You're Never too Young to Learn About Insurance

As the agent population ages, it becomes harder and harder for producers to connect with younger generations. We recently ran a story about Gen Ys perception of insurance agents, and the results werent good. Of the five 20-somethings we interviewed including one person who had experience in the financial industry not a single person said anything positive about agents or the industry. Words like sleazy, negative, rigged, superficial, and pushy were thrown around.

Worse still, agents do think members of Gen Y are good prospects, but the numbers show they just arent marketing to them. According to the 2009 Brokerage Study by Agent Media, exactly 0 percent of agents were marketing their products or services to consumers in their 20s.

So what can you do to reverse this? First, start young. Use tools like NextGen3 to educate up-and-coming 20-somethings about the importance of protecting their assets. Second, dont dismiss the power of young prospects. Even if they only buy small policies now, you are creating a foundation for a long-term relationship. Finally, make sure that you can connect to them on their level. That might mean making some changes to your technology or marketing. Do your research, but dont talk down to them. Theyre not kids. Theyre just 20-year-olds.

Heather Trese is the associate editor of the Agents Sales Journal.