DURNIN WINS ULTIMATE PRODUCER CHALLENGE
Portland, Ore., agent wins title after day long competition
ALEXANDRIA, Va. Sept. 15, 2005—Diane Durnin of J.D. Fulwiler & Company Insurance, Inc., was named “The Ultimate Producer,” the winner of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America’s (IIABA) reality program “The Ultimate Producer Challenge.” The competition was held in conjunction with the Big “I” Convention in New York earlier this week.
Durnin participated with eight other producers in a series of group and individual sales exercises and tests. Producers advanced through the competition based on their performance as determined by the judges, which included the other contestants as they were eliminated during the challenge. Durnin and 1st runner up Roosevelt Haywood III of Gary, Ind., outlasted seven other finalists in contest for the title of “Ultimate Producer.”
Durnin, as the Ultimate Producer, received a $2,500 prize and three, 90-minute coaching sessions via teleconference with Roger Sitkins, a premier insurance sales coach of the Sitkins Group in Fort Myers, Fla., who oversaw the competition. The Sitkins Group has provided services to more than 2,000 independent insurance agencies, helping them to “force vertical growth” in their sales and marketing arenas, while increasing profitability.
Durnin says she relies on her technical skills, customer empathy, and honesty to make her the top producer in her Portland, Ore. agency. Durnin works hard to learn about prospective clients, so she can accurately assess their exposures and propose ways to handle that risk. She approaches sales by asking questions and learning what she can about a prospects business, so that she can assess their exposures and propose insurance recommendations as a way to handle their risks.
“I looked at it from the eyes of a consumer,” said Sitkins. “And I would have bought from Diane.”
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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