e-Insight - June 2020 by Big I Illinois

JUNE 2020

INSIGHT

TECHNOLOGY ISSUE Ecosystems, Innovation and the Digital User Experience Vital Resources for Your Agency Technology and the “New Normal”

Plus

Six Tips for Selling More in Any Market or Economy The Rise in Ridesharing

Independence

Business Development

Bonds

Employee Benefits

Claims

Sales Training

Marketing

Carrier Relations

works better Operations

Business Intelligence

Financial Services

together.

Producer Recruitment

Niche Programs

Field Operations

Commercial Markets

Risk Management

Meet the management team of Keystone. They’re backed by a team of 200 professionals and a wealth of resources ready to help you strategically increase the value of your agency. Independently, you’re strong. Together, we’re better.

Contact Matt Fink: 570.473.4346 | mfink@keystoneinsgrp.com keystoneinsgrp.com ©2019 Keystone Insurers Group ®. All rights reserved. This does not constitute an offer to sell a franchise in any state in which the Keystone Insurers Group franchise is not registered.

Editor & Graphic Design - Rachel Romines

Advertising - Tami Hubbell

CONTENTS

June 2020

12 15 16 20 24 27 28 31 34

You Can Grow Your Own Way

By Jennifer Torneden

Six Tips for Selling More in Any Market or Economy

By John Chapin

Vital Resources for Your Agency

By Agents Council For Technology (ACT)

Ecosystems, Innovation and the Digital User Experience

By Denise Garth

Technology and the “New Normal” for You and Your Agency

By Shannon Churchill & IIA of IL Technology Task Force

IIA of IL CONVO 2020 Will the Customers Come Back?

By John Graham

The Rise in Ridesharing: How to Ensure Your Car is Covered

By Lauren Williams

Greg Sandrock Receives Bernard J. Burns Award

In This Issue

The Independent Insurance Agents of Illinois (IIA of IL) has been providing members with a sustainable competitive advantage since 1899.

7 9 10 19 32

Message from the CEO Trusted Choice Government

e-Insight Associate News

33 35 36 37 38

IIA of IL News Board of Directors Profiles Industry News People in the News Classifieds

info@iiaofil.org | www.iiaofil.org | (800) 628-6436 or (217) 793-6660 | Fax: (217) 793-6744

2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 2014 • 2015 • 2016 • 2017 • 2019

Insight is the official publication of the Independent Insurance Agents of Illinois (IIA of IL). The magazine is published monthly for the members of the IIA of IL, with the office located at 4360 Wabash Avenue, Springfield, Illinois 62711-7009; Consumer Website: www.ChooseIndependent.com. The IIA of IL welcomes letters discussing concerns of the insurance industry, articles, editorials, other matters of interest to the membership. The editor reserves the right to edit and select submissions for publication. Address submissions for review to Rachel Romines at rromines@iiaofil.org. For advertising information, contact Tami Hubbell at thubbell@iiaofil.org.

ADVERTISERS

Board of Directors Executive Committee

Chairman of the Board | Patrick Muldowney (312) 595-7192 | patrick.muldowney@alliant.com

ACUITY

President | Bill Wirth (618) 939-6368 | billw@wirthagency.com

APPLIED UNDERWRITERS

President-Elect | George Daly (708) 845-3311 | george.daly@thehortongroup.com

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY GUARD INS. GROUP

DONEGAL INSURANCE GROUP

GRINNELL MUTUAL REINSURANCE COMPANY

ILLINOIS CASUALTY COMPANY

IMT INSURANCE

INSURANCE PROGRAM MANAGERS GROUP

KEYSTONE INSURANCE GROUP, INC.

COVER TIP 30 8 13 5

OMAHA NATIONAL SOCIETY INSURANCE TRUSTED CHOICE WA SCHICKEDANZ/INTERSTATE RISK PLACEMENT WEST BEND MUTUAL INSURANCE CO.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Planning & Coordination | Cindy K. Jackman, CIC, CISR (800) 878-9891 x8745 | cjackman@arlingtonroe.com Young Agents | Allyson Padilla (618) 393-2195 | allyson@blanksinsurance.com

Find us on Social Media

11 Years and Counting Unlike many other carriers, West Bend believes in the value of long-term relationships. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why many of our personal lines underwriters, like Nick, have worked with their agents for so long. Nick puts a high value on West Bendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s continuing education program, in part, because he learns alongside his agents and gets their perspectives. And that makes the relationships that much stronger.

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message from the ceo | INSIGHT

The New Normal? As I write this, we have just finished a strange legislative session and are beginning to emerge from our homes feeling somewhat more secure that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us. By in large, the recent public health crisis brought out the best in America, our members, and your professional association. Our medical and public health professionals gave untold sacrifice in dealing with the worst health crisis in a generation. Our members and company partners responded, as they always do, with resourcefulness and resilience on behalf of their insureds. The staff of the IIA of Illinois jumped into action by working with the Illinois Department of Insurance on Business Income, CGL, and Work Comp related COVID insurance issues. We also created a working group of members for several work comp exposure issues, including experience mods and loss runs. The Illinois Insurance Pre-Licensing Program became the first pre-licensing provider to go virtual, and the IIA of IL expanded our online educational offerings. As a staff, we put together a comprehensive COVID-19 page on our website containing a myriad of agency-related resources.

We are also aware of many challenges; audits, cancellations, demand for usage-based insurance, and virtual sales meetings, to name a few, that independent agents will face moving forward and are working proactively to address them. Look down the road a few months to a year and think about the issues and challenges you will be facing. I ask that you relay the problems you foresee to us and let us work with you to develop a response before it arrives. We are currently in the midst of our MasterMind Program where we seek your input on priority concerns and transform them into solutions. We have completed one program on technology, and in June, we have MasterMind Conversations on Marketing and Staffing topics. We plan to add additional dates and topics as the need arises. On behalf of the IIA of Illinois team, my commitment remains the same: we are listening and responding.

The COVID shut down canceled all our in-person events and pushed all of us into virtual meetings with our staff and clients. As we begin to think about getting back to â&#x20AC;&#x153;normal,â&#x20AC;? it will be a new normal as some practices, habits, and traditions will be changed, or at least altered, moving forward. Right now, we are not sure what our CONVO will look like October 6-8, but I guarantee you it will be the innovative and best-in-class event it has always been.

Phil Lackman - IIA of IL CEO - (217) 321-3005 - plackman@iiaofil.org june 2020

insight

New “Stronger Together” Advertising Campaign In a time of uncertainty, one thing is still certain: Good advice… is always valuable.

Customize a full suite of assets to connect with consumers during the Pandemic. The Stronger Together campaign highlights how Trusted Choice Independent agents help clients and communities navigate disruption, no matter what the future holds. Agents can customize all campaign assets to ﬁt your needs. Available in print, digital ads, and video. Features two sets of campaigns - One for Business Lines and one for Personal Lines

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DIGITAL ADS

VIDEO

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From banner ads to all social media platforms

15- and 30second options

Visit cobrand.iiaba.net/made-for-you to customize for your agency today!

Free to do what's right for you.SM

New Marketing Resource for IIA of IL Members The IIA of IL has partnered with Trusted Choice to create a new website where Illinois insurance shoppers will connect with our members. This is the easy button for marketing that is Done-For-You. The website has great information about insurance topics and allows a consumer to find an agent who has the expertise to help, just like when consumers found help via the yellow pages.   As part of our arrangement, each member receives a profile or page on this website at no charge. Since our site is built on the technology from Trusted Choice, your agency is included on both TrustedChoice.com and www.insuranceagentsinillinois.com.    Should you wish to upgrade your profile, different options are available for a modest monthly subscription from Trusted Choice. Best of all, since the new IIA of IL website is built on the same platform as TrustedChoice.com, upgrading provides an enhanced page on both websites. For upgraded subscription options, please visit: www. trustedchoice.com/advantage/sign-up/ Your profile on these two websites are exposed to thousands of insurance buyers every month. Making sure that your agency is presented professionally and prominently is smart marketing. Even if you are only interested in the free Member Plus profile, you should be certain that your information is correct. Trusted Choice has made it easy for IIA of IL members to activate their Member Plus profiles - just input your information and even upload the agency logo. What do you get with a Member Plus profile? Go to tinyurl.com/ILMemberPlus to find out. To update your profile to Member Plus, go to https://form.jotform.com/200757847092159.

An Advantage profile provides key benefits which enable you to attract and write ONLY the types of business that you want and ensures that your agency is displayed prominently.   Isn’t it time to find out how your agency can benefit from Done-For-You marketing? Call 855-372-0070 and talk to Trusted Choice support today!

Check it out today!

www.insuranceagentsinillinois.com

june 2020

insight

INSIGHT | government

IIA of IL End of Session Report By Evan Manning The 2020 spring legislative session stands adjourned. The General Assembly met for special session, the first time the Legislature convened since March 5th, to pass the Fiscal Year 2021 budget and other emergency matters. Meeting in marathon fashion, the General Assembly began session on Wednesday, May 18th and concluded their work in the early morning hours of Sunday, May 24th. The week proved chaotic as the General Assembly tried to quickly finish its business while social distancing and following new health guidelines. The House convened at the BOS convention center in downtown Springfield while the Senate conducted business in their chamber under strict social distancing rules. Legislators were required to wear face coverings; a limited number of Senators were allowed on the floor at a time; and most staff continued to work remotely. Lobbyists were only allowed to submit written testimony on legislation and were only permitted to watch session from two rooms in the capitol building. The General Assembly approved several omnibus measures including passing a budget for next year. There were several items that proved too difficult to accomplish in the truncated session. Efforts to enact ethics reform, housing assistance, codification of the Governor’s Executive Orders regarding telehealth reimbursement parity, cannabis law changes, and a legislative effort to give the Governor additional tools to enforce the Governor’s Executive Orders all stalled this week. There was an attempt to authorize the legislature to meet remotely, but those provisions were stripped from the bill after numerous legislators objected. The Senate did, however, make rules changes to allow the chamber to conduct remote committee hearings and allow members who cannot be physically present to participate in proceedings The General Assembly did not take up legislation that would punish businesses for disobeying the stay-athome order, despite Governor Pritzker’s urging. The administration will be looking into other ways to enforce the order.

Insurance Related Legislation Workers’ Compensation and Unemployment Insurance: During the second week of April, Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission filed emergency rules creating an automatic presumption that the workplace was the cause of an employee’s COVID-19 infection. These rules made it nearly impossible for an employer to defend these workers’ compensation claims. As such the IIA of IL joined the litigation efforts with several insurance and employer groups including the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association. A Sangamon County judge issued a Temporary Restraining Order to block the rules and they were subsequently withdrawn. This withdrawal put more pressure on the General Assembly to enact legislation on the issue.

insight

As such, HB 2455 (Hoffman/Holmes) passed the General Assembly over the weekend and represents the agreement between labor and business on changes to the worker’s compensation and unemployment insurance programs. All essential workers designated in the Governor’s Executive Order 2020-10 will still get the presumption while allowing employers to use only an ordinary level of evidence (lowest level) to rebut these claims. An employer simply has to show “some evidence” that the employee could have contracted the virus elsewhere or that the employer followed guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Illinois Department of Public Health. Also included in the bill, an employer’s experience modification will not change as a result of COVID-19 claims and the legislation specifically provides that an employee’s home or residence is not a workplace. Employees must have a positive laboratory test (or medical diagnosis before June 15th). The bill also ensures Illinois continues to qualify for federal funding by extending unemployment benefits, waiving a one-week unemployment insurance waiting period and expanding eligibility for unemployment to noninstructional education employees. Healthcare Omnibus: SB 1864 (Link/Harris) is an omnibus healthcare bill that contains the products of the healthcare and Medicaid working groups. Proposals to codify and extend Governor Pritzker’s Executive Order, which directs insurers to cover telehealth, through the end of the calendar year did not pass both chambers and were not included in the final bill. The telehealth measure will be worked through further this summer with providers, insurers, and other stakeholders including ourselves on the matter. The bill does create a feasibility study to explore options to make health insurance more affordable for low-income and middle-income residents. The study will include policies targeted at increasing healthcare affordability and access, including policies being discussed in other states and nationally. The study will create a “best practice” from other states and include an Illinois-specific actuarial and economic analysis of demographics and market dynamics. The report would be due by the end of February to the General Assembly and the Governor concerning design, costs, benefits, and implementation of State options. It also allows the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to loosen some restrictions when determining Medicaid eligibility during the pandemic, such as suspending changes that would adversely affect an applicant’s eligibility and suspending redeterminations.

june 2020

government | INSIGHT

Governmental Omnibus: SB 2135 (Link/Burke) is an omnibus bill that makes several governmental changes. Codifies provisions of the Governor’s Executive Orders involving open meetings exemptions, Secretary of State deadline extensions, and notaries. Creates the Restore Illinois Collaborative Commission to monitor actions taken by the Governor with regard to the Restore Illinois plan and to keep members of the General Assembly informed of those actions and any need for further legislative action. Directs the Broadband Advisory Council to study the provision of free access to broadband services. Requires the Department of Insurance to appoint a task force on business interruption insurance policies to study the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses and the need for changes to business interruption insurance policies based on those impacts, including recommendations for legislation.

Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Crafting next fiscal year’s budget proved extremely challenging given the uncertainty caused by the global pandemic. The General Assembly hopes to return in a Fall Veto session to enact supplemental funding, but the prospect of a resurgence of the novel virus makes that plan uncertain. SB 264 (Harmon/Harris) enacts the FY 2021 budget, FY 2020 supplemental funding and pay-as-you-go capital funding. The FY 21 budget appropriates $39.9 billion in General Revenue Funds and $57.8 billion in other state funds for Fiscal Year 2021. The budget is a reduction of approximately $850 million from the Governor’s original budget proposal in February. The budget estimates a reduction of $2.1 billion in income taxes with another reduction of nearly $1.7 billion in sales taxes. The budget assumes $36.154 billion in GRF and other state funds revenue as well as $4.5 billion in federal borrowing. The budget also includes $503.7 million in supplemental General Revenue Funds for FY 2021. SB 2099 (Harmon/ Zalewski) allows the Governor, with the approval of the Comptroller and Treasurer, to borrow up to $5 billion from the Federal Reserve Bank. The budget package also include appropriation authorization for Rebuild Illinois capital projects in HB 64 (Hoffman/Harmon). Specifically, the bill funds $104 billion in pay-as-you go and $20.8 billion in bonded capital projects. The bill leverages $10 billion in federal funds and distributes $3.6 billion to units of local government. The Budget Implementation Bill (BIMP) with authorizing budget language is HB 357. It includes the creation of a Coronavirus Business Interruption Grant Program (or BIG program) that allows the Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity to use federal money from the CARES Act to provide financial assistance to businesses experiencing interruption or other adverse conditions. Up to $60 million may be used for DCEO’s Emergency Loan Fund Program which can be converted to a grant. june 2020

The Emergency Loan Fund Program is limited to small businesses with less than 50 employees and revenue of less than $3 million. Qualifying businesses include but are not limited to childcare, day care, and early childhood education. The bill also creates a Legislative Budget Oversight Committee so the General Assembly can review the progress on the implementation of the budget. The General Assembly adjourned until Tuesday, November 17th or to the call of the presiding officer. View the Senate Veto Session Calendar here. View the House Veto Session calendar here. This was certainly a wild session. IIA of IL, NAIFA-IL, and IAMIC combined to introduce four pieces of legislation early this year. Those measures were put on hold due to the abbreviated session. However, we believe we are in a good spot to pursue those measures again next year. I want to thank my legislative chairs, the Government Relations Committee members from all four associations, as well as the working group members for health and workers’ compensation insurance for their assistance this year. They play an integral part in helping to decipher complex legislation and how it may affect the insurance industry and our members. Furthermore, Phil Lackman and Brett Gerger have been vital to the success we had this year with the General Assembly, the Department of Insurance, and the Governor’s Office. It is a combined effort from our staff and volunteers that assist our respected associations in maneuvering through a difficult political landscape. To view the report in it’s entirety, go to www.iiaofil.org/ Government/End-of-Session-Report-May-2020. Evan Manning is the Director of Government Relations for the IIA of IL and can be reached at emanning@iiaofil.org.

The week proved chaotic as the General Assembly tried to quickly finish its business while social distancing and following new health guidelines. insight

You Can GROW Your Own Way

By Jennifer Torneden Working independently can be difficult – especially for insurance agents looking to grow their business – but can be incredibly rewarding. When brokers take the time to assess their personal strengths and weakness, and consider how to implement their skills into business plans, it can give them a leg up on the competition. Some areas that brokers can focus on to initiate growth include:

networking opportunities and actively looking for ways to broadcast your brand to a larger audience - whether it’s joining a panel discussion with other insurance agents or writing long-form blogs - can make a huge difference in brand recognition and the types of connections brokers make.

Establishing a Personal Brand

Having a general knowledge, rather than focusing on a singular, niche area of insurance, allows brokers the chance to bring many different coverages and services to their client. The ability to manage entire risk profiles and identify potential gaps in coverage helps brokers secure their spot as a strategic advisor for their clients. Expanding your portfolio to include new coverage and service options opens the door to endless opportunities. It’s also important to keep in mind that part of being a generalist is staying upto-date on the news cycle, trends impacting the industry, and new product offerings across sectors— this can help brokers anticipate changes in the market and set them up for long-term success.

Similar to corporate brands, brokers need to establish a personal brand. Communicating your unique identity, skills, values, and credibility is important for potential clients to see. Putting yourself out there can lead to new business. Social media can help agents connect with current and potential customers, grow their network of industry colleagues, and share and be aware of timely information that impacts their business. Leveraging an online presence can be a great strategy for growth, yet it’s easier said than done. Brokers can set themselves apart is by establishing consistency - using the same headshot, header and bio messaging across all channels. Uniformity helps optimize profiles and makes brokers more recognizable. However, as brokers establish their online presence it’s important to not make that your only point of contact. When it comes to deeper relationships and learning, nothing beats face-to-face interactions. Taking part in 12

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Becoming a Generalist

Creating Positive Relationships Brokers should consistently find ways to improve their customer service skills - happy clients can lead to referrals. Being easy to work with, providing counsel, being knowledgeable and responding quickly to clients are all steps to take to establish strong relationships. Steady growth stems from recommendations - whether a client, friend, june 2020

family, or colleague. However, word of mouth referrals only go so far. Brokers should make an effort to organically grow their business through networking and social media. Additionally, getting connected with fellow brokers can help in keeping up with changes in the industry. Forging strategic partnerships with agents in other areas of specialty can aid in identifying potential gaps in coverages and services for clients.

Jennifer Torneden is a senior vice president and director of broker distribution for Aon Affinity, a global insurance broker. She’s an insurance and consulting executive with expertise in change management, creating new capabilities and turnaround in marketing, sales distribution and finance. She has been recognized as Business Insurance’s Women to Watch in 2019 and Women of the Year for promoting diversity and inclusion within the insurance industry by Rough Notes in 2018.

Evaluating and Adjusting Products, Services, and Pricing As new risks emerge new products and services need to be created. Brokers, who are often on the frontlines and hear first-hand from clients on what they want and need, can use that to their advantage. Failing to adapt to changes will cost brokers valuable growth opportunities. The market is price driven, but if you’re just selling price, often times you’re missing out on a key selling opportunity. Sales strategies should reflect the value of a coverage, rather than just the pricing. Taking Advantage of New Technology to Boost Efficiency In an increasingly digital world, clients are accustomed to having immediate service at their fingertips, and with that comes little patience for businesses unwilling to adapt. Brokers must utilize technology that boosts efficiency and allows customers to manage their own products - this will set them apart from the competition.

However, brokers can’t neglect the human element of business by focusing too much attention on technology. Picking up the phone or checking in with clients face-to-face, rather than sending an email is best practice for long-term growth.

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Streamlining processes with technology leaves brokers with more time to focus on other more complex issues facing their clients - relationships will get a boost, as well as your bottom line. Meeting clients’ needs and fueling growth can also stem from evaluating where strategic investments can be made ranging from adopting a new agency management system, using data and analytics, white labeling, partnering on risk engineering services, and anything in between.

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Delivering

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Tips for

SELLING MORE in Any Market or Economy By John Chapin Back in 2009, while we were still in the throes of a difficult recession, I wrote an article with (almost) the same title. Well, some things have changed and some haven’t, so, here’s an updated version which applies to the current situation. 1. Don’t let anything outside of you be your excuse. After a tough day or some difficult sales calls, it’s easy to blame a host of things other than yourself. If you do, people will hear it in your voice and you’ll sell less. This attitude will also demotivate you which will lead to working less. In tough times, when salespeople should be increasing their calls and activity level, the average salesperson cuts calls and activity significantly. The answer? Use difficult times as a warning and motivation to work harder and smarter, not as an excuse to back off. Have a plan in place, know what you have to do every day, and make sure you do it. If you back off, business will go down, if you work harder and smarter, business will improve. As I’ve said before, “In tough times, don’t give up, double up.” 2. Get better at selling. When there are fewer sales opportunities and prospects, you must do better with the ones you have. The way to do this is to get better at selling. Become a student. Read books, listen to audios, watch videos, become a sponge and absorb everything you can get your hands on. Using this strategy has helped many salespeople improve to the point where they actually sold more in a so-called down market than they sold when times were good. Now is the time to improve your skills; constantly and consistently getting better at selling is the best way to grow your sales. 3. Keep a good attitude. Your attitude is your most important sales tool in your arsenal. It’s almost impossible to watch the evening news and be positive. Our brains are like computers “Garbage in, garbage out.” Put as many good ideas as possible into your brain. Pick up anything inspirational, motivational, positive, and upbeat and use it to keep a good attitude and stay focused. Be positive and persistent. In addition to putting good ideas into your brain, eat good foods, get plenty of rest, exercise, and surround yourself with positive people. Stay away from negatives and negative people. 4. Prepare for the price objection and build value. While you should have a Script Book that includes great answers to all objections along with several strong value statements, this is particularly important when money might be a little tighter than usual. june 2020

5. Focus on relationships. The relationship with the salesperson is the number one reason people give for doing business with a particular company. We’ve all seen it happen, you make an overwhelming case for your product versus the competition and yet, the prospect still buys from your competitor because they’re golf buddies. Relationships are extremely important, in most cases more than anything else, so you need to focus on not only staying in touch with and keeping your name in front of customers and prospects, and delivering value each time, but also on taking that next step and building solid, long-term relationships. Send handwritten thank-you notes, anniversary cards, birthday cards, and holiday cards. Follow my 28 Items to increase your personal connection. E-mail me if you need this. Your objective is to touch the customer more often on a more personal level at a time when your competitors are calling less and being less personal. 6. You are completely responsible for your success. Five years from now the current pandemic will be long gone and you and your career will arrive somewhere, the question is: Where? If you decide that something outside of you, such as the economy, is responsible for your success or failure, you give away control of your destiny and your ultimate success. The way to change that is to remember that your success is up to you, you own it, and you control it. Provided you have solid goals and strong enough reasons why you need to get there, you will arrive where you decide to arrive, regardless of viruses, markets, the economy, or anything else for that matter. Reminding yourself that you are 100% responsible for your success keeps your success under your control and within reach. If you put the above tips to work, you will see an improvement in business, perhaps a significant one. Ask yourself the question: What am I capable of if I really set my mind to something and get to work? The answer is: pretty much anything. The sky really is the limit, so stay positive, work hard, work smart, and dream big. on in place. E-mail: johnchapin@completeselling.com. John Chapin is a motivational sales speaker and trainer with over 26 years of sales experience. He is the author of the 2010 sales book of the year: Sales Encyclopedia. He can be reached at johnchapin@completeselling.com.

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DISASTER PLANNING

VIT RESOU

FOR Y

AGE

REMOTE WORK

Change is being forced upon so many facets of how we are doing business. Agency personnel and practices are being moved from consolidated, in-person teams to connecting and doing business more virtually. It’s never been more crucial to optimize workflows and use the best possible tools for the job – creating an ease of doing business environment that customers not only want – but truly NEED in this time. The following are some of the most impactful tools Big ‘I’ member agents can leverage. These have been created by the Agents Council for Technology (ACT) Work Groups to provide the most benefit to agencies and companies during this time.

DISASTER PLANNING Let’s begin with disaster and contingency planning. This should be a primary interest for agents to best be able to execute your business and provide the services that our customers need so much during this time - uninterrupted sales and service regardless of most conditions. This lies in the foundational practice of having solid disaster plan in place. It is critical for small businesses to understand and plan for all the impact areas across the board for their physical and remote office. In the past year, our ACT Disaster Planning work group put together a highly comprehensive and timely resource that Big ‘I’ members can download to address needed actions - before, during, and after events. The “Agency Disaster Plan” includes strategic resources grouped in focused areas; agency physical location, agency staff, handling technology system, carrier interactions, communicating and other areas. Each of these areas list detailed plans, with links to additional resources. Access to the “Agency Disaster Plan” can be found at: Independentagent.com/ ACTDisasterPlan

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REMOTE WORK Clearly, this topic is highly applicable in the current time. So, let’s look at facets of remote office locations and resources for them. This is a reality of life for almost everyone but it’s not just about the technology required to ensure a positive productive environment. Though this is critical in reference to remote connectivity, collaborative cloud-based software, Voice over IP phones, and other interconnected resources, a big key are the processes that agencies and businesses use. Just recently in March 2020, ACT worked with Work At Home Vintage Experts (WAHVE) and their CEO and President, Dr. Sharon Emek, to update a “Remote Work Best Practices” document for our ACT members. This free downloadable guide helps with planning, executing, and monitoring remote work locations. Remote work can be more productive and meet business needs, provided the home office setup is optimized. This ‘Remote Work Best Practices’ guide can be found at: Independentagent.com/ACTRemoteWorkBPs Another component is the actual Agreement between the agency leadership and remote worker themselves. To this end, ACT has recently created and released another timely resource; an “Agency-Employee Remote Work Agreement.” This creates the necessary understanding between agency and remote staff on training and performance, security requirements, equipment and support, physical home office space, and more. This Remote Work Agreement can be accessed at: Independentagent.com/ACTRemoteWorkAgreement These two free resources are meant to complement each other within the remote environment for the benefit of everyone.

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TEXTING & eDELIVERY

CYBERSECURITY

VITAL OURCES

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GENCY

AGENCY WEBSITES By Agents Council for Technology

TEXTING AND eDELIVERY Deciding if we are in a physical or remote office, interacting electronically, is a big component of business today. Interacting electronically provides the ease of doing business that customers expect, but it can put agencies and companies in possible E&O trouble. There are two components which ACT has worked with our knowledgeable Big ‘I’ general counsel staff to create as a resource for our agents and partners. First let’s talk about Texting. For most agents, your customers have your cell number and they’re using it - but you should be aware that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), through their ‘TCPA’ ruling, requires that when businesses text with customers, they must also have to enact an agreement not only acknowledging the texting, but also what can be texted and give opt-in/opt-out capability. ACT has all of this and more covered in a downloadable agreement you can share with your new and existing customers - we recommend that you enact this and other agreements at the time of policy implementation, and for existing customers when you are going through your policy review. This free downloadable, Agency-Customer Texting Agreement is available through the Big ‘I’ website’s “Legal Advocacy” under “FAQs and Memoranda”. Here’s a link to the host page: Independentagent.com/legal-advocacy/FAQs Another component of electronic interaction is when your customers get policy documents electronically – eDelivery. This applies whether the documents are sent by email or having customers access the documents via an agencycustomer portal. You should have an agreement for transfer of those electronic documents but keep in mind that for electronic delivery to be valid, a consumer must consent to the electronic delivery after they’ve been provided a clear background statement of their rights to receive it in paper form. Finally, if they wish to withdraw consent, then need to be provided ability to do so.

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So once again our Big ‘I’ Legal team came to the rescue on this. We have another free downloadable ‘AgencyCustomer eDelivery Consent’ which agents can put in place with their customers, which can be accessed and downloaded here: Independentagent.com/legal-advocacy/ FAQs There are a couple quick, key points to cover with these resources: These are specifically for our Big ‘I’ member agent partners, so accessing them requires you to log in with your Big ‘I’ ID (your agency email address), and Big ‘I’ password. These documents are multi-page, however the agreements themselves are small. They’ve been streamlined and minimized to be able to most effectively implement with your customers. Much of the document is background for agents to give you the background that you need. You can simply cut out the shorter ‘agreements’ section in the middle and apply them.

CYBERSECURITY The virtual session them moved on to another springboard. During the ‘Remote Work’ session there was reference to cyber concerns. A solid cyber security or ‘cyberhygiene’ program is one thing in a physical office environment but adding in the complexity of an increased ‘attack surface’ is another thing. A remote work environment brings more risks in the form of ‘attack surfaces.’ This simply refers to additional devices and connections that happen when you are in a remote work environment. Things like using a combination of work and personal laptops, connecting through personal Wi-Fi and routers, using Voice over IP, or other connectivity equipment. continued...

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Any small business - meaning an agency - must begin with an internal focus on cyberhygiene. It can be difficult to know where to start with the variety of attack types, and the increasing volume of state & federal regulations to which every business must comply. We get it. This is where our comprehensive “Agency Cyber Guide” comes in. The Guide is currently at version ‘2’ and moving to version ‘3’ very soon, improving the scope and usability of the Guide. The “Agency Cyber Guide” assists our agency partners in understanding where the cyber trends are heading. It breaks down the regulations to be more easily understandable and explains what agents must comply with. There is also solid guidance on how to get started with each. All of this is to provide an overarching strategy Big ‘I’ member agencies can use to put a cyberhygiene program in place that’s effective and preventative. The Guide even offers some resources free of charge such as a downloadable “Written Information Security Plan,” often referred to as a ‘WISP’.) The “Agency Cyber Guide”, and “Written Information Security Plan” can be found at: Independentagent.com/ACTCyber Independentagent.com/ACTCyberPolicy

AGENCY WEBSITES Does your agency have a full privacy policy listed prominently on your website? If you don’t, you may not know that it’s a requirement to have one in place. The great news here is that ACT has once again worked with our Big ‘I’ general counsel to create a robust, downloadable agency website privacy policy which covers all aspects agents need. All you need to do is download it, copy it to a dedicated ‘privacy policy’ web page on your agency website, add your agency branding, and you’re covered! Again, Big ‘I’ agents will need to log in with their Big ‘I’ ID and password to access the policy. The downloadable Privacy Policy can be found at: Independentagent.com/legal-advocacy/FAQs

Another website item needing addressed focuses on website accessibility, specifically, ADA compliance. No thanks to recent court rulings over the past few years, your agency (read: ‘small business’) website is considered the same as your physical office space in respect to websites being a storefront. Websites must take into consideration and contain similar accommodations for disabled visitors; and though you might think this is not a significant segment, know that there are more disabled site visitors in terms of quantity and type than you might think. In the U.S. alone there are over 8 .1 million visually impaired, and over two million legally blind. This describes a lot of potential customers, but compounding the issue is that small businesses are the target of nefarious people using programmed robots to auto scroll through business websites and detect those that are not ADA/Accessibility-compliant. Once detected these entities bring lawsuits against the non-compliant business, and the volume of accessibility-based lawsuits are amazingly high. In the first half of 2019 alone, there were almost 5,600 accessibility lawsuits filed. How do you agencies address this? It is difficult because there is currently no defining law. However, there are 88 guidelines and rulings under the WCAG 3.0 tenets. So, the question becomes, how do you start? ACT work group volunteers and subject matter experts have compiled an ‘FAQ’ and education website to help agencies in the IA distribution channel understand the background and the areas needed to reasonably comply - because a business cannot get everything perfectly in compliance. All the background and guidance need is located at: Independentagent.com/ACTADA If you’d like to join the ACT distribution and be notified of emerging free resources like those described in this session overview, please subscribe to the bi-monthly ‘ACT News’ eNewsletter at Independentagent.com/ACTNews We’ll close this with our sincere thanks to our ACT members making all of this possible; insurance companies, agents & brokers, tech providers, user groups, associations, and consultant members. Agents Council for Technology (ACT) includes the industry’s leading technology experts to provide blueprints on disaster planning, cybersecurity, customer experience, and other emerging trends to help your agency. View more information on ACT at www.independentagent.com/ACT.

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june 2020

e INSIGHT -

online journal at www.iiaofil.org/Resources/Insight

JU N E 20 20

INSIGH T

TECHN

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ISSUE

Ecosy st and th ems, Innov at e Digit al Use ion r Expe Vital R rience for You esources r Agen cy Techn o the “N logy and ew No rmal”

Plus

Six Tip in Any s for Selling Marke M t or Ec ore onomy The Ris e in Rid eshari ng

Going Digital: Redefining Insurance Technology Managed digital business services can play a key role in transformation as insurers explore new tools. By Jonathan Phillips, Raman Kumar and Sumit Taneja, PropertyCasualty360 In this month’s e-Insight. june 2020

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Ecosystems, Innovation and the Digital User Experience

If working from home for weeks on end teaches us nothing else, it may have convinced some of us about the power of digital and the ecosystem. We may have learned something new about ecosystems and their ability to improve the digital user experience. When you start to dig into “work from home” and “collaborate from anywhere” tools, you begin to see how effective they are at working together. For example, if you are working within Slack (an online co-operative work environment) and you add a link to a Google Doc, the “Slack bot” will ask you if you want to connect your Google Drive to Slack. Click. Do you want to add Trello or Workstream project management to Slack? Click. Would you like to start a Zoom meeting within Slack? Done. If you’re a developer, would it help you to add Zendesk, Jira Server Alerts or Standup Alice? Name your online productivity app and it probably interfaces with Slack. Can we give a hand for the genius of the ecosystem? Here is the point. Ecosystems are enablers. They take what should be natural in the way we live, work, buy and learn - and they make it happen the way it should. They do this not only for people, but for companies, systems, for automated processes and the list goes on. Ecosystems capitalize on what is best in features and flow. 20

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Ultimately, ecosystems can help the flow of insurance to align with and match the flow of life. When the two are operating seamlessly, side by side, the power of the ecosystem will be fully unleashed because insurance will be fully relevant. Insurance ecosystems are currently being built that are nearly as useful and easy to integrate as a Slack ecosystem. We would, of course, point to Majesco’s Digital1st EcoExchange ™ as an example. While we are very familiar with all of the reasons that ecosystems are supercharging insurance, it makes sense to take a deeper look at how ecosystems are enabling innovation and the digital user experience. A few weeks ago, Majesco released its latest thoughtleadership report, “Insurance Digital Transformation: A New Era of Core Systems, Next Gen Technologies and Ecosystems.” Within the report, we gathered Majesco survey and report data surrounding InsurTech and Ecosystems and how they accelerate transformation. We also looked at how widely (or narrowly) insurers were applying an ecosystem approach to growth strategies.

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services.” These new streams and services are the two-way highways of ecosystem flow. In some cases, insurers will be providing them. In other cases, they will be partnering to bring them in. A.M. Best also warns that this may require insurers to “rethink how they operate and bring their products and services to market,” and that “The most ambitious and innovative insurers will strive to become ecosystem organizers…”[i] Like anything else, the rise of ecosystems will cause some insurers to remain leaders, while others are relegated to roles as followers or laggards. Ecosystems and platform technologies will only be useful if they are rapidly adopted.

Business and Technology Challenges to Ecosystems A.M. Best’s reasoning is certainly sound. Ecosystems are currently redefining customer engagement, products and business models in terms of the customer. Based on Majesco research, unfortunately many insurers are not looking at ecosystems and partnerships in this manner, or at all. Both Followers and Laggards are well behind Leaders by 42% – 45%, a significant gap. This is putting them at risk, particularly since challengers from outside the industry, are also entering the industry to manage the customer relationship and transactions. Just think of the need to digitally engage in today’s stay-athome world rather than use in-person, paper or manual processes. Partners are helping some insurers do just that, and in the process, meeting customer expectations and gaining loyalty!

By Denise Garth Ecosystems and Accelerating Transformation The lightning-swift advances in InsurTech, next gen technology and ecosystems are challenging insurance to run even faster just to stay in place, let alone get ahead. The demands of agility, speed and innovation are dramatically different today than in the past. To navigate successfully to the future of insurance, insurers need to embrace InsurTech and Ecosystems … with a focus on customer expectations, demands and needs. In this changing marketplace, future leaders will not be those with the biggest inventory or proprietary products and services. Rather, they will be those that have the best access to a vast and growing global inventory of products and services that enable insurers to retain the customer relationship and interactions rather than lose them. It’s the access that is both the hurdle and the payoff. According to A.M. Best’s recent Innovation Assessment Report, “The rise of digital platforms and ecosystems will make relationships with customers even more important. Insurers can improve their access to customers and grow their revenue streams by providing additional june 2020

The lack of movement in adopting platform technologies is holding them back. A platform and ecosystem approach is radically different than what insurers have done previously. An ecosystem approach requires platform technologies like cloud, microservices and APIs. In our research, we found that multi-line insurers (those with both P&C and L&A/ Group business) were significant leaders in adopting and using APIs. In particular, we found that: • Multi-line insurers lead in offering an API to embed their products into other companies’ offerings or platforms, by nearly 36% • They lead in partnering with other companies to embed insurance as a part of their product or service, by 36% • They lead by 13% in setting up products on a partner platform that shares revenue continued...

Ecosystems are enablers. They take what should be natural in the way we live, work, buy and learn - and they make it happen the way it should.

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Multi-line insurers are also leading the way in engaging at the customer level rather than a product level. Digitalization is revolutionizing how we create customer value – within and across companies and industries. Ecosystems comprising a network of various businesses that provide some type of value – channel, service, data or more – begin to redefine how we need to rethink our businesses and, ultimately, our customers.

Drawing New Borders - Erasing Old Boundaries - Creating New Experiences Multiple entities continue to reinvent the overall insurance industry and ecosystem – insurers, MGAs, Brokers, Reinsurers, industry organizations, channels, solution vendors, partners, new outside industry players, and more. We are seeing a shift in the power base within and outside the industry by innovation-led companies that are redefining their roles in the ecosystem and how they are going to own the customer relationship and experience. This will reshape other elements of the insurance ecosystem from industry organizations, solution providers, channels and partners to define how they contribute to and participate in a new era of insurance. An ecosystem, platforms and next gen technologies are the DNA of the platform economy. Just look at the platform pioneers such as Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Netflix and how they have excelled in a new stay-at-home world! Platforms enable flexible business models that will allow insurers to create a new customer experience, while exchanging and sharing value between their partners and customers to reach markets differently. To meaningfully participate in the platform economy, insurers must move from traditional models and embrace platform and ecosystem models and be prepared to partner with competitors, other industries, and innovative technologybased service providers. Digital experience and Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs) are a top driver of transformation. The rapid evolution of digital strategies is challenging traditional out-of-thebox portals (both agent and customer), exposing their inability to deliver personalized engagement, support nonstandardized products and easily integrate with innovative partners. Undertaking digital transformation begins with customer-centricity and providing the capabilities that deliver the great experience customers increasingly expect. DXPs that offer personalized UIs can do so much more, from basic portal transactions, to interacting with other systems in “real-time” for on-demand products or continuous underwriting, to providing analytics to identify and create user specific digital experiences, and much more. As we continue forward in this new digital era, the blurring of traditional industry boundaries is being driven by the rise of ecosystems and the platform economy. New technologies and digital ecosystems are accelerating transformative change and offering opportunities to create a seamless customer experience just like Amazon, Apple and other big tech platform companies. It is all about owning the customer relationship. Digital ecosystems facilitate constant touchpoints with customers in simple ways by plugging into capabilities that enable cost-effective

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growth while bringing insurance coverage closer and more personalized to the customer. This creates tremendous potential for both penetrating existing markets and reaching or creating brand new markets. Ecosystems and embedding insurance within them will expand growth opportunities to reach new and existing customers on their terms. Today’s and tomorrow’s new business models must leverage a business platform, next gen technologies and ecosystems to redefine the business model with an outsidein view and a focus on continuous customer engagement. Visionary leaders see the market and technological trends as a many-fold opportunity for insurance - preparing to use new sources of data, reach new market segments, and offer innovative new products needed by customers with platforms, next gen technologies and ecosystems. With a digital platform foundation in place, insurers can focus on optimizing and innovating their business to compete in a new era of insurance. A few weeks ago, Majesco released its latest thoughtleadership report, “Insurance Digital Transformation: A New Era of Core Systems, Next Gen Technologies and Ecosystems.” To gain a more comprehensive view of digital transformation that goes beyond ecosystems, be sure to download and read it today: https://tinyurl.com/IIA-majesco. [i] Finnegan, Hopper, Imsirovic, Varvaro, Ermakova, et. al, Special Report: The Advent of Innovation, A.M. Best, March 20, 2020 Denise Garth is Senior Vice President Strategic Marketing for Majesco. She is a recognized Top 50 InsurTech Influencer and industry leader with both P&C and L&A insurance experience as a CIO and business executive. For more information on Majesco, visit www.majesco.com. This article originally appeared on Agency Nation’s website: www.agencynation.com/ecosystems-innovationand-the-digital-user-experience.

Undertaking digital transformation begins with customer-centricity and providing the capabilities that deliver the great experience customers increasingly expect.

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Technology and the “New Normal”for You and Your Agency

By Shannon Churchill & the IIA of IL Technology Task Force As many of us and our team members were rushed to work from home, we were required to implement processes and procedures that got us by quickly. Some of those implementations are working well for your agency, and others might not be. We are all looking at what the future might hold, and how it will impact both the office environment and the new “work-at-home” program for your office. The Technology Task Force, the new group formed by the IIA of IL Board of Directors, is working to provide and evaluate solutions to help independent agencies advance the use of the most effective agency workflow technologies which enhance productivity, sales & marketing, service, and security. The Technology Task Force put together some of the best-used tools in hopes it might assist you and your agency. We are always looking for new suggestions as well, so please share your thoughts by sending an email to schurchill@iiaofil.org. Connecting with your Team and Clients Maintaining a collaborative environment is still an essential part of doing business, even though your team is not under one roof. As Laura McGahan stated in a recent survey the task force sent out, “I think keeping united as a team is the most important thing.” She is right. We all feel the pressure, the uncertainty, and the demands. Keeping your team feeling like a family will help keep their productivity going and your operation moving forward. There are many platforms available to address this. Not only can 24

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these tools be used for team collaboration, but you can also use them for client appointments, discussing issues with underwriters, covering topics with your company representatives, or any other type of “meeting” you would’ve been having in person. Microsoft Teams Beyond being a virtual platform to see your team and communicate with them, there are a lot of backend features including project management, group chat, file storage, whiteboards, and calling. Plus, it integrates with the other Microsoft apps for real-time collaboration. • “We have been staggering schedules in the office and Teams has allowed some that may meet in-person to still see each other and get multiple people together at once.” – Tyler Sandrock • “We utilize Teams for our weekly video calls, by department, and overall. One downside is you are limited to four people on the screen at one time.” – Brian Konen *Note: Microsoft Teams is in the process of changing to a 3x3 grid so up to nine people can be shown on the screen. GoToMeeting A player in the virtual space for quite some time, the “GoTo” suite of products empowers businesses to collaborate with customers, clients, or colleagues with online meetings, video conferencing, and web conferencing software. june 2020

• “We have department meetings every day at 1:30 to check in and just keep us united and strong as a team. Sometimes they are 10 minutes, sometimes they are an hour. We keep up on the latest carrier news on COVID, we share challenges we have faced, and we just keep in touch.” – Laura McGahan Zoom Very easy to use and operate, this platform has become a standard for many users in lockdown. Beyond ease of use, another key feature of this platform is the ability to see many people on the screen at one time. It makes this a great platform for social meetings, and larger gatherings where you need to see many users at once. There is also a handy feature of separating your group into breakout sessions. You can randomly sort the group or assign people to groups. • “We had an office “happy hour” last week - you can show everyone.” – Brian Konen • “Our Board held their quarterly meeting via Zoom and were able to see all members and could interact just as we were sitting around the table together. Heads nodding or shaking adds an extra element to the meeting experience.” – Shannon Churchill Google Meet Check out Steven Anderson’s analysis at https://tinyurl.com/IIA-GoogleMeet Some other players in the space include Skype for Business, Cisco WebEx, and many others. Each comes with a list of pros and cons. We recommend doing some research to find what works best for you and your team based on your needs. Agency Business The following are key elements to keep your business going. Although we may have taken the day-to-day simplicity of these items for granted in our “pre-COVID” work environment, they are now pillars keeping our daily procedures functioning. Scanning Whether paperless or not, a part of every agency workflow process includes scanning. At our work desks, the hardware machines have all the bells and whistles with everything we need. However, in a work-from-home scenario, or even when you are on the go, you need a reliable option. Here are some tried and tested ones from our task force. • CamScanner App: “I have been using the free version and while working from home I was able to get some documents I just had in paper form to other members of the staff by quickly scanning and emailing with my phone.” – Tyler Sandrock • Scannable on the iPhone: “Scannable is a quick way to scan documents with your phone as PDFs. They can then be emailed or sent to your Evernote account for processing later.” – Brian Ogden

• Genius Scan app. “SOOO much better than just taking a picture of a document. An underwriter told me about this.” – Tess Fleming • Microsoft Lens: A Microsoft app available for both Android and iPhone that combines camera based scanning and OCR with the integration and power of the Office 365 suite Phones Yes, everyone has a cell phone today. And yes, using your cell phone might work on an individual basis, but for your business, most likely not. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) has been around for years, but some businesses have not implemented the technology yet. I called in an expert, Nathan Boyd, Senior System Engineer with Matrix Systems Group, Inc., for his insights into VOIP. “Working from a cell phone is alright for a small operation but does not scale well at all, especially in a sales or service environment with employees. This is where VOIP comes in to play as it allows a physical disconnect from the tie-down of the old-school physical phone line. There are two major types of VOIP implementations: internal and hosted. Internal means that the phone system is local within your offices and just replaces the old system managing connectivity to the public telephony system often through local phone lines, while potentially still retaining the flexibility for extensions to be active both on and offpremises. The second, and fastest-growing segment of the communications market, is Hosted VOIP systems. These offer the flexibility of a managed service in an environment that has the benefit of redundancy and backup several orders of magnitude greater than even medium businesses can achieve. Hosted VOIP also tends to bring a vast increase in communications efficiency and connectivity when on-the-go, especially compared to a 30-year-old system that is doing good to have caller ID. Features like smart-home access to an employee’s office extension, voicemail to email, and extension status visibility greatly enhance productivity. Depending on the needs of the organization, the type of VOIP may be debatable, but as we move forward, more and more organizations are choosing Hosted VOIP for the efficiency and, often times, cost savings as well.” • At the IIA of IL office, we have had a VOIP system for quite some time. Our system allows our team to download an app on our cell phone and we can take our internal system extensions anywhere. I have been on work trips, family trips, in the car, etc. and when our members call, they have no idea I am not in my office.” - Shannon Churchill • “When transitioning to working from home, all my staff had to do was plug their phone into their router or login to their computer and the phone system was working just like they were sitting in the office. We use Bridge by Kotter and it includes a whole suite of products to make you more efficient - video calling, fax, and text messaging to the agency number, etc.” – Brian Ogden continued...

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AUTO | HOME | BUSINESS

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june 2020

In case you are looking at a VOIP system, a few options our task force mentioned include Matrix Systems Group (Central IL), OITVOIP.com, Ring Central, and Bridge by Kotter. There are many options available. Agency Management Systems I am not going to compare agency management systems in this article. I will save that for a different article. However, I did want to address one item many survey responders mentioned and that was the ease of using their agency management system’s features. Some of the extra bells and whistles stood out to help in this remote work environment including being cloud-based, being accessible from a cell phone, and a client-based interface for viewing policy information. Miscellaneous Our survey responders had a few other miscellaneous items worth mentioning: Microsoft 365 – A subscription service to the Office Suite of products available in both web and mobile versions. Take your work with you no matter where you go.

DocuSign – Sign or have clients sign documents electronically. It is easy to understand and simple to use. As you all navigate down the unknown path of what is to come, remember the Technology Task Force and the IIA of IL team are here to assist you in whatever you may need. Please reach out anytime with questions, concerns, or feedback. For more information on any of the products listed here, or if you have something the IIA of IL Technology Task Force should be looking into, whether product, service, or a solution you need, let us know by contacting me at schurchill@iiaofil.org. Note: The IIA of IL does not endorse any of the products, services, or vendors listed in this article. The IIA of IL and the Technology Task Force recommend vetting all resources, products, and services fully to make sure it is the correct fit for your agency. Shannon Churchill is the Director of Insurance and Technology for the IIA of IL. She can be reached at (217) 321-3004 or schurchill@iiaofil.org.

Evernote – An application that allows you to take notes, capture ideas, prioritize lists no matter whether they are written, typed, drawn, a screenshot, etc. and organize them.

We are all looking at what the future might hold, and how it will impact both the office environment and the new “work-at-home” program for your office. IIA of IL

October 6-8

2020

In-Person? Virtual? Both?

We don’t know what CONVO 2020 looks like exactly. But what we DO know... CONVO 2020 WILL happen and it WILL include all the same great programming you have become accustomed to. Be sure to save those dates and watch the website for updated information.

ILConvention.com june 2020

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Wil Cu When we narrow down the current COVID-19 economic situation, we’re all in the same boat. No matter who we are or what we do, getting back to doing business hinges on having customers. Whether we like it or not, there’s no guarantee they will be there. Although it may be disconcerting, here’s why: • Some customers will decide they don’t need us. Their situation will have changed and they’ve moved on. • Others will have found new solutions. Competition will be fierce with appealing options popping up everywhere. • More customers than we dare imagine will have simply disappeared, whether individuals or companies. For one reason or another, they aren’t around anymore. • Many will be far less accepting and far more demanding than they were in the past. They’ve had time to rethink what’s important to them and established new priorities. • Others are so stressed and preoccupied with their situation, they’re unable to make decisions, let alone move forward. They can’t shake it off. This may not be where we would like customers to be, but it’s where they are. As frightening as it may appear, we can’t expect them to dust themselves off and pick up where they left off. Just saying these words sounds, dare I say it, pessimistic. This isn’t the way we see ourselves. We’re optimists down to our DNA. We face danger squarely and we welcome challenges. To even suggest that a virus, of all things, could possibly disrupt our lives goes against the grain. It’s more than a mere a slap in the face; it’s the ultimate humiliation.

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So, what are we to do? How will we deal with the cards we’re left holding? Hope for the best? Keep our fingers crossed? Turn on the optimism and bring back a pop tune from the 1940’s: You’ve got to accentuate the positive Eliminate the negative Latch on to the affirmative Don’t mess with Mister In Between That’s us - or is it? The words seem weak and out of place today. Here’s the point: rather than trying to pick up where we left off or hoping for the best, we will be better served by recognizing that we’ve all been through a lot and a lot has changed. Here’s a checklist for reaffirming relationships with existing customers and building new ones with prospects. This is anything but easy. But it can happen! 1. Customers perceive us as being authentic. Pointing to Growth from Knowledge’s Coronavirus Consumer Pulse findings, Marketing Insider’s Stacy Bereck says that “85% of U.S. consumers feel that the way brands behave during the COVID-19 crisis will affect their desire to do business with those companies in the future.” 2. We let them know we want to understand their situation. Call it empathy or whatever you like. Consumers want to feel they are doing business with those who are interested in them and not just making a sale.

june 2020

ill The ustomers Come Back? By John Graham

3. We introduce ways for customers to stretch their money. It’s more important than ever. Here’s how the Betty Crocker folks are responding to this obvious challenge. “Impossibly easy dinners for $2.50/serving. Dinner doesn’t have to be spendy to be delicious. These fussfree recipes are big on flavor and easy on your wallet.” Right upfront they make it clear why their recipes are a good fit. They use the right key words: easy, inexpensive, and delicious. A winning combination. 4. We help them avoid making purchasing mistakes. I can hear someone say, “That’s not a salesperson’s job. I’m there to make a sale.” That was then. Now, it’s the smart salesperson who takes time so customers can arrive at an informed buying decision who will get the business– and be remembered. 5. We focus on helping customers. Explore options with them. Not good, better and best; not low, medium and high prices, but options you and your customer develop together such as poor fit, good fit, and best fit. In other words, options that make sense to them.

8. And, finally, our customers will stay with us if we let them know we’re depending on them. Some will see this as a sign of weakness and take advantage of us. But if we believe in building relationships, it’s a chance worth taking. In the past months, we have learned there is much that’s out of our control. Even so, that’s not the last word. What we do next when it comes to our customers and prospects is up to us. John Graham of GrahamComm is a marketing and sales strategy consultant and business writer. He is the creator of “Magnet Marketing,” and publishes a free monthly eBulletin, “No Nonsense Marketing & Sales Ideas.” Contact him at jgraham@grahamcomm.com or johnrgraham.com.

6. We try to pull customers rather than pushing them. This will take a lot more listening than talking, a lot more patience than persuasion, and a lot more understanding than ever before. 7. We don’t think we can pick up where we left off. Let’s face it, there’s not much worse than being unwillingly slowed down, sidelined, and told to stay home. We may be charged up and chomping at the bit to get going. Even so, it’s not like coming back from vacation. All of which is to say we need to give both ourselves and our customers time to adjust to a new and different situation. june 2020

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Tried-and-true restaurant coverage with no surprises. Small detail. Big difference. Nobody understands the unique challenges of protecting restaurants better than Society. Ever since we developed our policies with restaurant owners more than 40 years ago, we’ve stayed on top of industry trends to deliver the most comprehensive — and reliable — coverage available. If you specialize in restaurants and are interested in an agency appointment, give us a call at 888-5-SOCIETY or visit societyinsurance.com.

AmGUARD • EastGUARD • NorGUARD • WestGUARD

Proud of our

Independent Agents In times of crisis, it’s reassuring to know that our company has a network of industry experts representing us on the front lines. Thank you for your help in relaying COVID-19 relief measures we have implemented to ease some of the financial burden on our policyholders.

APPLY TO BE AN AGENT: WWW.GUARD.COM/APPLY/ 30

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june 2020

The Rise in Ridesharing:

How to Ensure Your Car is Covered By Lauren Williams With the increasing rise in popularity of driving for ridesharing firms like Uber and Lyft as a profitable way to generate additional income, many Americans are learning that they need to have additional insurance on top of their personal car insurance policies in order to use their vehicles for “business purposes.” This additional coverage is called “rideshare insurance” and it is necessary to obtain before anyone wanting to drive for Uber or Lyft can start accepting ride requests. Personal auto insurance coverage does not extend to drivers who are picking up passengers for a profit. Rideshare insurance policies are therefore designed to fill in the gaps of both personal auto policies and the limited coverage rideshare companies may provide. How does it work? Ridesharing is broken up into three different periods in which drivers need to be insured: • Period 1: The driver has opened the app and is waiting for a ride request. • Period 2: The driver has accepted a ride request and is en route to meet the passenger. • Period 3: The driver has picked up the passenger and is transporting them to their desired location. During the second and third periods, most rideshare companies will offer a fair amount of coverage for their drivers. For example, Uber and Lyft offer comprehensive and collision coverages during these periods, as well as uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage in any incident in which the driver may be liable. They have reserved millions of dollars to be put towards captive insurance funds in order to protect their drivers in this way. These coverages may lead to high deductibles, however, which is one instance where rideshare insurance may come in handy. The first period, also known as the insurance gap period, is where things get dicey. As soon as drivers open the app to let riders know they are available, their personal auto policies will no longer cover them. At this point, drivers become vulnerable. They may receive coverage from rideshare companies during this time, but often only for a small amount of liability. Uber and Lyft will insure their drivers for third-party liability during Period 1, according to an article on Reviews.com, but this limited coverage will not protect drivers if they are hit or if their vehicles are stolen or vandalized. Rideshare insurance policies are therefore june 2020

necessary in this first period in order to help protect drivers from these sorts of outlying situations. How can I get rideshare coverage? Rideshare insurance policies can typically be purchased as add-ons to personal insurance policies. However, these policies may not be available in every state through a driver’s current provider. Drivers may want to consider switching to a provider that offers them a rideshare policy add-on if they want to share their vehicle. Several IIA of IL partner carriers offer rideshare insurance policies in Illinois, including: • Erie Insurance • Mercury • Progressive • Travelers • And several others Pricing for rideshare policies depends on a number of factors, such as the value of a car and a person’s driving history, age and location. Normally, rideshare coverage is not as expensive as a personal auto policy and may only add as little as $15 a year to a driver’s base premium. While many of these providers offer coverage during the first period of ridesharing, some will offer policies that cover the entire ride. Additionally, some will offer hybrid policies that cover ridesharing and personal use so drivers will not have to purchase both policies. Uber and Lyft have also both reserved millions of dollars for captive insurance funds in order to protect their drivers during the second and third periods of ridesharing. Rideshare insurance helps protect drivers and their vehicles without forcing them to purchase expensive commercial policies. It can have many other benefits, as well. Drivers may be able to write off rideshare coverage expenses when filing their taxes and could gain additional perks from their providers such as roadside assistance and safe-driving discounts. It is important for every driver to do the research and find the right rideshare policy for them. Luckily, there are many different carriers and policies to choose from. There’s no telling what may happen to a ridesharing driver on the road; however, rideshare insurance policies will offer them full coverage for whatever may come their way. Lauren Williams just completed her senior year at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, majoring in English. She spent the summer of 2019 working as an intern for IIA of IL and continues to be a guest writer for Insight magazine. insight

INSIGHT | associate news Thank you to our Associate Members.

Diamond Level Members

Platinum Level

Progressive Surplus Line Association of Illinois

Gold Level AAA Insurance Arlington/Roe

Silver Level Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company Imperial PFS IMT Insurance

Nationwide West Bend Mutual Insurance Co.

Bronze Level A. J. Wayne & Associates AFCO Credit Corporation AMERISAFE AmWINS Brokerage of the Midwest, LLC Auto-Owners Insurance Co. Berkshire Hathaway Guard Insurance Companies Columbia Insurance Group Continental Western Group Donald Gaddis Company, Inc. Donegal Insurance Group Encompass Insurance Encova Insurance Erie Insurance Group Foremost Insurance Group Forreston Mutual Insurance Company Frankenmuth Insurance Grange Insurance Illinois Mine Subsidence Insurance Fund Illinois Public Risk Fund Indiana Farmers Insurance Insurance Program Managers Group J C Restoration J M Wilson Kemper Keystone Insurance Group, Inc. 32

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Liberty Mutual/Safeco Insurance Madison Mutual Insurance Company MarshBerry & Company Maximum Independent Brokerage, LLC Mercury Insurance Group MetLife Auto & Home Midwest Insurance Company miEdge PEOPLE Previsor Insurance ProAg Management Inc RT Specialty - Naperville Selective Insurance Company of America ServiceMaster DSI Society Insurance Specialty Risk of America Transcom General Agency Travelers UIG - The Agent Agency United Fire Group Universal Property & Casualty Utica National Insurance Group W. A. Schickedanz Agency, Inc./Interstate Risk Placement Western National Insurance Westfield june 2020

iia of il news | INSIGHT

Education Classes View the latest information at www.iiaofil.org/education.

july

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CISR-Insuring Commercial Property Virtual Class CISR-Agency Operations Virtual Class Pre-Licensing-Property & Casualty Virtual Class E&O Roadmap To Homeowners Endorsements & PIM Webinar CIC-Commericial Casualty Virtual Class Pre-Licensing Course Life & Health Virtual Class CISR-Commercial Casualty 1 Virtual Class E&O: Roadmap to Personal Auto & Umbrella Webinar Ethics and Agent Liability Webinar Culture, Ethics, and E&O Webinar E&O Roadmap To Policy Anaylsis Webinar Agents E&O Webinar E&O Roadmap to Personal Auto & Umbrella Webinar Pre-Licensing-Property & Casualty Virtual Class E&O Risk Management Webinar E&O: Commercial Property Coverage Gaps Webinar Flood Insurance and the NFIP Webinar CISR-Personal Residential Virtual Class

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Pre-Licensing Course Life & Health Springfield E&O Roadmap to Identity Theft Webinar Pre-Licensing-Property & Casualty Rolling Meadows E&O Roadmap To HO Endorsements Webinar E&O - Cyber & Privacy Insurance Part 1 Webinar Agents E&O Webinar Ethics and E&O Webinar E&O Roadmap To Policy Analysis Webinar CIC - Ruble TBD E&O: Roadmap to Homeowners Insurance Webinar Pre-Licensing-Property & Casualty Springfield CISR-Elements of Risk Management Springfield E&O: Commercial Liability Coverage Gaps Webinar Ethics - Walking a Straight Line Webinar E&O Roadmap to Personal Auto & Umbrella Webinar CISR-Agency Operations Rolling Meadows E&O Risk Management Webinar

New Members

member agencies

Held Insurance Agency - Mt. Prospect, IL HKS & Associates - Bartlett, IL june 2020

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Congratulations!

Greg Sandrock

Bernard J. Burns Award Recipient

On Thursday, May 14, during the Big “I” Virtual Legislative Conference, IIABA CEO Bob Rusbuldt announced Illinois Agent and IIA of IL Board Member, Greg Sandrock, CIC, AFIS, as the recipient of the 2019 Bernard J. Burns Award. The Bernard J. Burns Award is named after former Big “I” President Barney Burns, who founded InsurPac in 1975, and served as chairman of its Board of Trustees until 1983. During his tenure, Barney worked tirelessly to educate agents about the importance of being politically active and supporting their association’s federal advocacy efforts. In Rusbuldt’s presentation, he said, “Sandrock has been a tireless advocate for political involvement, not just in his own state, but throughout the country. As Chair of the Big “I” Crop Insurance Task Force, Sandrock has specifically engaged crop insurance agents to be greater supporters of InsurPac, as well as to attend the Legislative Conference. He has traveled on his own dime to heavy crop states to speak at various conventions and conferences, all while educating attendees about what the Big “I” is doing to protect the Federal Crop Insurance Program, and why political engagement is so important to keep that lobbying effort strong. Sandrock has used those venues to encourage InsurPac support, putting his money where his mouth is by maxing out each year himself.”

Sandrock started his insurance career in 1986 as a part-time producer. After two years, he started an agency from scratch. The Cornerstone Agency in Deer Grove, IL was organized and began operations in 1988, growing out of the local name “Sandrock Insurance.” Sandrock and his business partner, Todd Mickley, branched out with an additional location and the staff grew from one to 14. Sandrock has served on the IIA of IL Board of Directors since 2006 serving first as a Regional Director, then moving through the Executive Committee Chairs where he currently sits as IIABA National Director.

Board of Directors Profiles

Neidra Crosby, CPIA, CISR Region 7 Director

The Insurance Exchange, LTD, South Holland, IL Vice President Number of Years with Agency: 15 Year You Started in Insurance: 2004 Education: BA English Spelman College, MBA Roosevelt University Current or Past Civic, Political, or Community Service Activities: Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Past Americorps volunteer, AAU youth basketball volunteer What do you feel are major challenges facing our Association today? The lack of diversity and the appeal to agents who are new to the industry. What do you see at the greatest benefit to IIA of IL membership? Networking.

What prompted you to get involved with the Association? Recommendation from my friend.

Chris Bassler, CLCS Region 10 Director

Bassler & Co. Insurance, Northbrook, IL President Number of Years with Agency: 8 Year You Started in Insurance: 2009 Education: Indiana University 2009 What do you feel are major challenges facing our Association today? The future of the IA system, especially in Personal Lines. What suggestions do you have to respond to these challenges? Keep educating the consumers on why it’s so important to have an IA advocating for their benefit. What do you see as the greatest benefit to IIA of IL membership? Building great knowledge and relationships from other Independent Agents in the state - to help one another continue to be a force in the insurance industry.

june 2020

What do you see as the greatest benefit to IIA of IL membership? I have been wanting to get my feet wet with the Young Agents program and I was asked if I would be interested in becoming a board member. I thought “Why not” and jumped right in. I see this as a great opportunity to meet other professional in the industry and state that are going through the same struggles and successes as me. insight

INSIGHT | industry news Grinnell Mutual Announces the Trust in Tomorrow® Premium Payback Grinnell Mutual knows its customers are driving fewer miles during the COVID-19 pandemic because of social isolation guidelines and work-from-home policies. In response, Grinnell Mutual has created the Trust in Tomorrow Premium Payback. Personal auto policyholders will be receiving a check for $30 per personal auto policy that covers a qualifying vehicle. As a percentage of direct written premium, this $5 million investment is comparable to what other carriers have announced. It will be shared among roughly 166,000 auto policyholders in all of Grinnell Mutual writing states.

The Trust in Tomorrow Premium Payback is only one of several actions Grinnell Mutual has taken to help both auto and commercial policyholders through this unsettled time. School-permit drivers: Because 13- to 15-year-old drivers are not driving to school and other activities, youthful driver policies will be reclassified, offering premium savings for policyholders. The premium change will be retroactive to March 16, 2020, and continue until school restarts. Vacant buildings: Grinnell Mutual serves mostly small businesses, which are being especially hard hit by the pandemic. Our goal is to prevent further economic harm, so we will support those policyholders by not enforcing policy coverage exclusions for vacant property. We believe it would be unfair to put policyholders in a situation where the vacancy clause means they are not covered during a state-mandated shutdown for what would otherwise be a covered cause of loss. Restaurant delivery: To assist restaurants during the current shift to delivery and take-out only, Grinnell Mutual is offering short-term hired and non-owned auto delivery coverage (applicable to current insureds only). Moratoriums: The company has already taken the step of placing a moratorium on cancellations or non-renewals due to non-payment on all types of policies through May 18, longer than many state-mandated moratoriums. The company will follow other state moratoriums if they are extended, and moratoriums for all states in our writing territory will be set to the latest date of that issued by any state in our territory. Charitable giving: Grinnell Mutual’s core values have always included a commitment to serve the community, and the pandemic has made that commitment even more important and urgent. So, in addition to helping policyholders directly, Grinnell Mutual and its GMG Foundation have donated over $75,000 to Grinnell-area non-profits serving the healthcare, education, and small business sectors, as well as to organizations dedicated to food security.

Encova Insurance Begins Internship Program with Virtual Solutions

Currently, about 90% of Encova’s associates are working from home. At least to begin their internship, the interns will also work from home. The company continues to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and will incorporate the interns into the return-to-work plan for their offices. The interns represent 10 different departments, including Information Technology, Accounting, Safety and Loss, Underwriting and Analytics. They are primarily college juniors and seniors, with 13 different universities represented. Encova still plans to offer the interns a volunteer opportunity to serve their local community. Different options are being considered to ensure safety, but in past years, interns have volunteered with organizations such as Ronald McDonald House and LifeCare Alliance. A super-regional carrier ranked in the top 20 mutual insurance companies in the United States, Encova includes more than 1,200 associates writing in 28 states and the District of Columbia, premiums in excess of $1 billion, a surplus in excess of $1.65 billion and assets in excess of $4.3 billion. The group markets insurance solutions through more than 2,000 independent agencies in the Midwest, Northeast and South. Pekin Life Insurance Company Holds Annual Meeting Pekin Life Insurance Company held its annual meeting on Tuesday, May 12, 2020. The Company reported net income of $1.5 million. Premium income increased by 0.5 percent to $185.4 million. Life Insurance in force exceeded $18.9 billion at year-end 2019. At the meeting, shareholders elected directors Steven R. Anderson, Loves Park, Illinois; Anthony S. Burkhart, Vincennes, Indiana; and Brian K. Lee, Pekin, Illinois, to three-year terms to expire in May 2023. Other directors whose terms continue are: Craig W. Concklin, Hinsdale, Illinois; Daniel V. Connell, Tremont, Illinois; John S. Heller, East Peoria, Illinois; Thomas C. Hornstein, Pekin, Illinois; Scott A. Martin, Chillicothe, Illinois; and Christine A. Schwartz, Pekin, Illinois. Pekin Insurance officers elected to Pekin Life Insurance Company included: Scott A. Martin, Chairman of the Board, Steven R. Anderson, Vice Chairman of the Board; Daniel Connell, Chief Executive Officer; Brian K. Lee, President and Chief Operating Officer; Michael A. Zabinski, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Risk Officer; Amy M. Darling, Vice President - Life Claims; Jocelyn A. Duncan, Vice President - Life Administration; Gregory L. Feller, Vice President - Sales; Joel M. Jackson, Vice President - Marketing; Subhasis Mukherjee, Vice President - Chief Information Officer; Tyler D. Petersen, Vice President - General Counsel and Secretary; Kimberly S. Remmert, Vice President - Human Resources; Amber J. Stenger, Controller; and Michele E. Ginther, Assistant Vice President and Assistant Treasurer. Pekin Life Insurance Company is an integral part of the Pekin Insurance® group of companies.

Encova Insurance has moved forward with its summer internship program in Columbus, Ohio, and Charleston, West Virginia. Twenty-two interns joined Encova in May with virtual training and onboarding. 36

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june 2020

people in the news | INSIGHT Central Insurance Elects Hurless to Board of Directors, Purmort as President

The Central Insurance Companies has announced the election of Cindy M. Hurless to its Board of Directors. As Central’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Hurless is responsible for oversight of the company’s Services, Claims, Underwriting, and Loss Control operations. She earned her BA in Communications and Business Administration from Hope College. She joined Central in 2002 as Manager of the Mail/Supply and Commercial Lines Services departments and was promoted to Vice President of Customer Services in 2004. In 2018, she was promoted to her current position as Chief Operating Officer. She has earned the Associates in Insurance Services (AIS), Associates in General Insurance (AINS), and Chartered Insurance Operations Professional (CIOP) designations. She serves on the Van Wert Area Performing Arts Board, Van Wert YWCA Board, and Van Wert County Foundation Board of Trustees.

Bill Purmort began his career at Central in 1979 and held positions in underwriting, marketing, and management before becoming President and Chairman of the Board in 1994. Bill is a trustee for the Property & Liability Resource Bureau, a past board member for Trusted Choice and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, and past trustee for the Ohio Insurance Institute and the Griffith Foundation. The Central Mutual Insurance Company was founded in Van Wert, Ohio in 1876 and has evolved into the Central Insurance Companies, a successful property and casualty group providing insurance for more than 350,000 automobiles, homes, and businesses in 24 states. Central is based in Van Wert and operates regional offices in Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, and Van Wert. The Central group of companies has combined assets of over $1.7 billion. Central’s A.M. Best rating is A (Excellent).

The Central Insurance Companies’ Board of Directors has elected Evan P. Purmort as President succeeding outgoing President F.W. “Bill” Purmort III effective May 13, 2020. Bill is retiring after 43 years with the company but will remain Chairman of the Board of Directors. Evan is currently Central’s Chief Marketing Officer, and is responsible for regional operations, agency partner and industry relationships, and business development strategy. He began his career with Central Insurance immediately after graduating from Miami University and has held the positions of commercial underwriter, marketing manager, commercial underwriting supervisor, personal underwriting manager, and Vice President of the Northeast Regional Office. He has served Central in its Atlanta, Dallas, Boston, and Van Wert, OH offices. Additionally, he has served on Central’s Board of Directors since 2017 and has recently joined the Trusted Choice Board of Directors.

june 2020

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INSIGHT | classifieds for the insurance professional by the insurance professional

PERSONAL LINES CSR - PART TIME.

AGENCY WANTED.

Email resume to: bill.ntovas@caroinsurance.com

Visit www.ciagonline.com for contact information.

28. Caro Insurance Services, Orland Park, IL is seeking a qualified Personal Lines CSR. The position requires an individual to have insurance - Personal Lines - experience, quoting, processing endorsements, excellent customer service and communication skills. Illinois P&C License is desired. Part-time, approximately 15-20 hours per week; salary $18-21 per hour.

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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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.

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! Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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

june 2020

OPEN SEMCI Single-entry, multiple-company interface (SEMCI) is like magic!

Acuity, long recognized as a leader in agency interface technology, is committed to supporting SEMCI in commercial lines. SEMCI drives efficiency in the quote and application process and allows you to choose how you want to do business with Acuity. Acuity currently partners with several of the leading commercial lines insurtechs. We are building, exploring partnerships, or expanding with numerous other independent agency technology solutions. And Acuity is on the forefront of integration technology, continually building the connections necessary to be ready to connect to new insurtechs as they emerge.

june 2020

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Expect big things in workers’ compensation. Most classes approved, nationwide. It pays to get a quote from Applied.® For information call (877) 234-4450 or visit auw.com. Follow us at bigdoghq.com.