InsuranceNewsNet Magazine January 2012 : Page 8
NAILBA 30: Rethink the BGA Model to Attract Women and Next Generation in Front Timely issues that matter to you. WITH Linda Koco A gency succession and recruiting problems got a lot of attention at the 30 th annual meeting of the National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies (NAILBA) in Phoenix, and for good reason. Consider: • Nearly 40 percent of NAILBA mem -bers intend to go through agency ownership transition within the next five years, said NAILBA Chairman Christi M. Daughenbaugh and chief operating officer at Borden Hamman Agency, Dallas. That’s according to a NAILBA survey of long-term mem-bers, she said during her chairwom-an’s address. • Membership at the National Associa -tion of Insurance and Financial Advi-sors (NAIFA) is now under 50,000— down from 145,000 in the mid-1980s (when its name was National Asso-ciation of Life Underwriters), said Michael G. Keenan in a hallway con-versation with us. He is senior vice president of the LIFE Foundation. Both figures bear startling testimony to a significant vulnerability in today’s independent agency system—if, that is, the BGA transitions are not handled smoothly and if the shrinking of the agency force is not slowed. Think about it. Within five years, new leaders will be at the helm at nearly half of the country’s BGAs. And, according to NAILBA research, although agency successors often have sales, marketing and tech skills, they are often weak in agency operations, business develop-ment and peer relationship-building. Because BGAs control more than half of the country’s life insurance business, the arrival of this new talent could, without suitable preparation, adversely impact many aspects of the gigantic BGA business. 8 InsuranceNewsNet Magazine January 2012 Meanwhile, the long, steady decline in association membership is one more sign of the well-publicized lack of recruits coming into the field to replace the throng of older agents hitting retire-ment and those who have left the busi-ness for other reasons. Without a sub-stantial influx of new producers, distri-bution of all kinds of products through the independent agency system could be seriously impeded. The breath of fresh air in all of this is that new or potential solutions got some serious attention at NAILBA 30. other for mentoring and support in the following weeks and months, Cleveland said. Attracting Younger People As for bringing young recruits into the business, the speakers and hallway talk offered several ideas for on how to do this. Here are only a few examples. Make a greater effort to recruit and support female BGAs. “There are not that many women in the broker-age business,” Cleveland said. “Why is that?” A related issue is whether there are, or should be, efforts to recruit more women into brokerage, she said. This year’s women in brokerage pro-gram did touch on ways female BGAs can help one another stay, and grow, in the business, once recruited, so perhaps the group will later look more directly at recruiting more women. Learn more about the younger gen-eration. Daughenbaugh pointed to NextDoor, a pilot project run by State Farm in Chicago as one example. The insurer has created a storefront “com-munity space” that attracts a lot of Gen X and Gen Y visitors, she said. They come to the space to visit, ask ques-tions about finances and insurance, get “financial coaching,” attend classes, drink coffee, use Wi-Fi and otherwise hang out. (Visitors who want to buy insurance are sent to someone else. The coaches don’t sell.) Daughenbaugh views this initiative as an innovative way not only to attract younger people, but also to learn more about what younger people—consum-ers as well as recruits—are thinking and saying, she said. That knowledge could help the industry reach the younger generations in a way they want to be reached, she said. Frame the producer’s work in terms that appeal to younger people. Many Networking Groups Concerning BGA transitions, a signif-icant move came from NAILBA itself. During the annual meeting, the associ-ation hosted the first meeting of its new Agency Successor Networking Group (ASNG) for next-generation BGA lead-ers. The group’s purpose is to provide networking and support for BGA suc-cessors, not existing agency owners, although BGA veterans will participate as mentors. ASNG is a self-led group that will focus on equipping new BGA owners with leadership, management and skills training, said Daughenbaugh. Not incidentally, NAILBA has also stepped up networking in another area. For the second year in a row, it hosted a “women in brokerage” program at the annual meeting. The program seeks to promote networking among female BGAs and also between the BGAs and the panelists leading the women’s pro-gram, said Joan Cleveland in an inter-view. She is senior vice president-busi-ness development in the individual life business of Prudential Financial and host of this year’s session. The first such networking event took place last year and many of the female BGAs did follow through, calling each
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