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On Point: Working on Your Agency vs. Working in Your Agency

Shirley Lukens, principal of Reagan Consulting, knows a thing or two about agency best practices. She helped launch the first Best Practices study back in 1992 and has been the steward of the program ever since. In this On Point podcast, Lukens talks with Peter Van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan about the program and the common traits.

Who Makes What in the Independent Agency?

Insurance Journal is polling insurance agents and brokers nationwide in its annual search to find out who’s worth what in the independent agency system.

Participate today online at https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2011/03/18/190562.htm.

Pre-Call Strategy: Preparing to Win with David Connolly

Date: April 27, 2011
Time: 1:30-2:30 p.m. (Eastern)/ 10:30-11:30 a.m. (Pacific)

Upcoming online webinar from Insurance Journal‘s Academy of Insurance with well-known educator and IJ blogger David Connolly of iQ Consulting.

What’s the biggest mistake producers make on new prospect appointments? Most producers fail to do an adequate job preparing for sales calls, and failure to plan is planning to fail. In this webinar, you will learn:

The 7 critical pieces of information you need on every prospect
The strategic pre-call process
How to use strategic pre call to uncover prospect pain
To prepare your differentiation impact statements
What to bring with you on every appointment
What questions to ask and what questions to avoid

Visit www.ijacademy.com to register.

Celebrity Corner

InsuranceJournal.com ran a story about actor Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, suing their former insurance broker of more than 20 years, J.B. Goldman Insurance Agency. The lawsuit claims that when they switched brokers last month, the new broker discovered they were insured multiple times for the same things, and were being overcharged hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars.

The most popular reader comment:

That is no surprise. When a man is not in charge of his affairs, this often happens. I found a fleet of vehicles, I thought, owned by a dude ranch. When I visited the ranch and asked to see the vehicles, I discovered there were three, not 23. Each time a vehicle was purchased, the home office (40 miles away) added the new vehicle to the policy. None were ever removed. The broker was one of the big 4.

I questioned why an oil company needed a liquor liability policy. My inspector brought me a photo of an abandoned sign in a desert strip mall. For ten years, the big broker had carried a liquor liability on the sign. The liquor store was long gone and a laundromat had replaced it many years ago.

When no one is really in charge, this is a common occurrence. Paid business managers often pay little attention to details. Most have very limited insurance knowledge. Some even use the insurance to buy favors. The more complex and the larger the account, the more things fall through the cracks. One person pays the bills, another does the ordering. They do not communicate well. Duplicate policies often result: the old policy is renewed and the buyer orders coverage from another broker, thinking the original policy would just lapse. Instead, both were paid.

Sophisticated insureds work WITH their brokers to make sure they have the big picture and know where to go to get the details. When the brokerage is fragmented, with different people handling different aspects of the account, no one is coordinating, and no one gets the over-all picture.

Often it is a case of having too many, or no, cooks in the kitchen!

One More Thing …
Check out the spiffy new look at ClaimsJournal.com!

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