DO YOU WANT TO SUCCEED?
by Robert Reagan
Start planning now for your agency’s future success.
The concept of long-range strategic planning has become all but obsolete. Twenty-five years ago, such planning would have typically looked at a 10- to15-year timeline. Today, with technology evolving in Internet time — one e-year spanning perhaps three months — and structural, regulatory, and relational changes happening at similar speeds, the idea of a strategy that can last over the long term is a joke.
Unfortunately, many agents and brokers aren’t responding appropriately to the current environment. For some, the changes are just too much to embrace, so they circle the wagons and shift into a tactical mode that’s short-term and reactive. Others see what’s happening, but choose to look at the glass as half empty, complain loudly, make excuses, and start looking for ways to cut and run.
However, some agents and brokers are taking a productive approach. First of all, their eyes are wide open. They’re carefully scrutinizing their own organizations and how they fit into the world around them. These agents are staying strategic, although moderating their long-range timelines to a realistic two to three years ahead. Most importantly, they’re realizing that opportunities have never been greater.
Consider what’s going on: If you want to sell, there are more buyers, and they’re willing to pay significantly higher prices. If you want to grow, consumer buying patterns are changing rapidly: Consolidation, enhanced awareness of options and alternatives, and increased financial pressures have caused insurance consumers to be open to new risk management solutions and new relationships. If you want to improve profitability, new tools are available to help, and carriers are more open to explore new ways of doing business for their benefit and yours.
These winning agents and brokers are acting on their strategic plans by investing in their organizations and making sure that they have the leadership, staff, and resources needed to reach their goals. They realize that the future is within their control.
Begin your strategic planning process by honestly assessing your agency’s current performance, including strengths, as well as weaknesses. The next step is to measure this assessment against prior years’ achievements, your goals and objectives, and perhaps most importantly, the performance of the best of your peers.
A good source of information about other independent agencies is the “2,000 Best Practices Study,” available free on the IIABA Web site, www.independentagent.com, at the Best Practices Gateway. Or go to www.reaganconsulting.com. Go to Research and click on “2006 Best Practices Study.” This information is made available for the benefit of the industry through the generous support of insurance company sponsors.
What’s in your organization’s future? You’d better hurry up and decide, because it’s up to you!
Robert W. Reagan, CPCU, is president and CEO of Reagan Consulting, Inc., advisors to the insured and financial services industry. He can be reached at (404) 233-5545, e-mail [email protected], Web site www.reaganconsulting.com. This article originally appeared in the Property/Casualty edition of The National Underwriter and is reproduced by permission.