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Links from our providers, for your convenience
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Constitutional Casualty Company 877-210-0340
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Guide One Insurance
877-448-4331 888-748-4326
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Rockford Mutual |
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West Bend Mutual
Report a Claim, Windshield or 877-922-5246
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Copyright © 2007; Professional Insurance Services / Aardsma Agency, Inc. Legal statements and disclaimers All rights reserved. |
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Rick Aardsma |
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to the Aardsma Agency Web Page! |
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Customer Service: 800-333-3735 |
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Thoughts for the Journey |
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That’s what I think. Tell me what you think, or give me new story ideas by clicking here! Email Rick |
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My Identity Crisis
I can remember while growing up, how I looked forward to the day we would get the annual calendar from our insurance agent sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was huge, at least I thought so, but the strange thing to me was that it had no pictures. It was just big, square |
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boxes printed with red and blue ink and came rolled up in a big tube. I also remember how glad I was when it was delivered to my parents, because they kept the calendar and I got the best part – the tube! Sometimes I would go along with my parents to the insurance office in the downtown area of our community. It was located across the street from the bowling alley / diner. It had a big window across the front of the building glared from the sun because |
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of the blue shade made from film that was always pulled down. It was cool, because they could see out, but no one could see inside. Next to the window was the full glass front door. We had to drive alongside the manila building all the way to the back for a parking spot unless we were lucky enough to get a spot on the street right in front. Once inside there was a counter across the whole front area where the business was transacted. Clarence would stand behind the counter and we would purchase insurance, get things notarized and other stuff I can’t remember. I couldn’t tell much about what was happening up there and frankly didn’t care much either, so I just sat in a chair by the big blue window and watched what was happening outside. We have come a long way since those days.
Now I am the insurance man, or should I say person, and I’m not sure what my title should be. I can remember when I first started selling insurance – I was confused. You see, there were Agents and Brokers, but for the most part the words were used interchangeably. I was told that agents represented companies to the client, while brokers placed business wherever and through whoever they could. On top of all that there were people called “captive” agents – what was that about? I found they only represented (or were supposed to) one company. But some agents didn’t like the way that captive sounded so they called themselves “Special” agents. Then, shortly after I started in the business the term agent became taboo and we began calling ourselves “consultants” even though what we did was no different than what we always had done before. Now we are beginning to call ourselves “Risk Managers” and my business card needs 3 times the space! So what is this all about anyway?
Part of the answer might be that as an industry we have always tried to improve our collective image. After all, who wants to buy their insurance from someone ranked at the bottom of the list, along with used car salesmen and lawyers? At least for now politicians and bankers are down here too so it looks like we are moving up! A second reason we have changed our title, could be that the insurance industry is a place where definitions are important. Insurance companies can define words to mean anything they want, for example exactly what is a vermin? This is how vermin can be a rat, but not a mouse…. because that is how they define it - cool right? That’s why in many cases the definitions are explained first in the policy. Because it really does not matter how the public defines vermin - this is how WE (the insurance company) DEFINE vermin for use in our policy. Some agents call themselves anything they want – by their own definition. Remember, agents are smart people and know more about sales and the sales process than integrity. They use words that build trust but in fact it is only about the money to them. If the public does not like agents then I’ll be a consultant! I have decided to define myself as Superman and figure I have it all covered.
But what qualifies someone to change their title? Well, the simple answer to that question is just like you have heard many times at home….. Because we said so. Actually, there are many of us who went to some type of school to become certified as Insurance Consultants and Risk Managers, but then again there are many others who merely just put it on their business cards and “say it is so”. I know of several people in the insurance industry that just call themselves insurance consultants – you know it is just their title. No training, no schooling, nothing.
On the Risk management side it could be even worse depending on how you look at it. There are many insurance agents that attend some kind of class for an afternoon that feel qualified to advise you as a risk manager. Some insurance companies will advise you to use their website or follow the advice laid out in a book to solve all your risk management needs. Frankly, I find that absurd and actually a disguised attempt to get the end user to participate in “loss control”, saving the company money and not lessening the total cost of risk. I have to be careful here, but I hope to show you in the months ahead just how this is being done, which in turn I hope will empower you to “work the system” to your advantage. Richard Aardsma |
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