Insurance Business has made a list and checked it twice – and 30 brokers were found to be very nice.
The Top 30 Elite Broker List compiled by Insurance Business celebrates the best brokers that Canada has to offer, and IB online will be sharing those stories in the coming week, leading up to the top broker in Canada.
Without giving too much away, we can give you a sneak peek as to one Prairie broker who cracked the list – Brock Longworth, of Cornerstone Insurance Services, in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
“Brokers owe a debt of gratitude to clients who see value in what we do; to insurance companies that break out of the mold to evolve rapidly and are willing to do things differently,” Longworth told Insurance Business. “We should appreciate the technological advancements and the people that developed it for our industry. I also believe that my generation of brokers owes a debt of gratitude to the brokers that came before us, their life’s work is our foundation.”
The December issue of Insurance Business magazine features interviews with the top five brokers in Canada, sharing their secrets of success and where they see the industry headed in the next decade.
For Longworth, he suggests that those still waiting for a hard market cycle shouldn’t hold their breath. (continued.)
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“We have been waiting and wondering about a hard market cycle for a long time. It seems to me that we may just be operating in a new normal,” says Longworth. “I think that hard and soft market cycles will be further apart on the calendar and less abrupt when they do occur due to the technology and big data now available for use by the industry, allowing a shift in favor of drastically more accurate underwriting. We are likely to see over capitalized insurers and high M & A numbers within the independent broker force until ether the interest rates rise significantly or the global economic recovery affords better investment returns than what the insurance industry has to offer.”
Success can be realized by broadening your horizons through education, says Longworth, something that he has made an important component of his career.
“By the time I was 25 I had secured four designations. CAIB, FCIP, CRM and CPIB,” he says. “This hunger for knowledge continues as I am currently studying toward a couple more educational goals being, CCIB and ACSB. Enough cannot be said about the usefulness of the knowledge gained through these courses.”
The need to build the industry with quality people is needed now more than ever, says Longworth, and that requires a proactive approach.
“Corporate stores and bank/credit union-owned insurance distribution houses ought to be low man on the totem pole when it comes to recruiting and retaining the most motivated of the best and the brightest resulting in lopsided talent pools,” he says. “Maintaining a pipeline of great people to fill those roles is the kind of work that pays significant dividends. Once the quality people are in place we have to take care of them though ongoing training, education, cultural development and opportunity for advancement.” (continued.)
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The broker channel is rich in stories of those who have guided, shaped, encouraged and mentored those who have made great strides in the industry. Longworth’s list of influential people begins like most brokers – with his father.
“I have to thank my father who reluctantly introduced me to the industry. I should give him props for believing in the power of youth and fueling/funding our quest for a path into the future,” he says. “I have been fortunate to know people like Coby Larmer of Butler Byers, Saskatoon, and Chris Nickel of Red River Mutual of Altona, Manitoba. Coby opened my eyes to the way things could be done from a brokerage point of view and Chris through her patience and perseverance demonstrated the value of a quality relationship with underwriters and insurers.”
