To paraphrase the late, great Rodney Dangerfield, independent insurance agents don't get no respect.

It's bad enough that a recent career survey ranked your profession below janitors, bookbinders and even editors (see my related blog, ”At least you're not a roustaboust“). Now, the latest Forrester Research consumer survey reveals that your customers don't even find you fun.

The survey, conducted over the Internet last October, gave independent agents an overall score of “okay” from 4,600 consumers who had interacted with a variety of companies. Forrester asked consumers to rate insurance companies on three areas: “meets needs,” “easy to work with” and “enjoyable.” Several insurers, including USAA, Liberty Mutual, Progressive and The Hartford, were ranked “good” by respondents. But when it came to being “enjoyable,” consumers rated independent agents “poor,” while giving them “good” ratings for “meets needs” and “easy to work with.”

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