The Independent Way.

• Author: Deapo, Jamie

* As I write this column Thanksgiving is only days away, followed by the holidays in December and then 2020 will be here. This time of year is usually one of reflection and planning for the upcoming year. When I think about how much our business has changed I also realize that the core values of what we do haven't and shouldn't.

Most of the change we are experiencing has been in how we attract potential clients and how quickly we can provide them with the information and pricing options they want. Although these changes must be acknowledged and dealt with the most important aspects of what we provide haven't changed. If anything they have expanded and gotten even more important.

The real value of what we do is using our knowledge and expertise to guide clients in how to use insurance as a tool to protect their health and lifestyle in todays complicated, costly and litigious world. That includes focusing their attention on all the risk potential surrounding them every day and showing them how to responsibly protect all that is important to them.

Living in today's world presents all of us with an increasing array of potential hazards that put us at risk. Social media, identity theft, bullying, cell phone usage, privacy, driverless vehicles; the list goes on and on. The point is there are so many eventualities that have to be explored when we are looking at protecting someone's health and lifestyle.

The challenge is to find the most effective way to get prospects and clients to acknowledge the existence of these many threats to their well being. Once that is achieved you need to convince them to take responsibility for purchasing protection to eliminate the potential physical and financial losses that might occur.

To be successful today you must regularly and routinely warn consumers of the serious danger associated with buying protection without professional advice based solely on cost and/or simplicity. The public is being bombarded with dangerous and irresponsible advertising about buying insurance and how it will apply in a loss. Our challenge is to educate consumers about the dangers associated with relying on this misleading information.

You need to develop a public persona that attracts consumers to want to...