COMPANIES HONORED WITH BEST PRACTICES AWARDS
Four recognized for advocating Best Practices philosophies
NEW YORK, Sept. 12, 2005—Four national insurance companies were presented the prestigious “Best Practices Award of Excellence” at the 2005 Big “I” Convention Opening General Session of the Best Practices Management Institute.
Honorees were Safeco Insurance, St. Paul Travelers, MetLife Auto & Home and Zurich North America-Small Business. The awards, presented by Big “I” CEO Robert A. Rusbuldt, recognize those companies that have made imaginative, outstanding and unique contributions in advocating Best Practices philosophies that enhance the independent agency system. The Big “I” Best Practices Program provides performance benchmarks and business strategies that serve as a guide in improving agency performance.
Seattle-based Safeco earned its fifth straight Best Practices Award.
“Safeco Insurance supports Best Practices with their staff training time and financial contributions,” Rusbuldt says. “They also include Best Practices materials in agent education and business consulting and strongly believe the program builds better, powerful independent agents.”
St. Paul Travelers, based in St. Paul, Minn., also received its fifth consecutive Best Practices Award for its educational outreach activities.
“St. Paul Travelers has educated hundreds of agencies through workshops, seminars, agency/company planning sessions, and ‘Travelers Today,’ an electronic newsletter,” says Rusbuldt. “The company’s commitment to the Best Practices program is steadfast.”
MetLife Auto & Home, based in Warwick, R.I., earned its second consecutive Best Practices Award by utilizing the Best Practices tools in its National Agency Partnership & Sales Seminars, in which it brings in top agency personnel for a week-long training period.
“MetLife Auto & Home supports Best Practices by striving to inform all of their agents on the availability and benefits of the program,” Rusbuldt said. “MetLife continues to be involved with the promotion of the Best Practices program, and has great enthusiasm and belief that diligent use will support ongoing growth of the independent agency system.”
Zurich North America-Small Business was honored for the second year in a row for its innovative Best Practices outreach efforts.
“We honor Zurich North America-Small Business for its incredible support of Best Practices by reaching out to thousands of agency representatives through more than 200 sales workshops across the country,” Rusbuldt said. “Its support of the program runs from its field representatives to its top executives.”
The Big “I” Convention features nationally recognized speakers, such as “America’s Mayor,” Rudy Giuliani, who revitalized New York City during his tenure (1993-2001) and inspired his city—and the nation—to come together and move forward in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The convention also features insightful continuing-education workshops, numerous networking events and the largest trade show in the insurance industry.
Founded in 1896, the Big “I” is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of more than 300,000 agents, brokers and their employees nationally. Its members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. Independent agents and brokers offer all lines of insurance—property, casualty, life and health—as well as employee benefit plans and retirement products. Web address: www.independentagent.com.
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