Carriers and Agency Networks Can Help Agents Implement Change
With all of these trends and new challenges, how can agents possibly keep up and keep their agency moving forward and growing?
“If you go ask most agents what their biggest top of mind concerns are as a business owner, you'll get a variety of answers. But generally, it boils down to ‘we need help finding talent. How do we hire producers? How do we get them trained? We need help from a marketing standpoint. How do we put ourselves out in our communities and bring in lead volume? We need help with respect to resources to help us service so that we're focused again on growing the business,’ and that's where both carriers and agency networks can play a huge role.” –Tyler Asher
The beauty of being an independent agent is that you’re often aligned with a number of carriers and partners who have done a lot of work for you, versus only having access to the carrier you work for as a captive agent. These companies have large marketing budgets and online resources to help agents customize marketing content for recruiting, as well as materials to help educate their clients. Agents should dig into these sites and take advantage of everything their carrier partners have to offer.
Safeco and Liberty Mutual’s site AgentfortheFuture, offers a wealth of information on the future of the independent agency marketplace, and even has self-assessments for agents to gauge where they currently stand on the digital maturity curve.
Carriers and Agency Networks Can Help Agents Thrive in an Evolving Market
As more and more carriers have shifted their focus to the independent model, companies have a vested interest in seeing the independent agent model succeed and are increasingly competing for agents’ attention in the industry. At the same time, with the current state of the economy and hard market, carriers will be increasingly looking to partner with the most successful agencies who have plans to grow. Agents who are partnered with networks may be looked on more favorably, as they know the agent is set up for success with solid partners helping them maintain profitability. Size, business plans, growth plans, and profitability will all matter in a market like this.
Asher added, “We're in a business where scale does start to matter, and so the ability for a carrier or a national organization to be able to provide that level of support, to tap into that scale, really to focus again on growing the business, is really important. So, for any member of an insurance network, I'd be looking at all the offerings, making sure you're taking advantage of them. You sit down and you build your annual strategic plan. What aren't you taking advantage of today? I think that's a huge opportunity for the entire channel.”