ID 20 WINNERS — Q&A
Three-part Q&A from page 12
PART 1:
Weighing the
challenges and
opportunities
Talent shift
Collins: Like most people on the distribution side, I am most
concerned about where our business is coming from over the
next few years. With fewer advisors entering our business, we
will have to become more efficient at helping non-traditional
advisors serve their client’s risk management needs. I see great
opportunity with financial advisors, RIA/IARs, etc.
Products and processes, however, will have to improve to
help capitalize on the opportunity. We have been trying to get
non-traditional advisors to do business our way for decades
with very limited success. We need to adjust our thinking and
learn how to do business their way. To do this, we will have
to modify consumer value of our products, and, shorten the
acquisition process if we are to achieve the level of success
that is possible.
Haney: I see two major challenges converging for the industry —
massive talent shift and impact of technology. With the average
age of industry professionals above 50, one way or another
there will be a transition of clients and practices as these
professionals leave the business. With less than half operating
with a formal succession plan, this can either be a crisis or an
opportunity to harvest the next generation of talent.
Secondly; technology’s impact on the financial industry
demands that the average professional demonstrate a level of
personal branding few have been able to achieve. It’s harder
and harder for an advisor or insurance agent to create enough
brand uniqueness to answer the question “why me?” Thus, I
firmly believe that the faces of our industry and the ways the
public interacts with us will be measurably different as we work
to address both issues.
Garcia: From a distribution standpoint, the biggest challenge is
the aging of the professional agent workforce and the lack of
trained younger advisors coming into our business. The younger
14
Perspectives
Q1 2020
generation only wants to manage money, not sell insurance.
This is also the greatest opportunity. The low penetration for
insurance among younger financial advisors and the population
in general (the so-called Insurance Gap) is huge and this presents
us with an enormous opportunity. The advent of algorithmic
underwriting, along with drop ticket application systems, and
other more user-friendly technology for insurance is emerging
quickly and will continue to change the way we do business.
Educating the market
Shelow: The life insurance industry has been flat or declining
for a sustained period, yet at the same time, we have a huge
population in this country who are under or uninsured. Our
Future of the Industry Working Group under AALU research
showed that a large segment of this market recognized the need
exists for life insurance. And, while this is a huge market, we
struggle to effectively reach them, which is both an educational
and distribution challenge.
We need to both educate this market as to why they
need life insurance and to have the insurance and financial
professional proactively marketing to and selling them. More
distribution focus is both a challenge and an opportunity for
this industry. There is a shortage of insurance professionals
dedicated to the market, and the focus of financial advisors on
the role of life insurance in comprehensive planning needs to
increase. Both are long-term opportunities that are starting to
garner a lot of attention, and I believe we will make significant
progress in the not too distant future.
Three-part Q&A continued on page 16