Until a few years ago snowboarders or surfers, as they were often called were not much of respected community and normally looked down upon for lack of technical proficiency and also for being undisciplined and disheveled. But they still forced their way into the scene of winter sports and three snowboarding events – slalom racing, halfpipe and slopestyle are now included in the winter Olympic games. Instead of resisting it, the international sports organizations have embraced and also patronized this growing trend. Due to this receptiveness not only a huge number of fans have been converted but this has also boosted both participation and revenue generation.
If trusting the customers can be the secret of this kind of successful development, the lesson is certainly learnt by at least a couple of leading carriers in the insurance industry. They have started to connect better with their consumers via newly developed mobile applications and have also started marketing their services on the social media platforms.
As per James L. Kerley, president of L.L. Global Services, an agent is a friend to the consumer and he also added that these direct-to-consumer channels are required to be embraced by insurance advisors and agents and also by the industry itself at large. He also said that the control of the industry has now shifted to the consumers and consumer channels are now the trend single most important in the distribution chain. As this direct-to-consumer strategy is being adopted and deployed by more and more insurance companies, LL Global has already introduced a channel for this purpose. People are naturally curious what direct-to-consumer strategy actually is and for those who are still not using it, now is the high time to learn what is actually going on.
There should be absolutely no fear amongst agents facing disintermediation – for whenever the Web has previously upended a business model in finance service, the advisors have simply and easily adapted to the changes. People will still require help and advice to deal with the sea of information available online and this certainly makes the future bright for insurance agents and advisors. Consumers now want more choices and companies capable of expanding this range to their consumers will not only be able to expand their sales but can also introduce advisors in their relationship with the customers.
