The first thing to do is pause and step back;
you may need some serious self-reflection
Telling yourself you’ve done everything right and that you are where you
are at because others have failed you is easy. It’s also wrong.
By Michael Wayne
Well over half of 2024 is already gone. Is it what you expected so far? As of this writing in late July, the presidential election is shaping up to be … well, there’s going to be an election. At least, I think there will be an election.
Regarding the insurance world, we have seen the earliest recorded Category 5 hurricane in history and, while Beryl did not make U.S. landfall with nearly that intensity, its approach seemingly underscores much of what is going on right now.
We now know that 2023 marked a second consecutive year of the U.S. property and casualty industry booking an underwriting loss of more than $20 billion. Despite only one hurricane making U.S. landfall in 2023, the majority of catastrophe losses that home and auto insurers paid out last year were due to secondary perils.
Rate increases or, in many cases, attempted rate increases on the part of personal lines carriers, have been rebuffed or have raised eyebrows and the ire of customers. In early July, Florida’s state-created Citizen’s Property Insurance voted to raise rates by 14% across the state—close to the maximum rate increase allowed. Keep in mind, that’s only a recommendation, one the state Office of Insurance Regulation would have to approve, and one that would not go into effect until next year. Investment property owners and those with non-primary homes are likely to see even higher rate hikes.
Toward the beginning of 2024, auto rates jumped 26% across the nation. In Missouri, that number was 40%.
At this point, you may feel a bit defeated or deflated. If not, and all is right in your world, I congratulate you. Keep on keeping on. For those who do feel like you’ve stalled out a bit, here are five steps to help turn things around.
- Assess what you’re doing. Pause and step back. Realize, this didn’t just happen. No one thing is responsible for you being where you are. You need some serious self-reflection at this point, and you also need to understand that you may not be the best person to see everything that has led to this point.
If you simply decide to “try harder,” and neglect to figure out what the underlying issues are, you’re simply going to waste time, dig yourself into a deeper hole, and become even more frustrated about your situation in the short and long term.
- Define success. How long has it been since you thought about what winning on a daily basis looks like? When you are in a slump, especially a prolonged slump, it’s easy to fixate on an endgame. In doing so, however, you lose sight of how to actually get there. Day-to-day details that are vital to ultimate success go undone until they are seemingly no longer relevant.
To ensure this doesn’t happen, you need to have established personal core values that make up your definition of success. Then, you need to establish the hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual functions necessary to complete to achieve that success.
- Don’t be an island. This industry is tough. It’s virtually impossible if you’re alone. Stop and look around. Who do you have on your team? What expertise do they have? How are you working with them and leveraging their skills and experience to be successful? If you are in a larger organization, what resources and tools have you simply ignored using out of pride or some other questionable reasoning?
You are part of a team. Act like it. Reach out to your peers and your colleagues and show them you understand that they have a job to do that is just as important as the one you do when it comes to generating revenue.
- Change your outlook. Telling yourself you’ve done everything right and that you are where you are at because others have failed you is easy. It’s also wrong. You may indeed have done everything in your plan properly. Others may indeed have not matched your level of perfection. Unfortunately, the plan you had did not account for that.
So, while you may have executed the plan perfectly, it wasn’t a perfect plan. Realize that the onus is on you to adapt to what your environment is giving you. No, that doesn’t mean you have to do everything yourself. Recognize weaknesses and strengths—your own and others—and adjust.
- Reformulate your strategic plan. Once you have taken stock from the four previous steps, and done so quickly, formulate your strategic plan. Determine your best path forward and move. Do not dwell to the point of paralysis.
Yes, change can be hard, but time is of the essence. Certainly, there are prospects that you may be playing the long game with, but when was the last time you checked on them? You don’t need to immediately show up with a BOR in hand and beg, but are your touchpoints actually effective? Are you learning more about their pain points as your relationship with them continues?
Lastly, don’t be afraid to share what you are doing with your colleagues and your peers. In doing so, you may just find that they follow suit and improve their processes.
The end of the year will be here before any of us knows it. I encourage you to get there with purpose for what you want to accomplish in 2025 and beyond.
The author
Michael Wayne is a freelance insurance writer.
