P R A D

It may seem logical that specialization increasingly benefits younger producers, but the gap between the success rates for specialized producers versus non specialized producers was actually slightly lower for producers in their 20s and 30s than for producers in their 40s and 50s, though in all cases specialized producers succeeded at greater rate. We also examined the frequency of specialization for the leading firms in the study. The most successful firms in the study require a higher percentage of their producers to specialize than the average firms. Nearly half of their commercial producers and more than one-third of their benefits producers are required to specialize.

Specialization: Frequency and Impact on Success Rate

70%

66%

65%

61%

59%

58%

30%

29%

27%

All Producers

Commercial Lines

Employee Benefits

% of Producers Required to Specialize

Success Rate of Specialization

Success Rate of Non-Specialization

Source: Supplemental survey

Team Selling

A generation ago, insurance was almost universally sold by individual producers. On large resource-based sales, they might bring in someone with specific expertise, but rarely did more than one producer work on an account. Today this is changing. A new generation of producers and insurance buyers is making co-production more common and accepted. And agencies looking to unlock the expertise that resides within their top producers (especially those Baby Boomers nearing retirement) are turning to team selling. Team selling can disseminate knowledge more broadly within an agency and also provide for smoother succession of client relationships when the current generation retires.

Team Selling: Frequency and Impact on Success Rate

79%

69%

64%

60%

60%

59%

17%

12%

11%

All Producers

Commercial Lines

Employee Benefits

% of Producers Selling in Teams

Success Rate of Team Selling

Success Rate of Individual Selling

Source: Supplemental survey

38 Producer Recruiting & Development Study