What Opportunities Do Insurance Agents Face in 2014? – Part 2

What Opportunities Do Insurance Agents Face in 2014? – Part 2

In part one of this 2-part blog post, we took a look at a few of the challenges and opportunities that insurance agents and brokers are facing going into 2014. These opportunities included educating clients on the healthcare reform, keeping up with social media use, and helping clients to understand their insurance needs. In part two of this post, we’ll take a look at a few more opportunities and how to combat them.

If you work for an insurance agency, you may notice that more and more, the baby boomers are retiring and more millennials are looking for work. The challenge this presents is the potential loss of institutional knowledge throughout your agency. Hiring and retention are expected to continue to challenge the insurance industry in 2014 and beyond. However, the opportunity you have here is to mentor and hire these millennials. Many mid-sized agencies are hiring producers younger than age 30 with or without an insurance background.

Another challenge that many agents and brokers are recognizing in 2014 is that “generalist” independent agencies are having trouble being noticed among their competitors. The good news is though, that agency specialization shows no sign of slowing down, and is becoming easier to achieve than ever before. Specialization is a great way for independent agents and brokers to differentiate themselves from commodity insurance selling.

One final, but important, challenge facing insurance agents in 2014 is issues regarding cyber liability and online privacy. The opportunity this presents is the need and ability for your to get your business clients up to speed on their need for cyber liability coverage. It’s imperative that agents and brokers educate their clients on in the importance of cyber liability coverages as a fundamental component of their risk management portfolio.

At PLRisk Advisors, in addition to offering Privacy & Network Security coverage, we are a leading wholesale insurance brokerage covering the Professional Liability market across a variety of Professions. Our featured policies also include Errors & Omissions Insurance, Directors & Officers Insurance, and more. Please contact us today for more information at (855) 403-5982.