Tag Archives: agents

09.30.18
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Review and repeat, It’s a cycle disguised as a tag line

Today’s idea comes from a silly, boring post in 2011  Although it was a short, almost lay, post, the message is correct and overlooked.  I’m guilty as charged.

But how do you find ” an average savings of $432….”  when reviewing auto insurance.  Well, the game is more or less rigged.  Some of it can mimic “self-sabotage” but it is really corporate laziness/indifference?  Here are some facts/scenarios to consider;

  • Insurance rates change. Period.  Sometimes a company can do it once a year…if the regulators cooperate.  Certainly every 18 months.
  • “New Programs” remember this new program is for NEW customers…but don’t worry you are a Loyal customer….You’ll continue to have the one-sided loyalty illustrated by not having access to the new coverage and rates
  • YOU change, but your company is not obligated, sometimes not allowed, to use this in a positive way.  But don’t worry, they’ll use it in a negative way.
  • Oh, and that “accident forgiveness credit” you actually PAY FOR, ask about your rating tier.  That may not be covered by the credit you are wasting money on

So, if you are merely “shopping” for insurance because ” I feel like my rates are too high, blah, blah, blah”  consider;

  • Are you really saving that much money if you do not know what the BEST current rate is from your current company? Actually, no.
  • The best way to save money is actually NOT to shop.  Make it a planned review no LESS than every two years
  • You DO NOT want to save more than $200ish on your auto, home, umbrella package!!!  Why?  Because if you save more than this you likely missed a cycle.

Advertising that leads with price and phony savings is bad for humanity and to a lesser extent the entire insurance industry. But, the fault lies in companies who are not willing to review their books of business and strive to keep people who fit their current underwriting criteria.  BUT, if the current marketing criteria are too different year to year or every three years, a company will likely never be as profitable as it can be.

So maybe it is the companies who need to do the reviewing?

12.28.15
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Maybe the insurance industry is just a reflection of society

Reality is this; insurance companies are run by other members of our human species.  They are also influenced by their surroundings both human and inanimate.  They are influenced by many of the same ideals, both positive and negative as the rest of us.  There is a lot of talk about “disruption,” #insurtech, #fintech, and #bigdata.  The industry is “ripe” for change, blah, blah, blah.

Yes I have many of my own thoughts, heck it’s my blog so of course they are my thoughts.  This dawned on me the other day;

Maybe the insurance industry is just a reflection of society.  But how?  In what way(s)?

So it came to me right in the midst of the holiday season.  Many of us buy new gifts for loved ones.  Many households, especially those of us with children, are likely experiencing an overload of toys.  Some of us now have items we don’t need, didn’t ask for and likely don’t want. BUT, I am hopeful we appreciate the effort.

I’m hopeful that many of us still appreciate what we have and don’t simply throw away what we have to replace it with the new and shiny.  

Than again, we will still have building after building of storage units for all the “stuff” we cannot bring ourselves to throw away or sell.  *Not sure where this fits in, are we all, on some level ,hoarders?  Are we so appreciative of “things” that we cannot throw them away?

But how does this fit the industry?

The average retention rate of a company and even brokerages/agencies is not talked about often enough.  When it is talked about, it seems like a “white flag” has already been waived and that they simply accept the fact that they will let customers go

**This is important, whether you are a company, agent or broker you let people leave more than they actually leave you****

WHY?

No idea really, the math and every basic human as well as business idea/philosophy tends to go against this.  But this is where I am beginning to think that the cause is much deeper than business and math.  Maybe it is deeply rooted in the subconscious.  Maybe it is tied deeply with your personal characteristics and how you are influenced by society.

Let’s face it, most of us ignore the ideas of repurpose, recycling, repairing etc.  Many of these people also simply buy new since it is convenient.  Maybe it is a lack of appreciation for what they have already(think profitable, blindly loyal customers).  But when it comes to insurance this attitude is very, very expensive.  Think SIX BILLION + in advertising expenses instead of less than a billion(my guesstimate) in retention expenses.

How do you/we break the cycle?  At what point will a company “stop the madness” so to speak and start appreciating what they have?  The practical examples are readily available; the older couch goes from the main living room to the play room.  The used car goes from you to the teenager.  We re-use some paint from one room in another.  Leftovers should still taste good the next day or beyond.

Back to the customer; you are hired this year and if you are lean enough you turn a profit this year.  If it takes longer than that, all the more incentive to keep them longer.  But how do we keep them?  If you have a system that automates most task, this could be fairly easy but;

It starts with your underlying principals and philosophy

If you appreciate what you have and show it appreciation it will appreciate you back(stay longer!)

If you own a car and want it to last you’ll change the oil.  It doesn’t mean the car has any less value.  If anything, changing the oil(investing a little into an asset) makes the asset worth more since you can keep it longer and hopefully avoid costly repairs.  Pardon comparing a human to a car but the analogy fits.  Keeping a customer longer does not ensure that they’ll be profitable but you’ll have no chance at profitability if you let them leave.

The big wave is already happening in insurance.  But maybe, actually definitely, those that can profit most from it will likely need to be accepting of a bit of an attitude adjustment.  I’ve written on it before, let’s look at companies like Terracycle.  Let’s look at Zappos.  Heck look at any of your local businesses who you are loyal to.  Now look at your insurance company/broker.  Same feelings?

As much as new technology is needed, technology will not solve the underlying societal problems that have infiltrated insurance thinking.

06.29.15
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Dear Insurance agent losing business to me;

I hope this finds you doing well.  It’s been a bit and I know things can be tough for some of us.  Safe to say it could be more challenging now than when you started in the business.   Honestly, if there was an insurance police this would be something they would want to know about, but since there is not I’ll just write this note to you.

For a while, I honestly thought it was mostly the on-line quoting machines that were making such a simple mistake.  Than I started to see more and more captives acting this way.  Yes, indpendents are not completely innocent but  I don’t take as much business from independents.  I’ve always wondered if it was 1) a mistake 2) a lack of knowledge or worse 3) a mandate from the company they work for.  In the case of the local captive agent, I am guessing it is more of a product of desperation. Really needing every phone call to result in business so you cut corners.  You cut corners you wouldn’t cut for your family but would do it in the name of  “low rates” or worse binding a policy today for a commission or some sort of contest.

Here’s the thing, by short changing your customer, you are actually short changing yourself.  In the short term you are costing yourself commission and potentially your customer some much needed coverage.

WHY?

Honestly, I have no idea.

Now take this from the sales side.  If your fellow agents are doing things one way, why would you want to go down to their level?  You wouldn’t!!!!  So please stop doing it.

How do you fix this?  Simple.  When you are quoting auto insurance, whenever possible you provide the same amount of supplemental un and underinsured motorist coverage as the liability coverage you are providing.  Really not hard.  If you are quoting $500,000 in liability, you quote $500,000 in un/underinsured motorist.  SIMPLE, now just do it.  EVERY TIME.

  • it’s the right thing to do for your customer
  • it’s the right thing to do for your family
  • it’s the right thing to do for your top line
  • it’s the right thing to do for your bottom line
  • it’s the right thing to do for society
  • you’ll close more deals because you’ll stand out
  • you’ll make the industry better

Seriously, if you need more reasons it might be time for another business.  Anyhow, happy selling.

 

Sincerely,

 

The agent taking your business

06.22.15
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An Insurance system fail

When a system fails, consumers and the people they need to run them, we all lose.

Take this example; Mrs. C is an existing customer of an agency.  Came referred and has kept paying her auto, home and umbrella for three years now.  The insurance has gone up in price(failure for a different article) despite the risk not changing.  Now you have one household who has referred other business to the agency and is worth about $800 in gross commission.  Factor in the people who have been referred and this one household easily generates $1000+ in commission.
Now Mrs. C is in need of another policy.  This  is for a small venture she is involved in.  Now keep in mind this small commercial type policy is not one that most agents have an interest in.  The total premium is going to be $455.  Maybe the gross commission is $50.  Keep in mind, she is already a customer, there was no selling.  This was a person who simply wanted to give the agency more money.
So what happened.  The options available to me are via www.theeventhelper.com who although they are very easy to use is written on a claims made form.  Now we can debate claims made versus occurrence but in reality it is the same mistake auto quoting websites are making.
  • They are giving the customer too much to think about.
  • They are allowing poor choices to take place instead of eliminating the possibility of them happening.
  • They are leaving themselves vulnerable for the when/if the customer shops a bit or worse a claim happens.

What is worse about this is they don’t have to do it this way.

So instead of having an easy online option that has a quality product behind it, instead we provide the customer with an application to fill out and return.  She does it.  Then we submit it to the wholesaler and wait, and wait, and wait then we get an offer.  But despite filling out an application, the underwriter has more questions.  So now we go back to the insured and get the answers.  She provides the answers so we give them to the underwriter.  Then they send us an offer but wait, this offer has three more questions that need answers prior to binding.  So back to the insured we go.  She then provides the answer and after a few more hours we get authority to bind.
It gets better, the event is on a Saturday and this is Friday at, you guessed it 4:00 ish.  I have a 5:00 tee time, not looking good.  Now fortunately the insured can make a payment on-line and after another human stepping in, the insured has her certificate. AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL  Remember, this was for $50.  But it gets worse, did the existing client lose some faith in your agency?  How much time in total was spent on this by the insured, you, your assistant, the other company as well.  Enough already.  Are we working for free?
Think of it this way, what if instead the customer could simply log into the agents website and have the option of an on-line quote ready and waiting for them.  You already have the customer, you already have their personal information this can upload into a new site  and you can easily build in a feature like this one.  BUT the product needs to be up to standards.  You need to be able to cover 95ish% of the customers you already have.  **Yes, I think you need to impose different standards for people you have not already vetted***   Want an example?  Go look at Amazon, have they ever upsold you anything?  Any chance you’ve ever been on a website that already had your data and made your next purchase easier.  You probably do this once  a week.
Maybe it will all change when more agencies act like businesses and less like insurance agencies.
Maybe it will get better when more agents stop using social media as a crutch?
Maybe it will get better when there are less agents?
The bottom line is still the same; The core piece of any business is having a set of customers who want to pay you.  The next piece of it is keeping this group of customers so they continue to pay you.  I suppose one more piece is continuing to evolve your business in such a way that those customers bring you new customers and instead of spending money on what they call traditional advertising you instead spend a smaller fraction of money on making the user experience better then you ever would need to on advertising.
Just some thoughts, on going work in progress.
01.04.15
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The worst part about insurance….

**Incomplete thought 1/4/2015**

 

Is all the agents.  Well not quite all of them but lately it seems like most of them.  Likely that the Pareto principle would disprove this but hey it’s been interesting.  What do I mean?  I mean if more agents did what the public thought their “job” was we would need less agents.  Why?  Because then there would be less messes to clean up for the rest of us.

I mean that insurance has yet to adjust for the better so that the consumer really benefits.  Why is that?  I am not sure, maybe fear?  Maybe because they do not want to increase their profits along with market share.  Maybe it is out of pity for all the agents they’ll put out of business?

What’s a mess?  Depends on who you ask.  Here are some examples;

  • An email from a referral looking for a quote.  I send my usual request and get back 1/3 of what I need.  He then explains he believes this is  enough for me to give a quote.  Safe to say the odds are good I’ll see some policy that looks like swiss cheese if he did send it over.  Why did this happen?  Yes, could be my fault but likely it is because of the amateur that first set up the policy.
  • ANY time that I see a policy with minimum limits written by  another human being
  • ANY time that I see a new quote get a poor rate because of their claims experience.  Especially when the payment is under $1000

It would be nice an agent show their policy along with what they are offering you for your coverage.  It is unrealistic for everyone to know everything which is why we have specialists.  It is why people choose careers and become good at things.  But then again, there are not so good people in every industry.  Why should insurance be any different?

07.08.14
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What price do you really pay for your auto and home insurance?

With several hundred companies offering auto and home insurance in the U.S. you would think a bit more variety would exist.  The reality is that the majority of them are after the same demographic; good to great credit, home ownership, college educated, multiple cars. Then there is everybody else.  With a constant turn over of actuaries and heads of underwriting everybody else inevitably can get luck and fit into a preferred companies model.  Generally due to a fluke in the sophistication of underwriting.  But the reality is still that there are only three prices available to the public and YOU choose your price.

1. Best(see lowest)Price; reality is this is all on you to get the lowest.  If you really wanted this you would have to spend several hours on the phone and computer.  I am not aware of ANY agent who has access to every company and as of this post there is not an website with all of them either.** It’s coming**  So now what?  Be sure to decide on your coverage before shopping.  Also realize that you may have never heard of the company you end up with.  Also realize that the spread from the lowest to the highest rate may be 100% different but it is likely 1-5% in the lowest five options.  Was it worth the time?

2. Fair Market Price; this is what most people have.  Your rate is likely in the top 5-10 available rates and is solid.  Sure you can save a little bit but is it worth the time?  Is it worth any technology sacrifices?  Is it worth losing an agent(friend you buy insurance from)  To you it probably is not.  This is ok.  Honestly I think this is where you want to be.  Remember saving more than $300 or so between your auto and home is not a good thing.

3. Loyal Price:  Here is your warning.  If you are with an agent who only has one company in all likelihood  this is what you have.  Take comfort in the fact that your agent is doing the best he/she can with what they have.  In my experience(11 years worth) for most of your time with this company you will be closer to the top end of fair market than at the lowest.  But hey, you are supporting a person you like, I hope, and hopefully they bring more  to the table than just insurance.  Maybe some business acumen, maybe some friendship, maybe referrals, etc.

What do all three have in common? You choose which one you have.

Thanks, just some thoughts.

12.01.13
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Not so common courtesy

You would think it would still be common I mean we are all good solid, human beings right?  Well of course we are, except from time to time we just do not act like it.  Call it whatever you want;

The Golden rule; treat others the way you want to be treated

I’ve also heard of the

Platinum rule; Treat others the way they want to be treated

Either way just be nice.

Share good feedback as often or preferably more often than you provide bad.

If someone just did something good for you, let them know.  If they could have done better it is ok to let them know in a nice way.  Then again if someone just spent a bunch of time to help you  show some appreciation.

Losing customers is unfortunately a part of business.  It is almost inevitable and sometimes preventable.  Bottom line is there is a nice way to leave, no sense in burning a bridge you may need to walk back over some day.

06.19.13
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Sometimes they choose to leave

And it actually happened twice in the last week.  Now the first one was expected, when one person marries another or moves in with another generally one agent gets tossed out.  Aw well, it happens.  Part of the business I suppose but still stings a bit.

The other was a little bit of surprise but should have seen it coming.  See on occasion the value that you perceive that you provide is not nearly the same to two different people.  Similar to above or as I sometimes like to say “It’s whatever.”  Similar to many athletes you have bad moments, the quicker you shake them off the better.

It happens, from time to time, that people put money in front of human relationships.  Add this in with the fact that I am not perfect and sometimes things get delayed and you have the perfect cocktail to create this atmosphere.

The fact still remains, as long as  you have a solid plan in place you should consider shopping each year.  Another almost fact is that I do leave most, this person included, with a better plan then when they came to me.  Some come to me with good plans just not so good rates.

Either way, it has been two years so it was bound to happen sooner or later.

06.10.13
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Can you send that to me in writing?

I say this a couple of times a week.  When it comes to insurance there are two specific times that this is a popular phrase; claims and loyalty.

With claims, I am asked “but will my rate go up?”  Odds are pretty good but it is not certain that your rate goes up if you file a claim.  I have seen plenty of awful driving records but since they have not had their records reviewed by the current company the rate is solid.  That doesn’t mean rates do not go up with claims, it just means that you have somehow avoided having your record looked at.  Also find it amusing to watch Nationwide and Allstate advertise “diminishing deductibles.”  Seriously, most people do not have claims.  The most common claim is an auto insurance glass claim and that already has no deductible.  In my opinion you are better off holding on to to your money.

 

How about loyalty?  I have said it before, please reserve loyalty for people that earn it not companies.  Should you be rewarded for your time with a company?  I think so, the longer you stay with a company the more profitable they can be.  BUT, Please show it to me in writing.  Unless you have it in writing let’s not “hope” your loyalty is worth something.

Just an idea, thanks for reading.

06.05.13
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The Calvary has arrived?

Birchyard hires Holly Maserjian

                     New hire enhances productivity

 

 

Wappingers Falls N.Y. (June 3, 2013)-Birchyard is excited to announce its recent hire of Holly Maserjian. She will join the Birchyard team as an aspiring insurance agent. Within this role, Maserrjian will brainstorm strategies and guide each client through the insurance process. New to the insurance world, Maserjian is determined to take on the challenge.

 

“Holly will enhance the company’s ability to keep up with the demand for the customized solutions.” Billy Van Jura, founder of Birchyard, said. “She provides more resources for our existing clients.”

 

Maserjian chose to work with Birchyard in order to gain experience with an honest and successful firm. Birchyard LLC provides consistent, solid advice and creates insurance plans specifically to fit each client’s needs. Birchyard takes the time to get to know each client, maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship.

 

Maserijan graduated from Bryant and Stratton College, earning a certificate in insurance. Maserjian currently resides in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.