Hello Tague Members,

As we close out 2019 and begin a new year, many of us will take at least a few minutes to think about this coming year and what we want to accomplish. The article below by Seth Godin, which has zero to do with insurance, got me thinking about speed and why Geico advertises speed. No person really wants to deal with their insurance, they do it because they have to deal with it. There are a million other things the average person wants to do besides dealing with insurance. So could this be the reason speed and spending less time has been touted? Who knows exactly? As “top speed” pertains to the independent agent, it seems sometimes we put top speed above true efficiency which is the point of the article below. When you reflect on why you focus on doing certain processes fast, make sure they are the most efficient and direct route for the client to get what he or she wants from your agency. Example, just because you use a texting platform for client communication (top speed) does not mean that it is the best way to get needed documents from the client easily (efficiency). Maybe using e-signature or even good old email is the more efficient way, not just the fastest. Sometimes the exact opposite is true! Again, when reviewing your processes within your agency make sure top speed is not your only criteria.

Article by: Seth Godin

Top speed is overrated

The Amtrak Acela is capable of going well over a hundred miles an hour.

And yet, it’s not unusual for a 90-mile ride on the Acela to be only three or four minutes shorter than it would be on a more traditional train.

I can drive my Prius from NY to Syracuse faster than I can fly there. Even though a plane has been engineered to have a much higher top speed, the door to door costs of travel (security theatre, parking, checking in, the rest of the last mile once I land) aren’t impacted at all by the top speed of the chosen form of transport.

Top speed is easy to measure and fun to work on. But for most of the people you work with, there are dozens of factors that matter more than the easily measured versions of top speed that are talked about.

Fix the systems first. Look at the overhead of context switching. Bravery, empathy and other real skills matter for more than horsepower.

Cheers!

Tague Team