Parting Shots: Mo. Agents Deserve Better

Larry Case

In working with and representing Missouri’s independent agent community over the past 17 years, I have always believed that agents deserve more and better. That not only goes for the service delivered by the Missouri Association of Insurance Agents, but from the national associations and the companies they represent.

Significant strides have been made over the years by all parties in identifying and responding to the needs of agents in many areas. However, with all of the threats and issues we face as well as interference from outside sources, it becomes more and more frustrating to watch the industry pulling in different directions. Here are some ideas on how to turn the tide.

Companies can do better

With regard to companies, of course they are all competitors and will do many things differently. That is what drives a healthy, competitive market. However, there should be no difference in their attitude toward service or their perception of the value of their producer force. Unfortunately, many times insurers’ decisions and practices ignore input from one of their most valuable assets—their producer partners. This short-sightedness is what often puts our perception with the public down near used-car and siding salesmen.

One example of this is the gap between claims adjusters’ training and that of insurance agents. Today’s agents have in-depth knowledge of policy terms and conditions, are trained in assessing risk and are trusted advisors to their clients. So, why would their company partners want to undercut their credibility, get hung-up on technicalities or alter the terms of agreements after a sale is made? The frequency of complaints we have received over the past several months over company misinterpretation of policy language and unfounded claim denials has increased at an alarming rate.

Agents and underwriters attend the same classes and obtain the same professional designations and have similar ideas regarding coverage issues. However, I don’t believe that I have ever seen a claims adjuster in any of those classes. Instead, I am told that they get separate specialized training. Of course that just might have something to do with why policies are explained differently at the time of a claim than they were at the time of a sale. I’ve suggested putting producers through that same specialized training or having adjusters attend some of the producer education courses where policy language is discussed.

Perhaps this was too simplistic for companies to consider or way too radical to even elicit a response, because while producers reacted effusively, I have yet to hear from one company.

Associations can do better

With respect to the organizations that represent and serve insurance producers, we must keep our eye on the target. We must use our resources to serve our members in the best and most efficient manner possible. And, in my opinion, that does not include bickering among ourselves, wasting time or money throwing rocks at each other or lobbying for different results. What this should mean is that we all work together for a common goal and result.

Recently, such issues as federal vs. state regulation of insurance, reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act and the National Flood Insurance Program, contentious crop insurance cuts, repeal of countersignature requirements, privacy requirements, health insurance availability and others have highlighted the need for a single unified approach to issues from the agent community. Instead we still have disjointed efforts and continue to send mixed messages to those who will determine our fate. Moreover, we continue to waste time and money trying to upstage or discredit each other’s efforts and spin issues. Such wasteful efforts are to the detriment of the members we purport to serve.

It’s finally time to put egos, hidden agendas, upstaging and waste of members’ resources aside and focus on the tasks at hand. Now before I get all manner of comments and letters about re-starting merger talks between PIA and the Big I: slow down. In Missouri, we got over those hurdles in 1992 and I have no doubt that every member will tell you that we are a much better organization for it. However, that is not the issue at the present.

Relatively simple things such as coordinating legislative meeting dates and agent representation before the insurance commissioners, insurance legislators and technology groups would go a long way toward making us more effective. Instead, both the PIA and Big I react to any such suggestion with the standard scripted responses that they are open to discussion but unwilling to initiate any contact. So, members must continue to endure a futile stalemate.

So from the companies to the associations, the issues and logistics are such that everyone needs to maximize resources and results. Are we willing to put our best foot forward? Your partners and members are waiting and watching.

Larry Case is the executive director of the Missouri Association of Insurance Agents, which is holding its annual convention in Osage Beach, Mo., this week.

Editor’s note: This story appears in the July 19 print edition of Insurance Journal Midwest, which covers Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.