Are You in the Right Environment?

My question for you today is, are you even in the right environment? I mean, agencies are agencies, aren’t they? Not so much.

One thing you have to be sure of is that you’re in the right environment. Agencies are not all the same, even though we’re supposed to all do the same general things, sell insurance, right? But you’ve got to remember, your environment is what you make of it, but it’s also you being sure you’re in the right environment for you. See, I could boil a pot of water, and if I put an egg in that boiling water, it’s going to turn hard. But if I put a potato in that same water, it’s going to get soft. Now, are they in the right environment for what they want them to do? Yeah, maybe. But it’s not as simple in the agency world. There are three things I want to talk to you about today. The first one is technology.

The Technology

If you’re not getting support from your agency principal or your agency with technology to ensure you’re staying at the forefront, you might not be in the right environment. Technology is paramount to all of our success these days, and it’s what’s going to perpetuate us into the next generation of agency principals. If you’re not getting a reasonable amount of technological development in your agency systems, you need to push for that. CRMs are paramount, agency management systems are essential, but so are email campaigns, digital video quotes, digital advertising. Technology’s here. It’s here to stay. And the one thing I can tell you is it always changes. Stay at the forefront of technology.

The Training

The second thing is, what are you doing? What type of support are you getting from your agency with regards to training? Training is a massive issue in the insurance industry. I mean, let’s face it, people, we’ve all pencil webbed our continuing ed at some point or another, but what kind of training do you get to make you truly better tomorrow than what you are today? I don’t know. What are you getting? You can get a designation. You can do your continuing ed, whatever you need to do to get by, but you need to have support from your agency for training. I think you need two things to be successful in commercial insurance in particular. And that’s foundational insurance knowledge, which you can get from CIC or CPCU, but you also need a proven and replicable sales process. Not only can you learn, but all the other producers in your agency can learn so that everybody’s on the same page and understands the common goal.

The Team

The last thing you need to analyze to see if you’re in the right environment is the team. How much money gets invested in the team? How much time gets invested in the team? If you have the right technology and get the proper training, then the team culture should also match that and be the best in class. Do you get personal time off for self-development? Do you get the opportunity to get reimbursed for your pursuit of a designation? What types of mentors have you sought out for yourself and engaged with to make yourself better?

These are all things that function as part of a team and culture. It would be best if you took the time to analyze all of this stuff. If you can do that if you have great technology, great training, and your team culture is through the roof, you’re going to kill it in commercial insurance, but chances are you’re killing it in life.