Outgoing Big ‘I’ President Says ‘Sky is the Limit’ for Independent Agents

As she closes out her term as president of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA), Louise “BeBe” Canter has spent more than a fair amount of time in airports on her way from one meeting to another.

Canter, the IIABA’s first female president and 99th overall, recently chatted with Insurance Journal as she prepares to hand over the reins. Canter, a senior vice president of Patterson/Smith Associates in Falls Church, Va., talked about challenges facing today’s independent agents, the current state of the property/casualty industry, and where the “Big I” is headed.

Agents and changing times
One of the most talked about topics today is how agents can meet the challenges of the 21st century. Canter commented that the challenges have not changed much in the last year as agents look to provide top-notch service.

According to Canter, “… technology in our agencies, trying to change the way we’ve been so used to doing business,” is one of the many challenges facing today’s agents. “In my office for example, we introduced scanning about a month ago. I will tell you in that short time period it has changed my life. You can take documents, mark them up, scan them to your e-mail and e-mail to whomever you would like. I’m using it constantly with my clients. It is revolutionizing the way I do business, almost like when faxes were first introduced,” Canter said.

When asked if some of the “old guard” can still resist technology, Canter replied, “If you’re going to be competitive and profitable, you have to embrace the technology. Our young producers immediately use their laptops, take them with them on sales calls, and don’t even consider any other way of doing business. From the sales perspective, they use them for prospecting and keeping track of prospects. Everything is generated around the computer. It is a totally different mindset.”

Another issue Canter addressed is the subject of agents’ crossing over and selling a variety of lines of insurance to keep up with the competition. As clients oftentimes look for a variety of products at their fingertips, are agents up to the challenge of stepping out of their so-called ‘comfort zones’ to meet these needs?

“I would say yes and no,” Canter commented. “I think as the world evolves, it is harder to be a jack of all trades. If you are doing commercial property and casualty, and particularly if you are doing any types of errors and omissions, directors and officers, the property and casualty lines have become more sophisticated. You then consider the employee benefits lines; you have a variety of issues that agents did not have to deal with 10 to 15 years ago. In our agency, we have different people handling different lines of coverage. Rather than knowing enough to be dangerous, I can say to an existing client or prospect ‘Yes, we have someone who can help you with that.'”

Canter sees the overall P/C industry as a market that is seeing changes.

“The market has softened very rapidly,” Canter went on to say. “Where two years ago I was delivering 40 to 50 percent rate increases and last year 20 percent, now I’m telling folks to count on maybe 5 to 8 percent for budgeting purposes next year. On the flip side, I’m seeing more underwriting than in the last 10 years. Underwriters are asking very specific questions and they are waiting for the answers.”

As for seeing more mergers and acquisitions in the industry, Canter noted, “When Reliance happened, many of us thought it was a fluke. When Kemper happened, it made us sit back and take notice. With some of the major mergers we’ve seen this year, it makes us sit up even more and realize that this industry is really changing. The good news is that for the markets that adapt and survive, you can feel they are good, solid companies.”

With all the challenges and changing times impacting agents, some younger agents may be wondering if this was the right industry for them to enter.

When asked if this is a good time to be an independent agent, Canter remarked, “I think the sky is the limit.

“If you are a young man or woman and want to go into the industry,” Canter said, “this is a good time to do it. You have several different factors coming into play. The market is softening while at the same time the consumer is looking for someone who will deal with them individually. With the advent of technology, an agent can operate very nicely with a small office and a computer. The big challenge is access to markets. What we are also seeing is a number of clusters or organizations offering individuals access to markets along with the opportunity to own their business.”

One final time
One final highlight for Canter will be the IIABA conference set for Oct. 9-12 in Orlando.

“The conference should be a lot of fun,” Canter said. “We’ve had a convention committee of agents working very hard on the convention this year in conjunction with our staff to offer top quality sessions. Along with Bobby Reagan, Terry Bradshaw will be one of our speakers. We also will have a company CEO panel with Hartford’s Ramani Ayer, Safeco’s Mike McGavick, and ERC’s Ron Pressmen (now GE Insurance Solutions) who will talk about where the industry is going.”

When asked to look back on her and the organization’s highlights over the last year, Canter noted, “I’ve done an amazing amount of traveling, visiting agents in their home states. One of the things I wanted to focus on going into my presidency, however, was the governance issue within our own organization. My goal was to foster our state board of directors to be very active in the association.

“My second goal was to allow the national directors enough time to consider and debate the issues before voting on them. I have tried to follow the format that an issue presented at one board meeting is not voted on until the next one, whenever possible.”

Traveling to different parts of the country has permitted Canter the opportunity to see just what different agents in different parts of the nation view as their most pressing problems.

“What has been really eye-opening and interesting is to go out to different parts of the country and see that the issues are very different,” Canter said. “In the Midwest credit scoring and crop insurance are huge. In Florida and the Gulf Coast states, flood and wind insurance are paramount. In California, workers’ compensation is their concern. In New England, auto insurance has been a big issue.”

Travels, learning the issues, and seeing just where the industry is headed, “BeBe” Canter has gained a world of experience that she would not trade for anything, and she even offers some advice for the incoming president.

“The advice someone gave me six years ago when I was first starting on the executive committee, was ‘Be yourself and enjoy it.’ At that time, I thought to myself, ‘Give me some real advice, but I found his advice to be true.”