7 Steps to A Stronger Agency Brand
April 15, 2010 by Maureen Wall Bentley · Leave a Comment
The Hales & Company/National Underwriter Mergers & Acquisitions Seminar series got off to a great start in NYC this week. Some 60 agents and brokers packed the all-day event, in which Laurie Donohue and I presented the segment on 7 Steps to a Stronger Brand. The topic seemed to strike a chord with the attendees—especially when they heard that a strong brand can add 100 basis points to an agency’s valuation multiple.
Scott Addis, who gave his lively “Purple Cow” presentation about organic growth strategies, highlighted another interesting point: His research shows that some 48% of agents don’t feel their firm’s brand is differentiated from the competition (and I’ll add that some of the remaining 52% are…um, optimistic…in their belief that their brand is distinctive). Sounds like a great opportunity for stronger brands to edge out the competition.
On Point with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan, Episode 17: Integrating the Social Web in a Large Agency
April 13, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
On Point with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan is an audio conversation with insurance industry leaders who champion change and challenge all of us to think.
So, how does a large independent agency with multiple offices approach new marketing and communications opportunities on the social Web? They apply it first inside their own firm.
Peter and Rick spoke with two representatives in IT and communications at a forward-thinking independent agency, Holmes Murphy Insurance. Based in Des Moines, Holmes Murphy has 13 offices in 11 states, 500 employees, and 77 years in the market. Read more
A Brand New Brand
March 31, 2010 by Maureen Wall Bentley · Leave a Comment
For brand geeks like us, there is nothing quite as exciting as the introduction of new brand. Everything is still shiny and clean, with that new-brand smell.
Last week, we got to watch just such an event: At their conference in Nashville, the AMS Users Group rebranded as Network of Vertafore Users, or NetVU. In addition to the new name, the organization now boasts a cool new logo and purposeful tagline, all of which tie into the group’s focus on education, advocacy and networking.
Aartrijk worked with the organization for months on this project, which included a dedicated task force; top leaders Jim Armitage, Carl Schlotman and Brady Polansky; and a hard-working staff in Dallas.
Needless to say we’re very jazzed about the outcome for this 32-year old user group. For more on what this change means for NetVU and its 15,000 independent agency members, check out the story in Rough Notes’ April issue or ads running throughout the trade press.
Congratulations to our friends at NetVU and best wishes for their next 32 years.
On Point with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan, Episode 16: Commercial Lines Is An Accommodation
March 29, 2010 by Charles Wasilewski · Leave a Comment
On Point with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan is an audio conversation with insurance industry leaders who champion change and challenge all of us to think.
Peter and Rick spoke with Steve Brooks, an independent agency owner in Westlake Village, Calif. who is a proponent of personal lines and social media as a marketing tool.
While many agencies sell a mix of commercial and personal lines, Steve is very focused on upscale personal lines accounts. He started his firm from scratch 20 years ago, and is 98% personal lines.
Personal lines is stable, with higher persistency than commercial, especially in an economy where businesses are moving their insurance, or going out of business altogether. And the personal lines book is worth more to an agency, Steve says.
Traditional media—such as TV ads and direct marketing—don’t work as well as they once did for personal lines, he maintains. He likes social media—like Facebook and Twitter—for reaching a higher-end clientele. “It’s hard to measure ROI on social media sites,” he says, “but the intangible references are priceless.”
And he likes to work relationships. Commercial lines agents refer preferred personal lines to Brooks because they take the line seriously and want it handled well. “You can’t wait until business slows to start doing this,” he says. “You need to be doing it all the time.”
The podcast was published Monday, March 29, 2010. Run time is 24 minutes 18 seconds.
Consumers Say Independent Agents Are “Okay”
February 26, 2010 by Charles Wasilewski · 2 Comments
Consumers rate independent insurance agents as “okay.”
That’s according to research with 4,600 consumers conducted in October 2009 by Forrester Research Inc. and reported by Mark Ruquet in an article in National Underwriter Property & Casualty.
This research scored independent agents at 74 percent, which Forrester dubs as “okay.”
“Okay” can have a couple of meanings: “pretty good” and “mediocre.” My sense is that the research points to the latter meaning.
The survey also asked consumers to rate insurance carriers for three aspects of service:
– “meets needs” … the rating was “good”
– “easy to work with” … the rating was “okay”
– “enjoyable” … the rating was “good”
Insurance carrier USAA was the highest rated of 13 insurers, leading the way with a score of 82 percent, nine points ahead of the next-best company in the research. No carrier reached Forrester’s standard for excellent of 85 percent.
The insurance business overall scored “okay” with a median percentage of 72 percent.
The National Underwriter article noted that the study’s researcher reported: “For agents, the customer experience is tied to how well the carrier treats its customers…. When the carrier is not committed, it reflects on the agent.”
Here’s more on the study from Laura Mazzucca Toops of insurance trade publication American Agent and Broker, who wonders why “independent insurance agents don’t get no respect.”
Is an “okay” rating good enough for the independent insurance agents out there? My sense is that independent agents work far too hard to settle for that. What do you think?
– Charles Wasilewski
On Point with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan, Episode 14: The Personal Lines Opportunity
February 16, 2010 by Charles Wasilewski · Leave a Comment
The Personal Lines Opportunity
On Point with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan is an audio conversation with insurance industry leaders who champion change and challenge all of us to think.
IIABA’s annual market share study compares the share of the property / casualty business on commercial and personal lines bases, and compares the aggregate of the independent agent to the captive agent.
Personal lines insurance is a tremendous source of revenue. Asa Pike and John McDonald of Agency Revenue Tools, a software company created to help agents go after personal lines insurance, explain the potential of the personal lines opportunity, and discuss the benefits of the Personal Lines Growth Alliance as a tool to capitalize on the potential.
The podcast was published Monday, February 15, 2010. Run time is 24 minutes 55 seconds.
Earthquakes Shake Up Haiti. Will They Wake Up America?
February 1, 2010 by Charles Wasilewski · Leave a Comment
One earthquake of 7.0-magnitude on Tuesday January 12, 2010 was bad enough. A second earthquake of 6.0 magnitude on the Richter scale on Wednesday January 19, also hit the impoverished and now-imperiled island nation of Haiti.
Risk-modeling firm Risk Management Solutions estimated that the Haitian earthquake killed an estimated 250,000 people and destroyed more than 4,000 buildings in Port-au-Prince, according to an article in insurance trade publication National Underwriter. The publication also reported that the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (a risk pooling facility that includes the Haiti government), will receive less than $8 million for earthquake damage.
The road to recovery looks long and difficult for everyone in the small island nation, which before the earthquake already faced overwhelming poverty. But the world rallied to the side of the Haitian people, with military, financial, food, water and other resources being brought to Haiti in the days following the quake. The efforts range from the donation bins that sprang up in fast-food restaurants (see photo), to a text-message fund-raising campaign, to thousands of U.S. Marines, to multiple charitable donations from insurance firms in the United States.
A recent article from Trusted Choice, the brand campaign launched by the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, reported another number: 5,000. That’s how many earthquakes are felt in the United States each year.
Many Americans may think California is the state at most risk of an earthquake. Since 1900, though, earthquakes have caused damage in all 50 states, according to information from the Insurance Information Institute. California is at greatest risk for widespread and catastrophic damage to property, however. In 2006, a forecast from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Southern California Earthquake Center, and the State Geological Survey said that the state is likely to be struck by a major earthquake by 2028.
But only 12 percent of Californians own earthquake insurance, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.). That’s sharply lower than 30 percent in 1996 (when California was in recovery from the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which at an estimated $20 billion in property damage was the most-costly quake in U.S. history).
Whose job is it to change this before the “big one” hits? Ultimately, it’s the responsibility of property owners. But isn’t it almost always true that when a community recovers from a disaster, there’s a team of local insurance professionals behind it? And independent insurance agents often are the captains of those local teams.
– Charles Wasilewski