e-Insight - February 2023 - Member

INSIGHT

DEVELOPING A SUCCESSFUL NICHE

STRATEGIES plus

SALES

HOW TO SET PRODUCER SALES GOALS

FIVE THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN SELLING YOUR AGENCY

Board of Directors

Executive Committee

Chairman of the Board | Jay Peterson, AFIS, LUTCF (217) 935-6605 | jay@peterson.insurance

President | Kevin Lesch (630) 830-3232 | klesch@arachasgroup.com

President-Elect | Allyson Padilla (618) 393-2195 | allyson@blanksinsurance.com

Vice President | Patrick Taphorn, CIC, CSRM (309) 347-2177 | ptaphorn@unland.com

Secretary/Treasurer | Cindy Jackman, CIC, CISR (800) 878-9891 x8745 | cjackman@arlingtonroe.com

IIABA National Director | George Daly (708) 845-3311 | george.daly@thehortongroup.com

Regional Directors

Region 1 | James Sager (618) 322-9891 | james@sagerins.com

Region 2 | Ray Roentz (618) 639-2244 | ray.roentz@hwcrins.com

Region 3 | Christopher Leming (217) 321-3185 | cleming@troxellins.com

Region 4 | Bart Hartauer, CIC (815) 223-1795 | hartauer@hartauer.com

Region 5 | Noele Tatlock (309) 642-6855 | ntatlock@unland.com

Region 6 | Thomas Evans, Jr. (779) 220-6564 | tevans@crumhalsted.com

Region 7 | David Jenk, Esq. (312) 239-2717 | djenk@nwibrokers.com

Region 8 | Charles Hruska (708) 798-5700 | chas@hruskains.com

Region 9 | Lindsey Polzin (630) 513-6600 | lpolzin@presidiogrp.com

Region 10 | Mohammed Ali CS (847) 847-2126 | mali@aliminsurance.com

At-Large Director | Amiri Curry (847) 797-5700 | acurry@assuranceagency.com

At-Large Director | Jeff McMillan (815) 265-4037 | jeff@mcmillanins.com

At-Large Director | Patrick Muldowney (312) 595-7192 | patrick.muldowney@alliant.com

At-Large Director | Luke Sandrock, CIC (815) 772-2793 | lsandrock@2cornerstone.com

Committee Chairs

Budget & Finance | Cindy Jackman, CIC, CISR (800) 878-9891 x8745 | cjackman@arlingtonroe.com

Education | Lisa Lukens (618) 942-2556 | salibainsurance@gmail.com

Farm Agents Council | Steve Foster (217) 965-4663 | s.foster@ciagonline.com

Government Relations | Dustin Peterson (217) 935-6605 | dustin@peterson.insurance

Planning & Coordination | Nick Gunn, CIC (309) 691-1300 | nickgunn@nixonagency.com

Technology | Brian Ogden (217) 632-2206 | brian@ogdeninsurance.com

Young Agents | Renee Crissie (224) 217-6577 | renee@crissieins.com

Director of Information and Technology Shannon Churchill - (217) 321-3004 - schurchill@iiaofil.org

Director of Education and Agency Resources Brett Gerger, CIC - (217) 321-3006 - bgerger@iiaofil.org

Accounting & Admin Services Tami Hubbell, CIC - (217) 321-3016 - thubbell@iiaofil.org

Director of Human Resources, Board Admin Jennifer Jacobs, SHRM-CP - (217) 321-3013 - jjacobs@iiaofil.org

Sr. Vice President/Chief Financial Officer Mark Kuchar - (217) 321-3015 - mkuchar@iiaofil.org

Chief Executive Officer Phil Lackman, IOM - (217) 321-3005 - plackman@iiaofil.org

Central/Southern Marketing Representative Lori Mahorney, CISR Elite - (217) 415-7550 - lmahorney@iiaofil.org

Director of Government Relations Evan Manning - (217) 321-3002 - emanning@iiaofil.org

Office Administrator Kristi Osmond, CISR - (217) 321-3007 - kosmond@iiaofil.org

Director of Communications Rachel Romines - (217) 321-3024 - rromines@iiaofil.org

Director of Membership Services Tom Ross, CRIS, CPIA - (217) 321-3003 - tross@iiaofil.org

Products & Services Administrator Janet White, CISR - (217) 321-3010 - jwhite.indep12@insuremail.net

Director of Prof. Liability & Ins. Products Carol Wilson, CPIA - (217) 321-3011 - cwilson.indep12@insuremail.net

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Girl Scout Cookies and Best-Selling Lines of Insurance

Recently, the granddaughter of one our partners came into our office to sell Girl Scout Cookies. While her sale’s pitch may need a little improvement, she did fantastic for a 7-year-old, and sold a fair amount of girl scout cookies. (I am down for 8 boxes so far).

Soon after her visit, I did some google searching and found that annually over 200 million boxes of Girl Scout Cookies are sold each season. (that’s 200 billion calories worth of cookies).

The best-selling Girl Scout cookies are:

• 25% - Thin Mints

• 19% - Samoas

• 13% - Peanut Butter Patties/Tagalongs

• 11% - Peanut Butter Sandwich/Do-si-dos

• 9% - Shortbread/Trefoils

• 23% - Other assorted other varieties combine to account for the remaining

I think that I have purchased girl scout cookies every year for about 30 years. I know I have eaten them for at least 35 years straight. In that time, the salesperson has changed probably 45 times (yes, I have used multiple buyers some years, I may have an addiction).

Of course, that led me down a rabbit hole, and brought me to the stats below.

The best-selling lines of insurance (as a percentage of total policy premium) in 2021 were:

• 33.5% - Private Passenger Auto Insurance

• 14.8% - Homeowners Insurance

• 12.4% - Commercial Liability

• 7.2% - Workers Compensation

• 6.6% - Commercial Auto

• 6.3% - Commercial Mutli-Perils

I am not sure what any of this means, or what it has to do with Girl Scout Cookies. I have been a Peanut Butter Patty man most of my life. Pretty much my go to Girl Scout Cookie. However, looking at these numbers, maybe I am not giving thin mints a chance.

Just like the girl scouts, our agency sets goals. We look to market and make sales where the opportunity is greatest. Personally, I had no idea that personal auto insurance accounted for such a large portion of our industry. My next project will be to analyze the breakdown of my office and see where the opportunities lie within our book of business.

For the month of February, I will continue to talk in code. My sales staff has no idea what I mean when I tell them that our Thin Mint only clients need Samoas as well. But dammit they do.

My book of the month is a recommendation by the girl scout’s grandpa, a Patrick Wyman book called The Verge, Reformation, Renaissance, And Forty Years That Shook the World 1490-1530.

President Lesch with Arachas Group staff, including the Girl Scout’s grandpaGreg Mattingly, second from left.

Carrier Relationships

Quite frankly, our industry is about relationships, as is most of our personal life. The old golden rule of treating others as you wish to be treated is most prevalent in our industry as it is in any other industry. One of the biggest mistakes I see in our industry is that most of our relationship focus is on our clients. I know, I know - without that relationship, there is nothing. But one question that becomes prevalent in our industry is, “”Who do I work for?””

For those captive agents, it is an easy answer. You work for the carrier. In those cases, the most important relationship is the carrier. The carrier will form the relationship with their clients through national ad campaigns. You noticed that I said their (carrier) clients. It is more about how the carrier sets itself apart from other carriers. Those consumers are buying insurance from the captive, not from Joe or Jane Schmo agent. Product diversity is non-existent as the coverage choices are limited. As a matter of fact, one of the biggest captives deals mainly in personal lines, as commercial products require a deeper level of knowledge and trust that must be developed person to person and not from carrier to person. My personal insurance was with a captive for years (we all make mistakes), and I never had any contact with my agent as my original (friend) agent left. They reassigned me to someone I did not know and was located in an inconvenient location. I know I should have started the article with – “Hello, I’m Brett and I’m a recovering captive insured.” My point is that there was no

agent relationship, and the only relationship was mailers that I got from the captive carrier.

Now let us expand on the relationship matrix when you are an independent agent. Where do I begin? The carrier, of course, because if you don’t have that, you don’t have anything to sell your clients. There are multiple relationships to manage through this channel, and the larger the number of carriers you represent, the larger the task it is to manage those relationships. Captive agents work for the carrier. Independent agents work for themselves, their carriers, and their clients. Independent clients are not just a market share or number, but they are family (if you are good). Carrier representatives such as marketing representatives and underwriters are family as well (if you are good). I would say clients are like your children, as you want to protect them and provide them with peace of mind. Carrier representatives are co-parents. As the saying goes – “”It takes a village…”” The better the relationships you cultivate with your carrier representatives, the better your clients are taken care of.

Let’s expand - underwriters can be your best friend or your worst enemy. They want your relationship to be thorough, organized, a solid risk, and profitable. You will learn from the underwriter what the company’s appetite is for certain risks and particular things they will look for when underwriting. The easier you make their job, the easier they

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will make your life. Marketing representatives are there to support you in driving products and sales. The more you engage them and make them believe you care, the more they will engage with you. These two relationships are your direct connections to the company. If you have one or two company contracts, this process will be easier, but you will have fewer choices (unless you broker). If you have five or more company contracts, this relationship job becomes more difficult but offers you the best chance to be successful in providing your clients with peace of mind.

Too often, agents do not appreciate or use these relationships to their full advantage. The best marketing representatives I have encountered were once agents and understand your trials and tribulations the best. You need to utilize this fact to enhance this relationship or find other common ground to expand your relationship. The way to gauge how good this relationship is, is to look at how often they touch base with you by phone or email or visit your agency in person. If they communicate with you once a year, you should work on the relationship. Often, underwriters are someone you never meet in person. I think that the underwriter relationship has always been the most difficult to manage. In today’s marketplace, it has become easier as you can do a Zoom, Team, or Go-toMeeting and put a face to the person. It’s easy to tell you no in an email but it becomes harder when they have to look you in the eye and tell you no (video chat). Think about how you grow your carrier relationships, as they are just as important as your client relationships and should get the same or more effort than you invest in your client relationships. If you provide value to your carriers (volume, experience, and peace of mind), they will provide the highest level of value that they can provide you without doing anything illegal. If you think about it, look at your existing relationships with your carriers. I would bet the best ones are the ones you have the most success with and place the majority of your clients with.

This industry is so intertwined in that an agent you work with may become an underwriter or carrier marketing representative and/or a future client. Just because you are having a bad day doesn’t mean that they need to now have a bad day as well. People remember bad interactions way more easily than they remember good interactions. One bad interaction can erase numerous good interactions. Respect, cherish, cultivate, and work on all of your relationships as you are in a relationship industry, and the biggest part of that industry is your carriers. If this was prior to COVID, I would say hug your carrier representative (if they accepted hugs).

The client relationship is what most of you do well. Still, the easy buttons are: client contact or touches (not physically), review risks and suggest the best way to cover those new or existing risks, be proactive instead of reactive and be available/help whenever needed. In your client’s mind their insurance is through you and not the carrier you placed them with for their insurance needs.

Lastly, my sage advice part of this column (new thing) is: Don’t eat the yellow snow unless it’s from the Ice Deli and lemonade flavored.

Should you have any questions regarding this issue, do not hesitate to reach out to me directly. As always, this is just Brett’s 2 Sense and I hope it was helpful. If you need any clarification or have any suggestions for future articles, please email me at bgerger@iiaofil.org.

Composite Personal Lines Rates Increase

5.2% in Fourth Quarter 2022

Cat-Exposed Homeowners Accounts Continue to Experience Large Rate Increases

The composite rate for all personal lines coverages increased 5.2% in the fourth quarter of 2022, a rate which held steady for most of the entire year.

In the fourth quarter 2022, homes under $1,000,000 in coverage A value were up 7%, while homes over $1,000,000 were up 7.3%.

“We constantly remind our subscribers that the composite rate for homeowners includes homes in all geographic regions,” said Richard Kerr, Founder of MarketScout and CEO of Novatae Risk Group. “Catastrophe-prone areas, such as wildfire zones in California and wind-exposed Florida locations, are being assessed higher rate increases, sometimes as much as 30% to 40%. Reforms recently enacted by the Florida legislature may help moderate rate increases for all homes in Florida, but any home which is wind exposed will still experience rate increases.”

Automobile insurance rates are trending upwards with the fourth quarter composite measuring an increase of 5%.

Personal articles, jewelry and fine art rates have been steadily increasing at a moderate pace. The fourth quarter increase was 4%.

The National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research conducted pricing surveys used in MarketScout’s analysis of market conditions. These surveys help to further corroborate MarketScout’s actual findings, mathematically driven by new and renewal placements across the United States.

A Summary of the fourth quarter 2022 personal lines rates is set forth below.

By MarketBarometer

US Commercial Lines Insurance Composite Rate Increases

5.1% in

Annualized 2022 Rate Increase is 5.7%

The composite rate for US commercial insurance rates was up 5.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022. Annualized, the composite rate for 2022 is 5.7%, resulting in commercial rate increases for the sixth consecutive year.

The composite rate for all property insurance continues to be challenging with a rate increase of 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Certain cat-exposed commercial properties are being assessed increases as high as 25% to 30%.

“On January 1, 2023, property cat reinsurance renewals were completed except in instances of poor underwriting and continuous losses,” said Richard Kerr, Founder of MarketScout and now CEO of newly formed Novatae Risk Group. “Virtually everyone was assessed more restrictive terms and conditions. The trickle down will have a notable effect on the profits of property MGAs and program managers due to lower base commissions.”

Cyber insurance rates continue to increase the most aggressively at plus 20% in the fourth quarter. However, there is a trend towards slight moderation.

By industry classification, contractors and trucking risks were assessed the highest rate increases in the fourth quarter at plus 6% and 7.3% respectively.

Kerr forecasted the 2023 insurance environment by noting, “If there is a slowdown in the economy and/or the Fed continues to increase interest rates, we may well see moderation in insurance rates. In the early 1980s, insurers did account for an interest income float on premiums received, better known as Cash Flow underwriting. This concept was mostly applied to longer tail casualty lines which have slower and longer claims pay outs. As insurers accounted for the increased income from interest rate payments on premiums paid, rates were adjusted downward. Arguably, an insurer could write at a 100% combined loss ratio because the interest they received on booked premiums was 12% to 20%. We are a long way from seeing interest rates at those levels, but even at 5% it will have a positive impact on the ROI of some insurers, possibly resulting in a moderation of rate increases.”

The National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research conducted pricing surveys used in MarketScout’s analysis of market conditions. These surveys help to further corroborate MarketScout’s actual findings, mathematically driven by new and renewal placements across the United States.

Fourth Quarter 2022

By MarketBarometer

A summary of the fourth quarter 2022 rates by coverage, industry class and account size is set forth below.

Coverage Class

Find, Build Succeed and

How to Insurance Niche

By Safeco/Agent for the Future

in an

Finding and building a specialized insurance practice can be challenging.

In a recent PC360 webinar, Finding Success in a Niche Market: Building Blocks for Agents & Brokers, sponsored by Safeco Insurance, agents and industry experts shared their tips for building a brand as a niche expert.

Here are some of the highlights from the conversation:

The Benefits of Specialization

Drew Tewksbury, director of sales and marketing for McGowan Allied Specialty Insurance, said that finding a niche helped his agency stand out.

Instead of competing with thousands of generalist agents in his state, he could compete with just four or five outstanding brokerages across the country that specialized in the same area.

Brook McGuire, product strategy lead for Safeco Insurance, said that having a niche helps agents target their marketing and prospecting, making for higher conversion rates. Plus, expertise in a particular area builds trust and brings in referrals.

“The best benefit is that you’re competing on your knowledge and expertise and not your ability to turn around the fastest or cheapest quote,” McGuire said.

How to Find Your Niche

“I’m a big fan of trying to find places to fish where other people aren’t fishing,” said Rachael Rizzi, vice president of risk management for Branch Benefits Consultants, explaining that emerging markets and emerging risks can be great places to find a niche. If you’re willing to take a risk and figure out how to help clients in those emerging places, you will automatically own that niche, she said.

McGuire suggested agents start by finding something they love or know a lot about and building a niche around it. After all, she said, there’s an unlimited number of niches. You could specialize in insurance boat owners, or horse owners, or model train enthusiasts.

For his part, Tewksbury said he found his niche by looking at his book of business and identifying an underserved industry. He started asking a lot of questions and doing deep dives in the industry segments to learn about the market.

How to Build a Successful Practice Around a Niche

Once an agent has identified a potential niche, it’s time to do a lot of research, Rizzi said.

Where are your potential customers getting coverage now? What are their pain points? Who are the big players in the niche? How can you add value that they’re not getting now?

It’s important to understand the marketplace for that niche from a holistic, 360-degree view, she said.

Michael Herzak II, vice president of Insurance Systems Group, Inc., says it’s also important to find good carrier partners. Agents should ask carriers about their appetite for the particular niche, their knowledge in the niche industry, and their history with insuring niche segments.

Tactics for Success

Succeeding in a niche requires that an agent establish themselves as a trusted expert in that space.

“Be everywhere,” Tewksbury said. “If you’re focusing on an industry, you have to be immersed in that industry so that people know you.”

This may include getting involved in local trade associations, writing articles for industry magazines and blogs, speaking at conferences or doing webinars.

It also helps find the ancillary groups that support that industry. For example, finding the attorneys or CPAs or regulators that work in that niche. Getting to know those people can help agents build a mutually beneficial referral network and also add value to clients by acting as a connector.

For those without a ton of expertise in a niche, McGuire said, it can help to talk to potential customers to get to know what’s important to them. This will help you test your ideas for marketing messages to see what connects. She suggests building a visible brand around the niche –creating business cards specific to the niche, building out a website or landing page on your agency website about your niche services, using social media to connect with others in the niche.

How to Tell if it’s Working

It can take some time to build momentum in a niche. McGuire suggested that agents be patient when things are getting started, slowly ramp up, and test marketing methods. She said to every prospect how they found your agency so you can focus on which channels are most effective.

Agents should also track their return on investment –how much they spent to acquire a new client – and their response rates for marketing messages.

Tewksbury advises agents to build a business plan that includes milestone goals for premium. Most agency management systems make it easy to track data, he says, and if you focus on the process, before you know it, you will reach those milestones and pass them.

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It’s important to understand the marketplace for that niche from a holistic, 360-degree view.

By Jenna Kleiber, Jenesis

The idea of creating a niche to grow your book of business for insurance agents is certainly not a new idea.

However, I often hear from insurance agents wanting to find their niche market, but unsure of where to start.

This is a common question as there is no perfect science to establishing yourself as an insurance expert in a particular niche. While that may seem frustrating, discovering a niche market that may work for you only requires four key components.

If you can tie these four components together, you will be well on your way to becoming an industry leader in a niche you love, understand, and provides long-term opportunity.

1 - Passion

Passion for a specific industry or type of coverage is how most agents begin the process of discovering their niche. I agree that this is the most important aspect, but it’s not the only qualification.

Having passion or love for a certain industry or segment is vital because you will be spending most of your time understanding, serving, and working directly inside this niche.

If your only reason to develop this niche is for commission, you will soon be chasing your tail in an industry you don’t enjoy or relate with. That’s no fun.

So how do you even know what you are passionate about?

The FOUR COMPONENTS of FINDING A NICHE for Your Insurance Agency

By Brent Kelly

The easiest way to find your passion is to ask yourself a few questions:

• What type of industry (restaurant, computer service, dog groomers, etc) do you personally enjoy dealing with? Why?

• What types of business do your frequent or research most often?

• What industry or business segments has you the most curious?

• If you could go to a trade show event (not in the insurance industry), which one would you choose?

When you answer these questions you will soon discover specific key industries and segments that stir your passion.

This is so important because if you follow my marketing strategy, you will be living and breathing this industry or segment. You will have a burning want to help those within this niche. You will have enthusiasm to serve with excellence and give new insurance ideas and services to help their businesses succeed. Now that is fun!

Although having passion for a niche is imperative, it is certainly not the only reason. Let’s talk about the second aspect of finding and developing a niche in your insurance business.

2 - Ability

Ability can come in various forms. Let me explain. Let’s say you are newer to the insurance industry, but spent 10 years running a restaurant. Although you are not a restaurant insurance expert (yet), you are still certainly a high level expert within restaurant industry.

Remember with any niche it is just as important, check that, more important, that you understand the industry you are serving as the insurance nuances that go with that industry.

Does this mean you can get away with being an insurance dunce? Of course not! You must learn the terms, coverages, and policy language.

Businesses are more interested that you understand their business, than talk about your business.

Ability can also come from handling multiple accounts in a certain industry or segment. Maybe you write a few accounts within an industry segment, but haven’t really focused your time in this market. If you enjoy that industry (passion), have access to top-notch policies (insurance markets), you may have already started a profitable niche.

The last aspect of ability is actually not having any experience at all. Now this may sound counter-intuitive, but let me explain. If I hired a new producer with no business experience (I like challenges), I would highly consider finding a niche or two that would be their focus. This would be in correlation with their passion, available markets and opportunity.

I would have that agent research the ins and outs of that niche or segment both from insurance coverage and industry knowledge perspective. I would make them write blog posts or social media updates (approved first) about that niche and how they can serve them. Not only will they learn a great deal about the specific coverages and insurance nuances, but they will begin to develop credibility and deeper knowledge of that industry quickly.

In my opinion, most new agents try to learn everything all at once. This often results in low knowledge retention and lack of credibility.

Today’s consumers want to buy from a somebody, not a nobody.

I’m aware that this approach may not work in all situations as this process can take longer to develop long-term momentum, but is well worth it.

The point with these examples is that ability can come in various ways. You don’t have to be an expert on day one, but you do have to begin to place yourself as the expert and push forward every day.

So you have passion for a specific industry or segment and ability. What’s next?

3 - Markets

You can have all the passion in the world and ability, but if you have no markets to use, you have just wasted a considerable amount of time.

You need to partner with at least 2–3 quality insurance markets that can serve, support, and help you market your niche business.

I have seen agents go gangbusters with one insurance carrier only to see that program disappear after a time. That is not only sad, but it’s disastrous.

If your markets can see your passion and ability in a particular niche that they specialize in, you will have their support. If not right away, definitely after you write a few accounts with them.

Accessing multiple markets also allows you to serve your niche at a higher level. Not every insurance company program is the same and you can design insurance programs with the insurance market that best fits your customer’s needs. You can’t be a one size fits all insurance agent.

This goes well beyond the typical marketing approach of insurance agents were the key value proposition is you have access to multiple markets. As a niche market expert in your industry or segment, you will already be building relationships and have credibility. Now you also will be providing the absolute best insurance company and coverage options designed specifically for that niche.

That is where you can fully leverage the power of your niche.

Passion, ability, markets…………..there is one last step before you start collecting all those commission dollars.

4 - Opportunity

Before you fully commit to your niche marketing strategy, you need to understand the opportunity and do your homework.

This requires asking yourself more important questions.

• How many potential customers are in this niche?

• What is my geographical reach?

• What is the average premium per client for these industries or segments?

• Who are the key competitors, how much market share do they have, are they utilizing the same insurance markets?

• What is the best way to reach these businesses (locally, online, events)?

• What is the sales cycle for this industry or segment (from attraction, to sales, to policy delivery and service)?

• The answers to these questions will spell out the full opportunity of working with this niche.

Bottom Line

This entire process does take time and forethought, but is vital to make sure you target a niche that will excite and sustain you.

Find your passion, leverage or develop your experience, find the best markets, and understand the opportunity.

Once you have these four satisfied, you are ready to jump in, become a trusted expert, have fun, and make some money!

Brent Kelly is the President of Sitkins Group, Inc. As a sought-after expert in the industry, he has worked with several of the top 100 agencies in the country to help them gain clarity, build consistency, and maximize their performance. For more information, go to www.sitkins.com.

How to Set PRODUCER SALES GOALS

By Kelly Donahue-Piro

Setting insurance producer sales goals can be overwhelming. Many agencies aren’t sure where to start. You don’t want to set a low goal and be unprofitable or set a lower-than-ideal expectation for producers.

On the flip side, you don’t want to put the insurance producer sales goal too high and make it too hard to attain.

There’s also another consideration when setting sales goals. Producers will likely have different roles and responsibilities. Some may service and sell, some only sell, and some producers only target opportunities over a certain threshold.

In this article, we want to review how every agency can set insurance producer sales goals by having a clear roadmap that works for you.

SETTING INSURANCE PRODUCER SALES GOALS

As you start your journey in setting goals, you want to have a few things ready for review. This checklist identifies several factors that will help you establish successful sales goals. We’ll also share our recommendations for personal lines vs. commercial lines sales goals.

What Percentage of Their Time Is Spent On Sales Insurance producers may wear many hats in many agencies. Some of these items include:

• Servicing and selling

• Servicing their book

• Being a mentor to other agents

• Handling renewals

• Handling remarkets or reshops

• Other roles and responsibilities

Prospecting vs. Inbound Leads

There is a difference between agencies that provide leads and expected prospect agents. Generally, inbound opportunities tend to be smaller, and outbound tend to be fewer in quantity but more significant in premium. In many agencies, the expectation is a combination of both prospecting and inbound.

Insurance Agent Experience

When you are a new producer, it can take some time to build your pipeline (but it can’t take too much time!) Insurance producer sales goals should be readjusted every year. Their sales goals should be adjusted as agents grow and build a pipeline and relationships.

Profitability

Producers must pay for themselves! While this can take a bit of time (generally 3-4 years), you must ensure that the producer is on track for profitability each year. We do recommend that this is an open and transparent conversation.

Alignment With Company Growth

Many agency owners miss the opportunity to tie producer goals directly into the agency growth goals. For example, if you wanted to grow your agency by 10%, you would need to identify the following:

• Retention Rate

• Estimated Premium Increases

• Your sales team needs goals that will fill the gap

If these goals are too high, you may need to look at investing in another producer or spreading the sales between the service team (cross-selling) and producers focused on new business.

Identifying A Target Client

Desperate sales agents bring in desperate clients. We do strongly recommend that agencies identify their target client. Some considerations include:

• Minimum Premium

• Minimum Coverage

• Policy Count

• It’s ok to say no to customers who aren’t the best fit for your agency!

We want to encourage every agency to find sales goals that work for you! When you take off-the-shelf sales goals you may be missing the mark.

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” -Tony Robbins

When creating personal lines insurance producer goals, you want to consider the type of opportunities you are targeting. For many agencies they identify:

• Lender referrals

• Client referrals

• Web leads

• Paid leads

• Any other lead sources you may work on

In reality, paid and lender leads can have very different closing ratios. We do strongly recommend that every agency engages in tracking their closing ratios. You want to ensure that your department always runs a substantial profit margin!

Here is the reality, a producer that only focuses on new business (or mainly does!) should be hitting $45,000 in new premium sales every month. We, in fact, have many agencies hitting $60,000 or top months at $100,000 in new business premiums. We find many agencies can find these numbers shocking. However, these numbers are possible when you find the right person, process, and work to manage your time! These stats don’t happen by accident, but they do happen by intention.

In order to get to these numbers you may need to help scale the department. You may have someone who is handling file prep, quoting, post-binding, etc. In addition, the agents hitting these numbers have all invested in a CRM tool that helps them track, manage and automate their sales.

Setting Realistic Goals

When we work with agencies, we like to help them set realistic goals that they can work toward. Remember, there are a lot of factors we have listed on how to set goals. As part of our Agency Growth Program, we work with

every agency to set realistic goals – with the idea that we will keep increasing the goals as the agency’s sales team strengthens.

Here is how we start the process:

• Identify the agency’s total growth target

1. Determine the average retention rate

2. Select a standard rate increase (this is often an estimate)

3. Do the math – find what you would need to sell to hit the annual growth target

• Next, identify how many team members will write new business

1. How much do you want to grow in each department

2. What percentage of growth should come from sales or service

• The service team should have a cross-selling goal or a “tee up” goal for sales

• Just a note, everyone can generate an opportunity and get it into the hands of a sales agent!

• Now you can identify what the sales producers need to sell to hit your goal, but there is more!

1. Once you have your number you want to identify who your sales agents are. Remember each one may have different tenure or types of leads they are working on! You can set your goals based on what the sales agents did last year and be sure to increase that number.

In personal lines, identify a few sales goals to focus on:

• The number of Quotes Per Month: personal lines start with opportunity. Personal insurance producers tend to be more inbound, but they should also be working on unsold quotes, lost customers, and referrals. Every personal sales agent should have control and the ability to add to their pipeline.

• Closing Ratio Goal: In sales, there are only two challenges: closing ratio and enough leads. The sales agent can control the closing ratio! Sales agents can control their closing ratio when they have the right process. Success for personal lines tends to be in the follow-up and asking for the agency’s business process. The challenge we see is that far too many agencies have a quoting process but no sales process. Our Agency Growth Training helps to fix this.

• New Business Sales Goal: I love setting revenue goals for all sales agents. However, if you are new to setting goals, revenue may be over complicated. In personal lines, commission rates can be all over the map. Premium is simple, but revenue is better! You want to set a monthly goal to hit for everyone.

Examples of Personal Insurance Producer Sales Goals

We wanted to share with you a sample of a monthly personal lines producer goal:

• Monthly Premium Goal: $45,000

• Closing Ratio: 50%

• Quotes: 75 Policy Quotes (this is 3.75 policy quotes per day!)

How To Set Commercial Lines Producer Sales Goals

Commercial line sales really should be split between inbound (call-in business) and producer-generated. Many

agencies have producers also take calls in business, but we find that producers tend to aggressively wait for the phone to ring. This means they stop prospecting and become dependent on calls in business which tends to be lower in premium. We always recommend that agencies define their producer roles and lead types. For call-in business, you can follow the above personal lines goal strategy.

While many agencies struggle to find outbound commercial producers (they can tend to be as rare as unicorns), there are many great b2b sales professionals in many communities. You have to get creative, find them from other industries, and train them on insurance. The reality is you need someone who can generate opportunity – the agency can always help them with insurance.

For commercial sales agents, you may often have to invest in a decent base salary to attract them to your agency. Your commercial producer team needs to contribute to your overall agency goals, but most importantly, they need to be on track to generate an ROI. Early on (6 months), we recommend heavily focusing on activity goals.

It will be fine if a sales agent can get appointments and expiration dates! If they get stuck behind the desk, it’s generally a sign that the leader needs to address the producer to get them in alignment with activity goals.

“Motivation will almost always beat mere talent.”

-Norman Ralph Augustine

For producers that are prospecting, we recommend that you set a premium or revenue minimum that they focus on. You do not want your producer farming business that you could quite possibly call in. Outbound producers need to be focused on generating opportunities from larger targets. For every region and agency, this target may be different. Agencies can generally start with $2500 in commission.

For commercial producers to be valuable to agencies they need to have a monthly goal of $7200 in commission revenue per month. Many agents are targeting higher than that. Newer producers generally need to be worked up to this level as they grow and build their pipeline.

In commercial lines, identify a few sales goals to focus on:

• Number of Appointments per Month: Commercial production is all about appointments. Commercial insurance producers need to generate activity. With appointments come expiration dates. Expiration dates fill the producer’s pipeline for the future. In most of the larger businesses, you need to work several weeks in advance. A ripe and rich pipeline is where every producer needs to focus.

• Application Goals: Once you have the expiration date, you need to work on them to submit the application. If you can work towards a target goal of applications to submit every month, hitting your monthly sales goal should not be an issue! If your commercial producers need sales training take a look at the APP Commercial Sales Course.

• New Business Sales Goal: Commercial sales agents should be targeting a revenue goal. The main reason is that states with Workers’ compensation policies those policies can be large but also have low commissions. You want your team looking to hit a dollar amount. In addition, commercial agents should really like money. Their commission is tied to revenue, not premium. Now, depending on the size of commercial agents you are targeting, you may want to lean on a quarterly goal. If they are whale hunting, they may not find a whale every month!

How To Handle When Producers Are Not Hitting Their Sales Goals

We see many agencies that hold on to non-producing producers for too long. Agencies love having producers and often struggle with accountability. For many agencies, the non-producing producers have strong ties in the community, and there is a fear that letting them go will leave a negative mark on the agency.

The reality is that producers must produce. It’s a math equation. Where many agencies struggle is a lack of transparency in expectations and tracking. To ensure you have the right producer team, you need to set clear goals, and starting with this blog; you can do that!

But what do you do if you have the tracking and clear goals and it’s just not working? Don’t fear accountability. Remember, clarity is kind – do not sugarcoat the situation! We believe in a three-strike rule. Every goal missed is a strike at any point in time in a rolling 12 months.

There is a three-strike rule; after each strike, there is a written warning and action plan that the agency works on with the producer. The goal is to alert them they are off track and invest in them to bring them on track. After three strikes, they should be on a performance improvement plan that could lead to termination.

While these discussions are challenging, they are critical. Producers who aren’t producing are taking up valuable agency resources, and agencies need to address this upfront and sooner than later.

Kelly Donahue-Piro, founder and president of Agency Performance Partners, is a no-nonsense effectiveness expert who has helped hundreds of insurance agencies identify and capitalize on sustainable improvement opportunities. Connect with her on social platforms, via email at kelly@ agencyperformancepartners.com, or by phone at 401-4156205.

When you are a new producer, it can take some time to build your pipeline (but it can’t take too much time!) Insurance producer sales goals should be readjusted every year. Their sales goals should be adjusted as agents grow and build a pipeline and relationships.

By Katy Kelly

For commercial agents, insurance selling strategies might not always be as straightforward as it is for consumer agents. The B2B buying process can be longer and more complex. For one, B2B insurance selling strategies might depend on forming relationships and convincing several stakeholders within a company to make one sale. Compared with the one-on-one process that often occurs with B2C.

“B2B consumers often involve multiple people and teams in their purchasing decisions. Rapport can still be built, but it will take longer and requires more investment by all parties,” notes BlueCart, which provides software to the hospitality industry.

Even for small businesses, multiple founders or partners might be involved in the buying process. In cases where there’s only one decision-maker within the company, they still might want to dive deeper than the average consumer. Like if the policy limits are higher than they typically deal with or if they’re new to a certain line of insurance that doesn’t apply to the consumer level.

There are still several ways commercial agents can improve insurance selling strategies. Keep in mind that the process might involve more relationship building and more time to close the deal. In this article, we’ll explore five insurance selling strategies for commercial agents. They can help insurers generate new leads and progress them through the journey from prospect to customer.

#1: Run Targeted Digital Ads

Running digital ads for commercial insurance doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll quickly close new deals the same way an e-commerce ad might. E-commerce is geared toward a consumer to make an impulse buy online. But you can start the sales process through targeted ads.

For example, learn what prospective customers tend to be researching online. That can then lead to insurance agents creating targeted search ads that apply to relevant keywords. You could run an ad for “small business insurance.” But an insurer might target more specific terms like, “financial risk for restaurants” or “workers’ comp for manufacturers.” To find these terms, you might use a mix of keyword research tools (e.g., Ahrefs). Or look at your website’s internal analytics, ask customers what they’re trying to learn about, etc.

You might run targeted social media ads to get in front of the types of customers you specialize in. This could be more successful than trying to appeal to all types of small businesses.

Those targeted digital ads can lead to content on your website. Or a separate landing page that helps explain your offerings and enables prospects to see the value your offerings could provide to their businesses. The actual purchasing process can still take time. Ideally you can make prospects aware of your company and start to build relationships from there. A great and simple start is to get them to sign up for your email list.

#2: Give Leads a Reason to Share Contact Info

Agents ideally want to give leads a reason to share their contact info. After they click on a targeted digital ad, you could send them to a landing page for a whitepaper that provides educational information they want for their business. In exchange for downloading this whitepaper, you might ask visitors to fill out a form with their contact info and agree to be contacted by you.

You might not necessarily get as many readers as you would if you just made that whitepaper readily available online for all to see, but you could gain the benefit of getting high-quality leads to share their contact info directly with you.

“If a content marketing team creates gated content, it forces only those that really want the ‘free gift’ in exchange for their personal details to sign-up. Although the content marketing team may register a drop in the total number of leads, the quality of leads will greatly improve,” explains UnboundB2B, a lead generation company.

#3: Partner With Other Businesses

Another useful insurance selling strategy is to partner with other businesses on sales and marketing when possible. Doing so can expand your reach.

One option might be to partner with others who are closely involved with business formation, such as lawyers or accountants. That way, when a new business owner is getting started, another professional can recommend your insurance services as a value-add to their clients. Just like a real estate agent might recommend a contractor who can help a new homeowner with renovations.

You might find opportunities to partner with other types of businesses for joint marketing activities. An insurance agent might team up with an HR consultant to create a whitepaper about how startups can improve employee retention. Doing so could help you create better content that draws in more prospects. As you both put resources into marketing the content, it could potentially drive more traffic than either of you could do alone.

#4: Become a Presence in Your Community

This doesn’t mean commercial insurance agents need to abandon local, offline efforts. Instead, becoming a notable presence within your community can help you become the go-to commercial insurance agent for other small businesses in your area.

“Ideally, that kind of local notoriety can become selfperpetuating, with the business’s reputation doubling as free advertising, drawing in new business and allowing owners to focus on keeping their customers happy and reputation thriving,” notes BenchmarkONE, which provides small business sales and marketing software.

To form this presence, you might take steps like:

• Sponsoring community events/activities, e.g., youth sports or volunteer events

• Joining and getting active with business/community groups, like your local Chamber of Commerce or Rotary club

• Utilizing visible office space; even though office space needs may have changed over the past couple years, you still might find that maintaining an office in a highly trafficked area, where your name can be prominently visible, could lead to better brand awareness

#5: Upsell Current Customers

Lastly, don’t overlook your current customers. One of the best insurance selling strategies can be to go deeper with your current customers. Whether that means upselling them with new lines of coverage or getting them to expand their existing policies.

You don’t want to be overly aggressive with upselling. Instead, it may work better to frame these additional sales as value-added opportunities you’re offering to clients at convenient times. Like during renewal periods. If you offer a free consultation to review their business needs before they renew, for example, you might together find that there’s now a greater need for adding lines like cyber insurance.

Even if it doesn’t work out right away in terms of selling more to current customers, you might be able to form deeper relationships with clients during these types of reviews. That can lead to more sales later, while also potentially encouraging current clients to recommend you to new prospects.

Close the Deal

Using these types of insurance selling strategies can help you find more leads and move them through the funnel. You still need the right tools to actually close the deal. That’s where solutions like Wheelhouse come in. Prospects can easily generate quotes online and insurance agents can use the platform to simplify the sales process. Rather than prospects getting frustrated with the time and energy it can take to obtain quotes and process the paperwork. A smooth sales process, supported by Wheelhouse, can help insurance agents close more deals.

Katy Kelly is the Director of Marketing of Talage, a submission management platform for commercial insurance. She is a 2-time graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno with a BA and MA in Journalism with 10+ years of experience in marketing and communications. In her tenure as a marketing professional, she has helped thousands of marketers, sales professionals, and other business professionals learn about and leverage marketing and sales techniques for growth and brand awareness.

There are still several ways commercial agents can improve insurance selling strategies. Keep in mind that the process might involve more relationship building and more time to close the deal.

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Eligibility Criteria

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Be a high school senior Plan to pursue an agricultural area of study, including, but not limited to, farm labor, grower, farm/ranch management, biology, horticulture, farm science, agriculture sales or insurance

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Be a US Citizen residing in Illinois

All applications must be received by March 1, 2023. Incomplete applications or those received after the deadline will not be considered.

A Roadmap to Commercial Insurance Sales Success

By Jeff Swanson

Commercial niche marketing for insurance agencies can be a very effective way to build a profitable, and stable commercial book of business. However, especially in smaller agencies, principals often hire commercial producers and do not create a formal written plan for the producer and therefore have no way of monitoring the sales activity. Quality salespeople want a track to run on so that they can achieve their income goals and be successful.

I have heard producers say that they want to make “X” amount in their first year, but they have no idea what activity is required to allow them to achieve their income goal. Too often we see a new commercial producer hired and the agency owner says, “go out there and bring in some business”. Unfortunately, what often happens is the producer comes back with too much Excess & Surplus Lines business or business that does not align with the agency’s preferred markets.

The E&S business will pay lower commissions which affects both the producer’s and agency’s income, increases the agency’s E&O, and does not allow the agency to maximize on their contingencies with their companies.

Develop a realistic sales plan for the producer. The plan should outline the expected number of initial calls to be made, first meetings with the business owner, the gathering of information, the presentation of proposals and the expected close ratio. Make it clear with the producer that the goal is to generate business that matches up with the appetite of the agency’s top preferred/standard carriers.

Most carriers will provide a list of the top 50 classes of business they want to write, but when you line these lists up, they begin to look the same. The producer should meet with company sales rep and ask, “what are the top 3-5

classes of business where your company has the highest close ratio. I have seen carriers come back with close ratios as high as 70% so go after these businesses. These are the classes of business that the producer should target, and this is a recipe for their success.

As the agency principal, let the producer know that you are investing a great deal of time and money and you want to see them succeed, but they must do their part and adhere to the sales plan. Bring their support person (CSR or Account Manager) into the meetings. For the first six months, set aside time each week to review the producer’s progress. If they are not meeting their goals, have a discussion as to why. Sometimes there may need to be adjustments to the plan. Discuss if there are any additional tools and resources that they may need. Maybe there is some additional continuing education or training that would help them be better risk advisors and help them in meeting their goals.

We sometimes overlook and do not take full advantage of what tools and resources the carriers can provide. Schedule quarterly meetings to have the producer meet with the carrier reps to review any new coverages or resources that are available.

Giving your producers a roadmap is not only a helpful planning tool for them, it’s also a better way for your to keep track of their progress. With guidance, goals, and support, your producers’ potential for success will increase substantially.

Jeff Swanson is a Business Consultant for Agency Focus. He can be reached at jeff@agency-focus.com.

Five Things to Consider When

SELLING YOUR AGENCY

By Jeff Smith, JD, CIC

The process of selling your agency can be a long and winding road. As an agency owner, your agency has become a major part of your identity and is synonymous with your name in your community (often times the agency is the owner’s name). You have spent countless hours and energy building your business, serving your clients, and engaging with your company partners and now you have reached the decision to sell.

In addition to the emotional attachment to the agency and clients, there are also many objective considerations you must contemplate when selling your agency. Aside from the financial/retirement, tax, and legal considerations, there are many immediate issues you must address related to the process of selling your agency. Below is a list of 5 things you should consider when preparing to sell your agency:

01 Define What You Want

Before you start the process, establish exactly what you want and need at the conclusion of the sale. Objectively define what the result looks like. For every engagement we have with agency owners, we start with an extensive intake interview where we determine the priorities for the sale. Ask yourself questions about the following areas: value of the agency, financial component (lump sum, payment over time, earn out, etc.), client transition, buyer culture, staff, your future work-related obligations, legacy, agency name and location, and carrier relationships.

Pro tip – this is often the most overlooked part of the process but the most important. You must start with a baseline of your expectations to find the right fit for you and to be able to articulate that to prospective buyers. If you do not know exactly what you want, it is unlikely that a seller will know what you want and how to meet your needs.

02 Multiple Options

Do you want to consider multiple options in the selling process? This will require you to have a process to vet multiple buyers and conduct due diligence to ensure you find the right partner for your needs.

Pro tip – be sure to require every prospective buyer to sign an NDA prior to engaging in any discussions with the prospect. It may sound harmless enough to talk to an old agent friend about potentially selling your agency to them but as soon as the word gets out in your community that you are considering selling, you will have wished you required an NDA.

03 Multiple Offers

Do you want to consider multiple offers? While you can engage multiple prospective buyer options, there is an art to getting multiple offers through the process. You will need to make sure that you and the prospective buyers you are considering are a match and you should understand their acquisition experience and abilities. In addition, you should have a process to objectively compare the offers and negotiate the best deal for you.

Pro tip – while agencies have great value today, that is not a guarantee that every agency or PE buyer is interested in making an offer for your agency. You must do the work in advance of engaging with the prospective buyer to ensure your agency is appealing to their business

Deal Valuations (2012-2021)

04 Maximizing Your Agency Value

Generally speaking, this is a sellers’ market where demand is high, and supply is limited. In addition, we are in the midst of the greatest wealth transfer in the IA system with baby boomers retiring and selling their agencies. We

continue to experience a very high M&A volume – with records being set almost every year. Private Equity buyers have invested between $25 - $35 Billion in resources buying independent agencies. IA market share continues to increase YOY. All of this has resulted in agency valuations reaching all-time highs.

Pro tip – While agency values have reached all-time highs, there is no guarantee that your agency is worth more. To maximize the value of your agency during the sale, we strongly encourage you to prepare by getting your agency in shape. First, gather all of the financial, production and performance related data on your agency. Second, get an independent fair market valuation to understand your value and risks in the agency. Third, address the risks, clean up the balance sheet and get your agency ready to sell.

05 Engaging the right Advisors in the Process

Who are the right advisors for you to engage in this process? We recommend establishing a relationship from the outset of this experience with the following professionals – M&A, Legal, Tax and Financial Advisors. Each advisor plays a distinct and important role for you in this process. Experienced advisors will guide you through the selling process – from NDAs to due diligence, LOIs to Purchase Agreements, tax and financial implications to your sale, these advisors will guide you through every stage of the process.

Pro tip – Take the stress out of selling and engage with an M&A Advisor from the start. There are many IA M&A Advisors that will manage the process from beginning to

end for you by sourcing prospective buyer candidates, putting them through an objective vetting and due diligence process so you can make a decision about what is best for your clients, legacy, staff and retirement. In our experience, we have found that sellers using Agency Link have on average 5 – 10 selling options, 3 offers and sell for 15% above their valuation.

In Summary, you are only going to sell your agency once, be sure to do it right from the outset. Give serious consideration to the 5 areas that we discussed in this article and you will be much happier with the process and the outcome you achieve in your sale. For additional information about Valuation and AgencyLink services, visit iavaluations.com or reach out9 to our team at contact@ iavaluations.com

Founded in 2017, the IA Valuations team has performed over 200 valuations to independent insurance agencies across the U.S. Our advisors have 25+ years of experience guiding agency owners on maximizing their agency value, planning, and legal needs for ownership transition. To learn more about IA Valuations, please visit IAValuations.com or contact@iavaluations.com.

The information provided in these documents is general in nature and shall not be construed as personal legal, tax or financial advice for your situation. Please contact@ iavaluations.com to discuss your personal situation.

Copyright ©2022 by IA Valuations and Ohio Insurance Agents Association (OIA). All rights reserved.

March 8 IA Valuations - Risk Factors in Your Agency Operations and Valuation

May 24 Independent Agency M&A Trends and Predictions

July 12 Minimizing the Risks of An Agency Acquisition

August 16 The Agent’s Perspective on Transitioning Your Agency - What Consolidation, Perpetuation and the Wave of Retirements means to Independent Agencies

October 25 Is Now the Right Time? IA Valuations Program

Thank you to our Associate Members.

Diamond Level

Platinum Level Progressive Surplus Line Association of Illinois

Silver Level

Imperial PFS

IMT Insurance

SECURA Insurance

Gold Level

Arlington/Roe

BlueCross/Blue Shield of IL

Keystone Insurance Group, Inc.

Pekin Insurance

West Bend Mutual Insurance Co.

Bronze Level

AAA Insurance

A. J. Wayne & Associates

AMERISAFE

AmTrust North America

Auto-Owners Insurance Co.

Badger Mutual Insurance Company

Berkley Management Protection

Berkshire Hathaway Guard Insurance Companies

BluSky Restoration Contractors

Central Illinois Mutual Insurance Company

Chubb

ClickVSC

Columbia Insurance Group

Continental Western Group

Cornerstone National Insurance Company

Cowbell Cyber

CRC Group

CRDN of Chicago (formerly Restoronics)

Donald Gaddis Company, Inc.

Donegal Insurance Group

EMC Insurance

Encova Insurance

Erie Insurance Group

Family Financial Solutions Group

Foremost Choice Property & Casualty

Forreston Mutual Insurance Company

Frankenmuth Insurance

Grange Insurance

Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company

Illinois Mine Subsidence Ins. Fund

Illinois Public Risk Fund

Indiana Farmers Insurance

Insurance Program Managers Group

J M Wilson

Liberty Mutual/Safeco Insurance

Madison Mutual Insurance Company

Main Street America Insurance

Marble Box

MarshBerry

Maximum Independent Brokerage, LLC

Mercury Insurance Group

Method Workers Comp

Midwest Insurance Company

Nationwide

NHRMA Mutual Workers’ Compensation

Pouch Insurance

Previsor Insurance & Missouri Employers Mutual

PuroClean Emergency Restoration Services

Rockford Mutual Insurance Company

RT Specialty - Naperville

Sensa, Inc.

ServiceMaster DSI

SERVPRO of Gurnee

Society Insurance

SPRISKA - Specialty Risk of America

Synergy Select

The McGowan Companies

Travelers

UFG Insurance

UIG - The Agent Agency

Utica National Insurance Group

W. A. Schickedanz Agency, Inc./Interstate Risk Placement

Western National Insurance

Westfield

Education Classes

E&O Roadmap to Personal Auto Webinar

Pre-Licensing-Property & Casualty Virtual

E&O Roadmap To Cyber & Privacy Insurance Webinar

E&O Roadmap To Cyber & Privacy Insurance Webinar

CISR-Elements of Risk Management Virtual

Protégé Sales Bootcamp Bloomington

E&O - Roadmap to Policy Analysis Webinar

CIC - Agency Management Virtual

Pre-Licensing-Life & Health Virtual

Ethical Dilemmas Webinar

E&O Roadmap To Cyber & Privacy Insurance Webinar

E&O Roadmap To Cyber & Privacy Insurance Webinar

E&O: Identity Theft, Red Flags, and Money Laundering Webinar

CISR-Insuring Personal Auto Exposures Virtual

Agent’s E&O: Duties, Best Practices, Operations, Workflows, and Certificates Webinar

Pre-Licensing-Property & Casualty Virtual

E&O Roadmap to Personal Auto Webinar

CISR-Other Personal Lines Solutions Virtual

All-Things Ethics: Agent Obligations, Standards, Authority, and More Webinar

Agent’s E&O: Defenses and Preventions for the Insurance Professional Webinar

E&O - Roadmap to Policy Analysis Webinar

CIC-Life & Health Virtual

CISR-Insuring Commercial Property Virtual

E&O Roadmap To Cyber & Privacy Insurance Webinar

Flood Insurance, FEMA, and the NFIP Webinar

CISR-Life and Health Essentials Virtual

E&O-Roadmap to Homeowners Endorsements Webinar

E&O - Roadmap to Policy Analysis Webinar

Comstock Insurance Agencies Inc Grayslake, IL

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Insurance Force Group LLC Elgin, IL

Maestro Brokerage Services LLC Mount Prospect, IL

For information regarding IIA of IL membership or company sponsorship, contact Tom Ross, Director of Membership Services, at (217) 321-3003, tross@iiaofil.org.

for the insurance professional by the insurance professional

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES: AUTO-OWNERS INSURANCE

27. We hire people from all educational backgrounds. In claims, underwriting or marketing, you might find degrees in business administration, liberal arts, insurance and more. For jobs like accountant, actuary, attorney and computer programmer, specialized degrees in accounting, math, law or computer science are common.

Check out our Field Claim Representative open positions in Illinois and more open position in many states:

https://www.auto-owners.com/about/careeropportunities

INDEPENDENT INSURANCE AGENCIES WANTED

17. We are an Independent family-owned agency located in the Chicago area. We are looking to expand through growth and acquisition. If you have a small to medium sized agency and are looking to sell, call or send us a message. We are strictly looking for Personal Lines and Small Commercial accounts with preferred companies.

GALO Insurance Agency, Inc

(847) 832-0888

steve@galoagency.com

AGENCY WANTED

20. Since 2004, Central Illinois Agents Group LLC has been providing independent agents with a variety of markets with contingency opportunities. Agents have availability to several markets that they may not be able to sustain or maintain on their own. We have markets for personal, commercial, agricultural and crop insurance lines. Let us help you get to the next level.

Visit www.ciagonline.com for contact information.

AGENCY/AGENTS/PRODUCERS WANTED

02. Forest Park/Oak Park agency for over 60 years, will meet your needs by providing space, markets, marketing & sales support, automation, merging with or purchasing your agency. Perpetuation/ Succession Plans, BuySell Agreements also available. We have experienced, educated and dedicated staff for you and your clients. Have access to our numerous companies, office services and many other resources. Retain ownership in your book with contingency. Please look closely at us- we are an agency you want to do business with! We’ve done it before, we know how- we make it easy! Visit our website at forestagency.com/agents.html, or call for a confidential discussion and a list of Agency benefits.

Dan Browne will provide an agency evaluation/appraisal at little cost to you. Please call:

Dan Browne or Cathy Hall

Forest Insurance

(708) 383-9000

www.forestinsured.com/mergers-acquisitions

OPPORTUNITIES/SPACE AVAILABLE/RETAIN OWNERSHIP

13. We are a 100 year old Northbrook agency looking to discuss any mutually beneficial opportunity. Our producers, mergers, clusters and agency purchases receive 50% commissions on new and renewal business without any expenses. We can provide: office space, phones, agency management system, service renewals and changes. The companies we represent are: Badger Mutual, Employers Mutual, General Casualty, Guide One, Hartford, Kemper, Progressive, Rockford Mutual, Safeco, State Auto, Travelers and Met Life. Contact:

Nancy Solomon

Martini, Miller & Schloss, Inc.

(847) 291-1313

Ron@martini-miller.com

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CareerPlug will provide IIA of IL members access to a free account that can be used to post jobs, manage applicants, and improve the organizations’ employment brand. Association members can also access a “Pro” version of CareerPlug for a special rate to take hiring to the next level.

Learn more about CareerPlug and check out the brand new IIA of IL job board at www.iiaofil.org