A little while ago, in my consulting capacity, I visited three planets in three weeks
How is that possible? Has my age overcome my sensibilities? What the heck am I talking about, three planets in three weeks?
In quick succession I consulted with a substantial agency in an urban area that was struggling with the Pandemic, with a rural agency that was aware of but not concerned with the illness, and an agency in a large city that told me that we might as well consult remotely because they had been closed with their large staff working from home for several months already.
In the first agency some of their employees were so concerned that they literally didn’t want to leave their homes for fear of exposing themselves or their loved ones to the virus. Simultaneously, other employees were bristling about even wearing masks and keeping “social distance” at the agency, claiming it was disruptive to simple communications – that they couldn’t be understood on the phone with masks on (as if the virus could be transmitted by phone). The agency took the pro-active steps to close the agency to customers with everything handled by mail and as drop-offs. At my visit, the building was still closed with warning signs on the front door. My role, originally, to help with strategic planning, succession and organizational development was altered to create systems and procedures for some of the workers to be remote with staggered in office schedules, as needed.
In the second agency no one known to anyone in the agency had been ill with Covid nor had any business in their community changed their business habits in response to the illness so magnified in the Press and other media. Clients continued to visit and producers visited clients as needed. Our role was to cause the agency to grow and generate more profit, changing the organization to cause greater productivity for its employees and producers.
The third agency, a large city firm, was very proactive and changed their way of doing business to safeguard themselves from any chance of exposure. The agency NEVER entertained clients in their office and most business had been historically performed by mail and phone. They already responded to their concept of the Pandemic and its dangers and wanted me to analyze their agency for Incentive Compensation Programs. Remote Workforce Management was already on the mind of the young owners of this business and they used the occasion to outsource processing to aid in the efficiency of operations. Their employees are there to communicate to clients and build relationships. Transaction processing must be done and managed but need not be in house.
I’m used to being on camera and doing webinars on line but I had only rarely done full consultations remotely. My interventions with the third agency was done as one-on-one Zoom meetings with every employee in five different departments and with the owners. We had the same schedule as I would have kept in person, but with individuals and small groups who remotely connected on line. I may have well have consulted with a company on the Moon. It worked but not as well as in-person consultations just as remote sales calls can work – but will not be as effective as face-to-face communications because you can’t “feel” the respondent (producers who are reading this will readily understand). In some cases, the visit even done without the benefit of video – those were particularly difficult – the people responded verbally but it was a difficult conversation.
The first agency was a combination of personal on-site visits combined with a number of telephone calls to employees not in the office. Difficult, but doable since my interventions with the owner/managers were in person. Again, a comparison to sales calls and critical client visits by agency personnel.
As you can imagine, the rural agency visit worked best because we were able to communicate and form cooperative solutions to common problems.
Three agencies – Three Planets – is that the way we are going to have to operate from now on?
The Composite Groups this year will not be fully reflective of the Pandemic. The time period we chose many years ago was mid-year to mid-year so 2019/20 will reflect agency results from mid-year 2019 to mid-year 2020. Surprisingly, we didn’t see a terrible disruption to agency revenues and expenses resulting from the first several months of the Pandemic. Frankly, I expect to see some greater effect next year because of the closure of many businesses due to the effects of the economic disruption, more caused by governmental edict than by actual results of the illness.
Meanwhile most agencies have found that even if they have to change the way they do business, the clients’ need for the intervention of an agent is actually greater now than it has ever been. The potential silver lining is that more business-people have sensed the need for knowledgeable insurance professionals (not just quoters or salespeople) to properly protect their assets. If you use the Pandemic in your marketing it should be to alert your clients that your purpose is to educate them about their risks and how they can ameliorate them – not to just sell them insurance.
Even as late as mid-year 2020 I see agencies (and the businesses they insure) quietly reverting to the business habits that allowed them to continue making a living. During the warm weather restaurants use their outdoor space (parking lots, back yards, front foyers) and many built a take-out business that was marginal before then. Agencies allowed their staff to work from home, altering their systems to permit remote access. The only problem was that most agencies had no management system in place to determine whether or not their employees were working. We have been non-stop providing Management Information Systems to permit agencies to audit remote workflow. This raises the comfort level of owners and gives managers tracks to run on to make sure their remote employees are productive. Meanwhile, many agencies have staggered remote and on-site work hours for employees. Frankly, many have responded to school schedules to keep their employees from expending much of their income for child care before, after and/or during school hours. A small but significant number of progressive agencies have negotiated for common child care to allow employees to work at the agencies.
Will the Pandemic forever change the face of insurance agencies?
NO. But it has given progressive agencies the reason/excuse to alter their workflows and systems to better handle remote workers. The fact is that the next several decades will see Remote Workforce Management increase in a number of ways. Agency owners will continue to struggle to make their employees more effective and efficient. The large agency cited above had the right idea – hire the best people you can afford, give them responsibility and authority to handle the clients the way the owners would handle the clients and pay them well but responsibly to allow the agency to earn a profit.
No one wants a Pandemic or an epidemic and we are frail enough already not to allow a virus to further weaken our at-risk population. But as we respond to this virus as we have to others over the generations, we must adapt and continue to be the country and economy that caused our forefathers to come here to enjoy freedoms that can not be found elsewhere on earth. If we do so in our personal lives and in our agencies, it will affect our clients and employees because they will see us as responsible, sober and careful people who will guide them as we do our own families to a safe and sane future.
The agency business will continue and will provide strong careers and earnings for ourselves and for our employees – if we allow them to do so.