What do you see young agents struggle with in theirfirst years in this industry? What advice do you have?

Ryan Hanley: Time management. What I found tobe the largest obstacle to overcome was managing my time in a waythat I could provide the quality service and attention that myclients deserved while making time to consistently fill my pipelinewith new prospects.

I advise new agents to block out time to prospect in a calendarjust as you would for an appointment. Do not take service calls orpersonal calls, and turn your e-mail system to “offline” mode.Also, I found that breaking up my prospecting time over a series ofdays worked better than trying to do all my prospecting in oneday.

Colleen Giles-Harris: I think the hardest thing is thecomprehension of the terminology and learning about all of thedifferent coverages. Our office highly encourages education so Iattended insurance-specific classes and seminars right after Istarted at RW Scobie. I have earned my Certified InsuranceCounselor (CIC) designation as well as my Certified InsuranceWholesaler (CIW) designation from the AAMGA University. I woulddefinitely advise young people to get as much education as theycan.

Amy Bryan: The biggeststruggle is patience and focus. I see many new agents and producersstart with such optimism about being able to write business andthen get deflated when it's not happening at the pace that theyexpected. I think that having a support system and the patience tokeep pushing forward helps when you feel like things are not movingfast enough. After a while, you get into a rhythm and learn thepatterns of the industry and the trends. There is a lot of businessout there to be written you just have to focus what you want toconcentrate on and what sets you apart from the competition.

What new technologies help young agents get a leg up inthis industry?

Bryan: To stay organized andflexible, I would say some of the most important things areensuring that you have a good management system that allows you tobe paperless. I also would invest in some sort of a VOIP phonesystem or technology similar to that. You can find inexpensive onesthat are available at a low cost, which allow you voicemail andfind-me technology where your office phone can forward to your cellphone if you are on the road. I also believe strongly in having apresence on the web as well as social media marketing. These can bedone at a low or no cost to you and allow you to showcase yourexpertise and niches that you as an agent specialize in. It's alsoa way to put a face behind your name or the voice on the phone as alot of business is done on the go today instead of face toface.

Giles-Harris: Social networking seems to be thewave of the future. Also, I don't think anyone works 9 a.m. to 5p.m. in this industry, so being available via e-mail or a cellphone is really important. Being able to access my work at home onthe weekends is key to staying on top of things.

Hanley: I have a blog and encourage all agents,not just young, to create their own space online. More than 90percent of your clients go online to check you out before theypurchase a policy. Doesn't it make sense to have control over whatthat online presence is? By not having an active presence onlineyou are cutting an entire market segment out of your potentialclient list. My advice is to buy the domain name for your name orsome version of your name online. This will cost you $10.

Many young agents enter this industry because otherfamily members work in insurance. What advice do you have whenworking with family?

Hanley: Be patient and don't take thingspersonally. I work with my father-in-law, brother-in-law and wifeevery single day. There is something invigorating about battlingevery day side by side with your family to grow a business. I'm notgoing to say that things are always lollipops and rainbows, butwhat I can say is that each us is always trying to do what's bestfor our clients.

Many family dynamics are not the same as mine. So the onlyadvice I can give younger members of the family business is this:Be honest. If things aren't working out, you still have to go toThanksgiving dinner with your family. Address problems, especiallyperpetuation, early, and I highly recommend getting decisions inwriting.

Bryan: Coming from aninsurance background, I know it can be hard to deal with familysometimes where as a young agent you have many new ideas and arefaced with the experience that family has. I think it is importantto learn from the experience that family can bring to the tablewhile working to interject new ideas and technology into the familybusiness. I think having clearly defined roles and managingexpectations of the agency's perpetuation plan going in is also isimportant. Your vision for the family business may be differentfrom what your parents or grandparents had in mind. Opencommunication is important in any business, especially when workingwith family.

Giles-Harris: I am a fourth-generation familymember at RW Scobie and I take a lot of pride in working for thefamily business. My best piece of advice would be to lead byexample, even if you are not in a leadership role. Managers, aswell as other employees, will be watching you as a family memberand it's important that they see that you are working as hard, ifnot harder, than they are.

What sales strategies worked for you in2010?

Hanley: This year, one of my personal lifegoals was to give more time to charity. As an unexpectedconsequence, my experiences working with local charities alsoturned into one of my most profitable sales strategies. I know howthat sounds, as if the only reason I was donating my time, moneyand skills to community organizations is for selfish businessreasons.

The time spent working side by side with other members of mycommunity raising money for local not-for-profit organizationscreated relationships that I could not have formed through a coldcall or even a referral.

Bryan: We have tried variousdifferent things, from online quoting to direct mail. But at theend of the day, what worked for us in 2010 was working on renewalreviews with our existing clients, cross-selling where needed andmaking them aware of all of the products we can help them with fortheir needs. From this, we have a large pipeline or referrals fromour existing clients. Networking, whether it is with other businesspeople or your own clients, is key to our business. Letting peopleknow what you do and how you can help them if they need you is halfof the battle. The other part is timing; when the clients are readyto buy, they will think of you first. This year we also have delvedfurther into the social media marketing and networking with ourclients online. We run contests on Facebook and interact with themon social media outlets besides just doing renewal reviews. Thismakes it fun and interactive for everyone while educating themabout insurance and what we can do as an agency.

Giles-Harris: I am not really in a sales roleexactly, but I always try to provide excellent customer service anddo just a little bit more when I'm dealing with one of our retailagents. If someone calls to check on the status of a policy, Ialways try to see if there is another account I can help them withas well, or if they have any questions on other submissions to ouroffice. I think it's really important to make the most out of everycustomer interaction.

What skills do you think young agents will need in2011?

Giles-Harris: I think communication skills arevery, very important. People in the insurance industry not onlyneed sales skills, but they need to be able to spark upconversations with strangers and work with a large variety ofdifferent personalities. Being able to communicate clearly, bothverbally and in writing, is one of the most important skills tohave in any business.

Hanley: In 2011, agents will need to master theskill of taking online relationships into offline business. Again,the Internet is becoming a larger part of U.S. culture every singleday. I'm not saying you have to have a Twitter presence or yourbusiness will fail. But our society is forming communities onlineand successful agents will excel in turning online relationshipsinto offline relationships and eventually into closed business. Theplatform with which this is done is inconsequential.

Bryan: I think it's going tobe important going into 2011 for agents of all ages to be techsavvy while at the same time having people skills. For agents, Ithink if you can interact with customers online and communicatewith them effectively and intelligently about insurance online,then you will have the best of both worlds. Networking andcommunication skills with people are also important because at theend of the day, people still want to do business with people.Another skill is flexibility. In this industry, multi-tasking ishuge, especially in the world of being an independent agent. If youcan communicate to your customers when they want and how they want,whether it's online, on the phone or in person, and can give themthe service they are looking for, then you as an agent will be ableto set yourself apart.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in 2010 as ayoung agent, and how did you handle it?

Bryan: The biggest challengeas an agent that I faced this year was time management. I have goodpeople and good systems in place so whether the client is speakingto me or anyone in my office, they get the same great service. It'simportant to be able to have people and systems in place that youcan count on, because you can't do it all. As an agency owner, youare a sales person, a manager and coach to your staff, financemanager, etc. You wear a lot of hats and you have to be able tomanage your time effectively. Getting the right people and theright systems in place continues to be a work in progress, buthelps build a better agency and service our clients better.

Giles-Harris: As a corporate manager I havebeen working on creating written processes and procedures for ourcompany. In doing this I have been working with managers and staffmembers from multiple office locations, and many people have manydifferent opinions on what the best way is to handle certain jobfunctions. I have had to do a lot of negotiating and a little bitof compromising to get everyone on board. It can definitely bechallenging when people don't immediately agree with yoursuggestions, but getting input from a lot of people can really helpget everyone to embrace the changes.

Hanley: Managing time, consistently prospecting, growing mynetwork, mastering products, establishing niche markets, renewals,and more. If there is anything I learned in year 3 of my career,it's that insurance is a tough business and there has to be alittle bit of crazy inside you to stick with it.