Brokers warned: Change or be changed

Brokers need to be pro-active on the technology front and create a sense of value and prestige in their service if they are to survive, Michael Vickers, author of Becoming Preferred: How to Outsell your Competition, told delegates at the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontarios annual conference in Toronto.
Brokers who resist change will be changed by external forces and the outcome will likely be negative, Vickers warned the crowd.
By paying attention to the engines of change, a broker can predict and capitalize in market trends two years down the line, he said.
Be an early adopter of new technology (the first engine), he stressed. By doing so a broker can extend human capacity and improve on the quality and speed of service.
The second engine is freedom, he continued. Brokers are faced with new competitors stepping into the industry and increasing competition for market share, he said, citing banks and auto manufacturers as very real threats. While the Canadian insurance industry has a firewall around it protecting brokers, it wont for very long.
These new entrants view the business as a transaction, something that they are good at, he continued. Its quick, straightforward, and they get the transaction done.
What brokers need to do to combat this new express breed of service, he suggested, is change it from a transaction to an experience.
Consumers choose a broker because you are our voice. Our advocate, he told the crowd. We want you to know us. And we want you to have the technology to be able to do that.
Investing in systems that tracks a clients history and purchase patterns and increases response time will help to personalize service and in turn create value, he said.
People will pay a premium to feel special, he said.