Web Exchange

Survey on Agents’ Views on P/C Insurers

• What are the most critical factors in choosing carriers that agents will use the most?
• What areas would agents most like to see carriers spend more marketing or co-op advertising dollars on?
• How do agents rate carriers on such attributes as claims service quality, underwriting appetite, field representatives, competitive pricing, training, and others?
• What are agents’ key rounding and remarketing efforts?
• How do agents see the importance of their agency’s social media presence—what are the key benefits and which vehicles do they prefer?
• What are the principal concerns about agencies’ perpetuation planning—and what resources can they tap?

These are among the questions being asked of independent insurance agents in a major new study probing agents’ attitudes toward their carrier relationships and, in particular, the companies they represent. The study is being conducted by Channel Harvest Research, in partnership with Insurance Journal.

The research is aimed at providing carriers with strategic, independent and actionable information. The analysis and report will be published in March.

Channel Harvest is a joint venture of The van Aartrijk Group and Campbell Communications.

Agents and brokers may take the survey at http://campbellsurveys.com/indagent11/ind2-1.htm.

A project prospectus and the survey may be reviewed at www.channelharvest.com.

Information on ordering the survey report may be obtained by contacting john@channelharvest.com.

IJ TV/Radio

Will Deficit Debate Affect Flood Insurance? Taxes?

Congress and the White House, as well as states, will be focusing on deficit and debt issues in the year 2011. Might this debate affect the National Flood Insurance Program? Leigh Ann Pusey, president and CEO of the industry’s American Insurance Association, thinks that is possible. In this video interview with Insurance Journal’s Andy Simpson, she also suggests that the industry will have to be vigilant on the tax issue as states could be looking for new revenue sources.

Admitted Carriers in the E&S World: Innovation Carries the Day

Alan J. Kaufman, president, chairman and CEO of Burns & Wilcox; Rob Lala, senior vice president of Liberty International Underwriters; and Chris Timm, president of Century Insurance Group and executive vice-president of Meadowbrook Insurance Group, share their ideas with Insurance Journal’s Stephanie K. Jones on the foray of admitted insurance carriers into the excess and surplus insurance market and the importance of innovation to surplus lines sector.

Building Intentional Profit

A discussion with Billy Bond and Caylor Dalley, executive vice president for Leavitt Group Enterprises, on how to accurately predict and manage your agency’s bottom line…it’s not guess work if done properly and with intention.

Did You Know…

On the redesigned web site for InsuranceJournal.com, you can find all the news collected under different subjects by clicking the Topics button in the gray navigation bar right under our logo. Also, there may be more news for each region that you can see on the Front Page, so just go to News, then select the region you want and you will be taken to a page with all of that region’s news.