2001 Best Practices Study

Analysis of Agencies with Revenues Between $1,250,000 and $2,500,000

B USINESS P LANNING

“We have an off-site planning session every year. We gather input throughout the agency on what our issues are and then we get our top 4-5 people together for several days of intensive planning. Once we’re back in the office, we share the planning results with the entire staff.” “We’re active learners. We’re not all that smart, but we’re convinced this is a pretty simple business at its core. We take advantage of any and all opportunities to learn more, whether it’s company-sponsored workshops, studying the Best Practices information, attending Big I events, brainstorming with other agents, whatever. We’re always looking for a better way to do things.” “Our planning used to be pretty rigid, a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), that type of thing. Now the partners and key employees get together off-site in a more relaxed environment where we talk about the business on a very deep and thoughtful level. It works much better for us … so much better than making a bunch of lists that are forgotten by the next week.”

As might be expected, business planning becomes even more important and more difficult to accomplish effectively in an insurance environment characterized by unending change. Best Practices agencies engaging in effective planning center their efforts around periodic strategic planning sessions in which both objectives and means for accomplishing these objectives are established. In support of this formal business planning process, many Best Practices agencies solicit agency-wide employee input via anonymous employee surveys, utilize third party planning facilitators, meet off-site, and even include key carrier partners. Perhaps the most important element to any planning process is the frequent review of the plan by management to ensure that the plan remains appropriate and that progress is being made.

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