Independent insurance agents everywhere are hearing the same thing: Agencies that are not leveraging technology risk falling behind their competition. While true, the message fails to recognize how time-consuming and difficult it can be to choose the right tech solutions for an independent agency—especially in the age of perplexing jargon and pushy sales pitches.
Today’s agents are inundated with emails and messages from tech vendors promising their transformative technology will address every single one of their agency’s needs. Those agents who are motivated by promises to streamline workflow and reduce repetitive administrative tasks—or even to increase business—could fall victim to empty sales promises and wasting time, money and resources they likely cannot afford to lose.
The dangers of choosing the wrong tech
Nobody likes to admit when they do not understand something, and with the onslaught of technology that has hit the market in recent years, it’s gotten a bit tricky to decipher one tech solution from another. Selling variations of similar offerings, vendors have gotten creative with their messaging. Often, agents are left in the difficult position of not fully understanding the product they are being pitched. Instead of asking questions, many agents nod along with the pitch and assume the tool will live up to its cutting-edge promise. Agents in such a predicament may find themselves committed to a one- to three-year contractual agreement to spend time and money on a tool they cannot use or simply do not need.
While there are both good and bad vendors and products, vendors enter a pitch with one primary goal: to sell their product. They may utilize a few tricks to engage prospective clients, including providing little, if any, information on the product’s limitations and leveraging hyperbolic terms that oversell the product’s capabilities. After a pitch or demo, insurance agents should have a preliminary understanding of the product’s capabilities and how it might fit into their agency’s operations. If the vendor’s pitch was too flashy to outline the product’s baseline functionality clearly and how it fits in an agency’s processes, it will likely fall short of the vendor’s promises.
Read the full article by Brendan Mulcahy, SIAA’s Senior Vice President, Programs and Services. Reposted from PIA Magazine, May 2025, with permission from PIA Management Services Inc