The most common company approach emphasizes the recruitment and training of a
successor for an apprentice or big brother/sister arrangement. This may take the form of a
joint venture, joint agent or successor plan. A recent MDRT study indicated that well
over half of our membership still operates as sole proprietorships. In most cases the
producer has not given any consideration to the unique problems of successor
management.
Agent-initiated arrangements run the gamut from partnerships and corporations, passive
agreements with other agents, and family teams, to apprentice relationships and
continuity agreements with general agents or managers. (For purposes of brevity, we will
use the male pronoun, though we are certainly not limiting the discussion to men.)
Some of the following may be reasons why agents have not set up business continuity
arrangements. Agents may lack the time or patience for certain plans, and tend to be
possessive about their commissions and client relationships, while many deplore a lack of
company understanding and support. For their part, the companies fear setting precedents
that would result in uncontrollable cost exposures. In addition companies see this as a
field instead of home office
problem and, moreover, some display a growing lack of commitment to the career agent
concept. We look for this arena to be changing in the future.
In our view, the problem cannot be solved by a universal or unilateral approach. A
pluralistic view, with many but more effective solutions, is more realistic.
