Why does this sound like a bunch of new age touchy-feely garbage? Does anyone involved in this understand the underpinnings of insurance theory? As far as I can tell the only thing the younger customers want is the lowest price on the largest exposure. Get it now for the lowest price. I don’t care about service after the sale. I don’t care about advice on what coverages are needed, I know everything there is to know. Some of our products work well using the internet, most are too complicated to handle properly. I’m not that old to call myself an old timer, but this article is a crock.
our customers. Quality never goes out of style. Take the time to listen to the client and then TEACH THEM, TEACH THEM, TEACH THEM. Then, keep TEACHING THEM what they need to protect themselves from perils that are specific to their situation. Like me, they don’t want me to be a banker, mortgage broker or mutual fund advisor. We can do that if necessary but there is no money in it for me and really, probably not the client either. Somewhere along the line the bean counters left our management with the idea that property and casualty is easy and/or boring. That backward mentality has resulted in 67% of homeowners being underinsured by an average of 27%. Those agents who can stay focused, in spite of how misdirected
management may be, will always have a client base that will stay loyal and help the agency grow through referrels. Grow by mailing out 2000 solicitations a month? How laughable.
Seems like these guys went from “saving the environment” signature solicitors to becoming expert insurance consultants.
Surveys can be intrepreted in a myriad of ways and you can determine the result that you are looking for based on how the question is worded and presented.
“Nobody Important” is right on the money with this crock!!!
Yeah, that’s basically what I’m getting from it. Also implied in the article is “pay attention to your industry, watch for changes and don’t get too complacent or resistant to change” (good advice to any industry).
this is the kind of garbage you get from someone with too much time on their hands and a feeling they are better and smarter than you. Insurance policies are contracts and attorneys spend a lifetime breaking contracts. Its what makes insurance so interesting. You can tailor make a contract with endorsements but you must have a meeting of the minds in order to do so. Young people, as stated here, do not want to have contact with people so how do you tailor-make a policy to fit their ‘supposed’ advanced needs. IBM cannot even figure what its place is in the ‘new world order’ so why should anyone give credence to such tripe?
that folks will enter into contract law (insurance) over the phone and online without even providing a signature. That would be as stupid as getting a loan or banking online. Imagine freely sending out personal and proprietary information over the airwaves so some scumbag in South Africa can enjoy stealing your identity. Think the idiocy associated with subprime loans is limited to mortgages only?
Great point! When you buy insurance on line there is no assurance the party on the other end is even licensed. The on-line company does not know nor do they care whether you are adequately insured. Their objective is to get it on the books and gone. Then it is coveat emptor. There is no way to make oneself whole when, at a later date, they find themselves inadequately covered. The insulation of the on-line insurance company is so complete that you have no recourse. We have, as you said, dumbed down our society to the extent that most people now have the ‘herd mentality’ and mindlessly follow the rear end directly in front of them and do not think or look past that rear end to see where everyone is going. Sub prime loans was a classic example. Everyone was doing it so even if they could not afford it they mindlessly followed the leader(or rear end in front of them.)
Can I get approved for it and how much? Who cares whether the company is even there or not in case of a claim. Insurance is just a nuicence anyway. That seems to be the attitude. Dumbed down is right.
I think this is really simple. IBM is trying to say that companies should invest in technology (preferably with IBM) to appeal to the younger crowd. So I would consider the source. The sad part, unfortunately, is that they may be right on. So many people these days don’t have anything, even if they have large houses and large cars, they don’t own it, the bank does, so they really have nothing to lose. I don’t see that changing.
Whoa!! They have their homes and cars to lose and the debt to repay if losses occur. I thought this forum was for insurance agents who understand what insurance is all about!!!
but the only educators sit in an office on the street, not the ivory tower. I’ll not bore you with the cavornous absence on the part of ‘management’ but rather cheer you with the world according to Gill. We have to teach one household at a time. That is our advantage. That skill and set of knowledge does not translate very well via 2000 mailers per month or pestering cold calls. Granted, those things work for some to build up numbers. But for low lapse/can (that means not many leave, for you socialists) there has to be teaching, and a lasting impression of who to do business with. Thats why they used to hire teachers as agents – it used to be a priority to teach the coverages and win lifelong clients. It would be great for management to support that but with or without them, I know that helping people is really where the money is at. Hey you socialists, sorry to remind you, but that is what and why capitalism works. People who want to sit around and whine about making bad decisions can hang with you. Those who want to logically analyze their financial affairs, to the best of all our
ability, can hang around with those of us who teach.
There are a lot of great points on this thread. But, it is also our industry who has trained the public to think the way they do; primarily the direct writers who have indoctrinated the public into believing that a cheap price translates somehow to “good” insurance.
The lizard tells you that you can “save”, but no one ever questions what it would “cost” in inconvenience of drive-through claim centers, and fighting over such things as depreciated paint; or that with Insure.com by logging on you somehow become an “insurance genius”, a misrepresentation of the facts if nothing less, but that demeans all agents by implying agents are dumb and unnecessary.
One thing I would agree with is that it is the industry who needs to “educate” the public, and it’s the carriers not the agents duty. The carriers have been silent on the issue for too long, but I’ve noticed it has been the captives who have been doing a little about it, but not the IA carriers.
Why does this sound like a bunch of new age touchy-feely garbage? Does anyone involved in this understand the underpinnings of insurance theory? As far as I can tell the only thing the younger customers want is the lowest price on the largest exposure. Get it now for the lowest price. I don’t care about service after the sale. I don’t care about advice on what coverages are needed, I know everything there is to know. Some of our products work well using the internet, most are too complicated to handle properly. I’m not that old to call myself an old timer, but this article is a crock.
our customers. Quality never goes out of style. Take the time to listen to the client and then TEACH THEM, TEACH THEM, TEACH THEM. Then, keep TEACHING THEM what they need to protect themselves from perils that are specific to their situation. Like me, they don’t want me to be a banker, mortgage broker or mutual fund advisor. We can do that if necessary but there is no money in it for me and really, probably not the client either. Somewhere along the line the bean counters left our management with the idea that property and casualty is easy and/or boring. That backward mentality has resulted in 67% of homeowners being underinsured by an average of 27%. Those agents who can stay focused, in spite of how misdirected
management may be, will always have a client base that will stay loyal and help the agency grow through referrels. Grow by mailing out 2000 solicitations a month? How laughable.
Seems like these guys went from “saving the environment” signature solicitors to becoming expert insurance consultants.
Surveys can be intrepreted in a myriad of ways and you can determine the result that you are looking for based on how the question is worded and presented.
“Nobody Important” is right on the money with this crock!!!
If you are young and dumb and have nothing to lose you don’t value insurance. So you want it fast and cheap and don’t care about much more.
If you are wiser and have something to lose then you do value insurance. You will go the extra mile to reasurch what you are getting and from who.
That is what I am getting from this article.
Lance,
Yeah, that’s basically what I’m getting from it. Also implied in the article is “pay attention to your industry, watch for changes and don’t get too complacent or resistant to change” (good advice to any industry).
this is the kind of garbage you get from someone with too much time on their hands and a feeling they are better and smarter than you. Insurance policies are contracts and attorneys spend a lifetime breaking contracts. Its what makes insurance so interesting. You can tailor make a contract with endorsements but you must have a meeting of the minds in order to do so. Young people, as stated here, do not want to have contact with people so how do you tailor-make a policy to fit their ‘supposed’ advanced needs. IBM cannot even figure what its place is in the ‘new world order’ so why should anyone give credence to such tripe?
Did they farm this survey out to Lenovo? Funny they still have the cojones to use the word America. An “also ran” commentary from a has been company.
that folks will enter into contract law (insurance) over the phone and online without even providing a signature. That would be as stupid as getting a loan or banking online. Imagine freely sending out personal and proprietary information over the airwaves so some scumbag in South Africa can enjoy stealing your identity. Think the idiocy associated with subprime loans is limited to mortgages only?
Great point! When you buy insurance on line there is no assurance the party on the other end is even licensed. The on-line company does not know nor do they care whether you are adequately insured. Their objective is to get it on the books and gone. Then it is coveat emptor. There is no way to make oneself whole when, at a later date, they find themselves inadequately covered. The insulation of the on-line insurance company is so complete that you have no recourse. We have, as you said, dumbed down our society to the extent that most people now have the ‘herd mentality’ and mindlessly follow the rear end directly in front of them and do not think or look past that rear end to see where everyone is going. Sub prime loans was a classic example. Everyone was doing it so even if they could not afford it they mindlessly followed the leader(or rear end in front of them.)
Can I get approved for it and how much? Who cares whether the company is even there or not in case of a claim. Insurance is just a nuicence anyway. That seems to be the attitude. Dumbed down is right.
I think this is really simple. IBM is trying to say that companies should invest in technology (preferably with IBM) to appeal to the younger crowd. So I would consider the source. The sad part, unfortunately, is that they may be right on. So many people these days don’t have anything, even if they have large houses and large cars, they don’t own it, the bank does, so they really have nothing to lose. I don’t see that changing.
Whoa!! They have their homes and cars to lose and the debt to repay if losses occur. I thought this forum was for insurance agents who understand what insurance is all about!!!
but the only educators sit in an office on the street, not the ivory tower. I’ll not bore you with the cavornous absence on the part of ‘management’ but rather cheer you with the world according to Gill. We have to teach one household at a time. That is our advantage. That skill and set of knowledge does not translate very well via 2000 mailers per month or pestering cold calls. Granted, those things work for some to build up numbers. But for low lapse/can (that means not many leave, for you socialists) there has to be teaching, and a lasting impression of who to do business with. Thats why they used to hire teachers as agents – it used to be a priority to teach the coverages and win lifelong clients. It would be great for management to support that but with or without them, I know that helping people is really where the money is at. Hey you socialists, sorry to remind you, but that is what and why capitalism works. People who want to sit around and whine about making bad decisions can hang with you. Those who want to logically analyze their financial affairs, to the best of all our
ability, can hang around with those of us who teach.
There are a lot of great points on this thread. But, it is also our industry who has trained the public to think the way they do; primarily the direct writers who have indoctrinated the public into believing that a cheap price translates somehow to “good” insurance.
The lizard tells you that you can “save”, but no one ever questions what it would “cost” in inconvenience of drive-through claim centers, and fighting over such things as depreciated paint; or that with Insure.com by logging on you somehow become an “insurance genius”, a misrepresentation of the facts if nothing less, but that demeans all agents by implying agents are dumb and unnecessary.
One thing I would agree with is that it is the industry who needs to “educate” the public, and it’s the carriers not the agents duty. The carriers have been silent on the issue for too long, but I’ve noticed it has been the captives who have been doing a little about it, but not the IA carriers.