The Changing Face Of Todays Independent AgentAnd TheNext Generation

My r?sum? reads as follows: 32-year-old mother of three, attendsschool plays and PTA meetings, co-director of community vacationBible school, enrolled in MBA program on weekends; president of onevolunteer trade association, director of another; works two days aweek from home, three days on the road guaranteeing accountsreceivable for corporations. Ive been a property-casualty insurancebroker for 10 years, and I represent just one segment of the youngprofessionals today moving up the ranks in insurance agencies andcompanies nationwide.

My father, Kenneth Lee, entered the industry around the time Iwas born. He began as an agent, worked his way up to partner in aManhattan agency, and now, he and his partner have a sales force ofbetween 15 to 20 agents strong. I am one of many brokers in hisoffice, each having a different background and a unique approach tosales. But were all successful.

I am proud of my father; hes the reason I am in the industry. Itis a family business, or at least thats how it used to be.

Many professionals selling insurance today have had some familymember involved in the business at one time and can trace backtheir desire to enter the insurance arena to them. For others,while insurance was the family business, we did not see it as ourfirst choice of career, but soon realized it was one of the mostchallenging and possibly lucrative career paths we couldchoose.

Now, with mergers, acquisitions and company closings, things arechangingand so is the face of the young insurance professional.

If we want our industry to flourish in its current form, we needto look outside ourselves for prospective superstars. New blood isgood for any industry, especially one with a sustained image of anolder white gentleman in a starched shirt and brown suit (not thattheres anything wrong with that).

I fall somewhere between family member and new blood,representing a small piece of this new blood in the insuranceindustry. Our backgrounds are in mathematics, sales, marketing,management and finance.

Were mothers and fathers working mainly over the Internet toobtain business and receive and provide quotes. We spend time inour cars, as did the previous generation, but more of our work isdone on our cell phones and computers.

Others among us are single professionals, renting cityapartments and using public transportation.

We are vice presidents, owners and account executives, customerservice representatives, and Certified Insurance Counselors. Wedont have as much time as wed like to socially network forbusiness, but we are involved in associations for the intellectualmaterial and expertise we can secure at the click of a mouse orwith a quick phone call.

We can no longer be stereotyped into one lump category, becauseunlike the insurance professionals of years past, we are diverseculturally, physically and economically.

The need to attract more young people to our industry is a majorproblem in todays insurance industry. The problem was discussedrecently by executives at the November 2002 CEO Conference hostedby the New York Association of Professional Insurance Agents, theNew York Insurance Association and the New York Young InsuranceProfessionals held in New York City.

What came out of those discussions was that we, as an industry,have to attract college-aged men and women who want to learn aboutall that the industry has to offer. We must develop moreinsurance-based programs for these students to test the waters inorder to ensure that their entrance into the industry will be longterm–and not serve as a r?sum? builder.

We need to reach out to young people before they make theircareer choices. We must go to them; they will not come to us.

Most 20-somethings are looking for a stepping-stone as opposedto a career. Yet, they dont know that insurance is one of the fewremaining industries where an individual can start as a customerservice representative and work his or her way up the corporateladder.

They dont see that our industry offers training classes onvirtually every topic imaginable. They also dont see that itextends the lure of success if you work diligently to get the jobdone, or that its one of the oldest services of its kind that canstill provide a steady income in a volatile economy. And, itsavailable to everyone.

The 20-something prospects are looking for challenges andvariety. The industry is service-based, allowing communication withall types of people and companies on a daily basis.

Insurance works closely with political issues, environmentalissues and human issues. Be it terrorist exclusions, mold or lifeinsurance, insurance has a place in almost every headline on theevening news. And yet we still have a problem getting young peopleinto the industry.

Our image is probably the most at fault for this problem and inneed of improvement. In working with our industrys current pool ofyoung people, we should reach out to college graduates looking tomake a place for themselves in the world.

We must stress to others the importance of our products andservices. We must shed the stereotypical image of the salesman withthe derby hat using the double talk.

Our industrys contributions should be communicated: the dentalcare; the check the grieving widow receives; the fire insurance thestorefront business owner is glad he purchased after his buildingburns down. Our business is fraught with negativity, and althoughwe protect against disasters, our focus must be on the positives.We are not crooks or thieves, but men and women who, be it adisaster or minor glitch, will show up with a check, not abill.

What makes todays young insurance professionals different from20 years ago is that we cannot be clich?d. You cannot recognize usin a crowd, and we do not wear labels (or even suits for thatmatter).

We are uniquely ourselves, and proud. We know what we can giveto the industry and expect nothing less back. We support ourco-workers efforts, and will provide constructive criticism whenneeded.

Were not afraid to speak out; people just have to listen.

Its listening to the young people making waves in our industrytoday that will help companies and agencies recruit the stars oftomorrow.

Donna Chiapperino is a credit insurance specialist with Lee& Hawthorne Agency in New York City, president of the New YorkYoung Insurance Professionals and serves on the board of directorsfor Professional Insurance Agents of New York. She can be reachedat [email protected]

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property &Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, July 21, 2003.Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serialpublication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as anindependent work may be held by the author.