Posted On: August 18, 2008, 12:19 pm CDT

Posted By: John Q Agent

As an Independent Agent I think we've all noticed the ramping up of advertising & acquisition costs willfully being paid out by the lizard, Progressive (Flow) and the Liberty's. I don't mind the warm and fuzzy stuff, though it does get a little tiring. The main point here is that at the end of the day, wouldn't the client (that I would want as a customer) prefer to be dealing with a person they trust and have a great relationship with rather than take their chances with the alternative distribition model...the direct writer...who are trying to "buy" new clients by clever (or not so)advertising? As agents we have to stay close and focussed on our customer, and then can we expect to receive good referrals, work to organically grow our business, and maintain the reputation in the community we've worked so hard to acquire. Let the direct writers spend their money like drunken pirates. Meanwhile, I'll be doing my "thing" to make sure my clients view me on a whole different (serious) level, without the hype or the fancy nametag.