The older I get the more I realize how much I DON’T know. I’m not sure why, but it seems to be inversely proportional to how much my audience “thinks” that I DO know.
When I was a young consultant, I knew everything and I didn’t understand why a business owner with 30 years of experience wouldn’t listen to a young “whippersnapper” and follow the guidelines that the experts said were so good for building and retaining business. After all, I was a student of the Gary Holgate’s and Russell Millers and David Hales in my youth.
What I didn’t realize is that the agents who felt that they were successful were simply looking for me to validate their egos. Many of the agents who were not successful wanted me to tell them that everyone had the same problems and that it wasn’t their issues or fault (it was the Companies, the economy, the price only competitors, the disloyal clients, etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum). The five or ten clients each year who came to us with open, but questioning minds regarded our consultation like going to the doctor either when they feel that something “just isn’t right” or when they feel that, as good as the performance has been in their business, they need the ‘cutting edge’ of new ideas to continue to grow and prosper.
I realized (after about 15 or 20 years) that I was learning more from each client and becoming expert in agency issues, operations and development by building a practice on the successes of the clients with whom I had the privilege of working. My value grew through the combined successes of my clients. And that was the value of an experienced consultant compared to those who have more focused experience in one part of the industry – the variety that we see in the agency consulting industry every year.
And, I realized that the primary reason so many agents weren’t responding to the same initiatives that made other agents grow to comfortable size and profitability was the FEAR OF CHANGE. In some cases, the owners had either Fear of Success or Fear of Failure.
But, in most cases, agents could intellectually understand their situations, but couldn’t motivate themselves to change. They sought approval of their condition, not a change in it. It was very frustrating – to me as well as to the agents who paid us but didn’t take our advice.
I even had one notorious high ego agent who told me to spend what was needed to improve the agency to his specifications and expectations — as long as he didn’t have to change anything in his own workflow. Talk about a challenge!!!
Happily, my practice has changed. I now only deal with agents who know that something is wrong and needs attention — or – their business isn’t working as well as it should – and wants a specialist to move them in a direction that will regain or enhance their business health.
Over a long career I’ve seen consultants come and consultants go. Some have been in the agency business for many years and believe that their experience in their single agency qualifies them to help others. Others have been in the Company side and feel that they understand the agency business by having an outside view. A few actually have the requisite knowledge built from a varied career with agencies and companies in sales, service and administration with experience in marketing and automation. These few young folks are worth their weight in gold. The others will gain the knowledge that they need, over time, by dealing with one agency after another until they gain a global view of how the agency business is changing – if they can stay as consultants long enough.
Yesterday a young agent with about ten years of total experience called me asking how to become a consultant. She felt that she was ready to dispense the knowledge that she had gained in the insurance business to help other agents grow and conquer their worlds.
I didn’t shut her down, but I asked her if she knew other agents. She said, “Of Course”. I asked her if she knew agents with a lot more experience than her. She said, “Of Course.” I asked if she respected any of those experienced agents for their business skills and knowledge. She said, “Of Course” a third time. Then I asked if she knew any agents with a lot of experience who she did not respect as knowledgeable, competent business people or insurance agents. She answered that those agents were the reason she wanted to become a consultant – to help them.
Then I asked her how I could know if she was one of the agents who were case studies in how to build a successful insurance agency in the 21st Century or one of the lesser skilled agents who may know the right words, but couldn’t put them into practice themselves. She had no answer. I invited her to get to know me and to share with me (over time) her track record in the growth of her insurance business, the retention of business, the acquisition and growth of insurance agencies and in the management of people.
If you are reading the PIPELINE regularly, you already qualify as a knowledge-seeker. When you are ready to change your business to grow and generate profit for your business AND satisfaction for you and for your employees please calls David or me – just to talk. If we can help you, we’ll tell you how. If we can’t, we’ll tell you that, as well. But either way we hope that you can overcome the FEAR OF CHANGE that has paralyzed so many agencies into the belief that this business can no longer be enjoyable and a source of pride and a strong living. 42 years and going strong!!