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EXECUTIVE PERSPECTIVES
Keys to Their Success
As with the other revenue categories, a primary success factor mentioned by the agency princi-
pals is the quality of their staff. They indicated that they strive to attract and keep the top caliber
people available. One principal summed this up well:
"Our agency works hard to locate, recruit, train and retain
ethical, motivated people to work in our agency."
Another frequently mentioned factor is the quality of
their companies, where they maintain relationships with
carriers that are financially stable and that offer a line of
products that serve their customers' needs. A third factor
is a focus on the production of profitable business that
can be retained with the high quality of service that the
agencies offer. This was evident in the fact that for the
top three agencies in this size category, their ten largest
accounts represent about 10% of the agencies net rev-
enues, with the single largest account representing from
$56,000 to $137,000 of revenue. One agency mentioned
that niche markets help to increase the agency's efficien-
cy by allowing them to do concentrated work with a spe-
cific carrier rather than having to market new and renew-
al business.
Challenges They Face
The greatest challenge faced by this group is in the area of sales - finding quality producers and
developing and maintaining a sales culture. As one principal stated, "It's a challenge to hire qual-
ity producers. Many want to be employed, but only a few will commit to put forth the effort
required to be a successful producer." Almost half of
the "new" producer hires came from within other insur-
ance brokers, and about 15% came from insurance car-
riers. This means that the industry may not be success-
fully attracting as much new talent from other industries
or from new entrants into the workplace. Also, technol-
ogy continues to present a challenge to all agencies,
including this revenue group. Although the cost of
technology has decreased, it continues to be a challenge
for agencies to capitalize on the efficiencies represent-
ed by effective utilization of their automation systems.
The features are there, but they must be integrated into
the agency procedures and then used by agency person-
nel! Within this group, almost 94% of the agencies use
one of the three most prevalent systems: Applied
(66%), AfW (22%), and Sagitta (6%).
REVENUE SIZE CATEGORY HERE
EXECUTIVE
PERSPECTIVES
PROFILE
REVENUES/
EXPENSES
FINANCIAL
STABILITY
EMPLOYEE
OVERVIEW
PRODUCER
INFO
SERVICE
STAFF
INFO
TECHNOLOGY
INSURANCE
CARRIERS
APPENDIX
79
AGENCIES WITH REVENUES BETWE $2,500,000 AND $5,000,000
Factors Most Critical to
Agency's Success
(Top 5 Listed in Order of Frequency Mentioned)
1. Top caliber employees in
both sales and service areas
2. Good array of stable carriers
to meet clients' product needs
3. Solid relationships with quality
clients that value service
4. Focus on new business
development, especially in
niche or target markets
5. Having appropriate technology
to maximize agency's
effectiveness
Top Challenges
(Top 5 Listed in Order of Frequency Mentioned)
1. Acquiring/developing new
producers to successfully grow
and/or perpetuate the agency
2. Finding/training quality service
personnel
3. Maintaining carriers relationships
that meet agency needs / meeting
volume commitments
4. Staying current with technology
and maximizing its use
5. Achieving/managing growth with
out compromising existing client
satisfaction