You’ve heard me say it a thousand times when this thing is over; every single account is up for grabs. What you have to remember is you do not want to abandon a value-based approach. Now more than ever is an opportunity for you to distance yourself from the status quo. Let’s talk about how you can do that. COVID has undoubtedly taken its toll on everybody, and I have said it a ton when this thing is over, businesses are going to be looking for ways to save. Every account is up for grabs. Nobody is safe. I don’t care how long your relationship has been in place or how awesome of a job you have done. If you have slipped up even in the slightest, someone has an opportunity to get in and take your relationship from you. Things you need to be considering right now are how you can adhere to a value-based sales process during price shopping.
The first thing you have to do is you have to choose your words very, very carefully. Don’t say things like price, premium, anything along those lines. You can talk about the cost because we want them to be thinking about the total cost of risk, and they’ll automatically translate that subconsciously. So one thing that I’m doing is I’m having a webinar tomorrow about five ways that you can reduce costs inside of your workers’ compensation program. Maybe that has something to do with insurance. Perhaps it has nothing to do with insurance, but at the end of the day, they’re going to figure out ways that they can save money that they haven’t been saving.
The second thing you can do is be extremely proactive. You should be reviewing every single account that’s in your book of business right now to make sure that it is airtight. You can’t have any coverage gaps, coverage mistakes, service slip-ups, or anything. Go through everything with a fine-toothed comb. Make sure there are no mistakes. Make sure that if there are, you get them corrected as quickly as possible and proactively check everything in your book. Look, I don’t care if you look at me right now and say, “I don’t need to check. It’s perfect.” Guess what? Are you 100% confident that if I walked in and called on your client tomorrow that I wouldn’t find something? Check. I’m doing the same thing. I’m practicing what I preach.
The third thing that you can do is you can be building out your prospect pipeline right now. If you have not taken the time to build out your pipeline throughout the last couple of years, do it. If you’ve been living on easy street and allowing the referrals to come in, now is the time for you to get your pipeline entirely built out so that when all the restrictions get lifted, you can hit the ground running. If you don’t know how to identify your ideal prospect profile, start with that. Determine who your perfect prospect is and then fill your pipeline full of those. If you can do those three things, as soon as the COVID restrictions are gone, you and your team are going to kill it in commercial insurance.
Influence is one of the most powerful tools we have in business, leadership, and personal life. Used well, it inspires people, builds trust, and creates ethical results. Used poorly, it can slide into manipulation and self-interest.
Reinvention is one of the most powerful themes in the insurance industry. Some of the best commercial producers in the country did not grow up wanting to sell insurance. They did not study risk management in college. They did not come from an agency family. They found this industry after they tried something else. They found it after life pushed them toward a career where performance, autonomy, and mindset determine the outcome.
The most successful producers in the middle market did not get there because they quoted faster, smiled bigger, or knew how to talk longer. They got there because they learned how to differentiate themselves so clearly that prospects had no choice but to see them as trusted advisors. They learned to operate like businesspeople first and insurance technicians second. They learned how to tie operational mechanics to insurance outcomes. They learned how to control their time, their pipeline, and their future.
In commercial insurance, the most dangerous threats to your book of business aren’t always visible on the loss runs. One of the most overlooked vulnerabilities for middle market producers is ignoring the personal lines needs of their business owner and executive clients.
The commercial insurance industry is one of the few professions where someone can enter with no experience, no connections, and no background in risk management and still build a long, lucrative career. But success is never automatic. It requires hunger, humility, curiosity, and the willingness to keep showing up even when the process feels overwhelming. That is why the story of Pam Seidler has already started making waves among new and aspiring commercial producers.
In an industry where tradition often outweighs innovation, artificial intelligence and automation are slowly but steadily reshaping how independent insurance agencies operate. The push toward smarter, more efficient workflows is no longer a matter of if—but when. While many agencies are still evaluating how AI fits into their operations, early adopters are already reaping the benefits of streamlined submissions, faster processing, and actionable data insights.
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