Bridging the Gap

Fraser Lyle, president-elect of the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC), admits that buying a brokerage is an odd way to foray into a career in insurance.

Lyle, a Vancouverite and president of Lyle Insurance Services, graduated with a business degree from Simon Fraser University in 1981. He moved around the country a bit, always working in sales, before returning to British Columbia’s lower mainland. “I have to stay in sight of the ocean,” he jokes. “I have lived in a lot of different provinces over my lifetime, the prairies and Ontario, but the smell of the sea kept drawing me back.”

Sometime in the early 1990s, a family member who worked in the insurance industry suggested that a career in insurance might be what Lyle needed. After considering the suggestion for a year or two, he decided that his background in sales, combined with his desire to work with people, would be a good fit for a career in brokering. So, he enrolled in classes to obtain his CAIB designation. Together with his wife, Nancy Lyle, he bought a small brokerage in Abbotsford, B.C. in 1994.

“There was a steep learning curve for me, because the business of running a brokerage was foreign to me,” he said. “You take your book learning and apply it to the real world and eventually they do match. I sort of did things backwards than most people would do. Most people start as a junior person and then work their way through it. I jumped in with both feet.”

The immersion was a success. Eventually Fraser and Nancy expanded the business to open a second office in Surrey, B.C. They have plans for a new location, also in Abbotsford, in Fall 2010.

Lyle admits his love of learning drew him into the business initially, and kept him in it. “You never get old at this job,” he says. “It’s always changing. You’re always challenging yourself.”

But for Lyle, the real gratification of being a broker comes from serving as a translator or interpreter, bridging the gap between the technical, jargon-filled language of insurance and a consumer’s everyday life.

“What I think is really neat is to take a technical item and be able to relate it to people on a one-on-one basis so that it makes sense to them,” he says. “It’s not something written in policy wordings. It’s something that people can say: ‘Ah! That’s how it works.’

“Watching people walk out of the office with the ‘A-ha!’ moment, that interface makes brokers, in my view, a valuable resource to consumers. Because without that, they would have no idea of what they’re buying.”

Lyle likens these days of Internet connection and direct supplier contact to performing a medical self-diagnosis on the Web. “You can diagnose yourself via the Internet and then look for a prescription online. But without really knowing which questions to ask, or without all of the background knowledge and expertise, you could be opening yourself up to some really big problems.”

Online transactions certainly serve a purpose, he adds. Brokers should not shun digital media completely as a means of communication. But such media should augment, not supplant, other existing means to offer the insurance product to consumers.

“We have to, as brokers, still be able to offer the consumer choices of when and how they want to be contacted and whether that should be through a simple phone call, a reminder notice in the mail, an email or even Twitter or Facebook,” he says. “We have to as brokers embrace technology, and how we communicate with consumers can be a hybrid of direct contact and contact through electronic means. It can be a spectrum.”

THE YEAR AHEAD

Prior to joining the ranks of IBAC three years ago, Lyle served as president of the Insurance Brokers Association of British Columbia. Shifting from a regional focus to a national focus has been a bit of a challenge, he admits. “It took me a while to get there, but the diversity of IBAC’s members is a really great thing.”

Already the association is ramping up for the 2012 review of the Bank Act, he says. In October 2009, federal finance minister Jim Flaherty announced he would amend legislation to make it illegal for a bank to retail or market its insurance products on its banking Web site. In other words, it would extend the rules of a physical branch to the Internet.

Brokers are still patiently waiting for the official wording of the amendment, but Lyle remains confident the forthcoming changes will reinforce the original intent of the legislation. “For me, [Flaherty’s announcement] doesn’t represent a huge shift in how the government is viewing things,” he says. “It’s more of a focus on reinforcing what the original intent of the legislation was. We’re still waiting for Mr. Flaherty to put those amendments forward, but we’re confident that he understands the issues. It’s just unfortunate that there’s been some freedom taken with the intent.”

As IBAC awaits the final word on the amendments, it will push forward with other initiatives, he continues. For example, the association is working out the final details with Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario for a masters program in insurance. The program is scheduled for launch in September 2011.

IBAC is also buffing up its educational offerings for its existing membership. The benefit of providing more continuing education opportunities is two-fold, Lyle says. First, it will satisfy the existing broker force’s need for ongoing professional development. Second, it might help to draw more people down the career path.

For potential recruits asking ‘what’s in it for me?’ IBAC will provide tools to help them advance and develop their careers as they see fit. “It’s a buffet of education and how you want to load up your plate is up to you,” he says.

IBAC will also continue its outreach to the consumer, he adds. In 2011, a new television commercial will be developed and aired that “further reinforces our connection with the consumer and what it means to them as value-added,” he says.

Lyle remains enthusiastic and energized about the upcoming year. “It’s full-speed ahead. Just watch us.”

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I sort of did things backwards than most people would do. Most people start as a junior person and then work their way through it. I jumped in with both feet.