2014 Business Trends
2014 Insurance Business Trends – My Take
Dear Clients and Colleagues,
I hope you are finding 2014 productive and prosperous! I see this year as one of accelerating change. My conversations with insurance professionals from agencies, carriers, MGAs, associations, and network/aggregator group members have been of such interest, I thought they might hold value for you.
Surge in employee retirements. Here are some reasons. 30+ year employees are being offered nice retirement packages; 55+ year-old workers have changing priorities as parent caregivers or spending time with grandchildren; personal events trigger a work-changing decision; owners are selling the business or restructuring for the future.
As retirements increase, the orientation and development of new employees is critical. Does your firm have a purpose, strategy, and methodology to assure continued success? Is there a 30, 60, 90-day checkpoint program to validate a good hiring decision or end a poor one? Do the owners have a successful method of communicating the vision, culture, and history of the business? Are there standards and competency measures to assure education, development, and training are leading to performance excellence? Top firms now have specific positions assigned to lead and coordinate employee development.
Remote workers and flexible scheduling expands. Hip hip hooray for mobile technology, reliable telephone and video conferencing, and the global economy! Valued employees can keep their positions from anywhere in the world. Home-based or distant offices are invisible to clients. Off-site workers feel included in the team.
High-quality employees don’t have to be on your payroll. WAHVE, Work at Home Vintage Employees, is an innovative contract staffing solution that engages vintage professionals who work from home on a full-time, part-time, long-term or short-term basis for insurance firms. Sharon Emek, President and CEO of WAHVE, wrote an interesting blog post about the boomer’s reinvention of retirement called “pretirement.” A career’s worth of knowledge remaining in the industry! How great is that?
Great service sells. You’re not selling a product. You’re selling a relationship. My main street, community-focused agency clients are making Caring Claim Handling their competitive advantage. Is your agency doing all it can to reaffirm value when a client has a claim? Compare your agency claim-handling process to the 10 ideas I recommend in George Nordhaus’ Monday Morning webinar broadcast. It’s a fast-paced, 25-minute program.
Do what you do best and partner for the rest. I love ResourcePro’s tagline – Do What Counts. Why spend time on certain activities when you can partner with experts? Growth organizations spend time on client-focused, profit-producing activities. ResourcePro is the partner of choice used by my clients to drive operations excellence and process efficiency. AgenciesOnline is the one-stop expert in insurance online marketing and communications. Both firms are experiencing enormous increases in clients this year. Smart business decisions!
Speaking of partnerships… If your firm is looking for an experienced guide to help navigate the future, create employee orientation and development programs, or find your competitive advantage, I can help you create your ideal enterprise. Learn more about Selling Strategies or Be the Agent of Choice Consulting Services. Reach me at 888-309-8802 or emily@sellingstrategies.com.
Thank you for your support and business. Wishing you continued success!
Emily