Insurance Journal

Google the phrase “business consultant” and more than 21 million hits pop up available for review. Granted some of these are descriptions of what a business consultant is from Wikipedia and other such sources, but the vast majority of possible sites are links to websites for actual business consultants. Further, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics states that management, scientific and technical consulting services is currently the fastest growing industry in America.

Sometimes agents simply have to resort to unusual methods and “arguments” to convince clients to do what is best for them; especially in light of the objections raised. To get the ball rolling I am including three of my own stories.

What, exactly, is enterprise risk management? ERM is a powerful tool integrating: 1) Risk; 2) Contingency; and 3) Business resiliency planning. Definitions of ERM and the generally awful diagrams used to describe it differ widely, but I like to keep things simple.

There are over 210 insurance and insurance-related designations available to property and casualty, life, health, benefits, actuarial and other financial service professionals. This list includes US, Canadian and European-based educational programs with each locale having its own designations and criteria.

Statutorily mandated insurance continuing education and a lack of commitment to insurance training have combined to trigger the end of the true insurance professional. To be considered a “professional” in today’s insurance environment requires only the completion of a pre-licensing class or training school and the ability to endure annual continuing education classes. Participants are not required to prove any learning occurred nor must they be able to apply the information; the sole requisite is to stay awake and feign attention for a certain number of hours. This does not a professional make.