ID 20 WINNERS — Q & A
ID 20 winners from page 13
Premium Financing to address their increased estate tax liabilities and other life insurance needs .
While this past year was difficult and challenging at times , the silver lining has been increased awareness , improved processes , combined with increased opportunity .
John Ziambras : In spite of the pandemic , last year was the best overall year our organization has ever had . After the initial shock that pretty much everyone felt with what was happening around us , we were able to pivot very quickly to remote deployment and virtual engagement , at a corporate as well as at an individual agency level . Our consistent business transformation strategy and execution over the past decade , coupled with some new tools and resources that we made available quickly , not only allowed everyone to continue to communicate and operate during the transition to the new landscape , but totally validated the path forward . The only difference was that the optional became imperative and the pace of adoption was greatly accelerated .
Pushing the pause button
Tracey Edgar : The vaccine rollout is my biggest hope for the near future . While the sales teams are used to working remotely , they are not used to working virtually and these are two very different things .
As we move forward , the sustained low interest rates and the pressure they apply to product pricing give me pause . When multiple carriers are doing pricing corrections to accommodate the interest rate environment , it creates confusion in the marketplace . When there is confusion , forward progress is nearly impossible .
Steve Katz : The biggest trend that gives me pause is the financial condition of our core life insurance carriers due to the sustained low interest rate environment . Some carriers are considering restructures which put their U . S . life insurance operations at risk ; almost all carriers have had significant
Not to say we ’ re not looking forward to getting back to our offices and faceto-face meetings , but when we do , we will think twice before assuming
certain activities need to be in person .
Rob Carney
The death of face-to-face has been greatly exaggerated in the minds of the insurance companies but not in the minds of the current Medicare members . Sylvia Gordon
staffing cuts which are dramatically impacting service times . ( Our last two large-premium cases both took over two weeks between policy approval and policy issue ; another conversion took 4 weeks for approval even though it was in good-order ).
Overall , I see more reason to be optimistic than to be concerned , but insurance carriers must continue to find ways to operate more profitably and more efficiently , and we , as brokerage agencies must continue to find ways to compensate for our carriers ’ shortcomings .
Sylvia Gordon : What gives me pause is the graying of our industry . The majority of agents are likely to retire in the very near future and very few young agents are in the pipeline . The younger agents typically don ’ t want to work face to face , and consider our bread and butter to be antiquated . Young agents want to sell on the phone , which is fine and surely the eventual future of this business ; however , the death of face-to-face has been greatly exaggerated in the minds of the insurance companies but not in the minds of the current Medicare members . Call center persistency is much lower than face-toface and we need to continue with the path that has proven to be successful , and persistent .
Lights , camera , action
Sheryl Hickerson : Learning ( albeit somewhat forced for some ) to embrace video technology and calendar scheduling proved to be helpful in keeping our pipelines filled with opportunities to make a difference in the lives of those we touch . And yet , so many in our profession keep waiting for after the pandemic for our work lives to return to normal . Unfortunately for those waiting , this is it — this is what you get .
14 Perspectives Q2 2021