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T H U R S D A Y , D E C E M B E R 14, 2 0 0 6
Industry News
LEGAL ADVOCACY
New Agency Agreement by Selective
Selective Insurance Company of America and its insurance company affiliates (Selective) are rolling out a new agency agreement that includes many changes and enhancements from the prior agreement.
“Selective is totally committed to the independent agents who distribute our products, and we are pleased to have worked closely with IIABA on updating our agency agreement,” says Jim Caragher, senior vice president, director of marketing & agency relations. “The insights provided by IIABA helped us ensure that the agreement respected the needs and concerns of our agents, which is very important to Selective.”
“IIABA was pleased to have the opportunity to work extensively with Selective to seek enhancements to the agreement as it was being drafted and appreciates the company’s adoption of many suggestions we made,” says Debra Perkins, Big “I” executive vice president and general counsel. “Many provisions of the agreement were changed based on IIABA input and demonstrate the company’s strong commitment to the independent agent channel.”
The new agreement has provisions agents often look for in appointment agreements, such as broad-based indemnification from the company, the right to receive compensation from insureds as permitted by law, no reduction of commission for any line of business more than once in any 12 month period and restrictions on the company’s use of the agent’s expirations.
To access the review, go to www.independentagent.com, log on as a member, go to Legal Advocacy and select contract reviews.
For questions or additional information, contact Debra Perkins at debra.perkins@iiaba.ne@iiaba.net; 800-221-7917.
Update to Guidelines for Carrier/Vendor Feedback
In light of the interest many agents have in sharing feedback with carriers about industry and business issues, the Office of the General Counsel for the Big “I” has prepared some practical guidelines to assist agents in that process. These "Guidelines for Carrier/Vendor Feedback" were updated as of Dec. 1 and provide agents with valuable guidance to avoid potential violations of antitrust and other laws, whether the communications are in person, online or by phone. The guidelines are available for Big “I” members only at www.indpendentagent.com on the legal advocacy page under memoranda & FAQs, antitrust information.
For more information on producer compensation, check out the October issue of IA Magazine.
BIG "I" ADVANTAGESM
Consumers See Need for Personal Umbrella Coverage
With the holiday season in full gear and parties from now until the Super Bowl, consumers are recognizing the need for personal umbrella coverage. The new Trusted Choice® survey, reported in today's IN&V, uncovered that most homeowners planning to host a party are underinsured.
Big "I" members have access to a stand-alone personal umbrella policy from A+-rated carrier RLI to help meet clients' needs. RLI's PUP stands atop existing homeowner and auto insurance to provide an extra layer of personal liability protection for clients. Liability limits of $1-3 million and $5 million are available, and coverage is available nationwide. Optional auto underlying limits of $100/$300/$50,000 are available for risks without youthful operators and broad underwriting guidelines allow for easy qualification for the program. The application is self-underwriting so applicants know as soon as the application is completed whether they qualified for coverage. Competitive premiums also help convince clients to purchase this important coverage. Click here to download the RLI administrator contact list or visit www.independentagent.com/RLI to learn more.
BIG "I" LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE & CONVENTION
Register and Win a PlayStation 3
The Big “I” Legislative Conference & Convention will be held April 25-27, 2007 in Washington, D.C. The annual event offers agents an opportunity to experience advocacy, innovation and exhibits not available anywhere else.
The Big “I” is looking for early registrants to be entered in a drawing for a brand new PlayStation 3 and two Apple iPods. Three registrant’s names will be randomly drawn for the prizes. These names will be selected from the Big “I” registration system Feb. 2, 2007 at noon EST. The three recipients of the items will be listed on the Big “I” Web site and will be contacted to coordinate delivery. If you have already registered, there is no need to do anything else. Those registering after 12:01 p.m. EST on Feb. 2, 2007 will not be eligible for the drawing. Click here to event information or to register online.
InVEST
Silent Auction Items Online
Participate in the InVEST silent auction and support the program’s annual scholarships awarded to graduates of InVEST pursuing higher education with an emphasis on insurance. The InVEST board of directors will hold the 2007 InVEST silent auction during the Big "I" Legislative Conference & Convention. The InVEST Silent Auction will open on April 26 at 6 p.m. and will close on April 27 at 1 p.m. Keep an eye on bids--- the InVEST Silent Auction is a popular event.
Play an important roll in the future of InVEST’s brightest students by making a donation to the auction. Click here to access information regarding the InVEST Silent Auction, including updates on the great auction items. Visit www.independentagent.com and click here to download a contribution form.
For more information, contact Sandra Skipper at sandra.skipper@iiaba.net; 703-706-5437.
TRUSTED CHOICE®
Trusted Choice® Billboard in Times Square
A 37-by-14 foot billboard promoting Trusted Choice® and highlighting the brand’s value is on display to passersby on 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues in Manhattan. The billboard, which is illuminated until 2:30 a.m. and visible at night, is being leased from CBS Outdoor and will remain up through at least New Year’s Eve. Optimedia, the media placement company for Trusted Choice®, says 1.2 million people per day will see the Trusted Choice® billboard – many of these people are December tourists from around the country, as well as local New Yorkers.
It is the second consecutive year Trusted Choice® has taken a place of prominence in the Times Square area in order to generate thousands of daily consumer impressions in one of the nation’s most visited locales. In September 2005, the brand’s TV ad and logo were featured prominently on the ABC-TV Jumbotron at the junction of Seventh Avenue and Broadway.
To see the billboard, click here.
Trusted Choice® Stirs Up Brand Exposure with Food Network
Those tuning into the Food Network for festive recipes this holiday season should keep an eye out for Trusted Choice® commercials. On Dec. 4, Trusted Choice® began a new round of monthly TV ads on the popular cable channel. Ads will continue to run through Dec. 17.
The schedule for the next few months is as follows: Dec. 4-17, The Food Network; Jan. 8-21, 2007, The Travel Channel and Feb. 5-18, Fox News. Click on the station for a detailed schedule of the shows and times the ads are running on each network. Information on stations choices for the six-month period from March to August 2007 will be available shortly.
The increased frequency of national Trusted Choice® ads, combined with more agencies than ever running tie-in ads in conjunction with the national campaign, leads to a greater consistency of exposure to consumers.
The “Agents/Brokers” area on www.trustedchoice.com, under advertising, includes print, billboard, radio and television ads that are produced specifically with Trusted Choice® agencies in mind. All advertisements can be tagged with an agency’s contact information, so feel free to use them. You can download these ads from the Web site free of charge, so the only cost is the cost of purchasing the media space. Agents who invest a little time and a small amount of their resources in advertising can significantly raise the profile of their Trusted Choice® agency with local consumers—including existing and prospective customers.
For additional information, contact Jenner Gohr at jenner.gohr@iiaba.net; 800-221-7197.
BIG "I" MARKETSSM
Affluent Homeowners Market Available
For agents and brokers who have insured a home in 2001 at a market value of $350,000, the market value of that home today could be worth more than $500,000. Homes valued over $500,000 may qualify for the affluent homeowner policy available on Big “I” MarketsSM. Big “I” members have access to either the Chubb Masterpiece® or Fireman's Fund Prestige Portfolio® products which are two of the best products on the market for high-end homes. By educating clients on the benefits of switching their homeowners insurance to an affluent homeowner product, a ho-hum product can be upgraded and provide added value. There is also an opportunity to re-evaluate a client’s auto and personal item floaters. Access our affluent products at www.bigimarkets.com.
BEST PRACTICES
Automate Agency/Company Planning
Agents don’t have to be familiar with IIABA’s Best Practices Study to know that having effective relationships with carriers is the key to the success of any agency. Recognizing this simple fact, one of the very first tools created when the Best Practices program began in 1993 was the joint agency/company planning tool (JPT). The notebook contained a description of how to begin the planning process, worksheets for the use of both agency and company participants to complete prior to the joint meetings and instructions on how to combine the two often divergent sets of needs and production targets into a single set of goals that would move towards the realization of both parties success.
As useful as the JPT was, agents had to fill out the forms and do the math by hand, but not anymore. All of the JPT worksheets are now available in a new automated format through the joint planning tool quick step. The quick step, a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet template is ready to load and run on any PC. Simply start on page one and follow the simple step-by-step approach towards entering agency data. The document takes the data as it is entered and performs the necessary calculations to bring it into a planning format. Data entry is “once and done” so if any data entered or calculated is also used in future steps, the tool automatically carries it into the appropriate future fields.
To illustrate how to work with the tool, let’s walk through step 1B – determining realistic production goals by line of business. One obvious key to the planning process is to develop new business goals. But beyond the math, are those goals realistic? The quick step handles it all. For a particular line of business, for example, commercial, input last year’s revenue and the average account retention rate. As soon as the information is entered, the tool combines the two to determine the anticipated renewal revenues for the coming year. Then enter the anticipated growth percentages in those revenues due solely to rate increases or exposure base increases. At that point the tool will tell what amount of revenue to expect without any new production. Now enter the planned new production target amount. The spreadsheet now shows the total anticipated revenues based on all entered data. One final bit of information – is this anticipated revenue a realistic goal? The tool asks for the total number of current accounts for this line of business. From that number, the tool automatically calculates the average revenue per account and from that determines how many new accounts that need to be written in order to meet the projected figure. So if, for example, an agent currently has 325 accounts (written over a period of four years), and the agents see the new revenue goal will require the agency to sell an additional 678 accounts in the next 12 months, the agent has the opportunity to decide if the project is a bit too optimistic. Which illustrates another advantage of using the automated tool prior to an actual planning meeting with carriers – the program won’t laugh at lofty assumptions.
Each step functions in the same way:“fill in the blank and see results instantly.” Users can redo each step as many times as they wish to arrive at goals and revenue estimates that are reasonable. If during the process an agent is unsure of what is being asked for an entry line, the program includes built-in help. Just run the mouse pointer over the confusing item and an explanation pops up. Once all the steps are completed, an agent will have a complete set of calculations and worksheets filled out and ready for the joint meeting with their carrier. The information can be kept on a computer or printed out and shared with others in the agency and carrier partners.
The program includes the planning template and complete sets of printable planning worksheets for both the agency and carrier.
To view the demonstration version of the JPT and obtain more information on the Best Practices program visit: www.independentagent.com and select Best Practices or email BestPractices@iiaba.net. Click here for an order form.
VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY
Virtual University Helps Minimizes E&O Exposure
Most agents and brokers are technically proficient, but not many can foresee potential coverage disputes without some help. So, how do agents and brokers find the technical information needed to write a complicated risk and protect their firm’s E&O at the same time?
Virtual University, the Big “I” online, industry-focused education and resource center offers accredited continuing education courses; insurance, business and technology resources; and thousands of pages of insurance-technical content.
Since Virtual University was founded in 1999, the experts have provided technical advice to more than 10,000 agents and brokers. In the last year alone the experts have responded to more than 1,300 appeals for assistance.
The VU is free to all Big “I” members. All members need is Internet access and a personal login for everyone in the agency to begin accessing this service. Click here to get login information today.
For more information about how the Big “I” Virtual University can help, contact Madelyn Flannagan, vice president of education and research at madelyn.flannagan@iiaba.net.
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