Posted On: April 5, 2005, 2:26 pm CDT

Posted By: Insuranceguy

Hey Bob,

Us small indies give the best service possible, particularly in personal and mainstreet business. Unfortunately, the carriers have their heads in the clouds and pick winners, including these bone-collecting grow-by-acquisition agencis that were once also a pimple an an elephant's behind.

Problem is, a large agency with small agency accounts is analogous to a child's sand sifter. Large agencies develop big-account-itis, and neglect the smaller accounts and personal lines, relegating them to the customer service personnel. The accounts eventually run off to someone that knows their name. So, the sifters, the insurance agency equivalent to Crazy Eddie, continue on the hunt for soon-to-retire or soon-to-die agencies to feed into the top of the funnel to keep the revenue stream coming. It's all about the contingency, but they really are not in the business of insurance.