Tour the Topics...

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

Successful agency management begins right here! Members get a first-hand look into the building blocks of a strong agency. Topics include:

• Agency Financial Management
• Carrier management
• Strategic Agency Management
• Leadership
• Producer Management
• Operations Management
• Marketing & Sales

Presented by Jacqui Calder of Behavioral Sciences Research Press

As the old saying goes, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” Well, you can give a producer all the best tools, training, leads, staff, advertising, and so forth, but if they do not have the right personality, they will still fail as a producer. Hiring and developing a producer is very expensive so it pays to hire the right person. Behavioral Sciences Research Press has the best insight into who will make a successful producer of any firm we have seen. Members will learn how to find the people most likely to succeed.

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

Enhanced producer management enables agencies to greatly increase sales, reduce costs, increase morale and reduce management frustration. This presentation covers the keys every agency needs to achieve the equivalent of insurance agency bliss.

This presentation also covers which indicators really matter because believe it or not, most managers are using the wrong stats to manage their sales force.

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

A large percentage of managers fail to understand this critical aspect of their business. With good financial management, agencies can significantly improve profitability, productivity, reduce E&O exposures, and improve morale.

Members learn about key financial ratios, bad debt reduction, good accounting practices, financial safeguards, balance sheet management, the advantage of adequate working capital and more.

Members learn a process to stay on top of their financials which is critical for making more informed and more profitable decisions.

Presented by Don Phin of Employer Advisors Network

Participants learn the keys to hiring and managing employees more effectively and profitably while improving the working environment. The result is a much more pleasant and enjoyable place to work, greater profits, a decrease in turnover and the ability to attract quality employees more easily.

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

Enhanced producer training is a key to greatly increasing profitable sales and productivity. This presentation covers the keys every agency needs to create and implement an effective producer training plan which will greatly reduce stress while increasing the long-term viability of the agency.

Presented by a panel of top industry automation experts

A topic that managers love to avoid! Learn how much avoiding it is costing you and how to tackle it sensibly.

Automation management offers a key opportunity to create a competitive advantage because good automation management results in good data and good reports. Having good data and good reports enables agency managers to make excellent decisions whereas bad data, which is very common in agencies of all sizes, can lead to bad decisions.

Good automation management also results in higher productivity and a better workplace enabling you to manage your staff better and more profitably. Automation does not have the caché that other subjects might, but the opportunities are still strong.

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

Agency managers must deal with a myriad of contracts, but those contracts are often riddled with common problems.

What you don’t know could be costing you hundreds of thousands per year. A thorough understanding of your agency contracts will drop straight to your bottom line.

This presentation covers the common problems found in the key agency contracts, including shareholder, producer and automation contracts (carrier contracts are covered in the Carrier Management seminar), and how to improve them.

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

In a soft market, you feel the pain of not having a good relationship with your companies. Learn how to cultivate this relationship and how this benefits your bottom line.

Strong carrier relations and pro-active relationship management are keys to greater agency success. Members will learn how to better manage their carriers and improve relations. Topics include:

• Getting companies to like you better (an important but very often overlooked strategy)
• Finding the ideal mix of the types and number of carriers and brokers to represent
• Maximizing contingency bonuses (never to the detriment of any insured)

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

Did you know stability and claims paying ratings (i.e., A.M. Best ratings) are NOT the same? High claims paying ratings do not necessarily mean stable companies. Those ratings are only solvency ratings. They are not stability ratings–and the two are definitely not the same. This is why a company could have a high rating and then, in less than 18 months, be insolvent!

Carrier stability is a critical issue for every agency. This seminar covers the factors for determining carrier stability and the many benefits of knowing a carrier's stability. Benefits include:

• Increased profits
• A competitive edge
• Fewer and less costly book rolls
• Reduced stress
• Advanced notice of possible commission or expense cuts

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

Ever wonder why carriers do what they do? This presentation will shed light on the mystery! Participants will get an inside look at the current state of the industry and will gain an understanding of carrier financial stability. Participants will also learn how knowledge of a specific carrier’s stability enhances an agency’s ability to get more accounts written for more money and how individual carriers fit into the overall industry’s stability and market share.

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

While not all agencies will consider clusters, understanding them is very important because they can present competitive pressure. And, for those that might consider a cluster or have joined a cluster, this presentation covers the critical considerations, including a discussion about why most cluster contracts are nothing more than time bombs and how to improve them. Participants will also learn alternatives to joining a cluster.

If you’re a cluster member, learn how to avoid the “blast.”  If not, learn the right way to approach clusters and how they can help you gain a competitive advantage.

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

The bar has been raised with Katrina. Are you ready?

As an approved E&O auditor, Chris Burand will discuss E&O from a real world perspective. Members will learn how good E&O mitigation will enhance profitability, productivity and morale.

Presented by Mark Fidel of Applied Records Management

When the plaintiff’s attorney asks you about your electronic records, will you have all the answers? Learn what you need to keep and how to keep it.

Keeping proper records, both paper and electronic, is an integral part to minimizing an agency's E&O exposure. Likewise, destroying records you do not need is equally important. In addition to lowering E&O exposures, agencies can also realize substantial cost savings.

To achieve these great benefits though, you must understand the complexity involved in determining the retention periods of your myriad of records. The simple schedules you’ve probably seen are often wrong and incomplete. This presentation provides the correct information and answer all your record retention questions.

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

The insurance distribution system is extremely diversified and fractured so for the foreseeable future, there will be a lot of M&A activity. Most studies for the last 25 years have shown that most M&A’s fail for at least one party, if not both.

Forum Members learn how to differentiate between good acquisitions and bad acquisitions before doing the deal.

This presentation also covers the keys to agency value, how agencies should be valued for various purposes, why different valuation definitions make big differences and how choosing the correct definition is essential.

Presented by a panel of top industry sales consultants

In a soft market, you’ve got to grow sales by 20% just to stay even. Do you have a process in place to do that?

Increasing sales is an obviously common topic in the insurance world but for all the emphasis placed on sales, the industry success rate is marginal for a variety of reasons.

First, the focus is too often on any sale, not profitable sales.

Second, most of the time, insurance consumers follow Newton’s First Law of Motion: objects at rest tend to stay at rest unless an outside force acts upon them. Most customers are reluctant to leave unless they have a serious problem or they can get a significantly lower price. Few producers truly work the former in a positive context, so the result is unprofitable sales and a price driven relationship.

Third, too often agencies follow a “Field of Dreams” attitude, “If we build an agency or hire a producer, the customers will come.” This, however, is the insurance industry. Not Hollywood.

The key to increasing profitable sales is to manage the sales process very intensely, something very few agencies, even large ones, do well. This presentation covers managing the sales process in addition to increasing sales because it is truly pointless to do one without the other. Members learn the whole picture, enabling them to lead their agencies down the road to much greater success.

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

When prices are dropping by 20-30% with competitors who only compete on price, what are you doing to differentiate? What are you selling other than price?

This presentation covers how to create real, culturally integrated competitive advantages. Culturally integrated competitive advantages are often very simple but difficult to copy, making them the most valuable competitive advantages any company could ever desire.

Presented by leading industry vendors

An almost mind-numbing number of tools are available to assist agency managers. Forum Members have the rare opportunity to learn about a number of the top tools in the industry. Representatives from leading industry providers will be on-hand to discuss their products and to answer individual questions.

Presented by Jack Burke of Sound Marketing

Marketing is dynamic and all-inclusive. It ranges from the tone of the agency's culture to customer service to advertising. This presentation introduces participants to the concept of marketing as a process. Forum Members learn how to inculcate marketing into all aspects of daily operations. Participants will investigate tried and true methods of marketing and advertising, as well as the newest cutting-edge tools available, and learn how to develop marketing continuity to reinforce the agency’s brand. This presentation covers:

• Marketing Concepts & Philosophy
• Integrating Marketing into Operations
• Branding and Brand Reinforcement
• Electronic Marketing (Internet & e-mail)
• Direct Mail & Phone Marketing
• Newsletter Marketing
• Effective Communications & Presentations
• Earning the Right (Prospecting)
• Audio & Video Tools
• And, much more

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

One of the biggest hurdles in developing very successful agencies is accepting the responsibility of leadership. Many agency owners have no desire to be leaders and others do not know how to be leaders.

This presentation covers why agencies that are truly professional and are run by true leaders are more successful. The presentation also covers how to grow your leadership ability.

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

P&C agencies are eager to increase their benefits divisions but making these departments work successfully together and making the most of having both divisions has proven elusive.

This presentation covers how to effectively integrate these divisions, eliminate the disharmony and enhance agency profitability.

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

Many myths pervade our industry and too often result in bad decisions, sending agencies racing down the wrong roads while their competitors make the right choices. Why chase a myth?

Members learn the truth behind these myths and learn how to avoid many common pitfalls.

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

Many agencies struggle with which of these two paths is the best. This presentation compares these two alternative strategies, including a discussion of the financial, management and cultural issues that determine success for both.

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

Every agency will be perpetuated. It will be sold. The only two questions are whether it will be perpetuated internally or externally and whether it will be perpetuated while the owner(s) is alive or dead.

Proper planning for agency perpetuation means increased financial benefits and a better emotional future for employees and clients.

An agency that prepares for perpetuation early will realize more options and a higher price. This presentation covers the various aspects of perpetuation from beginning to end, including achieving the owner’s goals.

Presented by Chris Burand of Burand & Associates

A lot of agencies have made many painful mistakes. This session is dedicated to learning from their hard-learned lessons!

This presentation discusses lessons learned from other agencies’ management mistakes. Many of these issues are never discussed in regular agency management classes because who would have guessed they could cause such problems? But they are significant issues that can cause sever problems. Participants have the unique opportunity to learn from the 20/20 hindsight of others!