"That which becomes scarce becomes more valuable." - Dan Sullivan
Dan is just talking about the laws and supply and demand when something is in short supply it cost more, right? And when there's a lot of it no one will pay very much for it.
I think one of the most important ways to think about this concept for an insurance agency owner, is the value of people. People make up our business, but relationships are what make our businesses grow. Today, many agency owners are focused on transactions.
They're trying to quote a lot of insurance, give people a great price and sell based on that. That's a dime a dozen. Computer algorithms can do that much faster than people can. What machines can't do is create relationships with people. Increasingly in the world of the iPhone and other devices where everyone is disconnected, real relationships are actually at a premium. Real trust is at a premium because there's so little of it in the world.
So, it's valuable because it's scarce and agents who understand that can capitalize and build tremendous businesses in which their customers simply can't be taken away from them.
I think what's becoming increasingly scarce is a genuine connection with people. You go to a restaurant and you watch four people at a table and they're all on their phones. They might even be texting each other in conversation back and forth, but they're not making eye contact. They're not in physical contact.
They're not emotional or intellectual communication. That's the world in which many people live. So, an agent who can pierce all of that and have a genuine conversation and relationship with another human being can open that person's mind to something that they've forgotten how to do or perhaps never knew. When you do that, and you get serious about understanding what people want, what they desire, what they dream about, and what they're afraid of.
Now, you can do an outstanding job of making sure that from an insurance perspective, all the things they need to take care of are taken care of, and they feel peace of mind and less anxiety. Anxiety and lack of peace of mind are what come from the disconnected frenetic atmosphere that we live in today. Insurance agents have an enormous opportunity if they can cut through that with genuine caring, genuine relationships, honest, direct, personal communication and conversation with your clients and customers.
The most valuable thing in an agency is the desire to help people.
If you have people in your agency who really want to be of service and who genuinely care about the people that they serve, your future is unlimited. You're going to do a Land Office business for the rest of your career. That feeling, that kind of interest in people, is in really short supply today.
So, those people who've got it and can combine that with great products from great insurance companies are going to make an enormous amount of money and be very successful.