Continuation of the Consolidation Trend
John notes that it won’t just be the big guys merging. Agencies of all sizes will start to look more like professional services firms. In fact, many won’t have a choice, they’ll have to offer everything to stay competitive.
Consolidation will ultimately allow customers to benefit from this one-stop-shop approach. Your clients won’t need to go to five different agencies anymore. Hopefully, they’ll just go to you.
Blending of Complimentary Services
The mergers won’t just happen in the board rooms. Complimentary services will blend as well, meaning agents will need to be knowledgeable beyond their favorite product line.
“The threat of disruption is coming from within the industry — suddenly there will be highly professionalized agents appearing on the scene who know financial services deeply, versus agents who simply sell life or health insurance.”
Agents will no longer be able to sit comfortably on one product line. Like the agency they work for, professionals are going to have to evolve and do more than what they originally planned.
New skills and changing regulations
This new breed of insurance professional will need to stay ahead of fast-changing regulations and an ever-evolving industry. The trending theme seems to be, keep up or watch out.
Agencies will have to step their game up
Agencies will have to improve and that means getting bigger as well as better. Not only do they need to handle more product lines and regulations but they will have to do it with a level of professionalism not seen in before in the industry. In short, everyone has to get better.
“Agencies are going to have to get bigger, give better service, and train and attract talent that operates at a higher level of professionalism.”
It seems, shortly, we will all need to increase the standard of service, the variety of services we offer, and our expertise to stay competitive in this industry.
John Sarich paints an interesting and, very realistic portrait of our future. Hop on over to LifeHealthPro and check it out.
