You know, there’s a lot of talk about the future impact of technology on insurance agencies already, big data, artificial intelligence, smartphones, and other devices have wreaked havoc in many other industries. Are they coming for the insurance industry? Yes, unquestionably. It’s already happening, but is it time to panic? No, it’s not. When it’s time to panic, it will already be too late.

As the owner of your agency, you wear a lot of hats, but the most important hat you wear is the hat of CEO. As the CEO, it’s your job to look out to the future, see what’s coming, and decide what it means for the future growth and success of your agency. In the case of the threats represented by technology, it means that it’s time to pivot and take advantage of the runway while it’s still long. Now, the difference between panicking and pivoting is really simple.

Panicking is what we do when we’ve waited too long and now we face an existential threat to our businesses survival. Pivoting is when we think ahead and make incremental changes while there’s still time to learn and to experiment and to adapt. Now, this is important. The ability to pivot is a core skill for any CEO as we enter the next decade with all the changing technology landscape. You need to know how to pivot, you have to decide that you will pivot, and what will a successful agency pivot to?

They’ll pivot to deep client relationships, the kind of client relationships that help you develop a sustainable growth model, and that differentiates you from commodity sellers. If you start to pivot as you make the commitment and as you’re consistent in going after those deep client connections, you will position your insurance agency for tremendous success for many years to come.