Who CARES?

It was welcome news to agents last month when Google announced it would withdraw from the online insurance sales business. It turned out Google Compare, the online auto insurance comparison-shopping tool, was not a big hit and after just a year, the search engine said it would fold its price comparison services. According to the Associated Press, “Google told participating auto insurers and lenders in a letter that the comparison service didn’t attract as much traffic as it anticipated and it would close on March 23.”

I wasn’t surprised to learn this. I’m not denying the fact that we’ve endured the commoditization of our product, particularly in auto; but as I’ve said for years, the Internet can’t offer the important benefits professional, independent agents bring to the interaction. There’s a human connection and an element of trust that makes us the best sales distribution option for carriers and customers alike. We are resilient, optimistic and driven. We are “people people” – we genuinely CARE about our clients and our communities, and that makes all the difference.

The successful agency and its employees are integral parts of their communities: Agents sit on school boards; they participate in their houses of worship; they are volunteer firefighters; they are members of their chambers of commerce. Some time ago, I wrote about how big box stores had come to my town and tried to push out the smaller merchants. They never joined the chamber; they didn’t care about the community. On the other hand, the small merchants keep the community going, and vice versa. The same dynamic plays out with direct writers and Internet sales of insurance. They don’t give a damn about where their clients are. You never see a little league team with a box store or search engine name on the t-shirts. They don’t care.

In all, this is good news for independent agents. As the big box guys retreat from small accounts and the market those represent – we professional independent agents will be here ready to take our clients back like proverbial prodigal sons. We’ve always been happy to serve small and medium accounts. Because we care.

But we do. We agents give back to our communities every chance we get. Take, for example, my work with the UJA Federation. I am proud to have been chair of the UJA Long Island Insurance Division’s Annual Dinner in the past. Justin Fries has taken over as the division chair and this year UJA will honor Steve Diamond, president and owner of the Simon Agency in New York on May 11, 2016 at the Woodbury Jewish Center, Woodbury, N.Y. (Opportunities to sponsor and attend are open now.)