Agents’ meetings offer more then class credit

The Michigan Association of Insurance Agents met recently in Traverse City, Mich., and I was lucky enough to attend. Agents from all over the state participated in the three-day conclave which is astounding when you consider that people drove to northern Michigan in the dead of winter. The goal for me was to write stories on some of the topics of the seminars. The agents attending the seminars were able to gain three hours of credit for their continuing education. Was the ability to earn credit the driving force behind the great attendance? You be the judge.

Some of the seminar topics offered were Customer Loyalty, Agency Perpetuation, Environmental Risk Managers and Ethics. With all of these timely subjects it was interesting that one of most well-attended sessions was the three-hour credit seminar on ethics, “Crossing the Line: A Study of Ethical Behavior.” The packed room held 300 agents.

The seminar speaker, Bill Morrison, was dynamic and entertaining, and he was definitely one of the group since he owns a small insurance agency in Michigan. Morrison talked about the agent’s professional role connected to decisions that involve issues such as: religious and racial discrimination; telling the small white lies to get rid of a less desirable potential client; padding the claim for clients to help them meet the deductible. Discussions were lively and no one was catching a few “zzzs” during this session.

In another class on environmental liability the room was less packed, but those attending took notes and asked pertinent questions. In the customer loyalty seminar, the leader looked at techniques to let customers know that “what you say is what you do.”

All of these topics are important and discussing them within a larger group of agents from large and small firms, offers the advantage of a wider bank of knowledge and perspective that can’t be gleaned sitting in your home office in Michigan.

But the most striking lesson that I learned at this meeting was something beyond the seminars. The key positive element to this gathering, which takes place in agent associations all around the country, was that insurance professionals could meet in a safe setting, with the opportunity to shore up relationships with their peers and with the chance to share information with a group that was always supportive, never critical. The relationships built and grown by these agents are just as important as the three hours of credit earned and every agent attending knew it.

Tax time and professional liability
On a different note, be sure to read the article, “How accountants’ liability claims line up”. A recent survey by Camico points out the important areas where professional tax accounts need protection. The survey found that financial statements, investment fraud, and defalcation (embezzlement) were practice areas that held the highest risk for accountants’ professional liability claims. The study, conducted in October 2005, included the claims experience of nearly 7,000 Camico policyholder firms in 44 states, focusing on the major causes and types of claims incurred by CPAs nationally. Read the article for more guidance and don’t hesitate to pass it on to your own tax accountant. He or she may appreciate it.