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Everything agricultural Performance Insurance Services uses expertise to invent new and needed coverages By Dennis H. Pillsbury For some people, adversity is just past tense for the word “opportunity.” When it strikes, these people grab on and quickly turn the situation into a present day triumph. That’s exactly what Tim Craig did when the farmowners market turned sour in the late 1990s. Tim had joined his father’s retail agency in 1995. About two-and-a-half years later, insurance companies started leaving the farmowners market. “We had a pretty strong book of business and were able to hold on to some of our markets. Other agencies were not so fortunate. A number of our agency friends found themselves without any markets. So we started brokering for them.” In 1999, Tim decided to continue to broker business for agents and started Performance Insurance Services in Carmel, Indiana. Initially, the agency had a “very narrow pen” and offered coverages only in Indiana. “We started out placing business for about 30 to 35 agencies,” Tim remembers. Today, Performance writes farmowners and other agricultural-related products in 49 states and has authority for everything. The broker represents several domestic companies and is a Lloyd’s correspondent, representing the top syndicates at Lloyd’s. Tim serves as president and CEO and Lloyd’s correspondent. Performance has five agricultural-related programs in the London market and just recently ventured into a new area with the addition of a GL-only program for roofers. The program has just been released in 10 states. Strong relationships with agents One of the keys to Performance’s success is its relationship with the retail agents with whom it does business, as the broker does everything possible to live up to its motto: “Service isn’t expensive, it’s priceless!” And the numbers point out this strength. Performance Insurance Services consistently has a retention ratio in the high 90s. Last year, it was 96.8% and is writing new business premiums at a growth rate of over 50%. “We reward our agents better than most companies or other MGAs,” Tim says, in explaining why Performance boasts such strong retention and the ability to write tremendous amounts of new business. “We also provide excellent service that starts with the quoting process. We guarantee a quote within 24 hours, and most of our quotes take three hours or less. “And we back up that guarantee,” Tim adds. “If our agents haven’t received an answer from us within 24 hours, we pay them $50. We’re able to do this because of the exceptional people we have working for us. Our underwriters know what to look for when evaluating an agricultural account and can respond quickly to agent submissions.” The forms are available online, many of them in a fillable PDF format that can be sent to Performance via e-mail. Forms also can be faxed back toll-free. Creative solutions While farmowners remains the bread-and-butter business for Performance Insurance Services, the broker also has used its expertise to develop other needed agricultural coverages for its agent partners and their clients. One unique coverage Performance offers protects poultry farmers who may be impacted by an Avian Flu outbreak. The product is written through the London market. The trigger for coverage is a government order to slaughter the poultry in the house. If that occurs, the farmer received $5,000 per house. There are no complicated proof-of-loss forms or partial loss payments. “It’s quick and simple,” Tim notes. “If there’s a government order, we pay the farmer $5,000 per house; if there’s not, there’s no payment. The point is that this will help get the farmer back on his feet after a loss, while our underwriting partners in London know the potential loss and can spread the risk sufficiently so they can underwrite the business on this basis.” The coverage is available in all 50 states. Tim continues: “We’re pretty sure we’re the only broker offering this coverage. A number of the big brokerage houses have called on us to provide this coverage for their clients.” Performance also is working with Lloyd’s on a product that would utilize what has been learned from the Avian Flu coverage to provide pandemic coverage. The idea is to provide coverage for fixed expenses and continuing expenses if an entity is ordered to shut down by the government. “We listen to our agents and they have told us that there is a lot of interest in such coverage from their restaurant and school clients,” Tim points out. “So we’re researching the feasibility to try and determine how long the continuing expense coverage would need to run and how much businesses are willing to pay for this coverage. We’re going to do our best to meet that need for our agents.” Performance also developed a farm hazard pollution program in London. “Most companies writing farmowners now have sub-limits or no pollution coverage at all,” Tim notes. “Again we responded to requests from our agents to close this gap for their clients. We offer a million-dollar limit for both on-premises and over-the-road coverage.” Premiums for this coverage start as low as $150, depending on the underlying risk. Performance also offers a poultry and swine program for all risks of physical damage. This property-only program is written out of its two-person Ruston, Louisiana, office. “Curtis Barham Jr., CPCU, poultry and swine underwriter, and Dixie Griswold, poultry and swine underwriting assistant, have been underwriting this business for nearly 30 years,” Tim points out. The program is written through the London market with limits up to $10 million. Performance also offers a live-stock mortality program that is underwritten in the London market. Performance’s expertise in this field is evidenced by the fact that its marketing partners include Agency Specialty Producer Network (a division of Aon) and Insurance Intermediaries, Inc. (a unit of Nationwide Insurance). When Agency Specialty Producer Network (ASPN) added Performance to the network, then-President and CEO Jerry Tegan said: “There is a tremendous fit between Performance Insurance Services and ASPN. Performance Insurance Services specializes in a product and program niche that ASPN did not have markets for—until now.” Performance’s blend of excellent customer service and product innovation has resulted in strong growth from its growing stable (pardon the pun) of loyal agents and brokers. Its leadership is continually looking for ways to meet the changing needs of the agricultural marketplace and the agents who service that market. * For more information: |
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