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Elevating Standards in Private Risk: A Chat with PRMA’s Diane Delaney
Elevating Standards in Private Risk: A Chat with PRMA’s Diane Delaney
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About this episode
Diane Delaney, CEO of the Private Risk Management Association (PRMA), shares insights on the evolving landscape of high net worth insurance. The discussion covers the importance of collaboration in the industry, emerging risks like cyber threats, and the significance of passion assets, such as collector cars, as entry points for deeper client conversations. Diane emphasizes the need for agents to be proactive rather than reactive, using education and community resources to better serve affluent clients. The episode also highlights PRMA's upcoming summit and the association's commitment to enhancing professional standards.
Topics:
high net worth insurance
collaboration
emerging risks
cyber threats
passion assets
collector cars
proactive strategies
education resources
PRMA summit
professional standards
The world of high-net-worth risk management is shifting fast – from cyber threats to passion assets like collector cars. How do you stay ahead? Diane Delaney, CEO and Executive Director of the Private Risk Management Association, shares what’s really changing in this space.
Diane takes us from her early days at AIG to leading PRMA, sharing insights on affluent clients, new research on the “confidence versus concern” gap, and why collaboration has never mattered more.
Whether you work with wealthy clients daily or are just stepping into this market, you’ll walk away with practical ways to sharpen your expertise, leverage AI for sales coaching and use client passions to spark deeper conversations.
Here’s what we’ll cover in this episode:
(06:23) Journey to insurance training
(08:33) Joining the Private Client Group at AIG
(12:51) Industry conference on disasters and solutions
(15:37) PRMA's collaborative community
(21:32) Adapting sales for high net worth
(25:39) Insurance gaps and generational concerns
(29:11) Proactive cyber support needed
(30:50) Insurance advisor's role beyond transactions
(35:46) PRMA membership growth and value expansion
(37:45) Insurance association's AI investment plans
(42:50) Global issues impacting personal lives
(43:52) Proactive cyber and risk management
(49:00) Private risk management access details
(52:45) Passion assets (like collector cars) open wealth doors
(53:23) AI-driven proactive prevention strategies
Links mentioned in this episode:
Diane Delaney on LinkedIn
Private Risk Management Association
2025 PRMA Summit - New Orleans
Risk Ready Podcast
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Welcome to The Accelerator, a podcast for insurance agents and brokers who know there's more to
life than bundling home and auto.
Yeah, we're talking collector cars, better sales strategies, and ideas to grow your business
without boring you to death.
This isn't just another industry podcast.
It's the one you're actually going to want to listen to.
Welcome to The Accelerator, a podcast by Hagerty where we spotlight the people, ideas, and partnerships
moving the insurance and risk management industry forward.
This is the place for professionals who want to stay ahead of the curve, from emerging trends
and evolving client expectations to the tools and strategies that help agencies, advisors,
and carriers grow.
I'm your host, John Gessner.
And I'm your other host, Brian Colley.
And today, I am so excited to bring one of my favorite people on our podcast, Diane Delaney,
the executive director and CEO of the Private Risk Management Association.
PRMA has become a driving force in the high net worth, private risk management space,
creating standards and building a huge professional community.
Diane's going to share insights with us today on where the industry's headed,
how PRMA is shaping that growth, and why collaboration across this ecosystem matters
more now than ever.
We're in for a treat, like I said, one of my favorite people I get to work with.
Yeah, you're right, Brian.
In this episode, Diane is going to pull back the curtain on where high net worth personal
risk is headed, how PRMA is elevating professional standards through education and community,
and why collaboration beats competition when you're solving complex client problems.
We get to talk about PRMA's newest research on affluent clients, like the confidence
versus concern gap on coverage and exclusions.
Why cyber and social inflation are top of mind for these affluent clients, and how to use
passion assets.
Hello, collector cars, as the perfect on-ramp to the bigger risk conversations and the
mindset shifts that separate order takers from trusted advisors.
That's right.
And this episode would not be complete without the hot button topic of AI.
We're going to talk about how agents and brokers can scale their sales skills
with AI sales coaching.
So there's a lot to learn and plenty that you can put to work this quarter.
Let's dive in.
Let's do it.
Diane Delaney is the CEO and Executive Director of the Privacy Management Association.
Now over 6,000 risk management professionals strong.
We're definitely dedicated to serving the high net worth families and individuals.
Under her leadership, PRMA also delivers world-class education, thought leadership,
industry standards, essential events, and bringing together insurance carriers,
agents, brokers, providers, and anyone else in the high net worth space.
A recognized thought leader in the high net worth insurance sector,
Diane has been featured in over 60 articles, podcasts, and interviews.
Now it's 61 with this podcast, including the insurance journal,
MarketWatch, Forbes, CBS MoneyWatch, The Claims Journal,
Rough Notes, and so many more.
Before joining PRMA, she spent nearly two decades at AIG Private Client,
where she played a pivotal role in developing and launching
the Private Client Group University,
the industry's leading high net worth sales training program.
Her innovative approach to education sales development
has helped countless independent agencies and insurance professionals enhance their skills.
Beyond those many accomplishments,
Diane is a proud mom to her two daughters, Capri and Sienna.
And when she's not serving as their unofficial Uber driver,
she enjoys working out mostly to justify her love for baking cupcakes.
In spoiler alert, she might like doing yoga now too.
Thanks for joining us, Diane.
And I did type Diane this year to her first yoga class, and she loved it.
You did. That was my first and currently my last,
but doesn't mean that there won't be any more in my future.
You know, Brian does that to me too.
He's always trying to drag me to some 5 a.m. yoga class.
And I'd say on maybe like 30% attendance record.
Yeah, he did. And he took me to like an advanced yoga class,
which I have to say, I think my skills were better than yours, Brian.
I did not get corrected once.
No, I mean, she's sitting over there like never taken yoga class before.
And I'm the one that's getting corrected by the yoga teacher.
And she's like a natural.
She's just like doing the poses. No big deal.
So what can you say?
So Diane, as Brian just rattled off your list of accomplishments
and your current position with PRMA as the CEO and executive director.
That's a very exciting and really sounds like a big role to take on.
I've been in insurance really only for about six years
since joining Hagerty.
And in that time, and I've had the privilege of meeting a lot of our partners,
everyone's got a really good how'd you get into insurance story.
And so I'm just curious, you know, if you could take us back in time
just a little bit and share with us, like, you know,
how'd you get into the insurance and risk management space?
And, you know, what's that journey looked like for you?
Sure. And agree.
That's not like many of us, you know, we graduate school
or move on from wherever prior education was and says,
I'm going to go into insurance.
So same with me. I graduated college and was fortunate enough.
My brother was an underwriter at AIG at the time,
and I asked him to submit my resume.
I did want to go into a field of training.
I just knew I didn't want to be like an elementary school teacher.
I was better with adults.
And two weeks after graduating college,
I was working in the financial district at AIG headquarters.
But in their general department, which serviced like leadership training
and presentation skills training.
So that's where I started and I was this training admin
where I would help the trainers get set up for their classes.
And I used to sit in the back of the room
and I would listen to the different training courses that they offered.
And I would say, like, that's what I want to be when I grow up.
I want to teach this class.
And I was fortunate.
I think it was like all of 21 years old.
The woman who led our presentation skills training course
had a skiing accident.
She was fine, but needed knee surgery.
And my boss at the time was like,
you can have this course and teach it if you want.
So I was learning alongside the participants
on what presentation skills was and how to teach it.
But I had a lot of mentors in that department
that really helped shape my presentation skills.
So I was able to teach it.
But really fortunate in your young 20s
to be able to travel the country,
I would go to as many offices as I could
and I would work with staff members on how to train.
And lo and behold, I came across this department
known as Private Client Group,
which at that time I only knew them
as what I would consider the sexy side of insurance.
It was the first real introduction to insurance.
And this department ensured very wealthy individuals.
And I used to work with their executive team
on how to get ready for some of their larger conferences
and how to kind of present fluently at them.
Fast forward, they asked me to join their team
and build out a producer school,
which at that time, in my understanding of producers,
I really just thought it was people making movies.
I had no idea they were gonna ask me
to train people who sell and service insurance,
which at quite frankly at 25,
I had no business trying to do either.
But it was trial by fire
and I just have had this fortunate career path
where again, I would travel the country and to Canada
and have the ability to work with brokers
all over the globe on getting an understanding
where their challenges exist
in selling and servicing clients.
And I've really over the course of 20 years
gotten to see that evolve
based on how the industry is really evolving as well.
So I would say my career in insurance
was just a bunch of happy accidents.
I love that.
It's really neat to hear stories like this.
And I've got to say we've heard a couple,
I wouldn't say similar,
but that shares certain themes to yours,
which is kind of like opening yourself up to opportunities,
putting yourself out there,
and then trying them,
being taken that risk to say yes and trying that.
Yeah, it's scary.
I'm not a person that enjoys change,
but it's really just that fear of failing,
but I have learned along the way
is that there's so many learning lessons
that come from that.
So really glad I took those leads.
Speaking of scary and stories,
you have to tell one of my favorite stories you have
around the trainer was like Uncle,
I'm afraid it was like Uncle someone.
Oh, Uncle Bob.
Uncle Bob, yes.
That's the best story.
If we back up into,
I kind of gave the Cliff Note version
into me joining the private client group team,
but I really had no interview
in joining private client group.
It was basically,
we want this producer school being built
in the back of my mind.
Like I said,
I thought I was gonna be working with like movie stars
on how to present on set.
And my first day with them
was March 17th and I flew out to Chicago.
And in my mind, I was thinking to myself,
this is great.
They died of river green.
Maybe they're filming something by the water,
but instead I reported to an office there
where, you know, the marshes, the aeons,
the willises were in the room
and we go around the room
and I'm learning that producers
are people who sell insurance.
And my boss at the time
saw the sheer look of panic on my face.
What did I get myself into?
I have no idea.
How am I gonna train these people?
I've never sold a thing in my life,
but she told me like,
don't worry, you're gonna have some help.
You're not gonna be on your own.
You are gonna have Uncle Bob.
I was like, who is Uncle Bob?
Well, Uncle Bob is truly the uncle
of one of our product managers
who was on the team.
And I said, okay, well, Uncle Bob worked for us.
Like they said, well, no.
I said, does he understand insurance?
Not at all.
He retired from AT&T
as a national sales vice president.
He built the national sales school
that's probably still in existence
to train their sales reps today.
They said he's phenomenal at sales,
but no, it's nothing about insurance.
So between the both of you, you'll figure this out.
And I did.
I mean, Uncle, what we learned along the way is,
yeah, Uncle Bob knew nothing about insurance.
He actually knew nothing about
how to legally present in corporate settings
at this time.
But him and I, we made a fantastic team.
He taught me a lot about presenting,
about sales, about selling on value.
But we also learned
as he was a high net worth client
who didn't know what he didn't know.
And using his background of sales,
we built a phenomenal school together.
But I still call him and I call him Uncle Bob.
He was at my wedding.
He's great.
Love that story.
Just dive right in.
Yeah, here you go.
For those that are listening
that don't know much about PRMA,
we have a really big summit coming up
in a couple of months.
And I say we, because I get to work with Diane
almost weekly, I'm heavily involved in PRMA.
Could you just talk about our summit coming up
and then how people can get involved?
And I think we're technically sold out
for the summit this year.
Is that right?
So it's depending at the time,
maybe when this airs, we will be sold out.
But as of today, we have 20 seats left at the summit.
So we're just shy of 800 people registered for the event,
which is, as of today, our largest event on record.
And this event is really focused
on education and networking.
And those are two components.
We're really focused on making sure
we're bringing to the membership.
And we say it's about two and a half days.
We're really all together.
It's probably two full days.
So this year we're starting
on the evening of October 19th
and we'll wrap up mid-afternoon on Tuesday, October 21st.
And this year we are in New Orleans.
We've historically have been, we say Chicago,
but it was like the airport hotel.
But we do try and move to different central locations.
So this is our first time going to New Orleans.
And there's a lot that goes into making this event
as successful as it is.
We start almost a year out,
well, even years out and finding the location.
So this location was booked years ago,
but we get to this point in planning 2025.
And what we do is we bring together
a summit planning committee,
which is made up of volunteers
that have raised their hand in the industry
from all parts of the country.
They're usually sitting on the broker side,
service provider and carrier.
And a good 2025 of us would meet every other week.
And we start to take a look at previous year surveys
from participants saying what they want more of.
We look at surveys that PRMA has done
to see what education are people looking for.
And we really have, I guess you would call it a debate
on the initial summit planning committee calls months out
where we say, we only have so much education to cover
and a ton of subject matter experts
that are not even in the industry,
but maybe outside of it.
What are these core topics?
Then we try to not make it the same every single year
where we're discussing the same topics.
And it kind of helps us narrow down what the education is.
And through these discussions, we see a theme unfolds.
And this year's theme is really around
where insight meets opportunity
with the thought process
that so much has been happening so quickly in our industry
and we're learning a lot.
Like even if we look at the California wildfires this year,
and this is the chance to bring together experts
to share with one another.
It doesn't mean we leave this conference
with all the answers,
but it's just a way to learn from experts
that are studying our industry in a different way.
So this year, we'll have a couple of different topics
around what happened with the California wildfires
to battling the elements when we look at things
with roofing and hail claims
and other catastrophic events
that are hitting the industry.
We'll talk about clients who are traveling abroad
or maybe their children are studying abroad.
What are things that we have to prepare them for
based on what's happening?
What are some other solutions
outside the emitted products that exist?
Because we're finding obviously
not just the non-emitted space,
but what is parametrics, what is captives?
And then paired to all of this,
what we're trying to weave in
is a lot of the opportunity to network.
And that's the biggest feedback we get on this event
is you have several hundred from the industry
that are coming.
I want the chance to talk to them
and meet the service providers.
So every year you'll see us kind of just switch up
how we're doing the networking,
but there'll be a lot of different networking opportunities
within our exhibitor halls or just events
in the evening that will be taking place.
Sazarak House, let's call it my name.
Yeah, it is calling it.
And I will say the Sazarak House is sold out.
So our after-party did sell out at this point.
We can only allow 600 into that party.
So I'm sure there'll be no shortages
of things for people to do
that don't get into the Sazarak House.
Sounds amazing.
And I love the focus on networking and connectivity.
I feel like that's a huge opportunity
for these types of conferences.
And I'd love to maybe get back onto that,
but first, just as someone who doesn't work with you
as closely or work with PRMA as closely as, say, Brian does,
like, can we just take a minute to take a step back?
Like, you know, we heard what PRMA is,
but like, who does it serve?
Like, why does it exist?
You know, what's kind of like the main function
of the organization?
Absolutely.
That's a great question, John, to let's take a step back.
PRMA is a nonprofit association
that was built as a location for anyone
who is servicing successful individuals and families,
had a place to go to collaborate, network,
and essentially uplift the category
so that we are all doing our jobs better
and efficiently to protect these individuals and families.
So, and that really encompasses a couple of things.
And you've heard me mention it for the summit,
but it carries over to the organization as a whole.
One is the education.
So it's offering a variety of different education
in a variety of different formats
for the industry to learn.
And the other part of that is the networking and collaboration.
So one of my favorite tools that we offer at PRMA
is what's called our All Member Forum or Thrive Community,
which on any given day, a broker or a carrier,
somebody can go and you could post a question
under your own name or anonymously,
but let's say you're struggling to find placement
for just a unique situation for one of your insurance,
you obviously leave all the sensitive information out,
but then our community can see that question out there
and you help one another.
And I think that's the most incredible thing about PRMA
and what I've been impressed with over the years
running this organization
is every day I am in committee meetings or calls
where while, yes, we are competitors,
there's plenty of business to go around
and we need each other to advance ourselves
in this industry.
So it's incredible to see
not the competitiveness goes out the window,
but it's in check when you come to these meetings
and you start to see individuals work together
for the advancement of each of us on an individual basis.
And I think that's what makes it so unique.
I do feel and what I've learned
is that associations tend to thrive during times of stress
and we can probably all agree
that our industry has gone through a lot of stress
over the last several years.
So I think having this association for all of us
has been a sense of hope
as opposed to a place where people go to to complain.
And I think that's a big difference
and it's been nice at the vibe
even at the summit you'll see.
And I remember my first summit that I ran in 2022,
I was so nervous that that year was a really tough year
and I was so concerned if we put all of us together
in a room, was it just gonna be this whole session
where everyone's complaining?
But in fact, like the vibe in that room was incredible.
So that's what's also nice is like,
we can take that time when we're all together
and complain about lack of markets
or what's happening or what's not happening.
But the general feel is no,
we have to come out of this better together.
And I think that's what makes the association
so unique and so special.
Thank you for taking a minute to educate us on that.
I can definitely start to draw a line from your education,
your passion for education
and that background and experience you have
to kind of where that led you today
with that education and advocacy.
And yeah, it's just so important.
Then you just get so much more out of those experiences
when the focus is on positivity and on hope
and connectivity and learning from one another
versus somewhere where people just go and complain.
The energy is so much stronger and greater.
You get a lot more out of that experience
as just someone as a participant.
Exactly.
So with the event coming up,
you mentioned several times about networking
and about education.
So I'm just wondering,
and with one of the PRMA goals
being to help advisors better
serve their high net worth clients,
like from your perspective
and from the perspective of the organization,
what skills or mindsets are really most critical
for professionals working in this space today
and will those be areas of focus for the upcoming event?
We can answer that question in a number of different ways,
but I think the people who are gonna be most successful
in our industry are those that are eager to learn
regardless of how long they have been in this industry.
And I've spoken to plenty of people
that have been in this industry for over 30 years
and I've said I have never seen anything like this.
So even for themselves,
they have to learn enough to be open and willing to do that.
And I think, and we just said it before,
is that positivity,
I think anyone going into
any of sort of these conferences or events,
and I'll always say this when I'm teaching,
Uncle Bob taught me this,
I'll usually lead a class
and I challenge the industry to think about this
when you go to a conference like this,
that none of it is the acronym FM.
The second word being magic,
the first word is not nice to say,
but none of it's FM, right?
Where you can't expect to go to any of these things
and say to yourself, like,
oh, there's gonna be a secret phrase
or they're gonna say something and that's it.
Everything's gonna become easy
and I'm gonna have the markets to go to,
that's not gonna happen.
So you have to be open with,
there won't always be a solution,
but we are trying to learn from one another.
And if you can go with that mindset,
it reduces that negativity of,
you can't expect it to be perfect
and you're gonna get everything that you wanted
and your whole life will be easy.
We don't wake up and go to easy every day,
we wake up and go to work.
And this is one part of,
that I think is really important for us to realize
is it won't be FM,
but I promise you we'll walk out of there
with a connection or knowing who to go to
when you're running into a challenge.
Dan, I like talking to brokers
that do high net worth in their office,
but it's not something to do every day.
And on this podcast, we have such a variety,
we have people that do high net worth every day,
but brokers that do it occasionally.
And I think PRMA gives them a lot of resources, both groups.
My question for you is,
there's definitely a gap between normal personal lines
and complex needs of affluent families.
How is PRMA helping close the gap
for maybe that traditional personal lines agency
that does affluent families,
but it's not every day that they see it?
Yeah, and Brian, that's a really good question
because like you said,
even a lot of the brokers we've trained over the years,
maybe the majority of the individuals they're working with
are not in the high net worth space.
So it's hard to make that transition.
And there's a couple of things PRMA
has within its educational platform
and things we're excited to bring forward
in the future to help close that gap.
But one is since joining,
we brought over our sales program at PRMA,
which we will be growing over the next couple of years.
But it's in some cases,
when we're working with clients,
it's a lot more transactional,
and it does become around the cost and the time.
But when we're playing in the high net worth space,
there is that ability to customize the solution
and the conversations that we have
will start to become less transactional.
But you don't just wake up and know how to do that
when you have spent most of your career
working with the mass market space,
which don't get me wrong,
even if they're in a mass market space,
you should be learning about the individual's lifestyle
and what's important for them to protect,
but there's a lot more market
so it does become more of a cost play.
In the high net worth space,
the lifestyles are complicated
and each risk is unique
and each insured could afford to take on
a different level of risk.
So we have to know that.
We can't just go into the conversation
with every single individual the same way.
And that's one of the skillsets we have at PRMA
is in our sales program,
it's how are we changing the way we have conversations
with our prospects or clients
to uncover what's most important for them to protect
and what's keeping them up at night.
All the way to our CPA designation courses,
which is more of this self-learning course,
which talks about all the different aspects
within an affluent individual's life that can impact them.
And even soon we'll be ready for a refresh
of our CPRIA course
because when the course was written,
cyber looked a lot different than it does today.
But point being is that there's courses and content there
for you to say, I didn't grow up in wealth
so I don't know all of the challenges
that exist in these individuals' life,
but I could take these self-paced courses
that teaches me very high-level what we're looking at.
I love that.
I think that you hit on a couple of things I want to unpack.
I completed my CPRA last year for the left and right.
You should definitely do it.
Even though I thought I was done
and I was devastated, I messaged and I'm like, I'm done.
And she's like, I think you need to do one more.
You need a whole year later to graduate.
Yeah, exactly.
But I think from my seat, Ray,
we do collector cars every day.
It really helped me to see the broader industry
what brokers and carriers are working on and crossed.
But I think you kind of touched on it
and the trend we're seeing coming out
is PRMA recently did a high-netware survey.
I think it's going to be released very soon
so listeners, you're getting cutting-edge information here,
but Diane, you want to talk about some of the surprising
insights that came out of that research that we've done?
Really excited about this survey
and I do think that this is one of the things
for the listeners.
When you think about what value could PRMA bring to me,
we want to be able to do some of the research.
You can't just do in your regular job.
So one of the goals we put forward this year
and we've successfully completed it
is to survey affluent individuals and families
about things that concern them, what they're seeing,
what they think about in the future
and what they want to protect.
And we worked with them,
we researched several survey platform companies
that can give us access to these clients.
They obviously double-checked their kind of background.
They had to have own a home.
They had to have a net worth of $5 million and above.
So we wanted to get the information as accurate as we could.
And we also requested that at least 30% of the respondents
were from catastrophe-prone states,
which we could probably arguably agree
that whatever state you're living in is cat-prone
but we gave them Florida, Texas, California
and we got the survey back
and we spliced these results back
in so many different ways.
And there was a number of things that stood out,
but one I would say is really the contradiction
or the disparity between confidence versus concern
with these individuals,
meaning 95% of the respondents,
when they were asked if they feel
their insurance coverage is enough,
they said yes, right?
So 95% confident, but yet further down
when we re-asked the question in a different way,
65% of those people then said
they're concerned about exclusions
when it comes time to submitting a claim.
That's a huge difference.
So we're saying yes, almost everyone said
I am confident in my insurance coverage
and then more than half said,
but I also don't know about exclusions.
And I think what that is telling us as an industry,
which probably isn't that much of a surprise,
but I think most people affluent or not
view insurance as insurance.
I pay a premium and I hope I never have to use it
so I have coverage because I have home insurance in place
but they're watching the news
and the news is not gonna report
the good insurance claims stories,
they're gonna report the negative.
And I think what's going through people's minds is
these catastrophes are happening
and I'm hearing these stories
where coverage wasn't exactly there,
like you have home insurance,
it doesn't mean you have flood coverage.
So I think that's a kind of an eye-opening thing
for the industry of why are they saying
they're so confident,
but now they're not actually fully aware
of what their policy covers.
So that was really eye-opening.
Another was we picked apart
how the different generations responded to questions.
And when we looked at the liability concerns,
the millennials were significantly more concerned
about lawsuits and being sued for their net worth.
So that was the high eighties
where you looked back to the baby boomers
that the concern was barely there.
Like I'm not gonna get sued,
it's not gonna happen to me.
And I think that's interesting in our conversations
that we're having with clients
when we're looking at protecting someone's liability insurance,
with the boomers we're looking at protecting their legacy
versus the millennials,
we grew up in social media
and seeing how lawsuits were coming about.
And lastly, and Brian,
you and I recently spoke about this,
but of those respondents,
70% of them had private collections.
Majority of them planned to pass it down to the children.
And when we look at that,
I mean, knowing the podcasts were on,
about 40% of them had classic cars,
which was a high number,
thinking about the pool of individuals that we insured.
And if they're saying,
I wanna pass these down to the children,
well, do the children want them?
And do they have comprehensive coverage in place
to protect them to do so?
So there was a number of different areas
that we've kind of found interesting
that we could spend hours just picking a part.
I think the parts that I think were surprising to me
was the millennials.
But you're right, we grew up all,
I think everyone on this call is similar age
in the 40s range,
but we all grew up wanting to be a lawyer.
I think at one point everyone wanted to be a lawyer
in the 90s, right?
It's interesting when we look at the responses,
you know, you have the boomers that are saying like,
well, people are gonna get sued,
it's just not gonna be May.
And the millennials are saying,
people are gonna get sued, it's probably gonna be May.
So it's like a big difference,
but the millennials were obviously more open
to cyber coverage, talking about over 60% that were saying,
yes, I'd be willing to purchase cyber coverage
where we compare that to the boomers
that were saying only 13% felt like,
no, maybe I could have a product, maybe not.
But in fact, for any of us with our grandparents
still around, how many times have you heard of them
picking up a phone call and giving out information
they should have given out?
Oh yeah, we were just talking about that
at breakfast yesterday, I was with my mother-in-law
and my brother-in-law and his family.
And my mother-in-law will even come with like a list
of the types of emails that she received recently
to ask if we thought they were valid emails or not.
Getting an email from such and such place
about such and such thing.
And it wants me to, you know, send them my,
you know, whatever information.
It's like, no, just delete that one, just delete it.
But it's tough.
I'll just say phishing attempts,
the cyber attacks are getting more and more sophisticated
and they're probably likely only to continue
to get more sophisticated.
And so every day, and so that's just a big watch out
in general, I guess for that type of activity
and you know, what can we do
to help protect our clients?
You mentioned a number of kind of key concerns
coming out of the survey around
what types of exclusions they have on their policy
to being worried about potential lawsuits
and things like that.
So how can we translate those concerns?
How can we use these insights and these opportunities
to go and take good care of our customers
and drive more business?
And I think that's a two-fold answer there, John,
of one part of that is, and that's why
the association exists, is you can't be expected
to know everything, right?
Because we just said, cyber is changing so much
every single day.
So it's impossible for you to wake up each day
and then know how to have the conversation
with your client, like, here's new cyber measures
you're gonna put in place.
But I think when we look at our roles
and when we look at the responses of this survey,
these individuals are seeking support.
Like they're saying, I wanna do more
to protect my lifestyle.
I wanna do more to protect myself from a cyber standpoint,
but I just don't know what.
And historically, our roles and insurance
has been to provide a coverage.
But the coverage doesn't always give people
the tools or tips to prevent, like, we're very reactive.
So our roles have to evolve to be more proactive.
Like we wanna eliminate the chance
of that claim ever happening.
And that's why that education is key.
So I think one part of it is,
you're expanding your network in this space
to know who do you call or how are you learning
about what to teach your clients or prospects
about their risk management program.
But then the second part of that is never rushing the process.
Like I'll have plenty of producers that have said to me,
well, my clients just don't have time.
They're very busy.
But to me, it's such an oxymoron to what we do.
Like a wealth advisor is never gonna tell a client,
like, I know you're super busy,
but I'd really like to spend a few minutes of your time
to talk about where we're investing
the $50 million that you have.
I think it just, that doesn't make sense.
Like you're not gonna do that in a few minutes.
That's gonna be over the course of several polls.
And we have to realize in this industry,
we sit at that same table.
We are an extension.
Where a wealth advisor can grow a client's portfolio
all day long, but who's gonna protect it
from the liability lawsuit?
Who's gonna protect one of their largest assets
burning down in a fire?
That's our role.
And you can't do that in a few minutes.
So it's being able to also take a step back
and find out the client's tolerance for risk
and having conversations with them,
getting them on the phone or meeting them
and learning about what's most important
for them to protect or maintain,
what are they concerned about?
And learning how to carry on those conversations
so you become this insurance advisor in their life.
Granted, I know in some states in the New England area,
you can't call yourself an advisor,
but in your mindset, you have to realize that
as opposed to an insurance agent,
because we're so much more than that.
And I think in order for us to be successful
with where this industry is going
and the world is going,
we have to be that in our clients' lives.
You have to get yourself up to speed
on how to educate yourself to do that better.
There's a story that comes to mind
as you were talking that I wanna share.
And we're working with a partner that was not insuring,
they were insuring higher end cars
and they decided not to,
they're getting all these non-renewals
for vehicles over 200,000.
And the lesson for the agencies
and the brokers on this project
was I think in the high 40s,
I was like 48, almost 50% of those clients
had other cars that they did not know
that they insured with other places,
like they insured with some online company.
And those policies calling on the one car,
the one Porsche 911 for like 200,000
turned into six cars or five cars
with a Lamborghini or a Ferrari
or maybe three other Porsches.
It turned into all these high opportunities.
They were insuring them,
but they just didn't know they existed
because they were not having
the right conversations, right?
Exactly right.
Diane, I've got a question.
It's a little bit selfish,
but again, referencing the name of the podcast
and kind of what we generally talk
and think a lot about here.
I'm just curious from all of your experience
in the high net worth space and your position now,
how would you recommend agents and brokers in this space
think about passion assets,
specifically thinking collector cars
as like an entry point
to start a bigger dialogue with clients
or as a prospecting tool,
is that an avenue that folks can take
as a great entry point?
I'd just be really curious to hear your perspective
on these passion assets
and then again, leading towards collector car
as a potential entry point to develop a relationship
and have those bigger risk management conversations.
It's fantastic.
It's something we absolutely should be doing.
Why?
If we think about myself, right?
We live, eat and breathe insurance,
but if my insurance advisor calls me to do my renewal,
I'm not psyched about it.
Like, oh, yay, we're discussing insurance,
but most people,
these avid individuals that have passions or collections,
they're willing to talk about that.
And a lot of the times that's are in,
and I grew up in this industry
with homeowners being the lead line.
So you go after the home first,
but that might not be the thing
they're most concerned about protecting, preserving
or talking about.
And I do agree,
and I've had a lot of producers say to me,
my clients don't want to talk
because they're in a rush, right?
It goes to the conversation I just said before.
I agree with that.
And it's not FM,
but if you give them the opportunity
to talk about something they're passionate about,
then that you're in.
And it doesn't mean you have to be an expert
in collector cars.
What you have to do is have several sets of questions
at your fingertips that are open-ended
that allows that individual to just talk.
And you go into that conversation,
not thinking about ensuring that car yet
or ensuring that fine arts
or thinking about a solution you have,
but learning from them.
Why cars?
How did they get into it?
What's their future plans for it?
What excites them most about it?
Being able to just have those quick, easy discussions
allows them to build that trust.
This is a relationship business above all else.
And it's such an easy way when we go in on the passions
to be able to build relationships with others.
You said it so well.
I couldn't agree more.
People collect these cars
because they want to talk about them, share them.
They're really actually a pain in the butt
to take care of from a parts finding.
You're scared driving it
because you're always worried about someone hitting it.
If something does happen to it,
finding a person to work on it.
These aren't because people find these things easy to own.
It's because they want to own them and talk about them.
Shifting gears a little bit.
We've talked about the summit.
We've talked about PRMA currently.
What is offered for members?
Let's look forward.
I know we have some vision
of what the PRMA is gonna be in the next couple of years.
Do you wanna share kind of what you're,
and you kind of already touched on some of these things,
but you wanna share on what you're looking forward to
and what PRMA is gonna be talking about
the next couple of years?
Yeah, so just looking back in 2022
when I stepped into this role in the association
and you too, Bryant, we were 3,000 members.
So we've doubled in the last three years,
which is fantastic and it's showing us there's a need.
But for us, what we're also saying is
we have to grow with the membership
and we have to continually provide value
to our membership as well.
And there's a couple of things that we're looking at
in bringing the association over the couple of years
to help get us into a position
where we're like this well-oiled machine
where I'd love PRMA to be a compliment
to each of the brokerages and companies
and service providers training that they already offer.
Meaning, if at Hagry or another carrier or company,
you onboard an employee
and they have maybe come from an insurance background,
but not high net worth.
And maybe you do your own training in-house
but you wanna send them to PRMA
and have these different avenues or tracks that they can take.
And maybe it's how to expand their expertise
in risk management.
Maybe it's how to expand their expertise
in additional products or tools that are available.
Maybe it's the sales expertise.
So PRMA will grow into an association
where we'll have kind of a different,
I'm calling it towers for now,
but towers of training that will allow a company
to easily say or a broker to say
I need more in contracts, let me go there to learn.
So that's one aspect of it.
You'll always see our events
or in-person events expanding,
so our chapters are exploding.
We talked about the summit before
and the summit is our national event,
but that gets closed out.
Like we started this call saying, is it sold out yet?
But what we have are these smaller regional events.
So in the state of Texas,
now, Grant, Texas is a big state,
so probably a bad example,
but if we look at Houston, May decide,
we have chapter leaders,
let's run an in-person event
just for those in the state of Texas,
and they have a chance to get together and learn.
So we're gonna be investing a lot more into our chapters
to be able to expand those regional level events
beyond our national event,
but also AI and tech is coming into play.
And it's kind of a leading at the insurance space.
We could say we are archaic
when it comes to AI and tech,
but we're designed to be a risk management business.
So we're not gonna adopt AI and tech
at the same speed as other companies,
but from the association standpoint,
what we are aware of is there are things
we could probably put in place for the association
that it's harder, it takes longer for the company to do.
Meaning, one of the things we're exploring here at PRMA
is these AI sales coaches.
So that when we teach you a sales skill,
what we don't have time to do
is to train all 6,000 on how to do a teach back.
When I say teach back,
it's allowing you to change behavior.
If you listen to a course that I teach
on asking open-ended questions,
that's only one part of your skillset.
You have to be able to try it
because when you go back to work
after listening to the webinar,
it is much easier to do things
the way you were doing it before.
But there are a lot of AI tools that are coming in place
that will allow us to build a coach for you
based on the skills that was learned.
But again, not everyone will take advantage of that,
but those are things of we wanna move as quickly as
we need to so the industry could be more proactive
than reactive in their learning.
Thanks for sharing that.
It sounds like a great vision for PRMA
and almost like you're creating that producer school
but bigger and more comprehensive,
but that anyone that works in the space
could take advantage of.
It's not gonna be just for one company.
So I think that sounds like a fantastic vision
with a lot of exciting future ahead.
A quick story and just to say
for those on the fence about trying the AI sales tool,
I would just say, give it a shot.
So Brian's been testing a tool, also an AI sales tool,
and we were driving to a meeting
with one of our partners a couple of weeks ago
and Brian wanted to give it a try.
And so he put a couple on and I was sitting shotgun
just working and listening to him
and I just couldn't help myself.
I wanted to try and so he was in the middle,
I think of his third AI call
and the AI responded in a certain way
and I couldn't help myself, I just had to jump in.
And then the two of us end up spending over 30 minutes
on this AI call.
And I think they said what Brian,
the average calls like five to eight minutes or something.
Yeah, we had the record right now with this company,
33 minutes with John and I.
We would not give up, we would not give up.
But why?
What I think is just so great about this tool
is that in a lot of situations in real life,
in my experience working in sales
and doing a lot of public speaking and presentations
is when you're in those face-to-face meetings,
a lot of times you may get an objection, right,
that you need to kind of address.
And a lot of times if you come in with a stock,
kind of one of your stock answers
or something at surface level,
the person on the other side of the table
is gonna kind of nod their head and agree, right?
They don't, most people are not gonna really dig in
and get into it with you,
but you're not necessarily hitting the mark
in the way that you really need to advance your goal.
The person is kind of abusing you.
And so what's great about the AI tool
was that it didn't do that.
We found that we were really digging deep,
trying to reframe things, asking more clarifying questions,
trying to get deeper and really honing in
on what was this kind of AI persona stuck on
and how could we overcome those objections
to really get the resolution that we wanted?
And so it was really powerful because it was not easy
and it really pushed you to think and try a little bit harder
and reach a little bit deeper in your skill set.
That's awesome.
Yeah, and those are, I think,
are such exciting tools that exist today
that allow us to become better at our jobs.
Because like you said,
one of my biggest pet peeves in sales training courses
is like partner up and work on the skills we just learned.
And like you said, you turn to your partner
and they're not trained to listen to what you're saying.
They're gonna appease you and agree with you.
So you trying the skills just, it wasn't challenging.
And I think this challenges us
and it's better to me to practice on the AI
than it is the millionaire.
Exactly, yeah.
You gotta take a lot of swings and batting practice
before you're ready to step up to the plate
in the World Series, so to speak.
And so yeah, just found a lot of value in that tool.
Again, thinking towards the future,
we talked a lot about how you and the organization
are positioning PRMA for future success
and what that looks like.
I'm curious if we could talk a little bit more
because we did touch on them,
but some of these emerging risks
and how you see some of those emerging risks
kind of in the high net worth space
alongside PRMA's growth and the future there
and the support you're gonna be developing.
But if we could talk a little bit about
what's top of your mind
or what is coming through in the survey results
around climate, we talked about cyber a little bit,
shifts we're seeing socially that are happening.
We talked about a transfer of wealth that is expected.
So if we could talk a little bit about
some of those emerging risks and opportunities as well.
Yeah, so you just basically hit them all, John,
but when we looked even at the survey,
although not surprising, we could agree to this
of what's happening macro in our world
is trickling down to impact each of us on a personal level.
And there were very strong responses around macro economics
really impacting people from their concerns
and it varied from like what's happening
with regulation and the political environment
to climate change.
You know, a lot of things that are out of our control.
And then looking at it on the other end,
the highest concern was around cyber
and what that was gonna do to their financial net worth.
And I think this is an opportunity for us
to knock us over the fact
that there are some real things happening in the world
that people are so overwhelmed and concerned with.
And while we may not have the solution
particularly for like regulation or what might be having,
what we do in our everyday does allow us to grow
upon the macro concern and look at it
on an individual level, right?
So if we say people are concerned
about political environment and regulation
and we start to see cyber pick up,
well there we have a solution for that.
I think what we've done a good job on in the industry
and I think it'll have to trickle over more into cyber
is if you think about conversations we had
from a risk management standpoint years ago,
they were good, right?
But not everyone had a leak detection system in their home
and now a majority of that just becomes
an everyday conversation.
And there's started to be more conversations
because we've had no choice with our clients
on how to protect their home
from these catastrophic weather events
so we prevent that claim.
That has to now trickle over into other areas
like cyber and liability
because a lot of that is becoming out of our control
as well.
And what we have to do as an industry
is think beyond the coverages, right?
How are we becoming more proactive?
So coverage is only one piece and protect their clients.
The other part is preparing them
before that event ever happens
and what are things that we can do today?
So you will see and as cyber keeps coming up
and probably always keep coming up
but social inflation is a real thing in liability
and what we're seeing happen there.
That's gonna be something we have to pay closer attention
to in our industry of I think getting access
to the liability limits to protect people today
are getting harder.
So what does that mean in terms of protecting
their lifestyle and their net worth
so that we are differentiating ourselves
in the high network space versus the mass market?
And then it's also, it's paying attention
to obviously collections is a big piece of it
but the way families or individuals are collecting today
may look different in years to come
especially with the younger generation
and what they're into.
So it's always staying on top of how that's evolving
as well and how our process is changing
when we are ensuring those that are in the boomer's error
down to the Gen Z's.
All right, we're gonna switch to the rapid fire.
Diane, best piece of career advice you've ever received.
I share this on another podcast
but it's just the thing that hit me when you send this.
Uncle Bob taught me this, stop chewing gum
when I'm in a meeting or teaching a class.
And I never thought about that
but it's so unprofessional.
We are operating in an environment
and I've had brokers admit this to me
that they would go into a client meeting
chewing gum, not even thinking about the professionalism
and how that looks.
And I think there's so much that was beyond
like just us knowing our jobs
but it's how we're portraying ourselves professionally.
That's a solid one.
Yeah, that's great.
And even just to take that as you did at the end
how we present ourselves professionally
can extend beyond whether it's gum or a mint
or looking at your phone
just thinking about being conscious
of how you present yourself.
That's great advice.
What about something like if someone, you know
came up to you if you had 30 seconds with someone
they're like I'm really trying to grow up my expertise
or my success or my kind of knowledge in this space.
What is like a book or a podcast you'd recommend
for professionals in this space
to kind of get them on the right track
or to kind of put them in the right trajectory?
Bryant, you gave me this one
which was at Atomic Habits.
And I think that that's a really good,
we can like spend a whole other podcast on them
but on this.
But I think we are creatures of habit
in our own right.
And as we get older it gets harder
but we can't always be that
throughout every aspect of our life or career
because we won't be as successful.
So I think that is, it's separate from again
and I said this before in the last question
it's not just about what we know in the industry
it's not about our like that actual knowledge
but it's how we're portraying ourselves
and kind of taking steps outside
of just the coverages and understanding that.
I mean besides the Accelerator podcast
you should also listen to Diane's podcast
that her and Spencer have at PRMA.
Yeah, I should call her out, I was trying not to
but yeah we do have a PRMA risk-ready podcast.
We have another recording that'll come out
probably be out by the time this one comes out
that we just interviewed an individual
who's a roofing expert on fortified roofs.
But that's just an example of it's like
we know we have to know more about roofs
but what there's apparently an expert in that.
So we have a podcast coming out with on him soon.
And then Diane I'm gonna guess on this one
but if you weren't insurance
you would be in a bakery or a little food, right?
Yeah, so Brian's used to getting my videos during holidays
or even non-holidays of the dessert table.
Our family typically decides on the desserts
that will be served at a holiday
before we do the actual meal
but that's because it's in our blood.
So my real name is Diane Buonpane
and Buonpane means good bread.
I come from a family of bakers in Italy
but apparently we made some really good bread
but I just found that natural mac is in my blood.
So I'm big into baking but this would be my rule.
If I was a baker I would not be open on holidays or weekends.
So I don't know how successful I'd be.
Wonderful.
Well Diane before we end our time together today
can you maybe just remind our listeners
of a couple of things.
The upcoming PRMA summit,
when and where is that happening
and where can folks get more info
and then where could interested folks
just learn more about the PRMA in general?
So the main website for you to go to
is privateriskmanagement.org
and that website brings you to our main page.
Now if you're not a member you're kind of locked out
from several sections of that page
but you will see where our upcoming event is happening
in New Orleans, October 19th to the 21st.
You'll also see our upcoming podcast
that we just launched or recorded.
That's free regardless of being a member
because we're just kind of out there
on the podcast platforms.
But then you'll see some of the educational courses
or webinars that we're doing or live events
in different parts of the country.
Those are typically only open to non-member
so you can read more about become a member page.
There's also an about us section
and it says meet the team
and you'll see my contact information in there
along with my staff as well.
You can reach out to any of us at any time.
I'm really big and before someone becomes a member
I love just hopping on the phone with them
and talking about like why do they wanna join?
For me to be able to explain
this is where I think you'll find the most value
in these sections of PRMA.
So highly encourage that.
Just don't call me October 19th to the 21st
because I'll be a little busy.
Or on any weekends or holidays.
Right, right.
Because I'm not running the bakery then either.
All right.
Yeah, highly encourage anyone that's on the fence
to join.
It's been incredible for me the last few years
being involved with PRMA.
And I think it'll be incredible for you as well.
Absolutely.
Thank you so much Dan for coming on
and for all your time sharing your stories
and expertise.
Thanks for having me.
This was fun.
What a conversation.
Diane's career arc from training rooms
to building producer schools to now leading PRMA
it maps right onto what our industry needs now.
Better skills, better community
and a better way to translate macro risk
into client level action.
Totally agree, John.
Let's lay on this plane.
Diane's story and PRMA's momentum
really boiled down to a few things.
Agents and brokers can act on right now.
Couple thoughts, mindset over magic tricks.
So what we heard is that industry vets
are even relearning.
There's no shortcut.
Progress is process.
Slow down to speed up your discovery.
Before we talk price or limits,
what matters most to protect
over the next three to five years?
Talk like that.
Don't just go to price.
We're not selling a commodity.
We're actually selling our service and our expertise.
Number two, I talked to my team
about this all the time.
Use PRMA to compress your learning curve.
The education tracks they offer,
the designations I got my CPRA last year
and all the member forum conversations,
the local chapters, the annual summit.
It's the fastest way to level up,
especially if you're not doing high net worth
every single day, every single client.
So pick one PRMA course.
Take a CPRA, go onto one of the chapters
either virtually or in person
and place anonymized challenge in our forums.
And the last thought is,
aim at the real risks clients feel.
So what we heard from the PRMA survey
is confidence versus exclusions.
So the clients think they're covered,
but worry about fine print at claim time.
Liability, millennials like myself and John
are far more lawsuit aware than baby boomers.
So umbrella policy conversations
need to shift by generation.
Cyber, the interest is extremely high.
Attacks are literally daily.
So pair the coverage conversations
with those simple controls, collections.
Many plan to pass their assets,
including cars to their kids.
So coverage, storage, titling,
and valuation to be part of the plan.
Integrity is uniquely, uniquely suited in this space
with our broad arrow auction company to help.
That's right, Brian.
And a couple more things that we learned from Diane.
It really was an insight rich conversation
is that it is possible and even great strategy
to lead with passion assets to open the door.
At Haggerty, we like to say that the garage
is the largest entry point into the home.
And that sentiment really resonated with Diane.
And she sees that being a great strategy for brokers
and agents looking to break into the high network space.
Collector cars and other love it assets,
they're just the easiest way into a deeper risk dialogue.
People want to talk about them.
Some simple prompts you could consider
working into your dialogue with clients and prospects.
What pulled you into this car or this collection?
Five years from now, do you see yourself driving more,
restoring or passing these down?
And from there, you can bridge from cars
to home resiliency, umbrella, cyber travel kids,
all sorts of things.
Next one, be proactive, not just reactive.
Probably advice we've all heard before.
Prevention belongs next to policy.
So beyond helping them with the right policy,
how can you help them prevent some of these claim events
from occurring in the first place,
whether it's at home, water leak detection,
halo roof resilience, fortified standards,
going back to cyber, multi-factor authentication,
password management, device hygiene, family fishing,
things like that to make your customers aware of.
And lastly, practice the reps.
And with AI, you can get sharper faster.
What we heard from Diane is that AI sales coaches,
and Brian and I have a lot of experience with this also,
testing them here at Hagerty,
they really force better questioning
and object handling than friendly role-place.
It will really challenge you to think outside the box
and find creative ways to explore conversations
and get over objections with your customers and prospects.
So as an action, consider taking some AI sessions
this week or learn more about the available tools
to see if there's one that fits for you
or your broader team.
So big thanks for Diane for coming on the show.
Make sure to check out the show notes
for all the relevant info and links.
If you found this podcast helpful,
please rate and subscribe it, share it with a teammate,
and until next time, never stop driving.
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