Agency Entrepreneurs

I came across a fantastic article by Tom Barrett entitled “Nu Waves” from Agent & Broker magazine.

In it, he discusses the recent emergence of new agencies across the U.S.  In fact, he points out that more than 4,000 new agencies have opened over just the past few years.

The focus of his article, though, is on the fact that this new wave of agency owners is very different from those of the past.  They carry a number attributes that allow them to accelerate their success.

I want to just list a few of them:

• They have ambition to accomplish their dream.
• They are focused on their goals.
• They learn how to get things done.
• They look for solutions to problems.
• They work and cooperate with others.
• They are self-reliant.

Now, the reason why I point these attributes out is there is a very good chance these young entrepreneurs got their start at another agency.   At some point, though, they felt it necessary to branch out and start an agency of their own.

Here’s the interesting part to me:  Why couldn’t their prior agencies keep these individuals at their companies?    Can you imagine the sales team they would have if they all possessed the attributes listed above?  These agencies wouldn’t know what to do with the growth they would be experiencing.

While some agents will always have ambitions to start their own business, I bet there were a number of them who became disillusioned with their prior company, and they felt the only way things could change was for them to start their own agency.

Agency owners: What is being done to fix this?   I know you have goals and aspirations for your company.  The problem is you’re never going to be able to achieve them if your superstars keep leaving to start their own competing business.

You should always be thinking of how to keep your superstars happy and how to bring more superstars into the mix.   You have to create such a great atmosphere they never want to leave.   Yes, it’s hard, and it will certainly require a lot of effort, but your agency will destroy the competition if you do.