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A wealth of information Program administrators' Web site helps independent agents find coverage By Phil Zinkewicz When the Target Markets Program Administrators Association (TMPAA) built its commercial site to promote the programs and products of its member agencies, it also created a vehicle for retail agents to conduct market searches without the need for memberships or fees. One of the association’s goals, according to Executive Director Ray Scotto, is to be a tangible resource for the success of a member’s program business. “Creating this commercial arm of the association provides an efficient distribution vehicle for programs at a price that is well below what is currently available in the industry,” he says. “The Target Programs Web site was developed to support and promote the programs of the TMPAA as a benefit of membership,” says Scotto. “The result has been an excellent resource for retail agents to search for coverage. The current database of more than 400 programs grows each time a new member of the association develops an ‘outlet center’ on the site to promote their insurance products. TMPAA is now a five-year-old, 250-plus member organization. The number of outlet centers and programs posted on the site is growing along with the association.” At www.TargetPrograms.com, retail agents can search by keyword or program name, or view the entire list of both, according to Scotto. Agents are also provided with an option to place specific risk information on the site in the “Coverage Exchange,” which is then forwarded to outlet center owners. The “Big Case Help Desk” is designed for agents with premiums that exceed $25,000 who post risks on the site. All of these agents are guaranteed a call to discuss options to place their risks. To provide retail agents with no-fee services on the Target Programs Web site, the MGA members of Target Markets Program Administrators Association pay a fee to have an outlet center developed and their programs listed. “The association works to bring as much agent traffic to the site as possible,” says Scotto. “It does not get involved in any of the business transacted between retail agents and program administrators, but acts like a traffic cop, directing agent traffic to the program that covers their risks.” Jim Tesoriero, with the New York City-based Distinguished Programs Group, a program administrator specializing in habitational and commercial real estate, says they “have found Target Programs to be extremely helpful in two ways. First, it helps us reach new customers and, second, it helps us keep in touch with our existing customers because they are looking at the Web site all the time. As a matter of fact, our clients have become so used to exploring TargetPrograms.com that they find out about our new offerings there even before coming to us. As for new retail agents, this is a great tool for them to get a piece of business placed, whether the market out there is hard or soft.” “Target Programs enables us to have a single presence for everything we do,” explains Jana Rucker, vice president of marketing for BISYS, a program administrator based in Melbourne, Florida, which specializes in, among other things, the transportation industry. “When a retail agent is looking for a market in one area, and he or she is directed to us because we specialize in that area, that agent might benefit from finding the other specialties we offer. People don’t realize the services we have in place and the programs we have specially designed. By logging on to TargetPrograms.com, they can discover that we market investment services as well as insurance services.” Another TMPAA member who has benefited from the Web site is J.P. McGuirk, assistant vice president of marketing for the Rockhill, New York-based Irwin Siegel Agency, a program administrator specializing in property and casualty insurance packages for social service-type risks. “We have been sent leads, which have been valuable, not just in a single transaction, but in the contact we have made. The fact is that we bring on a new retail agent or broker that we can market to in the future.” The Target Markets Program Administrators Association was developed by Glenn Clark, owner and president of Rockwood Programs, an agency that specializes in management liability coverage. Five years ago, Clark, with a vision towards establishing an association just for program administrators and the industries that service them—carriers and vendors, for example—organized a “summit” meeting to which he invited other program administrators, insurance carriers and technology vendors. The purpose of the summit was to test the waters, eliciting the opinions of participants about the viability of forming a new association specifically oriented to program administrators. According to Clark, the TMPAA has blossomed into an organization that offers a variety of services to members, including marketing and distribution opportunities, program benchmarking and best practice evaluations, assistance with technology and, most important, the opportunity to network with program carrier decision makers, vendors, and their program specialist peers. “The Target Programs Web site helps support the independent retail agent system. Our new offer to reach out to agents and assist with the placement of their difficult risks is unique in the industry,” says Clark. “We developed the ‘Big Case Help Desk’ to take a more proactive approach, and provide a resource to agents that is not available on similar Web portal search engines.” In addition to creating an additional Web presence for their programs, outlet center owners’ products are actively promoted to a database of 80,000 independent retail agents each week, using a newsletter that features three member agencies and their programs. Agents can click directly into an outlet center if they’re interested in the coverage provided, or go to the Target Programs home page to search the entire database. In addition to this active promotion, individual news releases are also available to promote new products/programs, or program coverage upgrades. Association members who have their programs listed on the site are also eligible to conduct individual electronic marketing campaigns that are not branded to Target Programs. “Again, because this occurs within the context of an association, the electronic marketing fees associated with this ad development and distributions are significantly less than what is available in the industry,” says Scotto. “This year has seen major upgrades in the Web site, and increased investment in the marketing of the site, which includes print advertising, direct mail and additional sources of electronic marketing,” says Kate Boyle, recently hired as a Target Programs marketing coordinator. “I work with members step by step, to get their centers up and running and ensure that their programs are promoted effectively to the agents who frequent the site,” continues Kate. “Every outlet center is featured four times a year in our weekly newsletters. We also have a ‘Monday Morning Markets’ press release, which discusses market changes that should be of interest to our retail agent database. Recent additions to the Target Programs Web site are designed to provide more valuable agent resources, including an agency service center that offers valuable products such as premium finance options, agency loans, agency valuations and insurance agent E&O products.” Charie McLaughlin of the Long Island-based World Wide Facilities, Inc., discusses the Target Programs Web site in terms of what it means to her organization. “World Wide Facilities was established about 40 years ago to write insurance coverage specifically for the staffing industry,” she says. “In fact, we wrote the first E&O policy for the staffing industry and have increased our product lines for that industry over the years. Our carrier was in the beginning, and is now, American International Group. Target Programs keeps us in touch with the rest of the industry and what is happening that might affect us. More important, it allows us to promote our product to a wide audience. “Moreover, Target Programs may become even more important to us in the future. I have said that we have specialized in the staffing industry up to this point,” Charie explains. “But, recently, we have been given an opportunity by AIG to write workers compensation coverage for industries other than the staffing industry. We will be writing routine comp risks above $5,000 premium minimum and specialty comp risks above $100,000 premium minimum. Target Programs offers us an opportunity to get this message out there to retail agents.” Fran Sarmiento of the Pennsylvania-based NSM Insurance Group, sums up Target Programs this way: “NSM Insurance Group has been using Target Programs for several years and we are extremely pleased with the result. We have seen a noticeable increase in submission activity for many of our programs. This activity has led to higher program hit ratios and increased revenue to the organization.” Retail agents who are interested in receiving program market updates, or who would like to explore the Target Programs database should visit www.TargetPrograms.com. Program Administrators/MGAs who are interested in learning more about the TMPAA and listing their programs on the Web site should visit www.targetmkts.com. * |
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