October 10, 2025 | 17:41
Alexis: Thanks for having me.
Dani: I'm gonna get right into it with you. I know I'm very excited to hear what you have to say. You know, insurance is a for -profit industry. It's a business. Where do you see money being left on the table by insurers you’ve worked with, what you've observed in the industry, and what can we do to address this?
Alexis: Well, you know, the number one space that I've seen where money's being left on the table, there's not enough innovation in the life and health space, like that long-time care, even in that retirement space, too. There's so much opportunity for innovation there, and everyone is just running towards P&C and I get why they're doing it. I mean that's where a lot of the investment dollars have been going traditionally. But I just saw a Gallagher Re report that actually actually pointed in a different direction now people are starting to see more funding come in that life of health space which lets me know that there is still opportunity there and they actually want to change in the life in health space I know that the process is going to be much longer because you have so many things to overcome, HIPA regulations, all the different questionnaires that you have when it comes to life, the long term care and disability. But I think it's really important that we not just innovate in one part of the industry and forget the rest.
Dani: Absolutely. And consumers are not like one and done in a certain area either. Are they? You know, they're kind of going across the gamut in terms of what they're looking for from insurance. And when we think about that innovation, I mean, where do you see more specifically some of the opportunities in that life and health area?
Alexis: Well, you know, I've seen it a lot in life insurance. Number one, I'm starting to see like one or two, see like I hate when I can only name one or two, one or two companies that I know that exist in a particular space where they're adding riders to life insurance. So I've seen one around adding IVF coverage to life insurance. Which, I mean, we really need people to have more life insurance so they can stop doing GoFundMe and crowdfunding and in Alabama where I'm really from, fish fries to raise money when someone passes away. I think if we find more unique ways to make life insurance more attractive by adding things that and resources that people actually need and also making sure that we're still keeping it affordable but showing them that affordability piece there yeah and we can leverage innovation to do I've seen companies embed life insurance at very unique retail processes so now when you get your mortgage you can actually get a life insurance policy in that process the same way. I feel like we just need to do a better job of bringing insurance specifically in that life and health space to people where they are and we just need to find a shorter way to do it then these long life insurance applications like it's the same with a cyber application as it is with a life insurance application is gonna deter people from wanting to actually get the policy if they feel it's being extremely invasive and they have to do a lot of work on their end. We're the ones who are receiving the commission for it. So we should find a way to actually leverage that technology and still leverage the agents and brokers and make their lives easier as well on getting and obtaining that information but also even helping with that customer experience when it comes there, especially even on the claim side. It shouldn't take someone months to get an actual claim paid out to them, whether it's in life insurance or disability, just because our process is still pen and paper. Like an instant fax machine. That drives me completely crazy that we are still faxing things in 2025. Like I need you to make it so easy for me to make a claim. And it also is gonna help with our issue that we're having in the insurance industry With you know our perception and how we're perceived is that we don't want to pay the claims Well when you make it super hard for someone to actually get access to the claim for the policy They've been paying on this gonna give that perception off. So I feel like if we leverage innovation to make that customer experience and that journey so much easier and seamless then we're gonna actually help our own issue when it comes to marketing the insurance industry, so we're not the big bad wolves.
Dani: Yes, yes, so much to dig into here. I'm gonna, first let's turn to the consumer trust aspect because you were talking about, you know, perception as one piece, thinking about the customer experience and meeting customers more where they are, being more holistic perhaps with what the offering is to reflect today, but you know, consumer trust has taken a hit, it has, whether it is true or not in terms of how insurers are operating, there is that echo chamber of perception, the marketing, like you said. I mean, how can we rebuild that trust?
Alexis: Well, number one is going to be making sure that people actually understand what they're getting through and through. There shouldn't be a question where I don't really understand my policy until I file a claim. And that is where the issue where trust comes in because then people feel like you pull the wool over their eyes when you didn't really tell them everything that is not covered in the file list. You talked about the most the things that you felt were important to the client about what they thought what they think should be important but I think is really explaining the little details because they're gonna find it out the hard way which is gonna make us look bad at the end of the day that, hey, you probably-- and this is something that I think about when we deal with a lot of NFL players' wives often, right? So we're always advising them in the insurance cycle, and just in their insurance overall, like what it looks like for their policies. We're like, hey, these are times where you should consider if your insurance will cover things. Should I have a pool party at my mansion this week and invite 150 people that I don't know? Will insurance actually cover that? They never think of things like what if someone decides to sue me or use this as an opportunity to get over? Will insurance actually cover this? We need to turn away from being salespeople and focus on being trusted advisors and really understanding and building those relationships with our clients to really know who they are, and how we can better serve them in more of an advisory capacity and not just throwing policies at them and selling and upselling and cross-selling things like that. Meeting them really where they aren't giving them the advisory that they need in this insurance journey.
Dani: Being the consultant, and what's the strategy for our use of insurance insurance thing makes a lot of sense and it's come up quite a bit in our conversation this week you know one that the marketing aspect of it you know we need to do tell a better story but there is a big educational component where yeah you know we're not educating our consumers enough perhaps on what is possible and what is available to them so I think that's an amazing point absolutely and then let's let's take that the trust lens from a different perspective because you were talking before, you know, about claims, there's still fraud that exists as well. And there's also fine, consumers can trust their insurers, we get that back, but then insurers also do have to trust their consumers and make sure that the information they're getting is in fact accurate. So what could it mean if we're thinking about changing the system? What could it mean if insurers could more confidently trust the information they were getting from their consumers, point of application or you know underwriting renewals you know what would that mean for processes for business for people?
Alexis: so I think number one if we actually are not the people doing it where it seems like we're picking and prying and asking a lot of questions yes because people are now used to technology they won't see the tech as invasive as they would a human yeah so picking and crying and saying, "Well, did you really lose your BMW?" Because I'm gonna see that it's condescending and that you're trying me right now.
Dani: Yeah, of course. And it's a vulnerable time. And in fact, if it's a genuine claim, do you want to be asked that way? Do I want to be asked?
Alexis: Do I wanna be asked Am I actually committing crime right now? It's like you have to think about maybe this is an opportunity where we just we know and we've seen in the history of how our claims team has handled these type of processes that they just don't have the level of empathy that is needed because the human aspect comes in and automatically starts you know doing all the extra stuff that's unnecessary in that customer experience piece. Let's leverage the tech because they're going to answer those questions and I love and I love a good opportunity to plug Clearspeed, because I always like listen, please leverage this type of technology that can identify the fraud for you, so that you don't have to do it. You don't even have to be in the process. You give it the question that you want to ask, and let the AI and the technology actually detect that fraud for you. And I think that's probably going to be the best way and the best approach for us to be able to really get the data that we need so that we can trust what we receive then we'll know if we need to follow up maybe a supervisor who has a better level of empathy should follow up with this person and ask them additional questions so that we can really get down to should an investigation be put into place or is this just an actual claim that we should actually be paying out because the client is being honest?
Dani: Yes, and in those situations, I mean to continue specifically on the Clearspeed example. That is an example of you know Let's clear the genuine claimants. So then you can focus on the ones Maybe a little more questionable need to you know have some questions, but it's also The thing we like to talk about too is when it comes to data and take it like it's a moment in time data point and you know Sometimes so much tech or so many models are built on historical data or demographic patterns or things like that. And that brings a bias in as well, which is also not helping our consumer. And I'd love to hear your thoughts on that and kind of what good risk data could look like if insurers are trying to do better by their customers and also improve their processes.
Alexis: Yeah, I know from an old school insurance perspective, we've always heard about neighborhoods being red lines. This is what comes to my mind when I think about this. When we know that certain zip codes, certain neighborhoods are red lines so they're going to get lower insurance coverage because of where they are located. Like we really have to find a better way to do that. Because you can't base the fact that I'm going to give you an example: My grandparents' home had been there. It's been there. Oh, they built that home before there was anyone else in the neighborhood. So maybe three or four homes. And it's maybe 60 years old. But then maybe 20 years later, they decided to build a project, a home that is Right, typically going to bring high crime now, you can adjust her home insurance based on what The city or the state decided to build in her neighborhood, Like we have to do better because now you have to look at it is no She actually needs more protection now because now this has forced her to live in to basically position her home It's a more of a high -risk area, and it's not it's not something that she could have controlled, right? And it's not the answer is not well now you have to move. That's not the answer.
Dani: And also, I was here first. Yeah, I established my life here. So thank you very much. -
Alexis: Exactly, exactly. So that's what I think about. I'm like, we really have to do a better job of finding different ways to do that. You know, even, especially even on the auto insurance side, like where people are finally coming to get insurance, but we're penalizing them because they haven't owned a car in the last year or two years so they haven't been on insurance well you we can't penalize them for that that's gonna make them want to drive around uninsured right and and you know hope for the best yeah and hope for the best and there are probably ones that are running away at the scene of the accident yes because they're like I know I don't have insurance because the insurance that they were willing to give me was unaffordable because they penalized me, for not actually owning a car in the last two years.That's beyond my control. We really have to ask more questions and really figure out a way to truly dig into that and figure out, okay, you know, how can we do better here?
Dani: Yes. And so I want to ask you, but before I even ask you a wrap up question, I mean, it feels like, you know, being here, having these conversations and you know, companies that you work with. Well, folks are aware of this. It feels that there is an inertia, perhaps like what's the barrier to kind of making these changes. And again, everything is easier said than done. Of course. But you know…
Alexis: The barrier is education. Like, and I'm always going to say that. It's always education. Just like we educate our employees, we need to actually educate our consumer on what it is that we do cover and what it is that we do not cover. We don't need to hide it in a hundred and fifty page declaration and a policy where people you know no one's gonna read that. but I'm the insurance nerd I read through my whole family. Everyone sends me their policies unwarranted and I have to help them through this process. I become that claims advisor when everyone's going through the claim. I don't want to have to tell my aunt in Florida that she should call her insurance commissioner because her insurance company declined her even though they knew she lived right by the beach this entire time when they actually insured her. So it's things like that. We have to educate them. Let them know exactly what we're here to do. Yeah, and that we're actually here for them and that they're not just throwing away their money, you know We're this is a relationship business And I think we really have to keep that at the core in the center even around even in surrounding it with innovation We'll really really make a difference.
Dani: It's a beautiful picture that I can see right now So considering everything we've talked about today for this the senior leaders listening to this What is there something that you would say a key takeaway or something that you think they should really be doing right now or something you would implore to the industry like well straight up?
Alexis: Number one actually you have to educate your employees so that they're not fearful of the technology as well that you're implementing because we don't want them to fear the insure take yeah that's a chapter in my best -selling book is sure as distribution of the future an interactive training guide for agents and brokers. but seriously though I have been asked to come into a keynote by multiple carriers just to talk on how important it is not to fear the technology craze that's coming in this new innovation because it's so important that they learn to work alongside it yeah and up skill you know reskill this talent that they have so that we don't have to worry about the talent gap and we can just leverage technology and then people can actually learn how to work alongside it. So if you're teaching your people how to do that, that is going to be the key to success of any technology implementation or integration within your workflow.
Dani: That's it. Absolutely. And I think there's the part of the big innovation and the excitement, but then it's also bringing your people along. And something else that a couple of folks have said is it's not just up here, it's the end users that show them how this will change their job, make it easier for them, and also provide the resources to do that upskilling instead of kind of leaving everyone to, you know.
Alexis: - Absolutely, absolutely. They don't want to read about it on text on the screen, which I'm going to be talking about in a little bit. Yeah, so make it interactive, make it fun for them to learn about this technology and how it's integrated into their everyday work flow. You know, make it exciting because it is. Like for insurance to go from being so manual to having all this tech integrated so quickly has been amazing to watch. You know, it is. I'm excited. I'm excited about what's to come.
Dani: I love it. And we'll leave it there, Alexis. Thank you so much for being here. Alexis Cierra Vaughn, thank you.
Alexis: Thank you for having me.