Success in the digital age has always hinged on the ability to adapt.
The insurance and financial services industry has been slower to adapt than others. While there have been and will continue to be disruptors that bring innovation around selling and policy management, much of the process has stubbornly remained in-person or paper-based.
Legacy systems are the cause for some of that. However, it’s also because money is an intensely emotional, and personal, topic.
Machines can’t make people feel safe. Millennials can.
When it comes to planning for retirement, saving for college or protecting your family from the worst with life insurance, people want to feel safe, protected and whole. Algorithms may help people save money and time, but they can’t recommend financial solutions that are both in the best financial interest of people and also address their emotional concerns.
Only experienced agents can do that, and the coronavirus crisis could be opening career paths in the insurance and financial services industry to millennials and Gen Zers like never before.
Agents in our industry trend older. Coronavirus could change that.
As insurers, agents and customers become increasingly comfortable discussing financial planning and signing insurance contracts virtually, younger people may see this as a career they can make a difference in and will enjoy exploring. Perhaps some who had interest but didn’t want a job that required sitting behind a desk all day will begin to see that this work is not only dynamic and meaningful, but can be done from anywhere.
Younger people have an opportunity to harness the new reality we’re all forging together to create different kinds of financial planning agencies that attract different types of customer bases.
The ability to use video conferencing technology alone over the past few weeks has opened many peoples’ eyes to the benefits of working remotely. While some business will always need to be done face to face, we are seeing just how much can be done through social media and other new technologies.
As virtual reality and augmented reality technologies mature, the ability for two or more people separated by physical distance to look, and even feel, like they are in the same room will improve.
Now is the time for agents of all generations to consider how they can use TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook Live, Instagram and other channels to prospect for new customers and nurture existing relationships. It is also the time for our industry to recruit younger agents and introduce them to the fulfillment that can be found through a career in the insurance and financial services industry.