T H U R S D A Y ,   N O V E M B E R   9 ,   2 0 0 6

Industry News

TRUSTED CHOICE^®

Trusted Choice^® Launches Second Ad Blitz in Year-Long Campaign

Trusted Choice® television advertising returns this week with ads touting the benefits of using the more than 6,600 participating agencies nationwide. The ad flight on Fox News is the second installment in the series of this year-long advertising campaign. Trusted Choice^® is now running ads for two weeks each month on different cable stations, including CNN, the Travel Channel and the Weather Channel.

“The programs, times and channels for these ads have been carefully selected to reach the Trusted Choice^® target market,” says Trusted Choice^® Executive Director Dave Evans. “We know that the target market will be glued to the TV for the next two weeks, watching election results and post-election analysis, and we want to be sure they are also exposed to Trusted Choice^®.”

“The new strategic direction of Trusted Choice^® advertising is working,” says Big “I” CEO Robert Rusbuldt. “This is our second series in the year-long campaign, and we are already seeing results. We’ve seen a measured increase in consumers going to www.TrustedChoice.com since the ads began running."

This campaign maximizes consumer’s exposure to Trusted Choice^®. The increased frequency of national Trusted Choice^® ads, combined with more agencies than ever before running tie-in ads in conjunction with the national campaign, leads to more consistent exposure for consumers. The campaign reinforces to consumers that using a Trusted Choice^® agency is the preferred way to buy insurance.

Trusted Choice^® is promoted through a combination of national, state-level and local-agency advertising, promotional and marketing activities; insurance company branding; public relations campaigns and Internet communications.

For more information, contact Dave Evans at dave.evans@iiaba.net or visit www.TrustedChoice.com.


VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY

What’s In Your Toolbox?

In today’s competitive marketplace, it is more important than ever to have a variety of skill sets in your toolbox and the Big “I” Virtual University has tools to fit your individual needs. Through an exclusive arrangement with SkillSoft, a provider of e-learning, instant access training is available anywhere and anytime.

Skillsoft’s e-learning courses provide a wide range of flexible learning opportunities to improve sales, marketing, leadership or enhance desktop skills. All agents need desktop computer skills as a basic building block of success. SkillSoft’s desktop courseware collection provides a broad array of courses to meet every agent’s needs. Microsoft Office courses teach the features and navigation of the most popular and recent suite of the applications. Microsoft Word courses range from teaching the basics of getting started to advanced skills of using tables, charts and graphs. Microsoft Excel courses provide an introduction to the core concepts, such as creating a spreadsheet, to more advance skills, such as creating formulas and charts. Microsoft PowerPoint courses will explain how to create slide presentations and visual elements.

The Big “I” Virtual University has more than 40 desktop computer skills courses that can help any business be successful. Agents can add to their toolbox today by logging onto www.independentagent.com and clicking on the virtual university.

For more information, contact Madelyn Flannagan at madelyn.flannagan@iiaba.net.


BEST PRACTICES
Best Practices and Leadership: A Combination for Success

In September 2006, IIABA released the “2006 Best Practices Study Executive Update.”  For more than 12 years, the annual study has served as a tool to help agency owners and managers understand how their business operations perform and measure up to the top performing firms across the country. It is a must-have for those agencies that want to become the best they can be.

So, how are the BP agencies able to hold their ground and remain the best in an industry under intense scrutiny? The reasons can be attributed to a number of things, but ultimately it comes down to good leadership.

Each leader believes his or her most important job is to provide a clear picture or vision of what and where the agency needs to be in the future and to keep everyone focused on that vision. They all admit that this is not always an easy task but feel that a key practice that allows them to continually lead is to make time to focus regularly on the strategic rather than the here and now. Each is disciplined in spending the time to seek and digest information that helps them get a clear understanding of what their agency does well, how to build on those strengths and why they need to change or continue to do something in order to move toward their vision.

In reality, these owner/principals must lead as well as manage, and finding time to focus on the strategic is hard. In smaller agencies where the leader wears many hats, that time might be found at night, during the weekends or a few minutes added to the day’s priority list. The point is they make the time.

Good leaders of both large and small agencies have learned that giving up some control through effective delegation, off-loading a portion of their book of business to other producers or even sharing ownership can keep them from being overwhelmed with the administrative aspects of achieving the agency’s goals, allowing them the time to focus on the strategic. Being strategic requires leadership.

Learn more about the leadership tools available by visiting the Best Practices area of the Big “I” Web site at www.independentagent.com.


BIG “I” MARKETS^SM
Educating Clients on Personal Umbrellas

Clients face a host of potential liability exposures and agents need to make sure they all have extra liability protection in the form of a personal umbrella policy. Click here for a list of RLI program administrators in each state. They can explain how to access the personal umbrella product each association provides by way of partnership with RLI. States in the following list can access the RLI personal umbrella product via Big “I” Markets^SM: Arkansas, Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Georgia, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia.

Umbrella carriers require that the insured maintain primary (or underlying) insurance with respect to prevalent exposures to loss, generally for automobile and personal liability. There are minimum limits that the insured must maintain in force. It is well-known in personal umbrella lore that failure to maintain underlying insurance can result in a substantial penalty to the insured, who must step in and undertake the financial burden when required underlying insurance is not in place to respond.

For more information on RLI Personal Umbrella Program, click here.


YOUNG AGENTS

Conference and Convention Events Geared Toward Young Agents

The National Young Agents Committee is offering events geared specifically for up-and-coming leaders at the Big “I”  Legislative Conference & Convention. Special sessions include a first-timers reception, the Young Agent attendee and InsurPac chairs luncheon, a hospitality event and the always popular president’s panel breakfast with Big “I” leadership. Young agents will gain valuable legislative and leadership skills at this ground-breaking insurance industry event. The Big “I” Legislative Conference & Convention will be held at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington D.C. April 25-27, 2007. For more information, contact Katie Cosgrove, manager of the National Young Agents program, at (703) 776-5455 or katie.cosgrove@iiaba.net.