"The industry is increasingly being driven by data and bynumbers," says Mike Becker (seen here), executive vice presidentand CEO of the National Association of ProfessionalInsurance Agents (PIA). "There's great benefit in data and numbersand analytics, but reducing or eliminating those relationships withagents would be a grave mistake." (Photo: ALM Media)

Once you learn of his deep love for baseball and the value ofteam effort and social involvement, it becomes clear why MikeBecker is the ideal person to lead the National Association of Professional InsuranceAgents (PIA).

"We grew up in a town that still is very civic-minded, whereyou're very much involved in the community," says the Vienna, Va.,native. "My dad coached sports, my mom worked in the schools and itwas just a great example of how to be part of your community — andnot just be part of it, but to contribute to it."

That sensibility imbues Becker's work as executive vice president and CEO of PIANational, which represents independent agents in all 50 states,the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Becker's leadershipstrengths lie in two elements: his skill at keeping an eye on theball when it comes to agents' needs and concerns, and an affable,disarming sincerity not always found in an insurance professionalof his stature.

It doesn't hurt that Becker is 36 — a relative youth, ininsurance-industry years. Yet his ability tolead this national organization is unquestioned — so much so, infact, that Becker just signed with PIA to renew his contractthrough 2022.

"We foster a culture within this organization of compassion,honesty and good will toward each other, and that's ourdifferentiator," says Becker. "We have no gaps in between thecollegiality, the respect and transparency. That was evident to mefrom day one, and it's up to me to continue to engender that senseof community."

From the Hill to the Heartland

A great number of successful individuals in P&C insurance ended up in the industrywithout consciously deciding to do so, and Becker is no different.After earning his bachelor's degree in Government and InternationalPolitics from George Mason University, he pursued a career onCapitol Hill and served as a legislative staffer for formerCongressman Nick Lampson. Becker then worked in congressionalrelations for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA),a national trade association representing manufacturers andmarketers of over-the-counter medicines and dietary supplements,before he found himself intrigued by a job opening managingpolitical affairs at PIA.

"Like a lot of people that end up in theindustry, I wasn't looking for a job, I wasn't pursuinginsurance and knew very little about it," he relates inconversation at the Hilton Crystal City in Arlington, Va., duringPIA National's annual Federal Legislative Summit.

Becker came onboard in March 2007. "I quickly fell in love withthe broader part of the industry, the agents," he says. "I fell inlove with the people. That's what's kept me in it."

Prior to his first day in the office, Becker was encouraged toattend PIA's Federal Legislative Summit "so I could start to get afeel for the people and so they could put a face to a name as thenew guy on the block," he recalls. The experience was slightlyoverwhelming — not just the learning curve of getting up to speedin a new industry, but experiencing the camaraderie of PIA'smembers and executive leadership. "As overwhelming as itall was, I knew there was something there that was bringing thesepeople together," he says. "Just the overall sense of community atthe meeting."

Eleven years on, "What I have learned, I've learned from thefirst minute I was part of this organization — that the quality,the integrity, the compassion of our members and all those thatmake up this organization is at a level far superior to any othergroup of people I've ever interacted with," he adds.

One such individual who gave Becker a sage piece of advice washis first supervisor at PIA, Kellie Bray. "My first week after Istarted at PIA, Kelly came into my office and she said, 'I want totell you something.' She said to me, 'I want to let you know thatyou're going to have good days, you know that.' I said, 'Fairenough.' Then she said, 'But when you have a bad day, push yourseat back from your desk, close your eyes and think of thepeople.'"

It was advice he took to heart, and still keeps inmind. "When there are good days, when there are bad days — itis true, you can think of the people, and that's what gets me outof the bed in the morning: the people who deserve the absolute bestout of me and the absolute best out of the organization everysingle day," he says.

Today PIA National remains an incredibly complex organization,Becker adds, and just as a great number of business models arechanging, insurance in particular is likewise evolving.Professional associations like PIA, he notes, must evolve intandem.

"People used to join associations because that's what you did,"he explains. "That's how you gave back to your industry. But now,the value proposition of associations has changed. There are moreorganizations, a lot of them online, that are offering products andservices to agents. It's been important for PIA to continue toevolve, and we've pivoted from your standard affinity programs toputting out resources and adopting a more intense focus on bringingmeaningful programs and services out that will have a greaterimpact on the daily lives of agents.

"With that in mind, part of PIA's value proposition to ourmembers is to help them take on those challenges and to helpprovide them markets, help with their carrier relations, and helpwith digital technology so they can get at the root of what theydo, which is advocate for their clients."

Empowering with access

To that end, the trade group has launched PIA Market Access, awholesale-market access program for PIA membersoffered in partnership with Fort Worth, Texas-based InsureZone.

The PIA Market Access platform provides PIA members with asingle-entry, multi-carrier quoting platform for comparative ratingin personal and commercial lines. Agents with their own carriercontracts who are looking to augment them with carriers availablethrough the PIA Market Access Program can quote both sets ofcontracts through the PIA Market Access platform, keeping 100% ofcommissions earned through their agency contracts.

"We want to bring carriers to agents so theyhave the products that they need to advocate and to deliver totheir customers," Becker explains. "Dozens of carriers are a partof this platform; it's a cloud-based dashboard that agents log intothat has all sorts of reporting capabilities, binding abilities onthe website matched with these carriers."

The tool not only provides independent agents access to morecarriers — something especially craved by agents with fewer yearsin the business — but also offers the ability to better quote ratesamong those insurers. "When we put together a program like this,it's driven by the needs and expectations of the agents to make itefficient, to make it agent-friendly and not be bound by heavyfees," says Becker.

Now more than ever, he stresses, time is of the essence: "Peopleare working 24 hours a day. We all have an iPhone, we all have atablet, and at 11 o'clock at night we're answering work e-mails.Delivering a product like this gives agents the markets they need.It's technology-driven, and it's not riddled withred tape. It enables agents to hone in on needs, oncustomer-experience expectations that we can really nail."

Accelerating the process for independent agents has become increasinglyimportant as the relationship between agencies and carriers has, tohear agents tell it, changed over time — and not for the better.Gone are the days when an agent enjoyed a longtime relationshipwith one individual at a given carrier, and the sentiment expressedby many agents these days is that insurers greatly favor resultsover relationships.

"One thing that agents continue to battle with is the rapidchange of carriers and greater pressures that they face from theircarriers," says Becker. "As advocates for agents, we recognize alsothe increased pressures and expectations thatcarriers are placing on them.

"The industry is increasingly being driven by data and bynumbers," he continues. "There's great benefit in data and numbersand analytics, but reducing or eliminating those relationships withagents would be a grave mistake." By eliminating the relationshipcomponent with independent agents, Becker adds, the client ends upwith a product that's become a commodity.

"We are driven by the passion and the people, but at the end ofthe day, what this [program] is all about is making our membersmore successful," says Becker. "If we're able to provide them theright tools, if we're able to do our part to help them become asempowered as possible to increase their stake in the market, thenthey can focus on what they do best — serving their clients."

Hurdling modern obstacles

Yet access to markets is only one hurdle for the modern-dayindependent agent. Becker is fully aware of the current businessenvironment and how it continues to evolve — and how agents mustevolve with it.

"Agents have endless challenges that they're faced with on adaily basis," Becker says. "Keeping up with the evolution ofrunning a small business, keeping up with the evolution of theinsurance industry, keeping up with the evolution of consumers'behavioral characteristics, increased pressures and expectations ofnot only their clients, but of carriers."

Additionally, social media marketing opens up a new slate ofpromotional possibilities for Main Street agents — if they know howto do it. "Agents have always advertised; it's not that advertisingyour agency is a new thing. It's changing the way you advertise,"says Becker. "You're seeing fewer Yellow Pages advertisements andmore sponsored Facebook posts. Social media-based advertising is,generally speaking, very affordable." It also provides the abilityto target your message and products to specific audiences.

"You've got to know how to do it, though, and that's a learningcurve," he adds. "Yesterday's agency is not today's agency, norshould it be."

Agency principals who have been in the P&C business for 20,30, 40 years now suddenly hit with the curveball of marketingthemselves in a new way need to embrace these new capabilities.Unfortunately, digital tools are often viewed as hurdles and just"one more thing" an agent needs to do.

"It's one more role in the office that has to be filled, andit's an important one," says Becker. "But what's going away?Nothing. They're all additional things, and they all contribute tothe burdens and challenges that agents face on a daily basis."

Becker says the social media marketing issue is just onequestion that agents must now be asking themselves: "How am Ikeeping up with the changing behaviors of consumers? How am Ifilling the employment voids in my agency? Does my agency have whatit needs to attract and retain new employees? What am I going to dowhen I retire? Do I have an option to perpetuate internally? Do Ihave a family opportunity to perpetuate?" he asks. "It's anoverwhelming time to be in this industry."

Then there's the thorny issue of recruiting young talent. "It'sone thing to attract millennials as potential employers for theworkforce, but it's another to retain them," says Becker. "If youhire somebody and you put them in an office that operates like it's1980, you probably won't retain them." Legacy agents mustunderstand that millennials have certain expectations of theworkplace, that their work will be digital-focused, and thatallowing them to work remotely when necessary is part of theequation now.

"We recognize as an organization that the challenges that agents are facing on adaily basis are seemingly endless, and that's where PIA comes in,"he adds. "We are driven by our members to help them take on thesesorts of challenges — to help them evolve."

Staying steadfast

Meanwhile, the backbone of the P&C insurance distribution system willcontinue to demonstrate its value proposition in a world where atleast once a year, like clockwork, some consultancy heralds thecomplete disintermediation of the independent agent. Becker doesn'tsee it ever happening.

"The things I've seen in this job that have been most impactfulfor me are when I've had the opportunity to visit agents' officesacross this country," he says. "When these clients walk in, and yousee firsthand the admiration and respect they have for their agent.When we drive through town and you see that banner up for the localLittle League, sponsored by the insurance agency. When we try tograb lunch on the way to the office, and it takes us an hourand-a-half just to sit down because we've stopped at every singletable. When I can see the impact that an agent can make in acommunity, that far exceeds any story that they've told me alongthe way."

An attribute that sets PIA apart from some other organizationsis its sense of mission, Becker asserts. "This is one thing I hopenever will change about PIA — our sense of mission," he says. "PIAhas a vision of how our industry, lawmakers and regulators shouldtreat independent insurance agents: with the respect they earnevery day." To earn that respect, he notes, PIA engages in advocacy— before Congress, state legislatures and regulatory bodies.

But there's much more at work. Becker says there's a sense ofcommon interest, of camaraderie, that "has bonded PIA members fromour founding in 1931 until today. It's part self-interest, ofcourse, but there's an intense feeling that our associationcontributes to the greater good."

While the challenges faced by the entire P&C insuranceindustry aren't going away, Becker remains steadfast. "I'm anoptimist. I'm a realist, too, and I believe that these challengesbring opportunity," he says. "We don't get bogged down by thechallenges. We recognize them, and we've developed solutions totake advantage of the opportunity in front of us. At the root ofthat, the most impactful thing that an agent can do is to continueto serve and continue to be the true advocate for theirclients.

"I don't know what the silver bullet is, but we will continue todo everything we can to support our agents," Becker adds. "The bestthing an agent can do is to continue to be compassionate for theirclients, get the referrals, and be an active participant in thecommunity. Retaining that personal element of what an independentagent does — that's the differentiator."

See also:

PIA helps members get schooled incyber

6 surplus lines executives survey the industry in2018

The changing face of insuranceleadership

The importance of leadership in driving digital agechange