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...'s and EMS conventions a year. We generally take three people-myself and two o...n. 'We just look for the cream of the crop. That gives us a good loss ratio, a...

... they are for more conventional property and casualty lines, too. One added expense is industry conventions. Seven years ago, I had no idea what a convention expense was, ' Regnier says. Now, we attend several firemen's and EMS conventions a year. We generally take three people-myself and two other producers-and that's very expensive. But we've seen a good return on that investment. The people in this field like to see you, slap you on the back and buy you a beer. The best advertising is word-of-mouth, and ... The agency, which wrote $23 million in premiums in 1991, expects $37 million this year. The agency's niche marketing program include self-insured workers' compensation for Texas school districts and other governmental bodies, and a variety of coverages for children's summer camps and plant farms. These target markets account for a significantly higher profitability ratio than the agency's regular business, Monaghan says. Expanding programs to a statewide operation also requires a great deal of homework, Monaghan adds. You need to put together a lot of information to build programs ... . Available coverages include injury-to-firemen liability, accident and sickness, vehicle agreed value for engines, errors and omissions liability, pollution liability, medical malpractice, bonding and others. VFIS currently insures more than 500 Texas volunteer fire departments and emergency service organizations, Regnier says, primarily in Houston , Dallas and San Antonio/Austin regions. The average premium is about $9 ,000, with some departments paying as little as $3 ,500 and a few anteing more than $100,000. The Company estimates that about half ...