If you're thinking about transferring your agency to younger family members, make sure that you're helping them into a career that they desire. Al Diamond warns against sentencing children to a life term as an agent if they'd be better suited in another profession.
He was 22 when he came into the agency. He couldn't find a suitable job out of college and his father told him he needed help in the business. And, by the way, the pay wasn't shabby at all! He'd grown up with a father who was an insurance agent. He didn't think much of it and he made some summer money working in the agency during high school. But he sure didn't think about going into the insurance business. He was going into marine biology — until he found out as a graduating senior that no one was hiring marine biologists. So he took the job in the agency — temporarily, of course — until something opened up in his field.
That was 30 years ago. Now in his mid-fifties with his father gone for 10 years, he was still an insurance agent. While his dad was alive, he didn't mind the agency so much because he could pretty well do what he wanted and avoid dealing with nagging customers.
Now that has all changed. For the past 10 years he's had to deal with customers, treating them like royalty even when they made fools out of themselves. After all, he had a wife and children to take care of, as well as his mother. Money wasn't the problem. He was surprised how renewals flowed and referrals brought in more business every year. But every year he became more frustrated with the clients who bugged him with problems over which he had no control and with company people who were jealous because he made more money than they did and reflected this jealousy by making his life difficult whenever they could.
After 30 years he was completely fed up — but there was nothing he could do about it. He learned to play golf, a mindless escape from the day-to-day problems that he encountered. He tried to get interested in Company Councils and Agents Associations — but they were filled with self-important people with personal agendas. He even had a few “flings,” but they didn't last. The only thing that seemed to help was to have a drink or two — or four — every once in a while. Now his doctor was telling him to lay off and lose weight or he'd be headed for heart problems.
But what did he have to shape up for anyway?
This is a true story of an agent who we encountered some time back. When he told us this story as we tried to assist in the development of his agency, we realized that success was defined by feeling happy and satisfied with one's lot in life, rather than by financial rewards.
Over the years we've encountered a shocking number of agents who fit this mold. We've helped a fair number of them to sell or merge their agencies to permit them to “lay back a little” — defined as retiring early or RIP (Retiring In Place). After all, they say, they've “paid their dues.” It was time to let someone else pull the load.
Most of these people had no hobbies, no outside interests, and a feeling of deep frustration about their lot in life, their businesses, and the industry as a whole. They might have been earning several hundred thousand dollars every year, but they still felt as if they were failures.
These people were forced into a business that they didn't want or enjoy and were tied to it with golden handcuffs. They earned so much that they couldn't escape their bonds and they were in the game long enough that they could never leave.
When we encounter children of agents entering the business, we ask them whether they really want to be in the insurance business or whether they've been tempted by a non-threatening position with the job security that only a family business can offer and a paycheck that they couldn't earn elsewhere. We try to offer alternatives that will keep these young people from making the same mistakes that we've seen in prior generations of agency perpetuators who were pressured into a position for which they were unsuited by parents who only saw a way of securing their children's futures in a well-paying profession.
Be warned. If you're transferring the agency to another generation of family members make sure that you're helping them into a career that they desire. Don't just take the young people's word for it — they certainly love you enough to do what you think is right. Test them for their aptitude to become an insurance professional. If they don't test well, consider helping them toward a career that better suits their personalities. Don't sentence them to a life term as an agent if they'd be better suited in another profession. The only difference between the agency and jail would be a more comfortable lifestyle. But don't fool yourself — they won't thank you in 30 years if they dislike the role you've put them in.