It’d be nice to know if the agents surveyed were captive, independent or both, and if both, what the breakdown was and whether the results differed in any way.
Good feedback on the Field Reps. They should be technical resources for agency questions regarding billing, underwriting, and online systems; not just glad-handing smiley faces.
Field Reps should really be Field underwriters with full authority to quote / bind. With no second guessing from the desk underwriters. Nothing beats walking thru the risk and meeting the owners.
I disagree – I am a field rep for a national company but I don’t have underwriting authority. This has not stopped me from having a lot of success over 10 years in my territory. We have a great online rating system with a quick turnaround time. I don’t think an agent wants to wait for their rep to come in to be able to get an approval when they could have done it weeks before by working with their desk underwriter, and also take the risk of another agency submitting the risk before them.
I’m in the small business unit, I can’t imagine having to be a field rep and underwriting all those accounts. I do have a lot of pull though, I can get a declination reversed pretty easily where it makes sense and I do bring a lot of value to my agencies. Just ask them!
What Independent Agents/Brokers want is to be treated as such and not like an employee of the carrier or captive agents. We are not captive agents! There’s a reason why some of us left that world. We don’t always want to be distracted with the company representatives/sales reps’s phone calls and visits. We are too busy trying to drum up new business and maintaining/servicing our existing book of business, explaining why rate has gone up, fighting to keep the clients…etc The continuous phone calls attempting to schedule appointments to visit with us is frustrating. We will let you know if we need you to visit with us.
Company Reps job is to make sure the IA/ Brokers understand the product they are writing, new changes and updates. Would you rather get a call from UW that says you made a mistake & have your insured get an uprate just because you couldn’t take a few minutes for the rep who is in place to make your job easier, share ideas that might help you grow? There are quite a few reps I know that used to be on your side and understand exactly what you need, we are not the enemy.
There isn’t an Insurance Company in existence that would retain a Field Representative who only visited agencies when the agent requested the visit. As a carrier Field Representative who has been an agent, I try to make sure I bring value to every visit I make, and that I keep my assigned agents up-to-date on all important changes and most importantly, help them write more business. If you feel that a particular representative is consistently wasting your time, I would suggest asking them to explain the purpose of their visit when they contact you to schedule it. If they don’t give you that courtesy, I’d politely decline. There’s nothing wrong in telling a representative you require them to schedule with you, and have a useful and meaningful agenda.
Finally, I would ask you to keep in mind that a Carrier Representative has a job to do, with expectations that certain goals be met, including a certain number of agency visits completed on a weekly basis. IF a carrier is important to you, I would recommend NOT making life difficult for that carrier’s representative to do his/her job.
How about better integration with Agency management systems, Use of proper Acord standards on downloads, wide spread embracement of policy activity notifications, Real Time transmissions, Claims download and DB Commission DL for every carrier. Ivans (Applied) needs to require carriers to use correct standards and stop allowing work arounds with data.
Better yet, can we please have a huge bonfire for all of the proprietary, handwritten paper Specialty Line Applications foisted on us by the senior management of every carrier, and start requiring the electronic ones that ACORD has already created for those lines? And get the vendors to add them to the management systems? PLEASE!
It is both a blessing and a curse to have been around this industry so long. I have been an inside company employee, field rep (aka Special Agent), independent agent, corporate risk manager (Fortune 500)and now retired semi-consultant.
Back in the “old days”, it took at least three years to become an underwriter. You had to understand the coverages, policies and hazards of the lines you were underwriting. You even had a stamp to affix to the quote and initial. Now, 6 months at most and poof!, you are an underwriter telling an agent with decades of experience how things are done. Property underwriters don’t even know what construction types mean. Remember the old Sanborn Map books?
Field Agents / AKA “Special Agents”: They had AUTHORITY!! Could go out to an insured / prospect with the agent and approve a renewal / quote on the spot. Without any “underwriter” approval. I had that authority and management was so afraid of that ability that each Special Agent had their own loss report for accounts written/renewed that they could compare to the results of the “underwriting” dept. When the reports showed that the Special Agents results yielded a loss ration that was at least 50-60 points lower than the underwriters, they abandoned the report. Soon thereafter, Special Agents became what they are today, glad handers.
Agents got fast results, the insureds were impressed that the insurance company took such a personal interest in their account (WOW! They really appreciate my business.), it made the agent look good (which led to higher account retention) and the agent naturally placed more accounts with the carrier due to that quality of service. In my last year as a Special Agent, we were given a quota of increased premium in the GL and WC lines. We even got a bonus if we made the goal. Management thought they had set an unreachable level. As management will do, they set a limit on the bonus, which limited the incentive to go beyond the goal. I reached my goal the first week in Feb of that year. Management thought it would take the entire year. I simply let my agents know about the goal/contest and the applications poured in.
But, those were the days when companies understood the importance of the agent / company relationship, and who was really in control.
How about honesty from upper management?
Those of us who work on the carrier side want the same thing!
It’d be nice to know if the agents surveyed were captive, independent or both, and if both, what the breakdown was and whether the results differed in any way.
Good feedback on the Field Reps. They should be technical resources for agency questions regarding billing, underwriting, and online systems; not just glad-handing smiley faces.
Field Reps should really be Field underwriters with full authority to quote / bind. With no second guessing from the desk underwriters. Nothing beats walking thru the risk and meeting the owners.
I disagree – I am a field rep for a national company but I don’t have underwriting authority. This has not stopped me from having a lot of success over 10 years in my territory. We have a great online rating system with a quick turnaround time. I don’t think an agent wants to wait for their rep to come in to be able to get an approval when they could have done it weeks before by working with their desk underwriter, and also take the risk of another agency submitting the risk before them.
I’m in the small business unit, I can’t imagine having to be a field rep and underwriting all those accounts. I do have a lot of pull though, I can get a declination reversed pretty easily where it makes sense and I do bring a lot of value to my agencies. Just ask them!
For the IA world, how about treating the agents like INDEPENDENT agents instead of like captive agents? Travelers, are you listening?
What Independent Agents/Brokers want is to be treated as such and not like an employee of the carrier or captive agents. We are not captive agents! There’s a reason why some of us left that world. We don’t always want to be distracted with the company representatives/sales reps’s phone calls and visits. We are too busy trying to drum up new business and maintaining/servicing our existing book of business, explaining why rate has gone up, fighting to keep the clients…etc The continuous phone calls attempting to schedule appointments to visit with us is frustrating. We will let you know if we need you to visit with us.
Company Reps job is to make sure the IA/ Brokers understand the product they are writing, new changes and updates. Would you rather get a call from UW that says you made a mistake & have your insured get an uprate just because you couldn’t take a few minutes for the rep who is in place to make your job easier, share ideas that might help you grow? There are quite a few reps I know that used to be on your side and understand exactly what you need, we are not the enemy.
There isn’t an Insurance Company in existence that would retain a Field Representative who only visited agencies when the agent requested the visit. As a carrier Field Representative who has been an agent, I try to make sure I bring value to every visit I make, and that I keep my assigned agents up-to-date on all important changes and most importantly, help them write more business. If you feel that a particular representative is consistently wasting your time, I would suggest asking them to explain the purpose of their visit when they contact you to schedule it. If they don’t give you that courtesy, I’d politely decline. There’s nothing wrong in telling a representative you require them to schedule with you, and have a useful and meaningful agenda.
Finally, I would ask you to keep in mind that a Carrier Representative has a job to do, with expectations that certain goals be met, including a certain number of agency visits completed on a weekly basis. IF a carrier is important to you, I would recommend NOT making life difficult for that carrier’s representative to do his/her job.
The money
The money
The money
The money
The money
I’d like to know what forms are actually on the policy being quoted.
How about better integration with Agency management systems, Use of proper Acord standards on downloads, wide spread embracement of policy activity notifications, Real Time transmissions, Claims download and DB Commission DL for every carrier. Ivans (Applied) needs to require carriers to use correct standards and stop allowing work arounds with data.
Don’t mislead – lead.
Better yet, can we please have a huge bonfire for all of the proprietary, handwritten paper Specialty Line Applications foisted on us by the senior management of every carrier, and start requiring the electronic ones that ACORD has already created for those lines? And get the vendors to add them to the management systems? PLEASE!
I took this survey, and that little statement was all they got out of it?
Martin– Stay tuned to IJ. There’s more to come from the survey. Thanks.
It is both a blessing and a curse to have been around this industry so long. I have been an inside company employee, field rep (aka Special Agent), independent agent, corporate risk manager (Fortune 500)and now retired semi-consultant.
Back in the “old days”, it took at least three years to become an underwriter. You had to understand the coverages, policies and hazards of the lines you were underwriting. You even had a stamp to affix to the quote and initial. Now, 6 months at most and poof!, you are an underwriter telling an agent with decades of experience how things are done. Property underwriters don’t even know what construction types mean. Remember the old Sanborn Map books?
Field Agents / AKA “Special Agents”: They had AUTHORITY!! Could go out to an insured / prospect with the agent and approve a renewal / quote on the spot. Without any “underwriter” approval. I had that authority and management was so afraid of that ability that each Special Agent had their own loss report for accounts written/renewed that they could compare to the results of the “underwriting” dept. When the reports showed that the Special Agents results yielded a loss ration that was at least 50-60 points lower than the underwriters, they abandoned the report. Soon thereafter, Special Agents became what they are today, glad handers.
Agents got fast results, the insureds were impressed that the insurance company took such a personal interest in their account (WOW! They really appreciate my business.), it made the agent look good (which led to higher account retention) and the agent naturally placed more accounts with the carrier due to that quality of service. In my last year as a Special Agent, we were given a quota of increased premium in the GL and WC lines. We even got a bonus if we made the goal. Management thought they had set an unreachable level. As management will do, they set a limit on the bonus, which limited the incentive to go beyond the goal. I reached my goal the first week in Feb of that year. Management thought it would take the entire year. I simply let my agents know about the goal/contest and the applications poured in.
But, those were the days when companies understood the importance of the agent / company relationship, and who was really in control.
The good old days. Gone, Gone, Gone.
Stop the cost shifting and commis cutting.