ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 10, 2012 – The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big “I”) presented insurance carriers Central Insurance, Erie Insurance Group, Harleysville Insurance, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Progressive Insurance and Travelers with the prestigious Best Practices Award of Excellence at the recent education convocation held in conjunction with the Big “I” Leadership Conference this weekend in Atlanta.
The awards 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 to improving agency performance.
Central Insurance Companies, a Trusted Choice®and CAP company, launched their support for the Best Practices program as agents requested help from their company partner to grow their personal lines books of business. Central used the Best Practices studies to develop and implement a Best Practices plan. Central communicates the value of the resources through agent education and business consulting, its website and monthly agency newsletters and other outlets. Central uses Best Practices in their agent workshops and meetings to help them grow their book of business, regularly publish articles on Best Practices topics for their agents, actively participates in the Council for Best Practices and promotes the program on their website. Central has actively nominated agencies to participate in Best Practices studies.
“Through numerous professional development, online and company-wide efforts, Central Insurance Companies promotes the philosophies of the Best Practices through materials in agent education, business consulting and numerous innovative efforts,” continued Rusbuldt. “We applaud Central’s ongoing leadership and cutting edge efforts.”
Since Best Practices was launched in 2001,
Travelers, a Trusted Choice®company, has been recognized each year and their support of the program continues to grow stronger. Travelers is committed to communicating the value of the resources and working with agents to help them grow their agencies. Working with thousands of agencies, presenting keynote sessions that incorporate Best Practices topics and resources, dedicating a monthly article in the company newsletter and presenting “Lunch and Learns” are just some of the many ways Travelers has nominated numerous agencies to participate in the Best Practices program. Travelers also provides materials for select agencies and dedicates staff time and resources through participation on the IIABA Council for Best Practices. Over the last few years, the company has nominated hundreds of agencies for participation in the Best Practices program, helping select the very best agencies for this critical industry resource.
“We are proud to announce that for the eleventh year in a row, we are pleased to present Travelers with a special award recognizing their support for Best Practices,” said Rusbuldt. “Through numerous efforts, Travelers continues to demonstrate their commitment to Best Practices by working directly with agents to help them reach their goals.”
Progressive, a Trusted Choice
®
company, is a new member to the Council for Best Practices and actively promotes Best Practices on their Facebook page, and markets and promotes the program through webinars to all their agents. Progressive also publishes articles highlighting Best Practices topics in agent newsletters and online publications.
“As a new member of the Council for Best Practices, Progressive has quickly and effectively integrated Best Practices in relatively short period of time,” says Rusbuldt. “We are honored to recognize Progressive for their hard work and dedication.”
Harleysville, a Trusted Choice®company, markets and promotes Best Practices webinars to all their agents and actively participate in the Council for Best Practices. The carrier regularly publishes articles on Best Practices topics in their agent newsletters and online publications. Harleysville has trained its field staff on the Best Practices tools and initiatives, and promotes the programs with e-mail blasts.
“We are proud to present Harleysville with a Best Practices award for their commitment to the program,” says Rusbuldt. “We applaud their effective use of technology to promote Best Practices.”
Erie regularly uses the Best Practices tools to train agents, the Erie sales teams and for agent peer training. It has integrated Best Practices tool into its program to help agents better communicate with their clients and uses the tools to gauge sales behaviors of potential agents and producers.
“Erie’s commitment to enhancing its training programs with Best Practices has resulted in better communication and they are seeing results,” says Rusbuldt. “We applaud innovation and dedication to continuing education for all the professionals involved in providing excellent customer service.”
Liberty Mutual Insurance, a Trusted Choice®and CAP company, has promoted Best Practices using numerous avenues including: Actively participating in the Council for Best Practices, continually using and promoting Best Practices to its agents to help them retain their value and grow their sales, training company sales teams on the Best Practices tools and promoting Best Practices on its employee websites and agent portals.
“Liberty Mutual Insurance has led by example and demonstrated excellent promotion and use of the Best Practices programs,” said Robert Rusbuldt, Big “I” president & CEO. “We are honored to recognize Liberty Mutual Insurance for their hard work and dedication.”
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 approximately a quarter of a million 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. ###