Today I want to discuss one of the biggest problems I see with producers in our industry today. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old; if you’re not making what you want to make, you need to listen to what I have to say.
I’m one of those guys that pay attention to everything around me at all times. I notice stuff, and it’s probably one of the things that have helped me be somewhat successful in my career in sales. This past weekend, my family did what every middle-class American family from the suburbs does. We went to a pumpkin festival on a farm. And not only was it a pumpkin festival, but it was also a doctoral-level class on how to expand your revenue stream and entrepreneurship. They had a fricking cannon that would shoot a pumpkin 500 yards. Insane. They had every kind of horrible food for you physically, but fabulous tasting, that you could imagine. There was an entire area with monster trucks, classic cars. There were games and toys for the kids, a petting zoo, animals they could ride. And then there were the people that were there to sell their wares, the craftsman. The ladies who stay up late at night after they work or take care of their kids all day create things that other people will buy because we have to have them, right?
Something caught my eyes, though. When I was walking around, I saw a sign, and it struck me. It said, “If you do what you need to do when you need to do it, someday you’ll be able to do what you want when you want to do it.” Think about that for a second. If you do what you need to do, when you need to do it, now, someday, you’ll be able to do what you want, when you want to do it. See, people, this is a problem with our industry. It’s a problem with producers in general because you can earn money relatively quickly and in pretty good sums. But do you ever fully maximize your potential if it’s leaving as soon as it gets made?
The epidemic that I see is somebody goes out, they get a little taste of the sweet nectar of commissions, and then they take time off. And when it’s time to come in and hit next year’s numbers, there are no prospects in the pipeline. There are no appointments set up. And now they’re stuck at the same size book, but feeling like they’re starting over from zero, because they haven’t built the process, they haven’t filled the pipeline. They haven’t made the calls. They haven’t made the marketing drops. And this is something that reaches far beyond the insurance industry into society at large because the truth of the matter is we don’t know how to delay our gratification.
Amazon, and all of these other places, have done everything they can to give us instant gratification. I can order something. I ordered a drone. Crazy, right? A drone. Not a high ticket item, but it was probably about 1000 bucks. Less than an hour later, it was in my hands. Spoiled? Yeah, I am. And I think that’s dangerous. We can’t approach our insurance careers like we shop on Amazon. The paychecks are sexy. The process isn’t. It’s a grind, every single day, for you to have those behaviors that you need to be successful, not for today, not for this month, not for this year, but your entire career. And if you’re a young agent, now’s the time you build that foundation. You create the foundation that’s going to hold your behaviors for the rest of your career. And if you do that the right way, you’re not just going to kill it in commercial insurance; you’ll be able to do whatever you want, whenever you want to do it.
For years, commercial insurance producers could survive by being good enough across a wide range of industries. They could write a little construction, a little manufacturing, a little hospitality, and a little habitational business and still build a respectable book.
The commercial insurance industry is in the middle of a quiet evolution.
While most conversations still revolve around premiums, deductibles, limits, and carrier appetite, a different category of risk transfer has been gaining traction beneath the surface—parametric insurance. It is not new, but it is finally becoming accessible, relevant, and actionable for middle market producers who are willing to think differently about risk.
In a recent episode of the Power Producers Podcast, I sat down with Brian Thompson from Descartes Underwriting to unpack what parametric insurance actually is, what it is not, and why producers who ignore it may be leaving their clients—and themselves—exposed.
This article breaks that conversation down into practical, producer-friendly language and shows how parametric insurance fits into modern middle market risk management.
The last several years have reshaped the landscape of property insurance across the country. While most national carriers have retreated from coastal states, wildfire zones, and other catastrophe-exposed regions, a handful of disciplined players have taken the opposite path—leaning into difficult markets with a strategic, data-driven approach.
For most entrepreneurs, the decision to start a business is rooted in the promise of freedom. Freedom from a boss, freedom to control income, and freedom to build something meaningful. Yet for many business owners, particularly in service-based industries and middle-market companies, that freedom slowly erodes. What begins as ownership eventually turns into obligation, where the business demands constant attention and the owner becomes the single point of failure.
The insurance industry is full of shortcuts. Some producers look for ways to streamline the quoting process, others avoid hard conversations with clients, and many rely on endorsements or extensions because they are “easier” than diving into the details. Nowhere is this more dangerous than in the world of cyber insurance.
Too many agents assume that a cyber endorsement on a BOP or commercial package policy is “good enough.” It isn’t. In fact, treating a BOP cyber extension as a replacement for a standalone cyber policy leaves clients dangerously exposed, puts producers at risk of losing accounts, and opens the door to costly errors and omissions (E&O) claims.
Cyber threats evolve faster than any other area of risk, and endorsements simply can’t keep up. If producers want to protect their clients and themselves, it’s time to understand why standalone cyber insurance is non-negotiable.
In the middle market, producers don’t lose because the competition has better pricing.
They lose because the competition understands people better—their motivations, their fears, their priorities, and what makes them say yes.
Please confirm you want to block this member.
You will no longer be able to:
Please note: This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.
Responses