Another year is winding down, which gives us a minute to thinkabout what lies ahead. 2014 could easily be a turning pointfor many insurance agencies, including mine–a Main Street agency inthe heart of Middle America.

Here's a short list of the top challenges and opportunities Isee at my agency.

1. Automating our processes. I want to takeevery one of our agency's major processes and record all the stepsrequired to make that process happen. It's worked beautifully forthe auto manufacturing industry. Why can't insurance agencies adopta similar mentality? I'm not talking about turning everyone intorobots, just making us better at what we do. The challenge is inactually taking the time to figure it out; it's not fun or flashy,so there's not much joy involved in the process. But there'stremendous opportunity from this approach because the end resultwill be greater efficiency and productivity and more E&Oprotection.
2. Integrating marketing with our processes.Along with developing written, consistent steps for our majorprocesses, I also want to make certain marketing activities anintegral part of the process. Here's an example: gatheringtestimonials to place on our website. When we contact customers atrenewal, we want to include steps to send and receive a testimonialrequest form. We can no longer trust our memory to do this step forus; it must become second nature via the process.
3. Increasing use of mobile devices to locate and dobusiness with a customer. I'm like everybody else: if Ineed to find something, I Google it, often on my smartphone while I'm on the run. My agency already has a mobilewebsite, and usage is skyrocketing. I'm also strongly considering amobile app which will integrate with our agency managementsystem. This will allow customers to access policy information,display ID cards, and even submit claims from the accident scene.We're a very mobile society and need to be able to communicate nomatter where we're at. Agencies need to figure out how theywill respond to this trend.
4. “Proving” insurance agents havevalue. I'm not saying you should waste energy tryingto convert the masses that find no value in what we do (they doexist and that's OK). But for the people who are interested andwant to do business, you must bring something to the table beyondmerely taking and fulfilling orders. For example, we offer a freemonthly email newsletter to our customers. The content isnever “selly-sell,” and we include a monthly promotion/coupon froma local business. Anyone can get the newsletter and any businesscan offer a promotion, and it's a win-win for all of us.
5. Developing a niche. My agency has specializedin health insurance for years. We still do, but considering thetrain wreck that is Obamacare, it seems that picking an additionalspecialty would be prudent. At first blush, I think a new nicheshould revolve around independent, family-owned businesses. Myagency shares many of the same characteristics: we're independentand family-owned. Shared experiences always allow a greatopportunity to develop deeper connections.

Those are my plans for 2014. What are yours?