..:: Insurance News & Views ::..

Join the Best Practices Management Institute for the workshop "Team Building for Winners, Not Whiners" Friday, April 28, at NLC&C. Daniel Abramson, CTS, president and founder of StaffDynamics, will share his unique and effective systems that increase human potential and assist organizations and individuals in redefining performance standards. Come to this interactive and fun teambuilding adventure that will encourage participants to build trust, think strategically, play to each other’s strengths, manage limited resources and learn to handle minor conflicts. Gain a deeper commitment to the concept of teamwork and a specific action plan for supporting team efforts in your office. To register for the NLC&C, click here.

Join Gary Heiligman, CPCU, at the Big "I" Advantage Workshop "Taking Advantage of Big ‘I’ Market Access." Heiligman, Big "I" Advantage associate vice president of marketing, oversees all non-E&O insurance programs for the association and is responsible for the continued development and growth of Big "I" Markets. Learn about the newest markets available through Big "I" Markets, the online market access program available exclusively to Big "I" members with no fees, no volume commitments and competitive commissions. Learn about non-standard homeowners, employment practices liability, real estate agents E&O and more, and the Big "I" Flood Program's new-and-improved commission structure. Each attendee will be entered into a drawing to win an iPod shuffle. To register for the NLC&C, click here.

May is Trusted Choice® Month 2006, and we are going all out with our single-largest promotional campaign so far this year. The promotional activity kicks off with a two-week, $600,000 nationwide ad flight on cable TV. This campaign will run from May 1 to May 14 and feature nearly 225 ads on FoxNews, CNN, ESPN, Fine Living Channel, Food Network, Home & Garden TV (HGTV) and the Travel Channel. Click here to view the May TV ad schedule.

And in case you think we randomly picked a few stations to air the Trusted Choice® ads on, think again. The Trusted Choice® target audience includes college-educated adults 35 to 64 years of age with household income of $75,000 or more. Further research shows that this target audience’s passions are their homes, food, sports, news and travel. These passions have a direct correlation to the TV programming that they watch. With this in mind, we identify television networks and programs that match up Trusted Choice® with our target audience’s passions for the maximum brand exposure.

· Internet ads on high-profile, consumer-oriented Web sites.

· A targeted public relations campaign.

· A targeted print campaign featuring ads in business-to-business publications.

All of this will create further awareness of Trusted Choice® and its participating agencies and company partners as well as build consumer recognition of the logo.

We highly encourage Trusted Choice® participating agencies to conduct local Trusted Choice® advertising campaigns during May to tie into the national ad campaign. Doing so will educate local consumers on an agency’s Trusted Choice® status and position it as the trusted advisor for their insurance needs.

For more information, contact Jeff Myers at 800-221-7917 or jeff.myers@iiaba.net.

The government-sponsored National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) just announced several changes to the program effective May 1, 2006. The changes include the following:

· Overall average rate level increase of 4.1%.

· Premium increase of 2.6% for actuarially rated policies and 6.2% for subsidized policies.

· Submit-For-Rates guideline rates.

· Basic rate for contents in a high-rise condominium building at -1 elevation from 4.38 to 4.30 to be consistent with low-rise rate and is applicable for contents located on the lowest flood above ground level and higher flood in 1975-1981 Post-Firm construction FIRM coastal zones V1-V30 and VE.

These rate changes do not reflect any effects of loss data from the 2005 storms. Congress governs rate changes for NFIP and does not allow an increase of higher than 10% per year. However, if the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization (FIRM) Act of 2006 passes, that cap could be increased to as much as 15% per year. Click on 'program changes' or 'rate corrections' to review all the revisions in their entirety.

If you use Selective Direct, the online flood processing system, there is no need to worry about how the rating and underwriting changes will affect your quoting capacity as the changes are programmed into the system. For more information about the Big "I" Flood Program, visit www.independentagent.com/Flood.

John M. Prible is the new Big "I" assistant vice president for federal government affairs, and the Big "I" promoted Brendan T. Reilly, formerly director of federal government affairs, to AVP as well.

Prible, previously the director of government affairs for the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), joined the Big "I" this week.

Prible has valuable and extensive government and political experience. He worked for Rep. Darlene Hooley (D-Ore.) and Rep. Jim Davis (D-Fla.), and holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Florida. As the senior legislative assistant to Rep. Hooley, Prible helped draft several key pieces of legislation, including the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act and the Driver’s License Security Study Amendment to the Transportation Appropriations Bill, both of which President Bush signed into law.

"We are very pleased, and very fortunate, to have a strong, dynamic and bipartisan federal government affairs team with an extensive working knowledge of the legislative process and Capitol Hill," says Charles E. Symington Jr., Big "I" senior vice president for government affairs and federal relations. "We expect great things from John, and we welcome him to our team."

"One of the strengths of the Big ‘I’ has been a government affairs team that knows how to make the case for independent agents and brokers where it counts," says Big "I" CEO Robert A. Rusbuldt. "With John joining our team, we are very well-positioned to advance the agenda of independent insurance agents and brokers among members of Congress in both parties. We believe we have one of the most effective government affairs teams on Capitol Hill."

Prible replaces Patrick O’Brien, director of federal government affairs, who has left to take a position with B&D Sagamore, a subsidiary of the Baker & Daniels law firm. O’Brien leaves after nearly three years of exemplary service with the Big "I" government affairs team.

Reilly, whose promotion is effective immediately, joined the Big "I" Jan. 1, 2005. He was a leading staffer on the House Financial Services Committee, where he worked extensively with Chairman Mike Oxley (R-Ohio) and Vice Chair Sue Kelly (R-N.Y.).

The Big "I" and W.R. Berkley Corp. own InsurBanc, a full-service bank created for agents and, ultimately, their clients. Since InsurBanc was created for agents, it understands and is the expert in agency valuation, agency perpetuation needs, agency loans and more.

Now, InsurBanc mortgage customers have greater Internet access to loan information. InsurBanc's new mortgage process will include advanced online loan tracking tools, customized rate quotes, online applications and loan progress tracking. State association staff members are also free to use InsurBanc for their personal banking needs. For more information about mortgages and other financial services visit the InsurBanc Web site.

Have you climbed onboard the Best Practices bandwagon yet? The movement to implement Best Practices continues to grow rapidly; more and more independent agents and brokers are spreading the word about their success after incorporating one or more of the Best Practices into their business. Best Practices agencies are already doing it, and you can find out how. Discover how to grow your business and improve your agency operations through IIABA's Best Practices series of tools and resources. Become one of the best!

Best Practices means doing the right things the first time. Explore ways of doing business that eliminate duplication, reduce frustration, increase efficiency and add value to your customers. Learn what agents and companies can do together to improve the value of the independent agency system. Where do you begin this journey? Just pick one of the Best Practices tools and jump right in. The program offers resources that tackle important agency management issues such as: recruiting, hiring and retaining top producers; evaluating customer service; joint agency/company planning; leadership skills; producer contracts; crisis management; sales and the core of the program, the annual Best Practices study. For more information, visit the Best Practices Web site.

Want fast, smart and useful insurance and agency solutions? Go to the source for direct, easy to find answers: The Big "I" Virtual University Research Library. The library is divided into into three subject areas: insurance, business and technology. The insurance section contains selected sample forms, coverage analyses that cite expert interpretations and court cases, as well as articles and practical information to help you learn more about challenging coverage issues. The business section contains articles and business tool, including information about the highly-acclaimed Best Practices program, as well as critical professional skills to help your agency grow and proper. The technology section houses expert information on hardware, software, agency management programs, as well as the Internet and technological gadgets and services that can make your more productive online.

You and everyone on your staff can do their research at the library without ever leaving their desks! Access is free to Big "I" members. Each agency employee is required to have their own unique login information (ID and Password). Click here to find your ID and password. For more information about how the Big "I" Virtual University can help make your job easier, contact Madelyn Flannagan at 800-221-7917; madelyn.flannagan@iiaba.net.