Hug an Insurance Agent today, they need one. Part II

shawnmwalker

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If you know an Insurance agent, give them a hug, they need a Hug today.


WHEN TIMES ARE FUN and EASY, agents work hard to work up all the price points and coverage options for you. Before they call you to cover all the information to buy a policy; they are calling a bunch of different company Underwriters to discuss your teenagers and home even though they have tickets and your walk out basement it is missing a railing. It takes them time and hard work but THEY HAVE OPTIONS AND COVERAGES AND PRICE POINTS FOR YOU and they love the work.


When times are Hard (AND THEY ARE RIGHT NOW), Insurance companies want fewer Customers. (Insurance Companies are worried about profits right now specifically on personal lines as they grapple with inflation in what is being called “The hardest market in a Generation”).


As such, the insurance companies start tightening the options agents have to offer or are making the process more complicated.


So the insurance companies raise deductibles, increase hold times for the agents, change roof coverages, they stop writing folks with too many tickets, Prices skyrocket, Underwriters say no 100% of the time, the Insurance companies nonrenew the clients, and so many other things.


As such, it is really rough for Independent insurance agents because their ability to offer tons of options has been limited to only being able to offer a few options in a more complex environment.


(ONE VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: 99.9% of the time the insurance companies do all this across the board. NO AGENT HAS AN ADVANTAGE OVER ANOTHER. Example: If they are both selling a Nationwide policy, they are both dealing with the exact same product and algorithms and payment plans. Neither one can do something the other one can’t do.)

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Simply put, Insurance never should have been boiled down to a 15 min process that saves you 15% or more – ESCECIALLY IN TODAYS ENVIROMENT. Insurance is complex and is changing dramatically on a regular basis. Call a professional and have them walk you through the coverage options available to you.
 
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I get enough hugs! I'm good. Lots of visitors from around the country this week visiting the office. There will be a lot of hugging going on!
 
I don't need a hug. I just need customers to stop yelling about the rate increases and stop getting CNP notices.

That's actually the really weird thing that's happening to me.

First off, nobody has raised their voice at me or gone off the handle. It's really, really weird. We are getting huge increases left and right, and everyone is incredibly understanding and thanks me for my help. Spooky frankly.

Second, my retention this year so far is the highest it's ever been. Like, by a lot. Same for everyone in our agency.

Both are really weird.
 
That's actually the really weird thing that's happening to me.

First off, nobody has raised their voice at me or gone off the handle. It's really, really weird. We are getting huge increases left and right, and everyone is incredibly understanding and thanks me for my help. Spooky frankly.

Second, my retention this year so far is the highest it's ever been. Like, by a lot. Same for everyone in our agency.

Both are really weird.

Well, you just jinxed it.

It is definitely a weird time though, I bound a policy yesterday for an excavation contractor, and he was overly thankful for my help. He said he had approached several agents, and they all just sort of "gave up," in his words, then his friend referred him to me.

It wasn't an overly challenging account either; I think many agents are just at their capacity dealing with non-renewals and remarkets. They probably didn't have time to quote him, or they were busy golfing, not sure.

Maybe the insureds on the commercial side have seen enough of how the current market is behaving to be understanding.

I also haven't been yelled at in a few months, either. The last guy who yelled at me was someone I was quoting. He was mad I didn't want to jump in the ring with his current agent, who had supposedly already quoted 30 carriers for a big hotel on the coast that Liberty Mutual was non-renewing if he didn't comply with loss control recommendations. Liberty wanted him to put a heating system on the building sprinklers so they wouldn't freeze in the winter. It was a large building, I think 20M TIV or so, half the "hotel rooms" were long-term rentals, and the other half were nightly rentals. He also needed tsunami insurance, of which his current agent "was only able to get him 1 quote" :spinny:
Of course, as excited as I was to jump into that mess, he also mentioned I should fight with Liberty Mutual on his behalf and recommend that they allow Glycol to be added to the water as an anti-freezing agent. He was rather pissed when I told him that was a terrible idea and he should just install the heating equipment Liberty recommends.

I wanted to work on it even more after he started yelling at me... Not.
 
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