No matter your expertise, there is always more to know. If you’re feeling burned out, then it may be because you’re no longer challenging yourself. If you know everything there is to know about life insurance, then perhaps you might become more involved with annuities or Medicare policies.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Adam Hyers is the owner of Hyers and Associate, a full service, independent insurance brokerage licensed across the country. He’s a broker with over 20 years of experience specializing in several lines of insurance, including: life, health, annuity and Medicare plans. He built his agency to help educate consumers about the policies and strategies that can best suit their current and future needs.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I’ve always enjoyed working with people, building relationships, and helping to solve problems — so it was a natural path for me. However, I quickly learned that to best assist my clients I needed to be independent of the big, captive agencies.
After two years learning my craft with a large national insurance company, I founded my own agency so I was free to offer policies from several companies. The best way to help consumers is to give them the ability to compare all of their options in one place. There is less pressure on everyone and better decisions can be made.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting in the industry? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
This is kind of silly, but I learned to dress the part. Very early in my career, I had an in-home appointment with a client. When I arrived, he asked me to take my shoes off. That shouldn’t have been a problem except that one of my socks had a noticeable hole in it. I obliged of course, but it gave off an unprofessional appearance. I guess it was laundry day because for the most part, I was usually on top of those kinds of things. Nothing was said, but he did not end up becoming a client. The lesson? You need to be prepared in several ways — even down to your socks.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I’m always working on our agency website. I pride myself on having up-to-date, timely information that is empowering to my readers. Insurance sales are migrating online and that trend shows no signs of slowing down. Many consumers want to see plans and quotes before they talk to an agent. Several others already know what kind of coverage they want and are simply looking for a quick, painless way way to enroll direct. I’m always working on adding new technology to our site that helps people compare plans and efficiently complete an enrollment without any artificial obstacles.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Is there a takeaway or lessons that others can learn from that?
For me, it happened somewhat early. I was posting relevant content on my website and traffic began to pick up. Naturally, lead generation gained momentum as well. That’s when I knew that I had something. I started focusing more of my time on our online presence and posting information that my clients were asking about most.
The takeaway was to work on being a better listener. Many consumers have similar thoughts and concerns. If I am addressing those concerns by posting authoritative content, then I have helped to build relationships right from the start.
What advice would you give to other people in the insurance field to thrive and avoid burnout?
No matter your expertise, there is always more to know. If you’re feeling burned out, then it may be because you’re no longer challenging yourself. If you know everything there is to know about life insurance, then perhaps you might become more involved with annuities or Medicare policies.
Many clients have needs beyond one product category. They may come to you with questions about another line of insurance. Becoming an authority on several lines of insurance will help with client retention. It will also generate more sales, more satisfaction, new conversations, and a change of pace.
If that’s not working, then just remember to take care of yourself too. I think it’s okay to step back for a few days and reward yourself with something nice (like a vacation) and to remember why it is you do what you do.
As an “insurance insider”, you know much more about insurance than most consumers. If your loved one wanted to buy a policy from another person, which 5 things would you advise them to find out about before committing to a policy? Can you give an example or story for each?
- I would want them to make sure the broker was independent and not beholden to just one or two insurance companies.
- I would also encourage them to ask the broker about his or her areas of expertise. How long has s/he been working with life insurance policies, for example.
- We would need to learn about the best and worst case scenarios of the policy. In the worst case, when might the policy lapse?
- I would also encourage them to ask about living benefits like an Accelerated Death Benefit or Chronic Illness Rider.
- And finally, we would need to talk about the chosen insurance company itself. What conversion opportunities do they offer (where applicable) and what is their crediting history.
I worked with a family member before I became licensed in their resident state and these were just some of the items we worked on during the process. As it turned out, the policy she purchased was later surrendered for cash. The policy ended up having a higher cash value because of the due diligence we put in on the front end. It was nothing I made a commission on, but my family member was happy with the end result and the help that I gave them. It was a lot easier for the brokers as well since I was able to guide both parties from start to finish.
Insurance agencies or companies are often known to be very creative and innovative marketers. Do you use any clever and innovative marketing strategies that you think large legacy companies should consider adopting?
I don’t want to give away all of my secrets, but I have found some strategies work better than others. I am appalled by some of the things I hear from prospective clients, however.
There are still too many agents who will say just about anything to land a deal. Consumers simply want to feel empowered to make the best decision for themselves and their families. That feeling comes from education and trust. If you’re able to offer and build those two foundational pieces, then you’re well on you way as an individual agent — or large legacy provider.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I’ve had several managers, mentors and even clients that have helped me along the way. As a broker, I think you can learn from almost every interaction you have with those who are around you.
In particular, I always tried to pay close attention to the most successful brokers. I wanted to know what they were doing differently than some of the others. What was interesting is that these folks did now always fit the same mold.
Some I referred to as, “hammers.” They were very aggressive with their prospects. Others were calm and collected. They held their clients attention and brought a certain amount of peace to the process. I learned the most from the second group.
The calm and confident agents tended to land the same amount of deals, but also had a higher retention rate. I knew a handful of them very well and found that their style better fit my own personality. They were the mentors who helped me to better figure out the kind of broker that I wanted to become. I think that working under several types of sales mentors helped me to develop a style that best suited my personality. In my case, it was not one person in particular, but several (perhaps unknowingly) who helped me to achieve success.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
This is rather specific, but I would love to inspire a movement that allowed for greater flexibility in the funding of insurance products. I work with many consumers who have a great deal of their wealth tied up in pre-tax accounts like IRAs and 401(k)s.
It would be extremely beneficial if Congress would allow consumers to use a certain amount of their retirement funds to purchase life insurance, traditional or hybrid long term care coverage, or even Medicare policies without creating a taxable event. I think we would see a lot more people willingly purchase these plans with this type of incentive.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
About the Author:
Matt Schmidt is the founder of DiabetesLifeSolutions.com which specializes in helping people with diabetes find affordable life insurance. Matt founded the company after his father was diagnosed with diabetes in 2010. He is also founded Diabetes365.org to provide helpful information for those living with diabetes. Matt is also pre-diabetic.