Independent insurance agency principals want to focus on growing their businesses and providing superior service to their clients. At the same time, they’re having an increasingly difficult time adequately staffing their businesses so they can execute. One potential solution to this problem is to “outsource” staffing to companies who provide workers in remote locations.
Agencies are finding some success with this approach. Redwood Agency Group in Texas has used virtual assistants provided by VIVA Virtual Assistants to issue 1,000 homeowners insurance quotes in the first quarter of 2022, according to Joe Kampert, vice-president of sales. Christian Moore of Real Good Group in Kentucky, another VIVA client, has found it to be a very cost-effective way to fill necessary roles within the agency, particularly in the area of data management.
This option comes at a crucial time for agencies. A 2016 study showed that 29% of employees in the financial services sector were over age 55. Estimates are that 400,000 insurance industry employees are at or nearing retirement. The COVID-19 pandemic likely accelerated their transitions; 30 million Baby Boomers retired during the third quarter of 2020 alone. At the same time, only 4% of millennials reported being interested in insurance careers. These forces are combining to make insurance talent increasingly scarce.
Some agency principals may feel uneasy about hiring remote employees who speak with foreign accents. “There’s a concern that,” Moore acknowledged, “if somebody hears an accent, they’re going to assume that you’re giving less care to that individual because they’re not here locally.” He advises agents to get over that mindset and “assume the best of our client base.”
Agencies that choose outsourcing have plenty of company. Some of the largest corporations in the U.S. such as Google, Nike, IBM and American Express now outsource at least part of their staffing. If there once was a stigma attached to employing a foreign customer service workforce, it is fading as consumers grow increasingly used to being served by them.
In addition to addressing staffing woes, outsourcing can relieve agencies of human resources burdens. Between recruiting, hiring, onboarding and retaining employees, not to mention complying with regulatory requirements, many agency principals have begun to feel like they sell insurance only in their spare time. Kampert says outsourcing enabled his agency to re-focus. “With the current job market, VIVA has allowed us to scale our agency versus having to find the ‘diamond in the rough’ that may not even work out,” he says.
Ideally, an agency will have a hybrid workforce of local staff and outsourced employees. Agencies cannot expect a VA to hit the ground running; a local staff member will have to spend a lot of time at the beginning of the relationship getting the person acclimated. “One person in the agency has to own the relationship,” Moore says, “and that person should be on video with the VA one to two times a day.” The time investment necessary will diminish as the relationship continues, as the VA trains other VAs in the agency’s processes.
Moore cautions that outsourcing is not a magic pill that will immediately solve the agency’s problems. However, agencies with definable systems and processes on which a VA can be trained are more likely to be successful. He also advises agencies to start slow. “Don’t give them a hundred things to do; give them one thing to do and let them be really good at it, set a timeline of a week or two, and once they achieve that, improve the responsibility.”
If your agency is struggling to find qualified people, you may want to consider trying outsourced staffing. If you’re prepared and have realistic expectations, your experience may be as positive as it has been for these agencies.
To see a list of firms that provide outsourced staffing services for insurance agencies, please go to:
