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EXPRESS “What You Don’t Know Can’t Help You!” … Eddie K. Emmett, Editor / Publisher
Kick-Off 2015: What Are Your Options? From Roger Sitkins’ blog In This Edition KICK-OFF 2015: ............................ 1 WHY MAKE A WEBSITE MOBILEFRIENDLY? ..................................... 4 DON'T AVOID CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS. M ANAGE THEM. ........ 6 THE COMMODITIZATION OF P&C INSURANCE .................................... 8 HOW TO GET YOUR LIMITED SUBAGENT LICENSE .................... 11
One of the really great things about owning an independent insurance agency is that you are Independent! You can and do make choices every day that affect your agency’s performance and success, both in the short-term and long-term. In other words, you have options and you’re exercising them, some more purposefully than others.
17 TERRIFIC M ANAGEMENT TIPS... 20
As we look forward to 2015, now’s a great time to examine some of the options you have concerning the future of your agency.
PROPERTY DISCLAIMERS ............. 24
Option One:
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Keep Doing What You’re Doing There’s an old saying that I really like and often use: “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got!” Another favorite of mine, courtesy of Albert Einstein: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Actually, I’ve noticed that when agencies repeatedly do the same things, they ultimately wind up getting less.
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Their book of business slowly but surely declines, their cost of doing business continues going up and in the final analysis, they make less. However, the good news is that they’re still making a lot more than the average person does! If you’re in a holding pattern like that, you’re on track to end up like the guy in the old Dunkin Donuts commercial who laments each morning that it’s “time to make the donuts.” There’s no energy or joy in what he does. His job is a daily grind and he’s just going through the motions. If you’re simply getting up and going to “work,” basically, you’ve got a job. For many people, that’s okay (particularly if you’re an independent agent who’s not at risk of getting fired). In fact, it affords a pretty good lifestyle. Option Two: Commit to Growth As we’ve talked about before, you must have the Three Cs if you want to grow your business: Commitment, Capacity and Capabilities. Continued on page 2
January 2015
More Information about Georgia Insurance Agents Alliance Membership at www.Georgia-Agents.com What are Your Options?
Once we were finished, the boat was polished to perfection! It looked so good that Patrick (then a teenager) remarked, “Maybe when we get the new one we should pretend that we’re always going to sell it and keep it really clean like this all the time!” The moral of the story: Get the boat ready to sell!
Continued from page 1 You just have to find the right systems and guidance that will create predictable and guaranteed sales and profit improvements. Also, you’ll need to invest at least two percent of your revenues for these growth initiatives. The goal is to create the “Agency’s Way” of growing that all team members buy into.
Step 2: Choose your path. Assuming you want to perpetuate, what are you doing to get the boat ready to sell? Remember, there are two types of perpetuation: Financial and Leadership. So determine the perpetuation path you want to take and stick to it. Step 3: Start preparing now! The time to prepare is NOT when you need to perpetuate.
Option Five: Sell To or Merge With a Local Competitor
Option Three: Pattern
In most cases, this is not the optimal choice. Not always, but usually. You might create some economies of scale, but you won’t necessarily create a great agency.
Shrink It & Initiate a Holding
The local competitor who wants to acquire your agency may not have the financial strength to finance or cash out the transaction, making it likely that you’ll become “The Bank.” At the local level, cash buyers are rare, so if you agree to finance the sale, it’s always possible you’ll wind up with a bad loan. Although this may be the only option for smaller agencies, ideally it’s not the way to go.
In this scenario, you make the deliberate decision to shrink your business and go into a holding pattern. To me, it’s an ugly option, but it is an option! Here’s how you do it: Eliminate the bottom 25% to 50% of your accounts. At best, this will represent somewhere between 5% and 10% of your revenues.
Merging with a local competitor, with the thought that one plus one equals way more than two, certainly can work very well. However, designing the agreed upon model upfront cannot be short-changed. Again, it’s an option.
Once you’ve done that, you eliminate about one-third to one-half of your staff — and then you coast! Just keep in mind that you can only coast in one direction. Again, this is not my preferred option. I’m just trying to present some possible choices. To do this, you can either put them into a Service Center and treat them with benign neglect or sell them off to a local competitor. Someone will always be willing to buy it.
Editor’s note: Sign up for Roger’s free blog at www.Sitkinselect.com
Option Four: Prepare to Perpetuate Something we absolutely know is that everybody eventually leaves their business. Hey, I just did and it took me a long time to do so! But I chose to perpetuate part of my business, which requires meticulous planning. Step 1: Get the boat ready to sell! You may recall the story about the time my son, Patrick, and I wanted to sell our 16-foot flats boat and get a slightly larger one. Together, we worked really hard to clean it up so that we could sell it quickly.
FYI Express
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Why make a website mobile-friendly?
Test your site for free at: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobilefriendly/
Imagine a user looking at your site on a mobile device. Can the user easily read your page and find the necessary information or is too hard to use?
The desktop version of a site might be difficult to view and use on a mobile device. The version that's not mobile-friendly requires the user to pinch or zoom in order to read the content. Users find this a frustrating experience and are likely to abandon the site. Alternatively, the mobile-friendly version is readable and immediately usable.
Mobile is critical to your business and will continue to be so – whether you’re blogging about your favorite insurance product, working on your agency’s website, or selling insurance products to potential clients. Make sure visitors can have a good experience on your site when they’re visiting from their mobile devices!
In the USA, 94% of people with smartphones search for local information on their phones. Interestingly, 77% of mobile searches occur at home or at work, places where desktop computers are likely to be present.
FYI Express
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January 2015
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Avoiding the problem doesn’t make it go away. Instead, you must seize this as an opportunity to step up and fix the problem before it becomes a complaint. You may have noticed a glitch or problem in your system. It may be an error on a report. It may be that you found out that your customer’s shipment won’t arrive on the date promised. Regardless of whatever the problem may be, rather than avoid it, manage it. Determine the issue, how it happened and what you can do to fix it. Communication becomes important. Be proactive. If there is a customer that needs to be informed, then inform them before they inform you. And by the way, that includes your internal customers as well. They depend on your good work, just as the customer does.
Don't Avoid Customer Complaints. Manage Them.
The second is simply avoiding the customer’s complaints. Dodging phone calls or not responding to emails and hoping that the customer will just stop complaining and go away. Not dealing with the complaint may escalate the situation to become worse than it is. And, in some cases, the customer may actually stop complaining. They may even go away… permanently. I’m not a psychologist, but I believe this is considered passive-aggressive behavior; aggressively deciding to passively avoid the issue.
It is typical that most companies want to create a customer service experience that doesn’t give their customers anything to complain about. Well, it’s not a matter of if the customer will ever have a complaint. It’s when the customer will complain.
In either situation, the reality is that there is a problem. It has either the potential to become a complaint or already is a complaint. Either way, it must be dealt with. So, here are three simple thoughts about managing versus avoiding customer complaints:
Furthermore, the concept of complaint avoidance isn’t about trying to be perfect and never having a customer complaint. For the purpose of this lesson, it’s about avoiding reality. In other words, it’s about turning your head from mistakes, problems and complaints – acting as if they aren’t there.
1. Be proactive. Deal with a potential problem or complaint it as quickly as possible. 2. It may or may not be your fault. Either way, you must demonstrate an attitude of accountability, so choose to own it.
Let’s discuss two types of complaint avoidance.
3. Don’t just fix the problem. In the process, work to restore confidence. Prove that the customer made the right decision to do business with you.
The first is the potential complaint. This is a complaint that hasn’t yet happened. It’s there, just waiting to be discovered. You know about it, but choose to look the other way away and, for whatever the reason, you don’t deal with it. It could be due to fear, laziness or apathy. It doesn’t matter what the reason is. FYI Express
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January 2015
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The Commoditization of P&C Insurance I agree with these points. However, most of these points emphasizing how important agents are to clients choosing the right coverage are hypocritical. This hypocritical position is a fact. I am not offering an opinion, but an absolute fact. Hide and deny the fact if you want, but when you put your head in the sand, a prominent body part is made available for a painful whipping.
An article in the Insurance Journal was titled, "Agents react to Walmart, OverStock in Insurance; We aren't Dead or Dying, We are Evolving." The comments presented by agents and experts were clearly heartfelt. Their theme was that P&C, especially all insurance that is not personal auto, is complex when done right. The comments pointed out that many direct writers and these new entities do not explain the complexity. Consumers buying from these entities therefore might not get the coverages and the amount of coverage they truly need. Einstein had a great quote which makes this point well, "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."
The fact is these opinions are hypocritical because while agents can definitely offer crucial and important education to consumers, in both personal lines and commercial clients, they too often choose to not offer any education, any coverage reviews, nor even review the insureds' true coverage needs. I have been visiting agencies for 25 years and I have been doing E&O audits for approximately 20 years. My experience is 90%+ of agencies do not use coverage checklists of any kind on a consistent basis. Without a coverage checklist, identifying the customer's true needs and offering them the coverages they truly need is not possible. My experience is that a majority of agencies go years without reviewing at least some portion of their clients' exposures. In other words, they do "renew as is" year after year. I have been in agencies where some clients have not had their coverages reviewed in ten or twenty years. Many agencies quote requested coverages or producers only match expiring coverages. A computer can do both these functions as well or better than a human. Quoting existing coverages is the epitome of commoditization.
Another point they made was that a large portion of consumers are inadequately educated regarding insurance and the proper coverages. This goes without saying but a subtle insinuation or at least an inference can be drawn that these entities are taking advantage of inadequately informed consumers to sell them insurance these consumers think is adequate, but is not. These entities may get away with this practice because the standard of care for these kinds of writers is often less than it is for traditional agents. The standard of care is so low that some courts have ruled the standard of care is nothing more than caveat emptor. The insured will be left holding the bag whereas if they purchased insurance from an independent agent, they would be better informed (and while not stated, the conclusion is clear, the insured might have a better chance at suing the agent and winning, which is not a bad selling point).
Continued on page 10 FYI Express
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January 2015
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The Commoditization of P&C Insurance Continued from page 8 These are facts and however unpleasant they are, deny them at your risk. To talk about how agents offer such valuable services but then to not actually do the work is hypocritical. Agents and some associations are trying to have it both ways. They want the spread of commoditization to slow or stop, but in the same magazine or the same convention venue, they will have E&O attorneys advising agents to rely on "duty to read" case law and to not advertise the agency is an expert and others advising agents to not spend time on small accounts. It is a fact that one cannot have their cake and eat it too. Here are some facts to consider: 1. If agents do not think insurance is a commodity and they do not want the public to think of insurance as a commodity, then AGENTS need to put their money where their mouth is and quit treating insurance as a commodity. Rather than quoting requested coverages, explore the insured's needs and give them a quote for coverages most applicable. Most CSRs do not discuss the complexities of homeowners insurance. Most do not even offer higher liability limits. FYI Express
Higher is not defined as $300,000 or $500,000, although that would be an improvement in many agencies. Higher is defined as higher limits than the insured has requested regardless of what they requested. Producers in personal lines and especially small commercial lines are often no better than CSRs and are often worse. 90% of producers in my experience refuse to use coverage checklists unless forced by management. Insurance is indeed complex. That is why a coverage checklist is so important. Use coverage checklists to determine an insured’s real needs. A properly used coverage checklist is valuable to identifying these complexities and building coverages customized to that one insured's needs. Customization is required to avoid commoditization. Not only are coverage checklists proven to reduce E&O exposures, but my best clients who use coverage checklists correctly and well always increase sales. The idea that missing one item on a checklist creates an E&O exposure is simply an excuse. This is an excuse to avoid responsibility and any excuse to avoid responsibility is also reason insurance should be commoditized. Continued on page 12
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More Information about Georgia Insurance Agents Alliance Membership at www.Georgia-Agents.com The Commoditization of P&C Insurance Continued from page 10
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Additionally, if only one item is missed on a coverage checklist, that is much better than missing 10 coverages without one. Any attorney that says, "Yes, but we can win if you miss ten because I can show you are a peddler because you miss so much," is missing the bigger picture. How great is it to win a case based on being dumb and lazy? I cannot imagine half as many E&O claims occurring if clients had their coverages customized and then reviewed annually. In fact, a Utica Mutual study following Hurricane Katrina found that approximately 50% of the E&O claims that occurred would not have occurred had agents used coverage checklists. So it is great to talk about agent advantages, but agents must walk the walk to have value. 2. Customers need an agent's professional advice. If you really believe customers need your professional advice, do not hide behind E&O defenses like "Duty to Read" your policy. Consumers do not need an agent if they have to read the policy, understand the policy, question the policy, and do all this in a timely manner. That is why they are paying you a commission. They are paying you to do this for them.
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3. The article cited experts saying an online presence was key. I do not disagree but what is an agent going to advertise if they hide behind so much E&O advice such as, "Don't advertise that you are an expert." Are agencies going to advertise instead, "Best price for a commodity!"? Step up and advertise your real value and then follow through is my suggestion. If you do not want to be commoditized, only one true alternative exists and that is to become a true professional and then act as a professional for each client. Very few agents have the guts and work ethic to do this which is why this strategy is so great.
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4. Quit being lazy. I cannot write how many times I have heard producers say they do not know whether their client has certain coverages because they never verify the coverages when the policy arrives. They do not know the forms because they do not read the forms. They do not understand BI coverage because they will not take a BI class.
The Texas Sheriff pulled up next to the guy unloading garbage out of his pick-up into the ditch. The Sheriff asked, "Why are you dumping garbage in the ditch? Don't you see that sign right over your head."
Recently I have witnessed several instances where producers were too lazy to even get client signatures on applications. Consumers do not need lazy agents.
Continued on page 14
"Yep," he replied. "That's why I'm dumpin' it here, 'cause it says: 'Fine For Dumping Garbage.'" FYI Express
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January 2015
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More Information about Georgia Insurance Agents Alliance Membership at www.Georgia-Agents.com The Commoditization of P&C Insurance (If you're not sure how to go about becoming a professional but want to realize the opportunities or use Continued from page 10 a checklist positively, contact me. It is fun to take advantage of amateurs and to provide better coverage to 5. The article cites a PIA study showing 67% of clients.) consumers want their agent to contact them at least every six months. This is great news. Why agents so Chris Burand is president and owner of Burand & consistently ignore what their clients want is beyond me. Associates, LLC, a management consulting firm that has My real world E&O audits and agency due diligence for been specializing in the property/casualty insurance acquisitions shows consistently that agents do not industry since 1992. Burand is recognized as a leading always even communicate beyond perfunctory forms consultant for agency valuations, helping agents annually. If a client says they want communication every increase profits and reduce the cost of sales. His six months and do not receive communication of value services include: agency valuations/due diligence, even annually, for what do they need the agent? producer compensation plans, expert witness services, E&O carrier approved E&O procedure reviews, and I have no doubt some readers will be upset reading agency operation enhancement reviews. He also this article, if they've gotten this far without turning red. provides the acclaimed Contingency Contract Analysis速 Hypocrites usually get upset when called out. Others will Service and has the largest database and knowledge of get upset that I am somehow singling them out even contingency contracts in the insurance industry. when I do not know them. As crazy as that sounds, it happens most times I write an article like this where Burand & Associates, LLC someone I do not know thinks I have singled them 215 S. Victoria Ave., Suite E specifically out. Others will be upset that I am saying all agents take this track when they are actually using Pueblo, CO 81003 checklists, reviewing forms, getting true technical education (versus rote CE courses), etc. That always p: 719/485-3868 happens too. No where do I write or believe 100% of chris@burand-associates.com agents do this or that. Visit us at: burand-associates.com Every time I write about the value of stepping up and being a true professional, I receive disparaging comments from clearly insecure agents and company people. But I also get EVIDENCE, not just comments, from agents that are true professionals regarding how they take advantage of the amateurs. Their customer satisfaction is clearly higher, their sales are greater, their profits are higher, and their E&O exposure is clearly lower.
NOTE: The information provided in this newsletter is intended for educational and informational purposes only and it represents only the views of the authors. It is not a recommendation that a particular course of action be followed. Burand & Associates, LLC and Chris Burand assume, and will have no responsibility for liability or damage which may result from the use of any of this information.
My consulting experience is agents who do not treat insurance as a commodity have average commission per account 10%-30% higher than norms. The PIA study mimics an IIABA study from 15 years ago that showed great opportunities existed then and now for agents that have strong work ethics to become true professionals, to learn coverages and learn to articulate those coverages to clients so customers understand and appreciate the complexity of insurance when it is done right. These studies tell agents what consumers want and agents that listen have much better opportunity than those who do not. Studies then and now tell agents that consumers want professional agents. They do not want a commodity. I don't expect to win the hearts and minds of agents and companies turning red reading this. My goal is to explain the situation and hope the best agents and companies realize how great the opportunity is to take advantage of their lesser competitors.
FYI Express
www.AgentsFirst.org Page 14
January 2015
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Growth-loaded Producer Compensation By Al Diamond of Agency Consulting, Inc.
It truly gets tiresome. At least once each month we encounter another agent with the UNIQUE problem of losing more customers than he is gaining, even though he swears that his team provides superb customer service. The typical symptom is the high number of customers leaving for non-payment of premium. Often the agent does not even know that the customer is gone until he runs into him at a function somewhere to be told that they have left the agency. Or, worse yet, the agent does not find out until he sees the customer’s file in the “dead” group to be filed away. Typically, agency service employees do not call or question the reason for nonpay cancellations. The result is that clients are wooed by other agents who promise the kind of service of which the host agency already boasts (but does not actually accomplish). Often the agent and his staff feel that the loyalty of customers that they had years ago is no longer prevalent. “The customers have changed,” they tell us. When In fact, it is the agency that has changed, slowly but surely, without the agent ever noticing. The personal touch that used to mark the norm of the agent’s operations when he was more in control of customer service is now an exception to be applauded – when noticed. When the agent, himself, is personally interviewed, he always admits that he does not feel as much in control as he used to. “After all,” he rationalizes, “we have to give up control as we get larger. There’s no way I can pay personal attention to thousands of customers.” That’s true. However, “paying attention” is not equivalent to answering every phone call and talking to every customer. The definition of “paying attention” as an agency grows larger has changed. “Paying Attention” now means how an agent keeps control of the quality of service as the agency grows beyond his ability to personally treat with every customer. “Paying Attention” has to do with the development of your employees in the same work ethic and service expectations that you have about yourself, and “paying attention” has to do with managing the personnel and the processes of quality service where previously you simply performed the service yourself.
Managing Quality Customer Service It takes a unique individual to convert from a “doer” to a “manager”. It has less to do with insurance knowledge and the ability to fulfill a customer’s request than it has to do with making sure that your employees fulfill those requests at least as quickly, courteously, and accurately as you would. This process begins with Training, carries on with Managing and Monitoring, and concludes with Feedback from your clients and to your employees.
Training Training is not only for new employees and inexperienced insurance people – it’s for everyone and should be on going. If you do the same thing often enough without re-training, you get stale and the quality of both work and service levels tend to drop. The training to which we refer is not insurance knowledge training. The training that assures quality customer service includes Active Listening Skills and Customer Relation Training. The best process of training is role-playing. Identify problems and objections that are brought to the agency by clients. Take turns playing the customer and the CSR while addressing the problems and objections. As the agency owner/manager, you will quickly notice the responses that make you cringe. “No wonder customers have problems if we treat them like that!” is not an unusual comment after the first round of roleplaying. However, if the session is used as a clinic with ideas radiated of how to address the problems and issues, your staff will begin developing ways of handling customer issues that make you proud instead of making you cringe.
Managing the Process Manage by the numbers – new business vs. retention. The percentage of business generated by referrals is one indicator of high or low quality service to your current clients. If most of your new business comes from marketing campaigns and advertising, you may have a quality problem that keeps clients from referring you when friends discuss insurance. Customer retention is a simple formula. How many customers do you have at the end of the year? Identify lost customers each week with reasons lost. The decreasing ratio as the year progresses identifies your customer retention. Continued on page 18
FYI Express
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January 2015
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Providing Feedback to Employees
Growth-loaded Producer Compensation Continued from page 16 Perform the same calculations and analysis of lost policies (even if you retain other lines for the customer). The “reasons” for loss is the most important indicator that you can identify with respect to quality service measurements. Staff meetings should include a reiteration of “customer stories” that arise for every employee from time to time. Re-telling the stories reiterate the need for quality service and educates all employees regarding how to manage issues and problems.
Monitoring the Results Share the victories and the losses with the employees. Some agents feel that if they lose a prospect or a customer it will lower morale. That or the hurt to ego stops them from sharing what happened and why with the staff that worked hard toward getting or saving the accounts. Your employees are all adults, the buy homes and make investments, manage their households and families, live through personal victories and tragedies, and are perfectly capable of sharing either victories or defeats with an analysis of the reasons that caused the results. This process makes them truly feel a valued part of the team. It is that respect that makes employees more loyal to their employer. By the way, it is not a sin to make money and to make profit. Some agents actually feel that if the employees know that they have increased revenue or profit, they will want more money or feel upset about the owner’s situation. At least the employees already acknowledge that the owner will earn income from the efforts of the employees. From whom are we trying to hide this fact??
Good or bad, tell the employees what the customers have said and use all feedback as a learning experience. The first time you criticize an employee as the result of feedback, you have lost the battle for their loyalty to you and to quality service. From that moment on they are more concerned with saving their jobs and covering their backsides than with saving the customers and covering yours. Instead ask the employees what could have been done differently that would have changed the results of the contact. This turns criticism into a learning experience. The only things missing are blame and accusations. I have never met an agent who said, “We give a moderate service to our customers.” Every agent prides himself on operating a high-quality servicing agency. There may be no basis for this beyond the comments of the employees, themselves, or the laudatory comments of a few customers each year. Those agents who “Walk the Talk” can PROVE their quality customer service through high customer retention rates (over 95%) and a high and growing rate of new business with other customers as the referral source. Reprinted from The PIPELINE, the national newsletter for agency principals. The PIPELINE is published by Agency Consulting Group, Inc., a leading consulting firm for independent agents in the U.S. for over 30 years. Call 800-779-2430, Visit www.agencyconsulting.com for information about the content of this article or PIPELINE subscription information.
Asking for Feedback from Clients You want to know if you are providing good service? Ask the customers at every opportunity (not just when good things happen). Make customer surveys a part of the agency operations so that every customer gets a short survey indicating service quality once every two years.
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17 Terrific Management Tips by Emily Huling, CIC, CMC Retirements, company restructuring, and growing businesses are launching new leaders and managers. Both new and experienced managers face modern-day management issues. Those include remote employees, flex-time workers, video and telephone meetings, different time zones, workforce diversity, and 24/7 access to work. Here are some quick tips to be an effective and supportive manager in today's world.
11. Remote workers have the same organizational responsibilities as on-site workers. Make certain technology provides reliable support. Keep communication open and frequent. Initiate two or three brief phone meetings a week. Include off-site workers in all staff meetings no matter how brief. 12. Use flip charts. Meetings dramatically improve, discussions move forward, and actions can be assigned when ideas are posted on paper charts (not dry erase boards). Paper is permanent and you can refer back.
1. Manage work. Develop people. Make these principles your watchwords.
13. When in the office, individual and upbeat morning greetings set the tone for the day. Don't leave anyone out.
2. Give people something to work toward, not just work on. Be concise about corporate and department goals, values, and metrics.
14. Formally assign backup staff for all jobs at all times, not just for vacation. This encourages teamwork, ensures work gets done, and clients are served.
3. Listening is your most effective tool. Don't assume you need to step in, solve a problem, or offer an opinion. After focused listening ask, "How can I help?" The answer will guide your response.
15. Handle sensitive issues with care. Avoid e-mail, meet in person, and pay attention to body language. Have another manager present if appropriate.
4. Personal friendships with direct reports are best kept outside the office. Perceived favoritism can lead to ill will from other associates. 5. A structured new-employee orientation is critical for success. To engage and enlighten the new hire: a personal welcome by a top leader, an assigned coordinator, a review of standard office protocols, job shadowing throughout the company, as well as specific job training. 6. Boost employee problem solving by asking these questions: "What do you think?" "What's the benefit or downside to doing that?" "How would that work?"
16. Don't believe what others tell you about your employees. Get proof. Observe. 17. Take the career development aspect of your role seriously. When you help others achieve their goals, they will help you achieve yours. Anyone need a short self-study course to advance management skills? For a limited time, we're offering readers four management development tools for a package price of $115.00, a 40% savings. Available only through this Management Short Course link. These learning tools will quickly advance front-line manager proficiency in these key areas:
7. Don't send employees e-mail or text messages at night. It adds unnecessary stress and expectations. Create a draft and send it in the morning. Everyone needs down time.
Developing staff accountability
8. When poor performers and substandard work are not addressed in an organization, it's the top performers who leave.
Leading results-producing meetings
9. Any more than six direct reports are too many. Rethink the reporting structure to create supervisors or lead people who will manage work, monitor results, and report progress or gaps. 10. If you think your age or gender is an obstacle in effectively doing your job, understand that it's your baggage, not your employees. Get over it and be a great manager.
FYI Express
Effective delegation Managing remote workers
Handling employee performance problems For a complete description of the materials and to order, use this link - Management Short Course. Emily Huling, CIC, CMC helps the insurance industry create top-performing sales and service organizations. She can be contacted at emily@sellingstrategies.com. She’s a frequent presenter at industry conferences, on the national faculty of the Society of CIC, and is the author of “Great Service Sells”, “Selling from the Inside”, and “Kick Your ‘But.’” For information on her products and consulting services and to subscribe to her free monthly newsletter, visit www.sellingstrategies.com. Page 20
January 2015
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If you have the knowledge to see the problem, you will also have the ability to discover the solution. Your Producer Online subscription from The Rough Notes Company, Inc., can help you find solutions to problems in your current customers’ insurance protection and to use that solution-finding-knowledge in soliciting and gaining new customers. The Producer Online IN ACTION is a monthly reminder of how you can turn the knowledge gained from The Producer Online into powerful sales opportunities. A frozen burst pipe caused water damage. It should have been an easy claim but then a complication arose. The unit below the pipe burst was not heated and furthermore the unit was vacant. Did it matter that the unit next door was occupied and was heated?
American National did not deny coverage because the unit or building was vacant. It denied coverage because the pipes froze when heat was not maintained. This important exclusion applies regardless of the number of days the heat is off. Consider this carefully when discussing vacancy provisions with a customer. While the vacancy provision does not apply until the building is vacant for 60 days, the frozen pipes exclusion applies as soon as the heat is turned off. Click here to review the PF&M Commercial Property Vacancy Discussion.
Click http://www.roughnotes.com/in_action/v97.01.2015/ to view the January edition of Producer Online IN ACTION to see how the courts responded when American National denied the claim but the claimant refused to go away.
Buildings that are entirely vacant or even partially vacant can be difficult to cover. However, there are markets that specialize in this exposure. These markets can provide tips on ways to protect the buildings from damage, in addition to providing needed insurance coverage. Click here to read a Rough Notes Magazine article about
A pipe in the attic of an unheated vacant unit froze and burst. The water damaged both the vacant and the occupied units in the building. Frederick filed a claim for the damage, but American National denied coverage because heat was not maintained in the vacant unit.
insuring vacant buildings. Do your customers understand the significant impact vacancy can have on their insurance coverage? A timely letter could bring it to their attention before an uncovered loss occurs.
Frederick argued that coverage did apply because the occupied unit was heated.
Ken.www.rn-agencyonline.com/letters/4-g-9.htm Click here for a Business Building Letter you might consider
Click here to see if the unit's vacancy impacted the final
sending to your customers.
settlement.
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January 2015
For 135 years Rough Notes has been dedicated to making you a better agent. Become the coverage expert with the Producer Online-Plus Producer Online-Plus Includes Commercial Lines Risk Evaluation Survey Personal Lines Risk Evaluation Survey Policy Form & Manual Analysis Coverages Applicable The Insurance Marketplace Marketplace Cybercast
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Property Disclaimers Agents E&O Tips http://www.agentseotips.com/ Posted on December 29, 2014 by Curt Pearsall On virtually all lines of insurance, there is no doubt that commercial property accounts produce the greatest number of large E&O claims. Based on the customer exposures, these E&O claims can easily exceed $100,000 and for some accounts, E&O claims in excess of $1,000,000 have occurred with a fair degree of frequency.
It is also common for agents to add to the disclaimer some reference materials that the customer can access to assist in the determination of the property exposure such as appraisal or valuation services.
Typically the E&O claim alleges that the agency did not provide the proper limits on either the building, the contents, or on the business income exposure. There have certainly been E&O claims where all three of these exposures were alleged to have been “underinsured”. While agencies have various “estimator” tools to address some of these exposures, clearly determining the proper property is not a perfect science. These tools can be a great starting point but they are obviously heavily influenced by the various “inputs” such as square footage, construction type, etc. Without the correct detailed information, the “outputs” can be inaccurate and thus not reflect the correct limit. While this is an issue for all property exposures (personal and commercial), determining the correct commercial property values seems to pose more of a problem.
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In the event of an E&O claim, customers oftentimes allege that the agent “picked the limit” and thus they (the agent) should be held responsible for the problem that has developed in the subsequent settlement of the claim. For an agent to add an element of E&O protection, it is heavily suggested that agents provide annually some disclaimer wording to commercial and personal clients. On various questionnaires and proposals (both personal and commercial lines), language such as the following should be provided: “property values determination is ultimately your responsibility so be sure to regularly review your property limits for adequacy”. The goal is to identify the client as the final decision maker. FYI Express
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NEWS R E L E A S E
For Immediate Release December 18, 2014
RALPH HUDGENS COMMISSIONER OF INSURANCE SAFETY FIRE COMMISSIONER INDUSTRIAL LOAN COMMISSIONER Seventh Floor, West Tower 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Atlanta, Georgia 30334
www.oci.ga.gov
Contact: Glenn Allen 404- 463-0729 gallen@oci.ga.gov Twitter: @GA_DOI
HUDGENS ARRESTS CELL PHONE BANDIT Atlanta – Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens announced today that a Newton County man has been arrested on 14 felony warrants in connection with a fraudulent mobile phone acquisition scheme. Andrew Anthony Hoilett, 35, of 570 Clearbrook Drive in Covington was arrested and charged with three counts of insurance fraud, three counts of identity fraud, three counts of forgery, three counts of financial transaction card fraud and two counts of theft by receiving. An investigation by Hudgens’ Fraud Unit revealed that on multiple occasions, Hoilett accessed the Asurion Insurance Company’s website using other mobile users’ account information and filed fraudulent insurance claims for lost or damaged mobile phones. Hoilett would later track the shipment of the device to his victim’s home and either intercept the package from the delivery drivers or remove it directly from the doorsteps. “My office will continue to aggressively pursue any form of insurance fraud,” Hudgens said. “Besides being a crime, fraudulent insurance claims cause premiums to go up for the rest of us. There are potentially 162 additional victims of this crime across the state.” Hoilett is currently in the Newton County Jail awaiting arraignment. The Newton County Sheriff’s Department assisted with the arrest. Additional felony charges are expected. Insurance fraud is a felony with a penalty of two to 10 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $10,000.