THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2010 

                                                Big “I” National News


InVEST
InVEST Introduces New Board Members
National financial literacy program key to attracting talent to insurance industry.

InVEST, the insurance industry’s premier classroom-to-career education program, recently added three new members to its national board:

• Joey O’Connor, CIC, vice president of Insurance Underwriters Ltd.
• Richard E. Dinger, president of Crescenta Valley Insurance Agency
• Michael Emery, manager learning services for Liberty Mutual Agency Markets
  

“InVEST is pleased to have Joey, Rick and Mike join our already distinguished group of board members,” says Heather Minkler, InVEST board chair and CEO of Clark-Mortenson Agency, an independent agency in Keene, N.H. “With more than 60% of the insurance industry’s employees over the age of 45 and the need to find new talent becoming more apparent each year, we are confident they will further assist in achieving and implementing InVEST’s mission."

Joey O’Connor, III, CIC, is a Trusted Choice® insurance advisor for Insurance Underwriters, Ltd. in Metairie, La. He serves as treasurer of his local association, the Independent Insurance Agents of Greater New Orleans and was recently appointed to the board of directors of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of Louisiana (IIABL). At the national level, he has served as the State of Louisiana Young Agents chairperson, on the National Young Agents Committee and on the Best Practices Committee for the Big “I.” He holds a Bachelor of Science from Louisiana State University.

Rick Dinger is the president of Crescenta Valley Insurance in La Crescenta, Calif. He has long been an active member of his community; in 1999, former U.S. Rep. James Rogan (R-Glendale) asked him to testify in Washington before the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary in support of the Small Business Liability Reform Act. In April 2003, the Big “I” presented Dinger with the InsurPac Young Agent of the Year Award. In February 2009, he was installed and served as president of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of the West (IBA West).

Mike Emery is manager of learning services for Liberty Mutual Agency Markets in Boston, and responsible for training and talent management initiatives for employees and agency partners. A major emphasis of his work is developing and implementing solutions to fill the talent pipeline for both the carrier and independent agency communities. Emery joined Liberty Mutual in 1998 and has held a variety of positions in management, organizational and professional development. He holds a Master of Education in psychology from the University of New Hampshire and an MBA from Boston University.

“Continuing growth and success of the InVEST program is critical not only to the future of the independent agency system, but to the insurance industry as a whole,” says Bob Rusbuldt, Big “I” president & CEO. “We are proud to announce that such talented and top professionals in our industry will be leading InVEST.”


Best Practices
When it Comes to Service, What Would Your Customers Say?
Big I” Best  Practices guide can help you get on track.

How good is your agency’s customer service? More importantly, how good do your customers think it is? From marketing for growth to online services, the Big “I”’s Best Practices guide, “Customer Service Made Simple,” lists priorities and tactics to help you set and achieve your customer service goals. Learn how to better evaluate customer feedback, increase the number of policies written and significantly improve account retention and development. By implementing the guide’s practical suggestions and useful tips on delivering superior customer service, your agency can combat competition from direct writers, win the customer, retain accounts and increase agency value.

Click here to obtain your copy (available in hardcopy or e-book), or for questions, e-mail bestpractices@iiaba.net.


Virtual University
Tame the Certificate Chaos
New certificates of insurance webinar planned for Oct. 27.

When it comes to the number of questions received by the Big “I” Virtual University, no other industry topic comes close to certificates of insurance and related issues. The continuing interest and confusion on certificates, combined with the fact that ACORD’s licensing agreement will compel agents to discontinue use of pre-September 2009 editions of the ACORD 24/25 by the end of September 2010, shows it’s time for another countrywide webinar.

The webinar, planned for Oct. 27 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. ET, will focus on the most critical issues involving certificates, as well as providing “pushback” developments. If you get resistance from certificate holders, please share your experiences—good and bad—by e-mailing bill.wilson@iiaba.net. The webinar will include time for Q&A that can be submitted before and during the session. Start sending in your questions now, or you can submit them when you sign up for the webinar. when you sign up for the webinar, you'll have an opportunity to do the same.

This webinar will involve a roundtable discussion by some of the top certificate experts in the country and will be presented in a lively, informal format. The tuition is $79 and the webinar can be presented conference style for the entire office to participate. Click here to register. If you have questions, e-mail bestpractices@iiaba.net.


Young Agents
Affordable and Effective Marketing Found
Learn social media secrets—and more—at the Big “I” Young Agents Leadership Institute.

When the economy tightens, many agencies may resort to cutting marketing dollars. Fortunately, there are creative ways to get the word out about your agency to your target market with a little sweat equity and wit. Social media is giving companies big and small a level playing field and a chance to build brand awareness and consumer loyalty. Attend the Big ‘I” Young Agents Leadership Institute, Sept. 24-25 in San Francisco, and hear from two of the leading social media industry gurus on how to create meaningful and effective social media campaigns. Chris Jordan with Atlanta Insurance, Ga. Live and Ryan Hanley with Guilderland Agency (N.Y.) are experts in the realm of social media and marketing. Recently, the dynamic duo presented a webinar for the Agents Council for Technology (ACT) and received rave reviews. With an emphasis on implementing hands-on tools, the presenters will help attendees stay on course whennavigating social spaces. Check out a recording of a recent webinar here. Also, if you have specific social media or marketing questions, send them to Susie Bonner ( susan.bonner@iiaba.net), and we will work to incorporate them into the presentation. This year’s Big “I” Young Agents Leadership Institute has a knock-out lineup, so check it out. If you haven’t done so already, please register now! Registration closes on Sept. 10.


Big “I” Markets
Access BIM to Protect Against Cyber-Liability
Increased reliance on technology to deliver services has led to cyber-liability trend.

Ponder this scenario: One of your commercial accounts sends an e-mail to a customer about a new service and includes a product features highlight sheet as an attachment. As a result of opening the attachment, the customer’s computer contracts a virus and the “black screen of death” renders the computer useless—The repair bill is substantial. Does your client's liability coverage offer protection protect against the loss?

One of the emerging trends facing professionals comes from service providers’ increased reliance on technology to deliver services and to coordinate the activities of a multitude of different entities participating in complex transactions. Professionals today are likely to use websites, e-mail, social marketing tools, cell phones, Internet conferencing and other electronic tools to deliver services to customers. This opens the door to liability in three areas:

• Breach of confidentiality. Material may be inadvertently posted on websites, fall into the hands of hackers or be exposed when a laptop is stolen.
• Failure to control access. Customers or third parties who have a legitimate need to access a service online may suffer damages if they are denied access to the professional’s network or website.
• Transmission of malicious code. E-mail may carry viruses and other material that infect a customer’s computer and cause costly damages.

To solve these problems, good professional liability policies should evolve in-step with these trends. To serve their professional clients, agents and brokers should focus on two areas. First, make sure that the policy definition of professional services is written broadly enough to include all of the services that the specific professional client performs. Second, check for cyber-liability protection in professional liability policies. If it is missing, arrange for separate coverage. Agents and brokers who work closely with their clients on these issues not only demonstrate that they understand the professional’s working environment, but they also deliver the added value that bolsters a long-term relationship. Click here for a more in-depth look.

Travelers is a marketplace leader in providing coverage options to deal with emerging exposures such as cyber-liability. Whether it’s the Wrap+ suite of coverages for private companies, the SelectOne® product for Community Banks or the FirstChoice+^SM product for Real Estate Agents E&O, you can offer your clients state-of-the-art cyber-liability protection. Log into www.bigimarkets.com to access these markets and learn more.


Big “I” Flood Program
PRP Eligibility Extended for 2011 Flood Policies
October manual changes released.

The National Flood Insurance Program has released the Oct. 1 manual changes, including rate changes and the new two-year Preferred Risk Policy (PRP) extension. For policies effective on or after Jan. 1, 2011, FEMA is extending PRP eligibility for two policy years following the effective date of a map change for buildings previously in zones B, C, D or X now included in SFHAs.


Big “I” Flood Program
Flood PRPs Require More Documentation
Agents and companies need to verify loss history, flood maps and other information.

Validating the National Flood Insurance Program’s Preferred Risk Policy (PRP)extended eligibility will require writing companies and/or agents to verify the loss history, current and previous flood maps and maintain documentation of the building’s flood risk zone before and after the map change. Digital FIRMs are available for many communities online . In some cases, historic map information is also available. Digital FIRMs are available online at the FEMA Map Service Center at www.msc.fema.gov. For a more detailed look at the changes including a summary of what they mean for agents, click here.