6 Secrets For Recruiting And Retaining Young Insurance Agents

Have you noticed the old dogs in your agency don’t bark like they used to? Are you facing a perpetuation crisis? Or do you see the direction sales and marketing in our industry is headed and have no clue how to reach younger consumers?

 

Agency owners across the country are facing these challenges, especially as it relates to remote insurance agents. And many are waking up to the solution: They need to hire young insurance agents!

 

Easier said than done, right?

 

Not if you start out with a good recruiting and retention plan. Let’s look at six strategies to put you ahead of your competition.

 

1. Fish In Their Pond

• Post your job openings on social media. Especially LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
• Contact local universities that have Risk Management programs and ask them to let you give a guest seminar on what it’s like working in an independent insurance agency.
• Along the same line, let those universities know you have internships available in your agency. (You do have them, right?)
• Craigslist. (No, I’m not kidding!) We have found and hired several young agents over the past couple of years by advertising on Craigslist.org. The first two advertisements I placed brought in no less than 400 resumes over the course of a month. Yes, I did have to spend some time whittling that down to about 100 truly qualified candidates. Of that, I interviewed about 10 people and hired 2. They are still with us, and have proven to be quality revenue generating agents.

 

PRO TIP: Learn how I’ve automated my recruiting strategies and have gotten 963 qualified candidates (so far!) to send me their resumes.

 

2. Use Your Existing Young Agents To Attract Them

Sounds like something from Discovery Channel or Animal Planet, right. (thick Australian accent) “Observe the interplay between bait and prey.”

 

Seriously, though, your agency’s own younglings make better bait than your more “seasoned” producers. Let the magic of social similarity work for you. As they say, “Birds of a feather….”(you know the rest).

 

Don’t be shy about including your existing young agents in the interview process. If a candidate someone sitting next to them in an interview who looks as young as they do, it will boost their confidence that “there are others like me here.”

 

If you’re hiring work-from-home insurance agents, be sure to include other remote staff in the interview process so the candidate can see proof there are others like them in the agency.

 

3. Give Them The Right Tools To Succeed

Sales Training:

How many of your companies offer sales training? Probably most, to some degree. Use it!

 

Or if you want something more robust, send your new young insurance agent to a Dynamics of Selling course.

 

Books:

If you can’t wait until the next sales seminar, buy them some books. We make all of our new agents, young and (lightly) seasoned read the first one during their first week with us.

 

Here are some of my favorites:

• The Wedge: How to Stop Selling and Start Winning by Randy Schwantz

 

• Platforms of Success: What the New Generation of Elite Sellers Are Doing And How It Can Work For You by Scott Johnson

 

• The Insurance Xperience: The Ultimate Guide To Success For Young Insurance Professionals by Matt Brown

 

• Content Warfare: How to find your audience, tell your story and win the battle for attention online by Ryan Hanley

 

 

Social Media As A Sales Tool:

Make sure they have access to or are allowed to use social media as a digital marketing tool at work. I know employers are on both sides of the fence on this one, but I’m telling you, allowing young agents to communicate in their “native language” puts them ahead of your competitors who do not allow it at work.

 

4. Clearly Define Young Agents’ Advantages And Opportunities

Here’s what went through my head on day one of my pre-licensing course right out of college:

 

Holy cow, 80% of the people in this room REALLY look like they could use a walking stick. Wow, I’m the youngest one here. (Sweet!)

 

There are advantages to being young and in the insurance industry. Point those out!

• Drive and vitality (Old dogs. New tricks. ’Nuff said.)
• Reaching younger consumers through social media should come easier for them since they’ve grown up communicating that way.
• They have a built-in support network of other young agents through local and national Young Agents groups (notice there is no “Old Agents” group…Oh, I can just feel the backlash coming!).

 

5. Give Them A Mentor Who Is Committed To Their Success

I can’t overstate this concept. The small handful of young agents who ended up leaving us in the past were not mentored, and it was obvious they were craving it.

 

Make sure you team your young bucks up with someone who still has a bit of the fire left in them. Don’t just dump them on someone who’s about to retire (and has more time on their hands). The easy way out is not always the best way.

 

Team them up with someone who is working to put food on their family’s table. Even if they’ve had ups and downs with the markets. If they’ve got a purpose to work hard every day, that’s your guy! And don’t be surprised when the passion and drive of the newbie reinvigorates his mentor. That’s what we call a win-win!

 

6. Incentivize Them To Win!

As Jason Cass has been discussing on his blog, there seems to be an alarming trend of agent and broker owners stiffing their agents (young and old) when it comes to commission.

 

He’s right. My own producers love going up against other agents who are getting paid less commission on renewals than on new business. Why? Because, after the first year, those agents’ clients rarely see or hear from them again. They’re being incented NOT to develop a lasting relationship with their clients.

 

Instead, their focus is being pushed towards new business…renewals be damned!

 

If you want to buck that trend (I see heads nodding), here’s what I suggest:

• Pay an equal percentage of commission for new AND renewal business. Young producers are impressionable. They’ll quickly understand what you want them spending time on by how you choose to reward them.
• Create some friendly competition. Whether you go all out with an incentive trip program or you keep it low key and throw out the occasional office wager, extra incentives beyond commission bring out a healthy competitive spirit.
• Above all, find out what really motivates your young agents. Sometimes, it’s just good ole fashioned recognition (“They really like me!”).

 

How Are You Recruiting Young Insurance Agents?

Hiring and keeping young agents isn’t complicated. It just takes a little extra attention and planning to make it work.

 

What tactics have worked for you when recruiting young agents? Where are you finding them? How have young agents helped your agency’s overall goals? Let me know by commenting below.