Page 216 - The UnCaptive Agent

A FINAL WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT 189

I have quoted several times here, the average insurance
agency owner in the United States is fifty-four years
old. As these individuals in the business retire, they will
create opportunity for new market entrants.

Everyone You Meet Can be a Client

Low interest rates present in the United States econ-
omy since the economic collapse of 2008 has fueled an
acquisition and consolidation boom in the U.S. inde-
pendent agency system unparalleled in history. As more
and more large and very large insurance agencies are
sold, the need is created for new smaller agencies to
service the consumers and businesses that don’t feel
comfortable working with enormous organizations.
This is putting a lot of business on the streets, creating
a unique opportunity for aggressive agency owners to
build new businesses. And many of the employees of
these huge organizations will find that working for large
bureaucratic companies does not suit them. They will
be available, if they don’t start their own agencies, to
be your producers and CSRs.
When I started my career in insurance, as a life
insurance producer in 1980, a friend began his career
as a personal lines property and casualty agent at the
same time. He pointed out to me that he was building a
business that would operate like an annuity, paying him
for the rest of his life. Whereas as a life insurance agent,
I would get up every morning unemployed. He was right,
and the pathway to success as an independent agent is
open wider now than it was then. Every homeowner
still needs homeowner’s insurance, and every automobile
owner still needs auto insurance. Every businessperson
still needs general liability property and workers’ com-
pensation insurance. That’s not going to change. Yes,