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T H U R S D A Y , A U G U S T 9 , 2 0 0 7
Industry News
TRUSTED CHOICE®
2007 Junior Classic Tournament Results
Congratulations to Madeleine Sheils of Boise, Idaho and Tommy Gibson of Pilot, N.C. The pair were the winners of the 2007 Trusted Choice® Big “I” Junior Classic golf tournament, held last week at the Crane Creek Country Club in Boise, Idaho. Sheils took the girls division with a score of 293 (nine over par for the course) and Gibson placed at the top of the boys division with a score of 281 (3 under par for the course).
More than 8,000 boys and girls competed nationally to earn a spot in the finals, a 72-hole, stroke-play tournament. Approximately 2,000 independent agents help organize and administer the state and local qualifying tournaments that determined the final fields of 108 boys and 54 girls. Participation in the Trusted Choice® Big “I” Junior Classic national finals is open to any junior golfer whose 19th birthday does not occur prior to the end of the national tournament and who has not started college. The boys compete for the Robert Trent Jones Trophy, and the girls vie for the Mayerstein Trophy.
For more information and complete tournament results, click here.
‘Designing Spaces’ Features Trusted Choice®
Trusted Choice® has partnered with The Learning Channel program “Designing Spaces” to sponsor a series on important insurance issues for homeowners. The series consists of three separate two-minute segments featuring one-on-one interviews with three Trusted Choice® agents by show host Debi Marie. The interviews will air on three different episodes of this home improvement and design TV program. Big “I” President Alex Soto of InSource, Inc. in Miami was interviewed on flood insurance; agent Jeanne Heisler of The Ronan Agency in Brick, N.J, handled a segment on personal umbrella policies and social host liability issues and Julie Turner of The Turner Agency in Greenville, S.C. was featured in a piece on home remodeling insurance coverage concerns. All three segments were shot in Florida last month at the “Designing Spaces” studios.
The first segment with Turner premiered on TLC and the Women's Entertainment Network a couple of weekends ago. If you missed the segment the first time around, there’s still a chance to watch it. Turner’s segment will be re-played on many local broadcast network affiliates next week. Check out the schedule here. The segments with Soto and Heisler will run later in the September-October timeframe.
In addition, the Trusted Choice® logo will be featured in Home Cooking magazine, on sale Aug. 14, and American Dream Homes magazine, on sale Aug. 28. For additional information, contact Jenner Gohr at 800-221-7197; jenner.gohr@iiaba.net.
Carrier Launches First Trusted Choice® TV Ad
The Main Street America Group has begun airing Trusted Choice® TV advertising to promote its insurance products and services offered exclusively through independent agents. The company is the first carrier to ever run Trusted Choice® TV advertising in a local market.
The ads will air throughout August and September in the Keene, N.H. market. Main Street America was founded in Keene in 1923 and still has its largest office there. The ad will be featured on several prominent cable networks including CNN, Fox News Channel, CNN Headline News and the New England Sports Network (NESN) during Boston Red Sox games.
During the campaign, Main Street America’s Trusted Choice® ads will appear 93 times in New Hampshire. Highlights include the remaining 51 Red Sox games on NESN and 13 prime time programming spots on each of the major news cable networks.
BIG “I” MARKETSSM
Insure Clients’ Weddings with Event Liability
The Event Liability product on Big “I” Markets is perfect for weddings as well as a host of other occasions. Click here for a list of events this coverage includes. This program is designed for agents who need fast, efficient solutions to their special events insurance needs. Annual packages are available for promoters, event planners and facilities that have multiple events. This product features: $1 million per occurrence/$2 million aggregate CGL limits; per event aggregate; facility named as an additional insured; contractual liability afforded; host liquor coverage afforded (not in the business of serving and selling); and third-party property coverage included. (*TRIA Terrorism coverage is included, as stated in the TRIA ACT OF 2002.) For more detailed information or to submit a quote, visit www.bigimarkets.com.
BEST PRACTICES
An Introduction to Best Practices
Had your fill of platitudes and magic bullet solutions to your agency’s problems? Do you wish there was a source of accurate and credible information on what the top agencies are really doing that makes them successful? Would it help you to improve your agency revenues and profits if you could tap into the accumulated wisdom of 180 of the top agencies in the country, at least 30 of which are in your same revenue bracket? What if you had the ability to compare your results with theirs and establish realistic, attainable benchmarks for each operation in your agency? Do you think you just might be able to make enjoy making more money, have more success and generally have a better time in this business?
These sources already exist in the Best Practices program, which includes a multitude of tools to address many agency needs. The Big “I” and Reagan Consulting, Inc. work together to find the most successful agencies, study their procedures and then create tools that other agencies could utilize to learn and implement those procedures in their own operations.
One hundred eighty of the top agencies in the country (divided by seven revenue categories) agree to open their operations and financials to the study. Through extensive questionnaires, interviews, analysis of financials and on-site visits, patterns emerge. Although any agency has unique ways of operating and approaching its chosen marketplace, the research discovers definite “best practices” all successful agencies pursued.
These “best practices” findings are not hearsay, the latest management theory espoused by business writers or consultants or the wish list of a carrier. They are exactly what real agencies, that are recognized leaders, are actually doing to succeed where others are struggling. The fact that the agencies are all chosen for the study and represent the entire spectrum of revenue size, adds further legitimacy to the findings. Many other attempts at such studies are inherently subject to distortion in their findings due to either the limitations or randomness of their agency study group. Some studies are simple compilation of whoever happens to respond to a survey, include only information obtained from a given consulting firm’s clients or are only from those agencies representing a given carrier.
To guarantee the information and statistics are as fresh and accurate as possible, ongoing updates to the information from the original study are compiled annually, with a full new study completed every three years. The next comprehensive study is scheduled for release in September 2007. The study findings form the foundation for all the IIABA Best Practices tools, whether seminar, publication or online resources. For more information about all the Best Practices resources, click here. For more information, contact the Education Department at 800-221-7917; BestPractices@iiaba.net.
EDUCATION
Enroll in the AIAO Training Program and Save
Enroll now in the AIAO training program and save 20% off registration. The class size is limited to 15 students, so sign up now to earn the designation. The curriculum is designed for agency owners, producers and managers seeking tools and strategies to position their agencies as attractive business partners for top national and regional agency carriers as well as continued growth and success. For more information, see the brochure and application or visit www.independentagent.com and click “Diversity.”
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