LifeHealth.com
Agency Profile: Brock Financial Group - Diversity: A Business Building Block
by Mark Brock
Mark Brock is General Agent of Brock Financial Group, a general agency of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., Houston, Texas.
The financial services industry and the insurance industry in particular have much work to do and opportunity to seize in the area of diversity. The dearth of agents from diverse communities is a well-documented fact.
Less well-documented, however, are examples of companies that are championing diversity and succeeding. And even less well-understood is how these companies' expanding definition of diversity is helping them grow.
Since committing my agency to mirroring our ethnically and racially diverse hometown of Houston, our sales of life insurance, disability income insurance, annuities and securities are up significantly, double figures in all cases since 2007, and in some cases more than 50 percent. Our ties to the community are stronger. Our applicant pool is deeper. Our prospecting is more efficient and more fruitful. And our ability to serve our many diverse constituencies is greater and growing.
Our experience can be instructive and helpful to other agencies that seek to grow their businesses by embracing diversity.
We started by committing to diversifying our agent force. Our belief is that to serve the community that Houston has become, we need to look and think and talk like it. We made a priority of adding financial services professionals of diverse backgrounds so that, now, about half of our agents are of ethnic origins and one-third are women. Both numbers are well above industry averages.
While a look at census data shows that there is now no ethnic majority in Houston, there are large Anglo and African-American populations, a rapidly growing Hispanic population, a smaller but significant Asian population and a growing number of women business owners. In fact, Hispanics now account for 42 percent of Houston's population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau 2006 American Community Survey. The influx of new people and energy has resulted in the growth of vibrant ethnic business communities. According to Survey of Business Owners: Asian-Owned Firms: 2002 by the U.S. Census, Houston ranks sixth in a list of cities with the largest number of Asian-owned firms.
In response, we have prioritized the recruitment of Hispanic and Asian agents in order to reflect the rapid growth in these communities. A couple of stand-out performers have become exceptional sales managers who now work hard to recruit new agents, retain them, and help them succeed. We have equipped our agency with resources and strategies to serve small and medium-sized businesses and family companies. And we work diligently with our newer and existing agents to give them the training, tools, planning resources, products and services that they need to succeed.
However, we don't just talk and tell, we also listen, because the new voices in our firm not only bring a diversity of ethnicity but also a diversity of thought, knowledge and markets. So when new agents come to us with ideas to support the communities they want to serve through sponsorships and other efforts, we invest in them. When they develop new and innovative ways to educate and inform their marketplaces about the importance of financial preparedness, we back them.
Beside the diversity of ethnicity and gender, there is diversity of need, an often-overlooked category deserving of special attention.
For example, by sponsoring a large, annual Asian festival, we succeeded not only in supporting a key constituency and raising awareness of our brand but also in identifying some new recruits who will enhance our ability to serve the community. More than 1,500 people visited our booth during the festival, providing us with an opportunity to educate and build relationships.
But ethnicity is only one part of diversity. Another is gender. Between 1997 and 2006, our city was one of the top 10 metro areas for majority women-owned companies based on number of firms, sales and employees, according to the Center for Women's Business Research Women-Owned Businesses in 2006: Trends in the Top 50 Metropolitan Areas.
In response, we have recruited more women agents to serve this growing market of influential, professional women. Moreover, we have equipped them, and all of our agents, with tools, resources, insights and training that they can use to address women's markets, understand how women differ from men in their buying preferences and priorities, and ultimately help women business owners in particular and women clients in general prepare financially for their futures.
Beside the diversity of ethnicity and gender, there is diversity of need, an often-overlooked category deserving of special attention. For example, Houston is not unlike other cities throughout the country that have seen significant growth in the number of children and others with disabilities and special needs. Huge numbers of children are being diagnosed with autism and other disabilities. More than five percent of the population over the age of five has at least one disability. That number jumps to 8.5 percent for the ages of 16 to 64, and to more than 40 percent for those over 65.
Their needs, which in many cases are permanent, require long-term plans and specialized skills. Planning for people with special needs is an area in which good intentions coupled with a lack of knowledge often can have disastrous unintended consequences. That's why seven professionals in our firm, about 15 percent, have sought and earned Special Care Planner certification through The American College and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. The agents received advanced training in estate and tax planning concepts, special needs trusts, government programs, and the emotional dynamics of working with people with disabilities and other special needs and their families, among other topics. They now help parents and caregivers with financial solutions that are appropriate for the life care plan that's been created for the individuals with special needs.
Many demographers say Houston's ethnic make-up today is representative of what the country's ethnic make-up will be in about two decades. As a result, the ways in which we have changed will likely be among those that other agencies will soon have to consider. It will be critical for leaders of these agencies to expand their understanding of what diversity is to ensure that they meet the needs of the constituencies within their communities. When they do, they and their businesses will benefit greatly from the diversity of backgrounds, languages, ideas and markets that their newest colleagues will bring to bear, just as I, my colleagues and our community have benefited from ours.