P R A D

Addenda

STUDY NOTES & EXPLANATIONS

Baseline Survey — Questionnaire used in the first phase of the study to gather agency profile and general producer hiring information (see page 1, Methodology ). Data collected from 562 firms hiring a total of 4,641 producers during the last five years. New hires included commercial lines (CL), personal lines (PL) and employee benefits (EB) producers.

The following success rates were computed from the baseline data:

• Industry-wide Success Rate — percent of all producers hired during last five years that were deemed successful. Success was defined as validated (i.e., book of business generates enough commission income to cover their compensation), on track to validate, or “would be hired again” by firm if given the opportunity. • Firm-wide Success Rate — average percent of producers per firm that validated (i.e., producing enough business to cover their compensation), on track to validate, or “would be hired again” by firm if given the opportunity. • High Success Rate — percent of producers that were identified by the respondents as having exceeded what was expected and achieved a higher level of success than other producers hired. The determination of “High Success” was left to the judgment of the respondent, usually an agency principal. Supplemental Survey — Follow up questionnaire used in the second phase of the study to gather additional detail information (see Page 2 , Methodology ). Data collected from 112 firms hiring a total of 1,505 producers. Success Rates computed for the Baseline Survey were also computed for the Supplemental Survey. NOTE 1: When computing the “size of books generated”, the results of experienced producers who brought books of business when hired and producers who were assigned books of business once employed were eliminated in order to present a more accurate success analysis. NOTE 2: Although detailed supplemental data exist for 1,505 producers, results were sometimes insufficient for drawing meaningful conclusions when data were cut multiple times to examine certain specific criteria. Although there were some limitations on how detailed our analysis could be, the study provides significant and exceedingly useful analyses of the data gathered.

63 Producer Recruiting & Development Study