The P&C insurance brokerage industry is currently rebuildingand growing its sales infrastructure. Older brokers continue tomove into retirement, providing a tremendous opportunity for newbrokers entering the field.

For those being recruited, it's important to understand thatthere are essentially two types of operations: the legacy firmsthat continue to operate by selling on coverage and price and thosethat have evolved into business-solution organizations. The twotypes of firms offer very different experiences for an broker.

The firms looking to the future have leadership with vision.They know they need to spend money in order to make money. Theyoffer new brokers the right mentorship reinforced by a salesplatform, and they have a plan that gives developing brokersexperiences in the spectrum of account sizes. These are the firmsthat truly offer an ambitious business person a demanding workenvironment and the opportunity to succeed.

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Traits of strong firms

• They have leaders who have developed a visionof where they want to take the business, and they have plan for howto get there. They recognize the needs of their buyers have changedand can’t sell to them using the same outdated processes. Theyfocus on building a team and move away from keeping everyone inindividual silos. This creates an innovative, high-energy,collaborative work environment.
• They continue to reinvest in their firms. Thefirm leaders recognize the need to be able to bring value to theirclients other than the price and coverage of their hazard risk.They realize that they need to provide consulting to design andimplement programs to lower claims. They do this by creatingpositions such as claims management, risk control, and safetyconsultants personnel. They make these resources the center oftheir sales platform. They develop a sales philosophy built aroundbest practices and the needs of their buyers. This includes afinancially based sales message and consistent quantified newbusiness and stewardship presentations. Having a platform in placegives developing brokers a template for success. They can use asthe platform as their framework and continue to grow theirknowledge.
• They pair new brokers with theright mentor whobelieves in the firm’s vision and best practices. They believe thathaving the right mentor is important for a developing broker to besuccessful. The mentors are senior brokers who are continuallygrowing and staying ahead of the curve. They embrace technology andbelieve in providing their clients with a financially based valueproposition using analytics. This gives new brokers a soundingboard, an advocate, and someone to reinforce the proper brokeringskills to keep them on track.
• They make sure developing brokers have an opportunityto work on large accounts. They recognize that newerbrokers need to gain experience working with different types ofaccounts. They also realize that a new approach on an account couldbetter the chances that they win the business. They ensure this byopening up the prospect list and assigning specific large accountprospects to the developing brokers.

Moving into the brokerage world can be very exciting and offerlots of opportunity, but it’s important that new brokers pick theright firm. There are plenty of visionary leaders who understandthe importance of resource-based selling and financially basedsales messaging, reinforced by a strong mentor and a salesplatform. New brokers must take their time and ask a lot ofquestions. If they do, they’ll find themselves enjoying a rewardingcareer.

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Greg Dunn is managing director and a certified analyticbroker at Scottsdale, Ariz.-based insurance agencysoftware developer TCORCalc. Hecan be reached at [email protected]. Opinionsexpressed in this article are the author's own.