Young Agents Remain Optimistic About Career Choice But Concerned About Economy

Editor’s Note: To view the complete results of the 2022 Young Agents Survey and corresponding charts download the full issue at: https://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/

Young agents are an optimistic bunch when it comes to their career choice and the future of the independent agency system with some 62.4% reporting they remain “very optimistic” on the outlook for their careers and 47.2% feeling “very optimistic” about the future of the agency system.

But their outlook on the U.S. economy in 2022 is a little less positive. Just 6.4% of young agents responding to this year’s Young Agent Survey feel “very optimistic” about the U.S. economy in 2022 while 17.5% feel “optimistic.”

That’s down from a year ago, when 18.3% of young agents surveyed reported “very optimistic” outlook on the U.S. economy, while 26.6% viewed it as “optimistic.” More than a quarter (25.5%) in this year’s survey do not feel optimistic about the economy for 2022 at all.

Despite their concerns, more young agents say their income will be greater in 2022 than in 2021 with some two-thirds (62.2%) feeling “very optimistic” and 25.8% feeling “optimistic” that their income will rise this year over last year’s.

The annual Insurance Journal survey polls the opinions and views of independent agents 40 years old and younger. About 300 young agents responded to this year’s online survey. Below are what a few of those young agents had to say about their careers in insurance.

‘When I Grow Up’

Joining the insurance industry wasn’t something that Samantha Tucci ever thought would happen.

“You don’t grow up saying, ‘I’m going to be in insurance when I get older.’ It falls in your lap; it kind of just happens,” Tucci told Insurance Journal.

For Tucci, a career in insurance wasn’t a first career either.

Prior to insurance, Tucci spent 10 years working for a music company in both retail and purchasing. Then a friend told her about Mackoul Risk Solutions, an independent agency in Island Park, New York.

“She [her friend] was doing really well there, and she really liked it,” Tucci said.

When the right opportunity opened-up, Tucci landed a position at Mackoul herself. “It will be 10 years this summer and they’re amazing.”

Since starting her career in insurance, Tucci has held several positions within in the agency.

When asked what made Mackoul a good fit for young agents, Tucci quickly replied, “They are huge on education.” That support has helped her grow from a young professional with no background insurance to a seasoned producer who serves as a liaison between the agency’s real estate property management clients and community association boards of directors.

At 38, Tucci says she’s glad to have made the move.

“Insurance is never boring,” she said. “It sounds a little cheesy, but I really do like helping people.”

Insurance is the perfect way to do that, she said. “It’s not easy to always understand insurance if you’re not heavily involved in it, and just being able to consult and advise people on what they need and how to avoid any future risks or issues of liability is something I really enjoy doing,” she said.

The COVID-19 pandemic and current hard market conditions have been challenging but it hasn’t been all bad either.

“The insurance industry was already in a hard market so it wasn’t very competitive and rates were on the rise,” she said. “And the pandemic definitely did not help.”

But the way in which her agency and clients adapted out of need did help. “We just kept going,” she said. “We just did Zoom meetings instead of office meetings. I would review proposals on a Zoom or conference calls. And now for most board meetings, instead of traveling, everyone’s able to just jump on Zoom and have a meeting. It’s a lot more productive.”

Team Models

For 27-year-old Winston Durbin, a career in insurance began right after college graduation, thanks to a colleague he met while attending Auburn University in Alabama.

“I met a guy who had family in the insurance business, and through our time in the finance department at Auburn recommended the industry,” Durbin said. “He said, ‘I think you’ll love’ the industry. It’s a people-oriented industry with a complex sale,” Durbin said.

So far, after four years, it’s been a great choice for Durbin. “It’s fun and very interesting.”

After Durbin joined Cobbs Allen, an independent risk management and insurance brokerage firm headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, he spent the first year in a producer training role. “There I spent time earning some credentials and studying contract language in order to make myself more valuable to my clients.”

After that, Durbin moved on to the national accounts team for construction and energy. “I really like the people in construction and some specific niches within construction so I’m trying to build those out as we speak,” he told Insurance Journal.

Building up his book of business during COVID times hasn’t been easy but Durbin also thinks in some ways it helped. “As a whole, the pandemic forced me to use my time and my prospective clients’ time more efficiently,” Durbin said. “It made prospecting efforts much more targeted.”

The experience pushed him to study policy language, policy forms and contracts, and indemnification language, in specialized areas of construction. “I can’t be a jack of all trades with contractors,” he said, “so focusing on several sub-industries or niches within the construction industry is absolutely necessary.”

Durbin credits Cobb Allen’s team approach in sales for his early success, as well. “More often than not you do have a co-producer on an account,” he said. “I love the team model and that is one of the reasons I came to Cobbs Allen.”

But winning on his own can be gratifying, as well.

“I won my first large account on my own, the first account that I solely produced on my own, came in June 2020,” he said. “So, in the midst of everyone shutting down and layoffs and all that, I was actually able to win that account.” That was a great confidence booster, he said.

Family Business

William Lathem, 27, vice president, Property & Casualty, at Cobbs Allen, grew up in the insurance industry. His family ties go back to his great-grandfather who had his own agency in Alabama. His uncle also ran an insurance agency and his aunt, Margaret Ann Pyburn, currently serves as the executive vice president, Personal Insurance, at Cobbs Allen.

Despite his insurance family ties, insurance wasn’t Lathem’s first choice in college. He was working on his accounting degree and took an internship in an accounting department. It was there that he quickly realized he didn’t want to be an accountant.

“So, I went back and shifted my focus to finance.”

But it was an internship at Cobbs Allen during the summer of his junior year that sealed his choice.

“The following year Cobbs Allen offered me a job and actually sent me to London for a 10-week learning program through Lloyds,” Lathem said. “That’s where my eyes were opened to the insurance industry as a whole.”

After that he jumped into sales production and has spent the past four and a half years building a book in the construction, manufacturing and distribution sectors. What he loves most about being an agent is the impact he has on businesses — even at a young age.

“One of my largest clients, Athens Paper, they are a $300 million national distributor, and I get to impact their business and help hundreds of employees,” he said. That is not always easy to do at 27, he added. His younger age can be a challenge. “But I would say for the most part, we’re able to use that … it actually helps us (younger agents) in some ways.”

Lathem teams up with other agents at Cobbs Allen, including Winston Durbin. “We’re very forward, and in most of our introductory meetings, we’re very honest and say, ‘Hey, we’re younger, but we’re aggressive.’ … And we work extremely hard for our clients.”

Lathem says that seeking out experienced mentors is important to a young person starting a career as an agent. “Look around at the people that have been successful and really seek advice and wisdom from them,” he said. “Look to the people that are 20 years in front of you and look to the people that are your peers, or 10 years in front of you,” he said.

Both Lathem and Durbin are already mentoring other younger producers themselves.

Work Together

Michael Addison, producer/shareholder at Ross & Yerger Insurance Inc. in Jackson, Mississippi, found the insurance industry after a different career — or two.

He spent more than 10 years working in distribution sales and business development for an auto supply company and co-owned a portable storage business. Prior to that he spent a few years working with a construction remodeling business.

Along the way Addison met Bailey Menetre, vice president/shareholder at Ross & Yerger, and the agency’s Construction Practice Group leader.

Menetre, now 40, has been in the insurance agency business since graduating from college at Mississippi State University.

A friend introduced him to Barksdale Bonding & Insurance Inc., an independent agency focused on the construction sector. But when Barksdale sold to Regions Bank, Menetre decided to make a move and took a position with Ross & Yerger in January 2008.

Menetre said at that time Ross & Yerger didn’t have a specialized construction practice but offered him the opportunity to start one.

“Unfortunately, the construction economy went south shortly thereafter (thanks to the Great Recession of 2008) so we had a tough couple of years,” he said.

But during those first years, he focused on building his construction team from the ground up, which today includes 18 people, including Addison. It now represents the largest practice group in property/casualty at Ross & Yerger, which is ranked No. 99 on Insurance Journal’s Top 100 Independent P/C Agency list in 2021.

Since joining the firm in 2014, Addison has been able to team up with Menetre to help grow the construction practice.

“He and I have partnered up on a great deal of our business,” Addison told Insurance Journal. “With my construction background, calling on contractors was a natural fit.”

Menetre’s insurance experience along with Addison’s construction experience have made for a good sales partnership.

“In addition to that kind of mentoring alongside Bailey, working hand-in-hand with him daily on construction clients, I was able to accelerate my learning by having someone who had been doing it probably 10 years prior to me joining the agency,” Addison said.

Before joining the independent insurance agency world, Addison said he felt underemployed, and wasn’t making the impact he wanted to make in his professional life. The value he brings to his insurance clients is why he loves what he does, he said.

“Insurance has been extremely rewarding. You become an advocate for the people you’re working with and that feels important,” Addison said.

Addison recalled an incident concerning his first client in January 2014.

“Four months after writing that account a tornado came through our hometown of Tupelo and caused a total loss,” he said. “In my first quarter of working in insurance, I got to see a total loss take place and see the promise of taking care of someone in the event of a total loss. …. That experience, while it was awful to see and experience … allowed me to see what I was selling, and how it is utilized,” he said. “That probably shaped my passion for the career.”

He said hopefully his clients never have to experience a total loss, but if they do, he wants to make sure they have the right insurance coverage in place.

Sharing that experience with clients is one of the strongest ways to help them understand the value behind an insurance policy, he said.

Find the Right Place

Being an insurance producer isn’t for everyone, Menetre said.

“But it’s a very rewarding career for somebody who is focused on developing long term relationships, developing long term solutions and products for businesses that require risk management programs,” he said.

First find the right place to work, he suggested to young professionals entering the agency world.

“One of the biggest draws that we have as a company is our culture,” he said.

That’s not unique to his firm, Menetre knows. But at Ross & Yerger, the oldest privately held independent agency in Mississippi, founded in 1860, it’s important to employees, he said, because everyone is an owner.

“We’ve remained privately held by becoming a 100% employee-owned ESOP in 2002,” he said. “Having that culture where everybody has ownership in our business means a lot to our employees because everybody’s pulling towards the same goal.”

Then, find the right specialty, he advised.

Find a “niche that excites you. I would not be nearly as passionate in this industry if I were not focusing on my passion — construction,” he said. “That’s what motivates me and allows me to enjoy what I’m doing as a broker,” he said. “It’s rewarding, it’s fun and it provides a lot of close relationships that I’ll have for a long, long time.”