Allstate Agents Aren’t the Only Ones Who Should Be Concerned
Earlier this week Allstate announced it was shelling out a cool billion to purchase Esurance.com and associated site Answer Financial.
“The move has Allstate agent’s concerned” according to an Insurance Journal article last week. Well - they ought to be, and so should independent agents with strong personal line books.
As I have posted many times, as long as independent agents do not engage with their policyholders on a regular basis (i.e. at renewal, at the point of claim, via social networking, etc) and do nothing to differentiate themselves in the market, personal likes will become more and more commoditized. Perhaps not for complex high value risks, but for the majority of homes, autos, motorcycles, recreational vehicles, and even umbrella policies, the future is clear unless something changes.
A couple of weeks ago I attended a CE class given by one of the principals of Bibby Brilling and Associates, a Texas independent agent. He pointed out that independent agents are in many cases the last of the industries that you can call a number and actually speak to a human being. He and his partner are constantly on the lookout for ways to work their markets and strategic partners to differentiate themselves and to add value in an increasingly undifferentiated market. I can tell you from firsthand experience, they are one of a handful who “get it” and I wouldn’t consider purchasing a critical and complex product from someone I didn’t know, and who didn’t know me.
Unfortunately however, they are the exception to the rule and with the focus on price and efficiency, I think both the seller and the buyer are overlooking effectiveness and will not fully understand this until it is too late.