Page 9 - COVID-Proof-Your-Agency

Chapter 1 – Introduction and Background | Blew, Caldwell, Masiello

three authors run master agencies with over 800 insurance agencies and more than $1.5 billion of

annualized premiums.

Based on our work and our communication with many insurance agencies over the first

few weeks of the crisis we have culled their best ideas and best practices and included them in

the book. We have also reflected on other serious crises in the past, like the 2008 fiscal crisis,

and we're applying what we learned then to the challenges we all face now. We have had

numerous conversations with the executives of many of the nation's largest insurance companies

and the thinking of those individuals is also reflected in this book. All of us have guided and our

networks through numerous hard and soft market cycles, which required agents to pivot

fundamentally and change their business habits and processes in order to grow. While we haven't

seen a crisis like that in many years, nor one like COVID-19 ever, we do apply lessons learned in

the past in these pages.

The current crisis makes us look backward almost with fondness, to the older, easier days

of managing agencies through a market swing. Nevertheless, there are lessons to learn here and

we're learning them in real time and want to share them with you.

Finally, we want you to know that serving and growing independent insurance agencies is

our passion, and our success is tied directly to the success of not only the agencies who are

members of our organization but also our industry in general. We hope you will find this small

book useful and helpful. We want it to be something that you can read quickly and rapidly gain

useful information. Think of the following chapters almost as blog posts. We've been

intentionally short.

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