area of focus should be data skills. Embrace candidates who can leverage analytics from customer relationship management databases and other systems to learn which marketing initiatives are working, and which ones are not. A knack or proven skill set to leverage specific social media platforms is another plus. At SIAA, we’re seeing lots of penetration for agents using Facebook and LinkedIn in particular.

Another plus: Video skills. Agents of the future must use video to their advantage, whether it’s by marketing themselves to their clients directly on channels like YouTube or by creating digital proposals, a trend that accelerated during the pandemic and shows no signs of slowing down. The more marketing and digital skills your agents possess, the more options you’ll have to build your books of business going forward.

2. Make hybrid work productive, successful and inclusive

Hybrid and remote work models are here to stay. Employees embrace hybrid work because it helps them achieve a better work-life balance. Agencies, too, can enjoy tangible benefits — including the ability to recruit agents from a wider geography.

Achieving those benefits, however, will require some rethinking by agency owners. Consider what will happen if you find job candidates with the right skill set who are outside your typical geographic boundaries. How will you revamp your hybrid or remote work model to accommodate them? While having an agent working outside the traditional office environment has been a reality for most agencies for years, the reality of working in another state creates an entirely new set of personnel management issues to consider.

Gaining long-term success with a hybrid work model also means finding new ways to engage those remote or hybrid employees. Find ways to include them in your agency’s professional development opportunities, shared learnings, goal-setting practices and agency celebrations. Building a culture that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion will also help all employees — in-office and remote — know that your agency truly values their opinions, perspectives and experiences.

3. Fill in the knowledge gaps

The so-called “Great Resignation” of late 2021 may be subsiding. While an often-quoted stat from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics once said our industry would face a shortage of 400,000 professionals, recent signals indicate that some long-term employees — including agents — are now delaying retirement plans due to worries about inflation, the U.S. bear market and a potential recession.

Agencies must act quickly to take advantage of this opportunity. Now is the time to develop formal and informal opportunities for more experienced agents to prepare emerging talent for success. Senior employees, for example, can mentor junior staff on what professionalism looks like within the industry and inside your agency in particular. They also can share their decades of experience to ensure all their wisdom stays within your agency even after your longest-standing agents choose to retire.

4. Make insurance an attractive career option

Job seekers want to answer this key question — “what’s in it for me” (WIIFM)? Research shows employees today want to work for a company that reflects their personal values and beliefs. They also seek high degrees of fulfillment from whatever job they choose.

Insurance has long faced an uphill climb when it comes to answering the WIIFM question for potential hires, especially those from younger generations. Doing so means understanding future employees’ desires. Show your potential hires how they can innovate and use their creativity to make positive changes in your agency and in your community. Emphasize the greater good your agency brings by helping people protect what’s most important to them. Explain how a career as an agent can open the opportunity to be a business owner in the future. 

5. Get more connected

Attracting top talent is just one of the many intense challenges facing independent agencies today. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the seemingly non-stop disruptions everyone has faced since the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that navigating an ever-evolving landscape is more difficult when you do it on your own.

That’s why networking is just as important for job candidates as it is for agency owners. Independent agents who join alliances such as SIAA will benefit from the resources, support, flexibility and stability of other agency owners who have navigated tight labor markets and numerous other concerns. They’ll also show future agents that they believe in the power of networking to create a better agency and strengthen their communities.

While hiring trends come and go, there’s no denying that the way independent agencies operate in the future will be far different than in the past. That’s why principals must understand the difference between working in your business and working on your business. Those who put their heads down and just write business will be left behind. But principals who put their heads up and grow their business through technology and innovative talent recruitment strategies will thrive. Which choice will you make?

Jeff Holmes is the chief operating officer of SIAA, the largest alliance of independent insurance agencies in the country. He is responsible for the day-to-day operations management of SIAA, ensuring processes and procedures are executed in an effective manner and meet the overall needs of internal and external customers. He can be reached at jeff.holmes@siaa.com.

Opinions expressed here are the author’s own.

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• Talent crisis will drive change in insurance