Over the years, I’ve asked thousands of independent agency owners and producers the same questions: What do you owe your clients? What value do you bring to them?

I’m amazed at how many people have never even considered these questions. Apparently they’ve never sat down as an organization to discuss their obligation to clients or given much thought as to whether they provide them any substantial benefits or advantages (e.g., value).

Often owners and producers confuse what they owe clients with the following empty claims they make during presentations:

Great Service.
Of course you provide this! You’d never say, “We give good service.”

All of the Carriers.
OK, so you represent a ton of companies. Doesn’t everyone?

All of the Best People.
This statement drives me crazy: “We have the best people in the business.” As if there were some vortex in the universe that magically opened and all the best people in the industry fell into...

By Brent M. Kelly

One of the most vital aspects of insurance agency growth is simply knowing what it is you want and then having the focus, consistency, and persistence to go get it.

One of my favorite resources that we use with our Sitkins Network members is the 80/20 analysis.

I am guessing that you are at least vaguely familiar with the 80/20 principle, commonly known as the Pareto principle, named after Italian Vilfredo Pareto, who discovered this principle when studying land ownership.   

The 80/20 principle is true in many areas in life and business such as:

·      20 percent of the roads produce 80 percent of the traffic jams

·      20 percent of drinkers consume 80 percent of beer

·      20 percent of students generate 80 percent of classroom discussions

·      20 percent of your clothes are worn 80 percent of the time

...

TAKE THESE STEPS AND WATCH YOUR AGENCY GROW

Are you an effective leader? Turn around and see if everyone—or anyone—is following you. If no one is there, you have your answer: You’re not an effective leader!

Not surprisingly, the best leaders in our CEO programs are the ones who achieve the greatest results. They’re the ones who identify the behaviors and strategies that become non-optional within their agency. Further, they demand accountability. They agree on what they’re going to do, and then they hold themselves and their team members accountable. That’s a leader!

Having said that, I believe it’s time that agency owners and producers make true organic growth a non-optional result. The reality is that the average agency is only achieving around 3% to 4% organic growth. I hope that you (as one of our readers) and your agency find this statistic to be unacceptable. Personally, I think it’s too low. However, it’s...

 One of the questions I often get when I work with insurance agency leaders is, “How do I best lead my team?”

Let me start by saying that unless your agency just started from scratch or you are a one-person operation, you have challenging people on your team. People with egos, people with complacency, people with drama, people with an inability to listen effectively. However, none of these challenges will be your most difficult.

 The most challenging person you will ever lead is YOU.

 No other person you lead will have a bigger impact to your business results.

 Leadership is personal and it doesn’t get any more personal than leading yourself.

Many of us are our own biggest fans….and our own worst critics. In other words, we don’t often see ourselves the same way others do. And if leading yourself wasn’t hard enough, as a leader you must realize that everyone is watching.

Your agency team is watching when you show up, when you...

The term leadership is used every day in business, sports, and in our personal lives. It’s often discussed, but rarely understood.

Like many industries, the insurance industry has been influenced by both positive and negative leadership over the years. Today, with the rapid pace of new information, changing technology, and younger workforce, strong leadership is needed now more than ever before.

What is true leadership? 

For much of my life, I thought leadership was about power, experience, or position. What I have come to realize is that true leadership isn’t really about any of those things.

After 17 years of insurance industry experience, both from the inside and outside, I have seen countless examples of both strong and weak leadership characteristics from agency leaders, company personnel, producers, and administration.

Let’s discuss what I’ve discovered to be the 4 key principles of authentic and effective insurance leadership. I believe that by...

By Roger Sitkins

AND WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

I’m sure you’re familiar with the opening line of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …” I believe this may apply to today’s independent insurance agencies as well.

It’s the best of times because agency values have never been higher and the United States economy is doing very well. But it also may be the worst of times for some or all of the following reasons:

• Declining market share in certain areas
• Shrinking commission rates
• Increased competition from direct writers
• The growing challenge to find new sales and service talent
• Anemic pipelines

On top of all that, there’s digital disruption in both commercial and personal lines. Although this is something that was barely recognized a decade ago, there are now hundreds of companies worldwide that are developing digital distribution for the insurance industry.

As a result...

AN UNCOMFORTABLE REALITY

Millennial brain power has already helped destroy your future in non-High Net Worth personal lines, small commercial and life insurance. It’s called InsurTech, and the war is already over. They won. Within a few years, every insurance product that is really nothing more than price shopping (Probably 50% of all your accounts) will be procured and issued via the internet. No need for brokers. That’s just added expense. Think back to what happened to travel agents.

NOW THE GOOD NEWS

The Insurance Brokerage industry needs young, fresh, diverse minds to fill the void being left by a tsunami of retiring talent. We need creativity, energy, and new thinking. Guess what? The Millennials fill the bill. Of course, you think they are lazy, unmotivated and basically just not as perfect as you were when you were at their age. Remember, the prior generation thought the same about you!

Young people don’t care how we’ve always done it, especially if...

Imagine being in a business where every single person needs your product. Imagine being in a business where 90% of your clients will buy from you again every year…even if you are average. Imagine being in a business with unlimited opportunity for growth and financial freedom.

Every one of these statements is true for independent insurance agencies today. 

Yet, even with the unlimited potential afforded in the insurance industry, when I speak to agency owners, one of the top frustrations is the ability to attract, train, and retain the best talent.

Why?

Well, every independent agency is unique, but I believe there are three common areas in which many insurance agencies struggle to bridge the talent gap. 

1.     They don’t know who they are (Lack of Purpose)

As an insurance agency leader, how would you answer when I ask, “Why does your agency exist and why should anyone care?”  For the typical independent insurance agency,...

The act of empowering others changes lives, and it’s a win-win situation for you and the people you empower.

When you think of customer experiences you have had with your cable company, phone company, or services run by a governmental entity, what are your typical feelings?

If you are like many, the words frustrated, annoyed, or maybe even dreadful come to mind.

I had a recent phone conversation with my cable company to change my billing information for our monthly automated payment. Our debit card was compromised and I needed to give them updated payment information.

I thought this would be a simple conversation. Something like, “Hi my name is Brent and I need to update our automated payment information because our current debit card was compromised.” Then they would say, something like, "No problem, sorry to hear about that, let's take care of that right now."  

I should have known better.

Instead this seemingly simple 3-minute phone call turned into a...

By Brent Kelly: 

Several years ago, I heard a quote from leadership expert John Maxwell that caused me to stop and pause.  He said, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” 

I think the word that caused me to stop and pause was EVERYTHING.

I believe that leadership is important in business growth and development, but EVERYTHING rises and falls on leadership?  That seems like a bit much.

Over the past few years in my own coaching business and now as an executive coach for The Sitkins Group, I can confidently say that John Maxwell is 100% correct. EVERYTHING rises and falls on leadership. 

Recently, our entire team at the Sitkins Group started to make a list of the scariest trends facing insurance agencies today.  After internal discussion and getting feedback from insurance leaders across the country, we discovered 8 common scary trends.  They include:

·      Low organic growth

...