Power over the future
PIA National offers tool focused on agency planning
By Bill Jenkins
Isn’t that something we all wish we had—power over our future?Yet, because each agency is unique and there are so many different ways to plan, how do you decide what path to take?
The CD-ROM included with this article provides an introduction to a new online tool, A Practical Guide to Successful Planning. The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) has created this new tool through its work with “The Partnership,” a group of national and regional insurance companies. The CD will guide you in accessing this online tool which helps you plan choices based on what you are already doing or new directions you would like to pursue in your agency.
Sometimes planning is considered a separate activity—one more thing to do—possibly carried out only once a year and then not acted upon. But whether plans are spoken or unspoken, formal or informal, they affect everyday business decisions. The fact is that most of us are already engaged in planning. We just don’t always think of it that way.
The Practical Guide to Successful Planning tool takes this into account, as well as the need for different planning choices for each unique agency situation. It helps create a tailored approach to meet each agency’s needs and goals.
In designing “Successful Planning,” PIA and The Partnership researched the various ways in which agencies of all sizes approach planning. Here are some examples of different solutions for three different agencies:
Connie Phillips Insurance, Inc., Frederick, Maryland, is a full-service agency offering personal lines, commercial lines, life & health, mutual funds and retirement plans. Although with only 12 employees this agency is relatively small for a full-service shop, they use planned marketing and sales efforts for each area of business.
As agency principal Connie Phillips explains, “Being able to focus our efforts within each department, we can better target each area and more carefully design our approach. For example, one of our carriers recently reduced its rates for a particular class of commercial auto. So, we conducted a marketing campaign to that niche to take advantage of that change. Organizing and planning by department, we can quickly pick up and run with opportunities rather than needing to have everything fit into our overall strategy for the agency.”
As a sales-focused organization, the agency’s monthly meetings take the form of a “sales extravaganza,” Phillips says, where they review current agency results and bring everyone up to speed for purposes of cross-selling.
To take further advantage of cross-selling opportunities, Phillips also hired an outside facilitator to assist with a planning retreat. As Phillips explains, “An important part of this retreat was to deal with concerns about cross-selling referrals within the agency . We wanted to address any problems if there were subsequent difficulties with the account or some type of mismatch with the customer.
“The retreat also dealt with understanding each other’s personality traits as well as understanding customers’ personalities,” she continues. “This has helped create a feeling in the office that regardless of who the client is talking to, they will be satisfied and comfortable with the agency’s solutions.”
Southwest Virginia Professional Insurance in Vansant, Virginia, is situated in a rural county with a population of 28,000. With a 50/50 personal/commercial lines split, a $2 million book of business and five employees, they clearly fit the description of a typical small agency.
Although the agency is small, Jodi Street Reynolds, CIC, who runs the agency along with her husband, Jordan, understands the need for a planning approach that’s the “right size” for their agency. She explains that balance and manageability are key in using the right planning approach. “While ideally, we would like to be able to get away and do off-site planning, it’s not really practical. We combine management and planning. It’s easy to manage because it is informal and we communicate openly with our employees. They understand what we expect of them and how we measure their performance.”
Jodi says she looks for areas of opportunity using the SWOT method (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). She measures and compares results based on current vs. previous results. Based on this simple approach she sets an overall focus and goals. As she explains, “This year we are focusing on account rounding and up-selling coverages. We have set monthly goals for each employee and measure their success.
“We also make it a point to learn from each other by sharing ways in which individual employees are succeeding,” Jodi continues. “For us, the major key is that it’s both planned and informal. It’s thought out. The goals are deliberate but yet our plan is still flexible.”
Stan Logan is a partner in Logan Lavelle Hunt Insurance Agency, a newly combined agency with headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky.
With three locations, 60 employees and $8 million in revenue, the agency offers P-C, L&H and wealth management. The agency was created by bringing together two well-established agencies—one, offering traditional P-C coverages; the other offering life, health and wealth management services.
Each side of the house has well-defined short-term and long-term goals but, as Logan explains, the agency is using business-planning consultants to help achieve better integration and synergy through the creation of a clear management structure. “We currently have management by committee,” he explains.
“While it is possible to run our operation by committee, we believe that we could be missing out on opportunities if everyone is not on the same page. We need our operation to have a single focus. An important part of this is creating three C-level titles, CEO, COO and CFO. This is an important step for us to be making. We see these changes leading to enhanced revenue and profit for the agency and its partners.”
As these examples demonstrate, there are many benefits to successful planning. These benefits not only apply within the agency but can also help agents achieve better relationships and mutual success as they work with their carriers over the course of a year.
The CD-ROM that accompanies this article will introduce you to Successful Planning. It will explain how to access this tool online and use planning to give your agency more power over the future.
The author
Bill Jenkins is vice president of Business Develop-ment & Marketing for the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents. He has been involved in the insurance industry for more than 20 years in the areas of marketing, advertising, communication and technology.