Spreading the good word
Perhaps we can take a lesson from Mother Nature
that applies equally to our industry, our organizations, and our own careers.
By Cheryl Koch, CPCU, ARM, AAI, ACSR, AFIS, and Mary Belka, CPCU, ARM, ARe, RPLU, CIC
Feeling both eager and frustrated, aspiring leaders often approach us for support because they’re ready for their first management role but are discouraged because they don’t have the management experience required for it.
Those of us with—or wishing for—a green thumb know that nothing happens by chance; it requires a lot of hard work to produce the abundance of summer and fall. Perhaps we can take a lesson from Mother Nature that applies equally to our industry, our organizations, and our own careers. If we tend our gardens with care, we will produce outstanding results. Likewise, benign neglect will ultimately bring down even the most successful organizations.
Tend the garden of truth
We all know that our industry has a public relations problem. We are often misunderstood, mischaracterized, and maligned. Television ads tell you not to trust your insurance company and not to provide them with statements if you are in an accident. They tell people the insurance company will do anything to lower the value of their claim and the only way they can be treated fairly is to engage the services of an attorney. (Cue the attorney.) Billboards everywhere proclaim the necessity of having legal representation to get a fair shake from your insurer.
Are there bad actors in our business? It would be foolish and naïve not to acknowledge that our profession, like any other, has unethical people working in it. The responsibility of every honest insurance person is to ferret out dishonesty whenever it is discovered—just as we pull weeds in the garden. But that alone won’t shine a favorable light on our industry. Although bad news seems to sell, we can all be more diligent in telling the good stories of generosity, kindness and community service that exemplify so many insurance companies and agencies.
What we do matters. We can’t go back in time and make a loss not happen, but we can restore lives by providing much-needed funding to get through the bad times. At the end of the day, our legacy will be how we have positively impacted people’s lives, but only if we continue to tell stories that nurture the good our industry has to offer rather than sow the seeds of discontent. Specifically, things we can do to improve our industry’s image are:
- Consider doing local radio or television public service announcements. This could be especially effective following a major event such as a flood or tornado, but even on an ongoing basis, disseminating information about how insurance works will help change the way we are all perceived.
- Offer to help people handle the claims process following a disaster, especially if they have to deal with FEMA or another federal agency. And not just the agency’s current clients, but offer help to anyone who feels they are alone and overwhelmed by the task.
- Talk to a local high school or college class about the role that insurance plays in society. Often, negative attitudes are the result of ignorance. Education goes a long way toward changing hearts and minds.
- Remember that a rising tide raises all boats. And conversely, if we cast aspersions on our competitors, we are only feeding the negativity that already exists with respect to what we do.
Grow your agency in the eyes of the public
As we said earlier, there are countless stories of good work done by independent agencies and the fine professionals who work within them in every community. If you want people to know what you’re up to, you’re going to have to shout it from your own rooftops. It’s not bragging—it’s sprinkling the area with human interest stories and dispelling the myth that insurance is nothing but a big rip-off and insurance people are scam artists.
Most of the time, claims are handled the way they should be by the insurance company, in accordance with the contract between it and the policyholder. Perhaps this seems like a given, but a story worth repeating (with the client’s permission of course), is that of a serious claim that was just concluded with a positive result. And rather than tell it yourself, your client might be more than happy to sing your praises. After all, they chose to do business with your agency and that trust has likely been earned over a long period of time.
Why not take that little sprout and see what it can do basking in the sun? Here are some specific ideas that wouldn’t cost a lot or take up too much of everyone’s valuable time:
- Schedule community service days several times a year. Let your staff decide what activities they would like to get involved with and how they think they can best serve the community. Everyone is free to participate, but not mandated to do so. And be sure to have everyone wear their agency-branded gear.
- Invite your clients (and prospects) to an educational seminar. Choose a topic that is timely and relevant to your area. Perhaps that is something related to natural disasters or just the current hard market in general. Share with them what is driving the price increases and lack of capacity. Remember, most local country clubs or restaurants will provide the necessary space at no charge if you serve food.
- Create a scholarship in the agency’s name at a local high school or college. And don’t just donate the money—get involved in choosing the recipient, especially if they are going to study risk management or insurance at a community- or four-year college.
- Offer internships at your agency for local students, so they can begin to see the various positions available in the industry and how your agency contributes to the community’s well-being. Whenever possible, offer the interns permanent positions.
Feed your mind and your soul
There is so much to learn and, unfortunately, we all have so little time in which to learn it. That’s going to be even more true for the younger generations as they come to work in our industry. The expectation will be that they will become trained and educated much more quickly than in the past so they can contribute to the agency’s success.
This is somewhat of a conundrum given that we seem to be spending less and less money on training and education and allocating fewer hours to learning and professional development. If you see such expenditures as an expense rather than an investment, your people will take their lead from you. What you value will be valuable to them as well.
Our business is not becoming any simpler—we sell complex legal contracts that take years of study to master, but we sometimes expect our employees to learn by osmosis without our having to put in much effort. Like most things in today’s world, mastery of any subject requires time, energy and resources which will separate those who are serious about our profession from those who are just passing through.
In the garden, we have to provide the nutrients and water to enable plants to thrive and grow. What could be more exciting than to help our associates blossom into true professionals? Here are some specific ways to develop your staff—and eclipse the competition:
- Invest in yourself first. When was the last time you, as an agency leader, attended a class or took a national-level exam? If it’s important to you, it will be important to them.
- Make sure everyone has a specific, actionable training and development plan. We have written about this many times in the past and are happy to provide prototypes if you are interested. Provide a meaningful budget and spend it on courses and programs that advance the agency’s goals and meet your clients’ needs.
- Forget about state-mandated continuing education (CE). That’s right, it doesn’t make us better. In fact, most would argue that it is responsible for the “dumbing-down” of our entire industry. Make sure everyone is compliant within the first 30 days of each license period, then have them spend their time learning what they really need to know.
- Be generous with time and money. Fund important learning endeavors, including community- and four-year college degrees. These do not just benefit the individual student; they will prove beneficial to your agency’s clients as well. Everyone wants to hire only college graduates, but let’s be realistic—with the cost of tuition at an all-time high, many bright and talented people will not pursue higher education.
Hope is not a strategy in the garden or in our professional lives. Sow the seeds, provide the food and water, then get out of the way and you’ll be amazed at what you see.
The authors
Cheryl Koch is the owner of Agency Management Resource Group, a California firm providing training, education and consulting to producers, account managers and owners of independent agencies. She has a BA in Economics from UCLA and an MBA from Sacramento State University. She has also earned several insurance professional designations: CPCU, CIC, ARM, AAI, AAI-M, API, AIS, AAM, AIM, ARP, AINS, ACSR, AFIS, and MLIS.
Mary M. Belka is owner and CEO of Eisenhart Consulting Group, Inc., providing management and operations consulting to the insurance industry. She also is an endorsed agency E&O auditor for Swiss Re/Westport. A graduate of the University of Nebraska, Mary holds the CPCU, ARM, ARe, RPLU, CIC, and CPIW designations.
