As more and more people come into contact with this blog and my writing, a question seems to bubble up that deserves a thoughtful response. The question comes out something like this: “Why are you writing and what are you selling?” Fair enough. Although I’m most interested in keeping the focus on you and your agency, I think this is important.

Truth be told, I’m not very good at leaving well-enough alone. I have always had an unrelenting desire to take something that is already working and make it better. If it’s broken, I’m usually not the guy who likes to fix it; however, if it’s doing pretty well and I see that it can be made even better, then I’m tough to shut up. I recognized a number of years ago that the property & casualty insurance agency system is, by most accounts, a system that is working fine but can be improved. Add some huge shifts in technology, a few monster players that have seemingly come out of nowhere, and a distribution system still primarily based on personal relationships, and the insurance industry is irresistible to me.

As in many businesses, there is a cataclysmic change happening in the P&C industry. The move away from some of the traditional marketing methods toward social media, the direct writers’ unrelenting attack on your bottom line, and the aging agency owner population mean that something big is going down. This something requires strategy and commitment to understand and respond to. My approach is to help you use the best assets you have at your disposal and either mount an offensive that will allow you to grow – or to exit the game as gracefully as possible while realizing as much value as you can from your agency while doing so.

It may very well be that you are not the best person to steer your agency into the next phase of your agency’s existence. Are you prepared for that possibility?

I write because I cannot not write. As we approach these challenges together, I will certainly propose solutions when they became available. What am I selling? A perspective that is unique to the industry, and an offer to help. That’s what I’m selling. If you want to learn more about a solution that I see as the best next step, then go here. If you aren’t ready to hear solutions yet, that’s okay. I’ll keep writing.

Just about everything worth doing requires that you set your sights on two things at once. Last time I checked, my eyes don’t naturally work that way. Two eyes, one subject. Dang.

I will readily admit that I have never finished Stephen Covey’s book,” The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” I’m normally a read-the-entire-book kind of guy. Just couldn’t do it. That said, I’m not shy about quoting from one of his concepts just about every day. Begin with the end in mind. Fantastic advice, but certainly learned behavior. Since we’re designed with the whole fight or flight thing hardwired in us, this is no easy task. What does it really mean and how should you apply it to your insurance agency?

There is no doubt that the day-to-day stuff will not stop coming at you. After all, those problems are why you get paid. You get paid to create/find solutions to people’s problems. No problems, no need for you, no payment. The double vision comes into play when you try to answer the question “Where would I ultimately like to take my business?” Or “What would I like to leave behind when I walk away?”

The answers to these long-term questions (short term for some of you) will have a huge impact on your short-term approach to your business. Double vision. Without the day-to-day, you don’t get paid. Without the end in mind, you don’t truly grow. Maybe it’s time to take a step back from the day-to-day and do some dreaming. Ask yourself some questions. One more for you: “Will what you’re doing today allow you to get to where you ultimately want to be?”