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...issions” from this line of business amount to only around 6% of E&O clai...,000. Conclusion Writing commercial Auto Coverage is not as easy as you may ...

...nd aggravation of an ineffective business model. CASE HISTORY Let's examine...d parties should consider the managed auto care model. After all, no agency wo...

... them as trade secrets, books of business, or expirations, the major asset of ... to them as trade secrets, books of business, or expirations, the major asset ...

... standing on my head to get your business.” A little dramatic? Perhaps. Howeve...ommittee on why they should get the business, focusing on what they could offe...

... a better rating and lower insurance costs, that might influence your decision. Since that day, I've considered my agent to be an integral factor in every auto purchase. He has increased his value to our household, and thus he has improved his odds in retaining our business. (By the way, he now handles all of our insurance-corporate and family.) Whether you're dealing with a company fleet or a single auto, you have the tools to help clients manage their insurance costs. The question is: Do you offer this ... to all your clients as a value-added service? State Farm has taken this concept a step further by providing an advisory brochure for their policyholders. Placing insurance rating on an equal par with warranty and gas mileage, the brochure lists models that have lower-than-average and higher-than-average ratings. This allows policyholders to compute insurance into the overall cost projections of a vehicle purchase. Assuming that the majority will try to select vehicles with lower ratings, there's another unspoken benefit. Ratings, as we all know, are primarily affected by loss experience. Lower-rated ... ask themselves if they are advisors, as well as producers and processors. This enhances the relationship with clients, and in turn promotes client loyalty and retention, which increases profit. For example, because I'm a California resident with three teenage drivers and five vehicles, Auto insurance is a major line item in our household budget, annually surpassing $5 ,000. Several years ago, we switched companies. We had purchased a sports car with a V-6 engine for my wife. The engine was a last-minute decision because we had ...

...proved his odds in retaining our business. (By the way, he now handles all of ...Whether you're dealing with a company fleet or a single auto, you have the tools to help clients...

... not been rated yet. THE ART OF MAKING SALES FROM THOSE WHO DO IT BEST by John Graham Although it's certainly possible to teach people how to sell, it's also possible to learn how to make sales from those who do it successfully every day. They're so busy practicing their profession they've probably not thought of themselves as teachers. Yet, they are the true experts and it's their experiences as practitioners of the art of making sales that makes them so valuable. Here are four salespeople whose stories clarify what selling is all about ... conversation. The next call from her wasn't so good. "Management says that you're too small and the deal's off," she reported. Disappointed but undaunted, Greene kept contacting her every six months. By the sixth year, ETS International had grown to a fleet of 25 cars. Now he was big enough and she asked again for a contract. This time they decided to stay with the current provider. On Valentine's Day in year eight, Johnny delivered a dozen roses to the travel manager and she handed him the ... . This time it stuck. It was $200,000 a year, a very big piece of business at that time. The secret is out. Greene says, "If you really want the business, then you'd better be there when the customer is ready to buy." Find Out What the Customer Wants Edward A. Testa, the principal of Champion Capital, a Boston-based equipment-leasing firm, understands that customers have their own ways of "evaluating" salespeople and he knows how to use this to his advantage. ...

... already been spent for account acquisition and policy management-making claims organizations suffer in a number of ways (for instance, inferior automated systems and nonprofessional staff) . This situation has created a cycle of low performance, with consumers ultimately bearing the cost and aggravation of an ineffective business model. CASE HISTORY Let's examine the process for handling Auto Physical Damage claims as it might happen today. Here's the experience of someone we'll call Joe: Joe bought his Auto insurance from Midwest Insurance through the Middletown Agency, whose principal is Joe's lifelong friend. ... Bob nearly lost a friend. While Joe's example may seem exaggerated, it does happen and it illustrates how flawed the system is. But there's a better way. It's called managed auto care, ' and a number of companies provide it to insurance companies and self-insured fleets. MANAGED AUTO CARE To understand managed auto care, let's examine how one company, First Priority Group (FPG), of Plainview, NY, handles its managed auto care program. For the past 16 years, First Priority Group has been providing managed auto ... services to self-insured fleets for Fortune 500 companies. Under the FPG service model, a driver in an accident simply calls FPG's 800 number, where the report is taken and all service arrangements are made. Services include towing, door-to-door pickup and delivery of the rental car, appraisals, scheduling, repairs, a lifetime warranty on the repairs, and enrollment in the company's Driver Shield™ program: a package of services valued at about $400. FPG has developed a network of more than 2,400 body shops that ...

... behavior of "pirates." Roy Phillips and Thomas Braniff share their experiences from being retained more than 20 times by agencies to give their opinions on the standards of care owed to an agency in protecting of customer lists (expirations), when agency employees take the business and convert it to their personal benefit. This phenomenon isn't limited to non-owner producers absconding with these valuable agency assets. We've seen similar conduct by agency officers and partners. And lest we forget, service personnel can copy the trade secrets of the firm, and ... the insured's firm and how you should relate to lines of authority, when and if they change. Taking this one step further, who in the firm can provide the information that you need to keep abreast of the company's operations? Your rapport with the comptroller, fleet manager, human resources director, operations manager, marketing manager, and others is essential. We've all heard about the need to learn who's who from top to bottom in our insured's company structure. The only change we'd make is that we need to know who's ... of termination benefits provided that the Agent returned records and files, and agreed in writing not to service policyholders, or compete or interfere with insurer's business, agent who admittedly did not live up to such commitments was not entitled to termination benefits." State Farm Mutual Auto Ins. Co. v. Anderson, 70 NJ Super 520 176 A. 2d 23 (1961) . Whether you refer to them as trade secrets, books of business, or expirations, the major asset of an insurance agency consists of the information related ...

..., when agency employees take the business and convert it to their personal ben...“common calling” in the business of insurance. Simply stated, it&#...