BGA
Rethinking BGA opportunities
For many BGAs , the business plan post-pandemic is to double down on helping financial professionals manage their insurance cases efficiently and expeditiously . But , what happens if the marketplace of professionals who relied on that business model has changed ?
Tiffany Markarian helps BGAs , wealth advisors and insurance professionals advance their business momentum . She is a frequent author for industry journals and has spoken at numerous industry conferences , including FPA , FSP , NAILBA , GAMA , NAPFA , and regional broker / dealers . She is the Founder and Managing Director of Advantus Marketing , LLC and can be reached at
tiffany @ advantusmarketing . com or on Twitter @ AdvantusMktg .
If your business model is to solely be the case management and competitive support resource for insurance agents who write cases on their own , it may be beneficial to assess how to serve the marketplace in new ways .
Traditionally , and still today , BGAs have appealed to financial professionals who are well versed in insurance as a core expertise . Yet , over the past several years , the universe has changed . Not every advisor who works with clients has insurance as a core focus or expertise ( even though we might want them to ). In these cases , traditional brokerage support models will not always resonate with every advisor .
The question is whether you want to stay in your specific lane or consider how to adapt your business model to appeal to other advisors ? Working with other markets requires you to become a student of those markets and understand the method and manner in which they conduct business . It is looking at the industry from their eyes .
Rise of RIAs
A rapidly growing number of financial advisors no longer accept commissions as part of their practice , based on their registration . This trend is not likely to slow down . The Registered Investment Advisers ( RIA ) sector remains the fastest growing advisor channel – growing consistently at double digit percentages every year . Further , the number of fee-only firms has risen 20 % since 2019 based on SEC data .
Brokers / dealers and wirehouses continue to expand their hybrid RIA affiliations , as the demands for fee-based and fee-only options keep multiplying . This creates opportunities for BGAs to serve the RIA sector with point-of-sale / solution support if they want to create additional distinction among other BGAs and insurance firms .
The question is whether you want to stay in your specific lane or consider how to adapt your business model to appeal to other advisors ?
40 Perspectives Q2 2022