The Dog Days of Summer

By Suzanne Carawan

The phrase “dog days of summer” originated with the Greeks and was then taken up by the Romans to illustrate the rising of the star Sirius in the heavens, but it has taken on various meanings over the years. We typically think of a time when it’s so hot that dogs will lie still only to rise to get water. We also associate this time of year with summer reading and perhaps, summer school — an opportunity to catch up on your learning or get ahead of the competition while the world slows down for a few months.

With COVID-19, the dog days of summer took on a very literal and very real meaning. After the initial shock of the shutdown, many advisors began to come back into the office to work or set up a new workspace at home. With our “only us in the office” or new “work-fromhome” (officially abbreviated to WFH and universally understood thanks to COVID-19) situation, our work and home lives became intensely integrated. With our new forced workstyle, the kids, the spouse or partner, the Amazon Prime or food delivery person, and yes — the dogs — became part of our and our colleagues or clients’ everyday work experience.

While “bringing your dog to work” is not a new concept, the actual practice was largely relegated to hipster tech and creative companies — certainly not a norm in the traditional, buttoned-up financial services industry. However, COVID-19 changed all of that, and financial advisors found themselves in a new normal of informality that had everyone laughing about the length of their hair and what was the right attire to convey professionalism on a client Zoom call while kids and dogs are running through the room behind you. We all can agree that COVID-19 forced financial services to speed up their adoption of modern technology — from Zoom to e-signatures to accelerated underwriting utilizing artificial intelligence. But can we agree that one of the long-term effects of COVID-19 is that it perhaps further humanized the relationship between advisor and client?

And ironically, while Zoom allowed advisors to do more meetings and get more people coverage at a critical time in our history, the unspoken heroes in how we conduct business are quite possibly our dogs. As more advisors brought their dogs to work or were working from home with their dogs, or decided to adopt a dog, dogs became part of not just the conversation, but a critical element in client care.

According to the American Pet Products Association, 63.4 million households own a dog. When you think about how easy it is to get dog owners to talk about their dogs, you start to understand that dogs are a whole different angle to use to build trust so that you can ask hard questions.

Drew Shumski (loyal member since 1988) began bringing his Wheaten Terrier named Seamus into the office and started to notice the difference in the quality of his meetings when his dog was present. “First, I realized that Seamus is a great indicator of whether a prospective client will buy life insurance or not. Dog owners naturally reach out to pet Seamus, which already tells me that they care about others and value investing in those that they love. Seamus allowed me a natural way to set prospects at ease and talk about planning for life’s unexpected events.”

Another positive externality of having his dog in the office came with caring for clients. Shumski’s practice works with both special needs children and seniors who are facing complex emotional and financial family situations. “What I noticed is that my clients would start petting Seamus while they talked about their fears and challenges. Seamus became much more than a greeter; he became a critical part of the meeting in providing clients a tangible touch therapy to tackle the tough topics.” In fact, Seamus was folded into the organizational chart taking on the title of VP of Greetings & Emotional Support along with becoming a NAIFA member in 2020.

Petting a dog is known to decrease the level of stress hormones, regulate breathing and lower blood pressure. Research shows that petting releases oxytocin, the “bonding” hormone associated with making long-lasting connections. Is it any wonder that dog adoption rose 30% in 2020, according to the Insurance Research Council? And with the average lifespan of a dog ranging from 10-13 years, dogs are not just an emotional investment, they are also a financial investment too.

Undoubtedly, COVID-19 brought the questions of health, mortality and legacy planning to the forefront of all of our minds. Many advisors found themselves writing more business in 2020 than ever before, but what’s also interesting is that the type of insurance — and who is insured — is also expanding. Fur babies are increasingly becoming part of the family equation with the same needs — healthcare, estate planning, and legacy planning products and services popping up in the market. If you are concerned with who inherits the family piano, imagine how you feel about what will happen to your beloved dog.

The pet care industry is booming. Up 6.1% from 2020 to 2021 to now stand at $232 billion, it’s expected to grow to $350 billion by 2027. According to the National Pet Health Insurance Association and cited in the Insurance Information Institute’s pet insurance debrief, the pet health insurance sector has posted gross written premiums of $1.99 billion in 2020, up 20.75% from $1.56 billion in 2019. By the end of 2020, it was estimated that 3.1 million pets were insured, with dogs representing 83% of in-force gross written premiums. comprehensive and as the lines between health and life insurance become increasingly blurry, the definition of family and dependents seems likely to also expand to be more inclusive of our furry friends. We believe we can safely say that the new normal is having dogs in our workplace and how we incorporate dogs into our work will continue to expand. Dogs may not be able to pick the next hot stock, but they certainly can be useful in prospecting and expanding our book of business through the incorporation of new product lines.