P R A D

The baseline survey was followed by a supplemental survey, which was sent to the baseline survey participants. In the supplemental survey, we asked for additional detail on producer hiring and development practices, breaking down the information requested into producer information and agency information. For every producer hired in the past five years, we asked 18 questions, including demographics, hiring information, background, training and development information, specialization and performance metrics. For every firm in the supplemental survey, we dove deeper into hiring practices and producer evaluation, the timelines to validation and the use of outside training and hiring services. We received supplemental survey responses from 112 firms that had hired 1,505 producers over the past five years. These firms hired producers ranging from just one to over one hundred. Firms of all sizes participated, ranging from small independent agents to national brokers. From these results, we identified firms in the industry making the biggest investments in producer recruiting and development and achieving the best results. We invited 25 of these firms to Atlanta for a two-day Producer Recruiting & Development Summit. Also attending were representatives from carrier sponsors of the study and the CIAB. At the Summit, we shared the preliminary study results and processed the significance of the findings. Participants shared their best producer recruiting and development practices and discussed strategies for further elevating their success. Finally, we interviewed a total of 35 firms in this phase of the research. In these interviews, we addressed the leadership of producer recruiting and development, selection of primary hiring targets, increasing the pipeline of candidates, best practices in screening and selection, and how best to train and develop producers. This study has likely provided more detailed data around this issue of critical importance than any study in our industry’s history. It is our hope and expectation that this study will provide insurance agents and brokers with the encouragement, motivation, insights, perspectives, processes and strategies necessary to: • “Right-size” the amount of recruiting and hiring necessary • Materially increase the success rates for producer hiring and development • Elevate levels of success for individual producers NOTE: The producer success rate in the baseline survey was 56%. This survey is the best representation of industry averages, due to its breadth, since it was completed by 562 firms. Our follow-up supplemental survey went much deeper and took significantly longer to complete, since it requested, among other things, 18 pieces of individual data for every producer hired over the past five years. The success rate in the supplemental survey was slightly higher, at 61%. This is as we expected, since we believe the 112 firms responding to the supplemental survey are more deeply invested in, and therefore slightly better at, producer recruiting and development than the larger pool of firms that responded to the baseline survey. Throughout this study, when we are referring to the industry in general, we will use the baseline survey which represents the best picture of the industry as a whole. When we look at individual producers and the success rates of the firms they come from, we will use the supplemental survey data.

2 Producer Recruiting & Development Study