By Jim Lombardo, CPCU, AAI, AIM, MBA, AVP of Learning & Development
When I first became licensed to sell insurance, the agency I was working for gave me a Mentor to work with. He became a good friend and we still keep in touch even though this was over twenty-five years ago. I will always be indebted to him for a brief conversation we had very early in my sales career.
You see, at the beginning I was very uncomfortable trying to sell people insurance. They always looked at me like I was a pushy salesman just out for the commission. It made me feel awkward and, frankly, embarrassed. I couldn't see how I could do this for very long let alone for a living.
When I shared my feelings with Bill, he responded, “Jim, I used to feel the same way too until the first time a client of mine had a house fire and I was there with funds to help them get their life back together quickly. From that point on I was proud to be an insurance agent." Well, lo and behold, those words were like music to my ears and since then I have been a very proud, confident and eager advocate for the insurance industry. And I feel we all need to do a better job “promoting" what we do and how we help people…each and every day!!!
We are so much more than “15 minutes" or “15% savings"! We are a large diverse group of educated, experienced, passionate and collaborative people! We are individuals and companies committed to helping society prosper. We are talented, intelligent and creative people dedicated to helping businesses and families manage their risks so they can do what they love without the worries of “what if?"
I plead with anyone reading this to continue to be proud, be helpful, be thoughtful and do not hesitate to shine a light on what this great industry has to offer.
If you have an employee, teammate or Manager who you feel is worth a shout out- then by all means shout!
One way to do that is nominate someone for the 2020 ACSR of The Year Award that will be presented at our Go Big 2020 event in May in Syracuse.
Here are a few upcoming LIVE classes that you may want to attend - or send someone from your agency.
ACSR 6 Commercial Property Insurance - Rochester
It Could Be Criminal NOT To Understand Commercial CrimE - WhitE Plains
ACSR 7 Commercial Lines LiabilitY - Buffalo
ACSR 6 Commercial Property InsurancE - Syracuse