Nearly 120 independent insurance agents and company representatives came together for the 2007 CEO Conference, Maximizing your partnership: The collaborative sales process, hosted by the Professional Insurance Agents of New York State Inc. and the New York Insurance Association Inc. Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007, at the Albany Marriott, Albany.

	President Marty Koles addresses the nearly 120 independent insurance agents and insurance company representatives attending the 2007 PIANY/NYIA CEO Conference.

The business-oriented discussion was designed to provide tools to agents and companies to help them combat direct sellers and to take a bigger share of the insurance market.

Moderated by Paul Monacelli , CIC, CPIA, chief executive officer of ADP/Statewide Insurance Agencies, Cedar Knolls, N.J. and past president, Professional Insurance Agents of New Jersey Inc., the panel included: Lloyd “Skip” Daigle, vice president, enterprise agency development, Travelers; Steve Anderson, president, The Anderson Network Inc.; and Laurie Donohue, executive director of I-Marketing Management, The van Aartrijk Group LLC. Panelists discussed how independent insurance agents and insurance carriers must collaborate to increase marketing and sales; provide greater value to their customers; and modify their business practices to work within the changing insurance market.

Summing up the importance of the conference, Monacelli noted: “If we can all help the independent agency system grow, we all win in the long run.” Addressing how agents do business, he said: “We have to take back the market from direct writers, and stop taking business from each other.”

Monacelli highlighted two programs PIANY provides members, the PIA Branding Campaign, featuring Local Agents Serving Main Street America, and the Take Back Personal Lines strategy focused on the benefits to clients of having professional insurance advice and service.

Addressing independent agents' business models, Daigle noted that agents need to stop agreeing with their companies' yearly growth proposals if they are unable to meet the new numbers. New customers can be maintained only if customer service representatives and agency staff have the time to handle the workload. Additionally, agents must think in terms of supporting long-term customer growth, rather than short-term revenue, a shift that requires addressing employees' workloads.

The standing-room-only crowd takes part in an active discussion about the importance of marketing and knowing the changing insurance clientele.

“The biggest thing we need to do is start counting the number of customers, not the amount of premium,” said Daigle. “These numbers will help [an agency] figure out CSRs' workloads to see if a business is too busy. If the staff is too busy an agency can't grow.”

Once an agency determines if there is room to grow and take on new customers, it needs to figure out how it is going to reach its potential clients. According to Anderson, there are four basic categories of customers: seniors, baby boomers, Generation Xers and Millennials (Generation Y). Each has different needs and different expectations about how they receive information and what they consider valuable.

While seniors and baby boomers consider the traditional role of the insurance agent and the face-to-face interaction valuable, Generation Xers and Millennials look to technology, specifically the Internet, when seeking information about their important life decisions.

“Independent agents can't ignore the Internet anymore. Clients now do research on their own before they see their insurance agent,” said Anderson. “But, I'm not saying ‘stop what you're doing now.' You need two to four different marketing strategies [to address the needs of all the different age cohorts].”

The panel noted that most people equate marketing with advertising, which only is part of a marketing strategy. In order to have a successful marketing campaign, agencies must assign someone to be in charge of the marketing plan/budget; have a unified look on all marketing pieces that are distributed by the office; make sure all marketing pieces have a clear message; discuss with their clients how they prefer to receive information from the agency; track the results; and modify as needed.

A successful marketing campaign can be extensive and Donohue urged the insurance carriers present actively to participate in their agents' marketing plans. She noted that companies need to support their agents' marketing, which includes more than providing prefabricated ads the companies already have designed. She also stressed patience.

	From left to right: Paul Monacelli , CIC, CPIA; Laurie Donohue; Steve Anderson; and Lloyd “Skip” Daigle discuss Maximizing your partnership: The collaborative sales process.

“To grow, you may need to sacrifice profit at the beginning—marketing is a long-term investment. If you do it for three weeks you might as well throw your money out the window,” said Donohue. “And, don't forget to track your results. Ask people where they heard about you or ask them to comment on your advertisements.”

At the end, the panel agreed, agencies and companies both must be willing to invest to implement a successful marketing plan. With a successful marketing plan, agents will find more clients; companies will have more insurance policies and everyone will be stronger.