CEOs on Main Street

Elsewhere in this issue, we relate the view on Main Street from the perspective of independent agents. But how do property/casualty company CEOs view Main Street and Main Street agents? At the recent Property/Casualty Insurance Joint Industry Forum, several CEOs shared their assessments. Here are just two:

Jack Salzwedel, chief operating officer, American Family Insurance, said the past few years, while difficult, have also meant opportunities for agents:

[T]he last couple of years on Main Street have been very difficult for agents. Not just from the competitive standpoint of the price of the policy, but it’s in seeing their customers, good customers going through the types of things they’re going through in their businesses and with their employment, and then dealing with that on the back end. … There was the opportunity in the last two years to really show the value that you bring to your customer base in counseling them through these difficult times. … That being said, as difficult as it’s been out there on Main Street, the great opportunity is how you turn that around and how you become relevant with your customer base and how you market toward new customers differently than you have in the past.

Liam McGee, chairman, president, CEO, The Hartford, said that both carriers and agents are dealing with how to get top-line growth. While some are going the consolidation route, others are looking to grow organically:

[F]or those that are going the organic route, there is more of the recognition and express recognition that, perhaps, their focus only on product may not be the way to go, that they’ve got to become more of a solutions-based intermediary because that gives them a better chance to get more than one or two product sales at the point of sale. [M]any agents, not all, [are] saying, ÔWe as agents have to realize solutions for our customers.’ [Thus, regarding The Hartford’s] bringing benefits and property/casualty together, despite all the reticence and some of the chitchat that maybe this has been tried before, the time is right.

Too often we hear that carriers don’t listen, or that carriers and agents are not on the same page. These reflections from these CEOs suggest otherwise and give meaning to the concept of partners.