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Industry News
InVEST
InVEST Liaisons, Register Your InVEST School
It is time to register your InVEST school for the 2007-2008 academic year. Why register your InVEST program? Active InVEST schools who register with the national InVEST office receive valuable benefits and free resources. InVEST students are eligible for the national InVEST scholarship contest and have access to the Big “I” Career Center.
Benefits InVEST schools receive include: Access to the AMS SETWrite rating software demo, Applied’s Doris Agency Management software and the electronic versions of the InVEST Personal Auto/Homeowners and BOP textbooks.
To register, fill out the registration form on the InVEST Web site. Fax the completed form to Sandra Skipper at 703-683-7556 or e-mail to sandra.skipper@iiaba.net.
BEST PRACTICES
Customer Service Made Simple
Today, most agencies focus on increasing sales and enhancing agency value, and as a result offering great customer service may get overlooked. Many industry studies have shown that customer service is the third-most-important factor influencing a purchasing decision, ranking after confidence and quality. But sales won’t matter if the customer is quickly lost through poor customer service. The damage increases further when lost customers tell others about their poor experience.
So, what defines great customer service? It starts with making sure everyone throughout your organization understands your customer’s needs and is able to address them while exceeding expectations. Everyone needs to be prepared for the first time a customer or prospect initiates contact. Also, offering great customer service isn’t limited to just your “customer service team.” Every single person in the organization needs to believe in offering great customer service. Just as a quick example, a call to add a car to a policy may be misrouted and get to someone on your finance team. How will they handle it? Think about it this way --- everyone in an office needs to be prepared to interact when a customer contacts them. That can happen in any office, on the phone or outside of work --- in a restaurant for example.
Make delivering excellent service in your agency a priority today and make it simple. The Best Practice Program offers “Customer Service Made Simple,” an easy-to-use guide to make superior customer service an ongoing opportunity for growth in an agency, and provide a great assessments of the opportunities available to ensure that your agency successfully implement a consistent culture of service.
Order a copy of this simple workbook for all the service personnel in your office and see how providing great service can add to your bottom line in many ways. Order five or more copies before Oct. 1 and save 50% off the single copy price. Click here to download your discounted order form. Visit the Best Practices area of the Big “I” Web site at www.independentagent.com today. For more information about making your agency a part of the Best Practice program, contact Madelyn Flannagan at madelyn.flannagan@iiaba.net.
BIG “I” MARKETSSM
Event Sales Success Story
Melinda Bourn of the Melbourn Insurance Agency, Inc. in Twisp, Wash., has been using Big “I” Markets recently to access the event liability program. The most recent event she placed coverage for was a concert and dance workshop in the local park.
“The Gales Creek program works well because I get quick response from the underwriter and coverage is issued right away,” Bourn says.
Bourn always checks Big “I” Markets first to see if it can cover the event before looking elsewhere because of the competitive rates she gets through BIM. Now that she has seven event policies under her belt.
“I think Big “I” Markets is a good program and I want to use it more. It’s simple and easy to follow,” she says.
To learn more about Big “I” Markets, the online market access program available exclusively to Big “I” members with no fees and no volume commitments, log onto www.bigimarket.com.
BIG “I” MARKETSSM
The Affluent Policy Difference
Big “I” members have access to Affluent Homeowners through Big “I” Markets. Many clients may benefit from being placed in an affluent policy versus a standard policy. Here are just a few areas where the affluent markets of either Chubb and/or Fireman’s Fund have substantial coverage advantages over a typical HO-3 or HO-5:
Replacement Cost cash-out option
Usually this is not covered in a standard homeowner policy but it is with the BIM affluent program.
Water back-up of sewers and drains
On standard forms this coverage is sometimes available but usually via endorsement and for additional premium. The affluent program coverage is automatic.
Loss of use
If an insured needs to stay in a hotel after a loss, the BIM markets offer unlimited loss of use where as most standard policies have either time or value limitations.
Breakage
How about coverage if a valuable vase falls off the table and breaks? An insured is out of luck if they only have an HO3 or 5.
Get to know our Affluent Homeowner offerings by logging into www.bigimarkets.com.
VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY
Got Questions? Get the VU.
Does your agency have all those expensive “how-to” insurance manuals that were out of date the second they were printed? How about agency management CDs --- are you using one as a coaster on your desk? Do you like the idea of having more than 50 agency management, coverage and technology experts at your fingertips? Does your staff scramble to find answers to difficult coverage or claims questions? Are you looking for a better way to educate and train your staff?
If you said “yes” to any of those questions, then you should explore the advantages of a convenient and cost-effective option for satisfying your agency’s educational, professional development, research and informational needs, Big “I” Virtual University.
This one-stop, online education and informational resource center, created by the Independent Big “I,” is free to all Big “I” members.
The VU offers significant benefits to all agency employees --- from the principal to the receptionist --- and it does so via any Web-accessible computer. Staff members don’t even have to leave the office to earn CE credits or take professional development courses. They can sit at their desks and log onto VU to access comprehensive informational sections on sales, sales management, marketing and customer service in the university’s library. Plus there are nearly 100 CE-approved courses, the Accredited Customer Service Representative designation program, as well as a complete online curriculum of sales, customer service and agency management courses that they can study from their desks or homes --- 24 hours a day, year-round.
The centerpiece of Virtual University is the popular “Ask the Expert” service, which features 52 of the insurance industry’s top minds answering questions submitted by agents and brokers. These experts respond to questions about insurance, business or technology-related issues with topics ranging from agency management to sales to customer service to claims to the Internet. Questions typically are answered within 48 hours, depending on difficulty and activity volume. Using this service could save your agency countless hours and help avoid E&O hazards.
Your staff also can subscribe to The VUpoint, a biweekly e-newsletter. Each issue provides timely and insightful articles on personal lines, commercial lines, agency management, sales and marketing, customer service, technology and Internet issues that will keep your agency professionals current on industry trends and developments.
So, what are you waiting for? Use your national association login to access the Virtual University. (If you do not have this login information, click here.)
EDUCATION
Superior Customer Service: Satisfying Today’s Consumer
How satisfied are you with the customer service your agency provides? Are your customers really satisfied? Understanding, meeting and exceeding basic customer expectations is critical in order for independent agencies to prosper in today’s marketplace.
The Big “I” is offering a two-day session on the importance of superior customer service, and how agency owners and managers can be sure to achieve levels that both attract and retain clients. It is scheduled for Feb 13 – 14, 2008.
Why so much advance notice? Because it is part of the Associate in Insurance Agency Operations (AIAO) program that is also offering other program sessions this year, including: Strategic Planning (Sept. 18 – 20) and Sales Training (Dec. 4 – 6). Members can start the AIAO program with any of the three segments. Completion of all three segments earns the AIAO designation.
The sessions will be held in Alexandria, Va. The tuition is $1,600 for the entire, eight-day AIAO series and payment can be on installments. The class size is limited to 15 students and is open to all agents and staff of the Big “I” so don’t delay. Click here to download registration information or contact Gwen Garvin for more information at 703-706-5441; gwen.garvin@iiaba.net.
YOUNG AGENTS
Leadership Institute Speaker will “Wow” Attendees
Be challenged. Be enlightened. Be motivated. Where? At the 2007 Young Agents Leadership Institute, which will be held Sept 28-30 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. Jumpstart your morning on Sept. 29 during the Young Agents Breakfast with keynote speaker Chip Eichelberger. During this exciting event, attendees will be energized and inspired to get the most out of their time during the Leadership Institute. Eichelberger will encourage attendees to take action in their personal and professional life, while sparking their enthusiasm for a day of breakout sessions in the communications, membership development and political involvement areas.
Don’t let this opportunity pass by, visit www.independentagent.com and click “Young Agents” for updates on the event and for online registration. For more information, contact Katie Cosgrove at 800-221-7917; katie.cosgrove@iiaba.net.
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