Five Trends That Will Transform the Insurance Industry in 2019!

The insurance industry is on the edge of reinvention. Will it happen in 2019? What major trends will converge to make 2019 the year of digital transformation in the insurance industry? Can you leverage these trends to grow and reinvent your insurance business?

2019 is going to be an amazing year for insurance professionals and financial advisors. 2019 could be the beginning of the perfect storm. Are you prepared to seize new opportunities to reinvent your insurance business?

The first trend is converging technologies. Successful insurance organizations need to use different technofixes to create a better customer experience and journey.  From Insurtech that automates many of your more routine tasks to leveraging cloud technology to safeguard your clients’ personal information, your business becomes more technology driven.

These additional programs start changing how you connect and share with the difference insurance companies you represent.

For your clients, it’s seamless.  For you, it requires you to look at your organization from the view of your best clients and customers. Create processes to reduce cost and improve engagement with your clients. The key question is which parts of your business you can automate, and which should still receive personal attention.

The second trend is shifting customer expectations. Your best customers are getting younger. At least they should be.  How do you attract the customers with growing insurance needs? The money may reside with boomers, but your best long-term customers may be millennials and GenXers who are still buying cars, houses, boats, and having children.

They will also begin overseeing their parents spending and health insurance needs. Several generations living under one roof may change how people buy insurance forever.

Aging parents and children still living at home may create new opportunities to engage your clients in different discussions than have been had in the past. How well do you know you customers? How prepared is your team to help deal with these changing conditions?

The third trend is insurance is becoming a team sport. How do you build a successful, profitable organization? How you structure and manage your organization? How do you meet the changing needs of your best clients and customers? Are you prepared to invest in new technologies and people that grow a productive business?

Many producers and agents are getting older. Aren’t we all! Many are not as active in client acquisition. Many of their clients are downsizing; smaller homes, fewer cars, and changing insurance needs. You can keep the same clients and lose 25% of the premiums through these life changes.

Are you bringing the next generation of agents and producers into your markets? Can you afford to lose a key producer to retirement? What about your key customer service people, the voice of the agency to so many of your customers? Many agency owners are thinking of selling their businesses but have not considered what a buyer hopes to gain when they buy their organizations.

Where is the retained value in the insurance business? Its in your customer base. As technology continues to change the game in so many industries, imagine what your customers are worth to acquiring organizations.

So far, we’ve talked about three trends that could disrupt your company in 2019. All of these trends will begin to disrupt your organization in 2019, if they haven’t already started in 2018. These are manageable with strong leadership and business innovation.

You need to start thinking about teams versus agents; what’s the best mix between agents and support team? How do you address your increasing technology needs?  How is this changing and how do you create a more successful insurance business? Technology plays a huge part of what you do in the future. This means you need to either possess or partner with technology organizations to leverage technology successfully.

Many agency owners I’ve talked with are struggling to attract younger people to their practices. For many family owned agencies, their children are not as interested in working in the family business. They need to consider how to bring in outside specialists who can keep their family business agencies growing.

I believe offering a more flexible and different career paths will be part your future in the insurance industry. Since there is a shortage of younger workers in financial services you need to know how to attract and retain key talent for your team.  This is a critical component for your long-term success.

Want to learn additional ideas about growing your insurance business? Check out my thinking at  How to Grow Your Insurance and Advisory Business in 2019!

Our next blog focuses on how business development and competition changes how you do business in 2019 and beyond. You’ll want to be here next week!