Specialization - Separating Average from Great

Foreign. Kelly here with another episode of the Agent Leader podcast. And I wanted to share some thoughts and ideas today around the idea of specialization, around the idea of being a thought leader or expert in your specific area. Now, you know, talking to most insurance agencies, agency leaders, insurance agency producers, oftentimes without them even knowing it, they wear the idea or the distinction of being a generalist as a badge of honor, right? That. Well, we, I mean, we do everything. We can write any line of business. We can write, you know, any type of person, any type of business, whether it's blue collar, white collar, large, small, you know, you name it, we're a full service insurance agency. And although I understand the idea behind it, because the fear is, well, if I don't say that, what if I have an opportunity and I've told myself that I can't, or told that person or that business that I can't do it, the answer is, well, good. One of my philosophies is if you market to all, you market to none. Meaning that if you just try to talk and sound like you can do everything, you truly are a jack of all trades and a master of none. And you can have a moderate level of success doing that. Right. I can tell you at the Sidkins Group as vice president, we could branch off into other industries. We could have success, I'm sure, in teaching, sales training and leadership. And sales leadership and just some of the processes and mindset of being your best version that would probably apply to many different industries in certain ways. Obviously we'd have to customize things, but we wouldn't be specialists and we wouldn't be at our highest level. We wouldn't be doing what we do the best to help our clients be the best. Right? And so as you think about it from the perspective of an agency leader or an agency producer is what are you known for? What are you known the best for? What are you world class in? Because if again, if you try to be a jack of all trades, if you try to say we're a full service insurance agency, we can help you with anything, right? If you need anything, you come and see us. Well, what value does that put on your agency? What value does that put on your expertise? I mean, would you be excited if you had to see a top end professional like a heart surgeon or a specialized attorney or any type of high level professional, they can go down the line and they're like, oh, yeah, but we do everything, you know, I know I do heart surgery, but tomorrow I'm also doing, you know, I'M doing a basic physical, you'd be like, what? Right. So you want to begin to position yourself in that level. And it all revolves around a law that was taught to me a few years ago that I love to share because it's really powerful. If you think about it, it's the law of compensation. Well, how do people get paid? How do people get paid? Well, what does that mean? What does that look like? Well, the law of compensation has three basic parts to it. So your ability, and again, whether you're an agency leader or producer or any type of insurance professional, but your ability to get paid as an insurance professional and to be paid well is based on three things. Number one is, is there a need in the marketplace for what it is that you do? Do people need insurance and risk management, risk advice? Yes. Right. Obviously. I mean, in fact, in many cases it's required by law. But yes, there is a need in the marketplace for what it is that you do. Number two is what is the. Or, I'm sorry, Number two is, can you do it? Right. So number one is, is there a need in the marketplace? Number two is, can you actually do it? Are you, Are you licensed? Are you skilled? Are you able to sell, distribute, give advice, counsel on risk and insurance? And for most of you on this call, if not almost all of you, the answer would be yes. Yeah, absolutely. I'm ready to do this. I'm licensed, trained to sell, distribute insurance and provide risk advice and counsel. Great. So number one and number two are set. You're able to do it, and there's a need in the marketplace to do it. Which leads to number three. And this obviously is the crux of what I want to talk about today and what I've been talking about, it's specialization. The third question, the law of compensation, is what is the difficulty in replacing you? Now think about that for a second. What is the difficulty in replacing you that separates average, even in some cases, oh, good insurance agencies and agents from great and the best virgin? What is the difficulty in replacing you if you don't wake up tomorrow for whatever reason, Right. Or you just magically evaporate from the earth, are your clients going to say, oh, my gosh, how could we possibly do business without them? Right. What are we going to do? They provided such unique value to my life or my business that this is going to be an issue, this is going to be a problem, or is it I will just find somebody else. They're just transactional anyway, right? I mean, they don't say that, but they're thinking that I will just find another, another commodity insurance agency or another commodity insurance agent, or we'll just find someone else who could do about the same stuff. And if that's what your clients are saying about you, then the law of compensation is going to state it's going to be really hard for you to earn the level of compensation that you truly probably desire. Right. So again, number one, the need for it, Number two, your ability to do it. Number three, what is the difficulty in replacing you? So how do you make it difficult to replace you? Well, you have to be able to add such value and education and advice in this industry and position yourself in certain ways and become an industry expert or an expert in a certain coverage or an expert in something. There's lots of things you could do to set yourself apart that people know you, you are known for something and such a level in such a way that they couldn't possibly imagine doing business without you. Now, is that easier to say than to do? Well, of course. Of course it is. So how do you begin to do that? Well, first of all, depending on what it is that you want to specialize or be an expert in, by the way, you can't have 23 specialties. We specialize in this and this and this and this. You know, that's a generalist. But start to find out a few things. What is it that you love to talk about and do think about your absolute best clients? What are you, are the common characteristics with those clients? Maybe it's a business industry, maybe it's a demographic, maybe it's a unique type of coverage that you love to write, that you're really good at explaining and teaching around. And it could be lots of things. But find that who are your carrier partners? What sources can they help you with? Right. Whether it's marketing or positioning. I guess a big question asked too with a specialty is is there enough of that type of business and or people that you can have success and grow enough of your book of business to a level that's acceptable? Well, that's another question. So lots of things to ask around that, but you start to hone in what it is you love to do and start to reflect on. What are the clients you like to write and you have written that are your best clients. And I can tell you, you're going to start to see some trends, you're going to start to see some trends in that. And then when you understand that, you begin to position yourself as an expert by doing lots of things. Well, first of all, just learning as much as you possibly can about that industry, about that person, about that coverage, whatever it is, and begin to te and train and talk about that. That becomes your burning passion. When someone says, oh, that's Brent. He's the such and such guy, right? Or that agency is so good at that, right. That you become known for that. You can conduct educational webinars or live trainings or teaches teaching or classes, or do a podcast like this, or do blogs. What you could go on and on, right? I mean, there's lots of things you could do, but the people understand what you stand for, what you do and the value bring to the marketplace. So I'll just leave it at this. What are you known for? What do you want to be known for? Because specialists get paid more than journalists for a reason. It's because they have unique knowledge, expertise and understanding of their clients that people couldn't possibly imagine not doing business without them. Remember the law of compensation and go out and figure out how you can become a specialist in your area. Wish you all the best. And as I always say, if we can help you in any way at the Sitkins Group, if I can help you, reach out to me. My email is brentitkins.com just shoot me an email and love to check in or tell me how you like the podcast. Also, feel free to give me a rating if this is adding value to you. And of course you can visit our site@sitkins.com to learn about all of our programs and how we help agencies succeed. Can't wait to talk to you again soon and have a great one. Thanks.