October 2013 Wisconsin Independent Agent by Independent Insurance Agents of Wisconsin

wisconsin

INDEPENDENT AGENT OCTOBER 2013

THANK YOU TO OUR 2013-14 EXCLUSIVE COMPANY SPONSORSPROFILES INSIDE!

Your customers deserve a

Silver Lining.

wisconsin

INDEPENDENT AGENT OCTOBER 2013 Eric Schwartz, Editor

2013-14 IIAW Exclusive Company Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Open Door Policy Thank You! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Government Affairs State Legislative And Political Briefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Commentary From Counsel Wisconsin Supreme Court Refines Definition Of Occurrence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 News From ACT Becoming A Social Business: A Model For Success . . . . . . . . 34 Marketing Minute So You Call Yourself A Professional Salesperson . . . . . . . . .40 Errors & Omissions Navigating The Pitfalls Of Insuring Homeowners Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 When something happens to your customer’s home, car, or business, it may not be a disaster. But no matter what it is, your customers always deserve fast and fair service from their insurance company. West Bend provides a Silver Lining, no matter what the claim may be. When a tornado in Eagle, Wisconsin cut the power at the Hen House Café, helping Mary get temporary power to the café and cleaning up water damage were important. So that’s just what we did. Sometimes little things mean a lot. And every day, when something bad happens to someone, West Bend makes sure your customers experience the Silver Lining. Because the worst brings out our best.®

Independent Insurance Agents of Wisconsin 725 John Nolen Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53713 Phone: (608) 256-4429 or (800) 362-7441 ■ Fax: (608) 256-0170 ■ Web: www.iiaw.com Executive Vice President - Matt Banaszynski 2013-2014 Executive Committee

2013-2014 Committee Chairs

President....................................................... Dave Dunker P.O. Box 443, Brookfield, WI 53008-0443

Agency Operations....................................... Kim Dandrea 1300 South Green Bay Rd. #100, Racine, WI 53406

President-elect ........................................... John Wickhem P.O. Box 1500, Janesville, WI 53547-1500

Automation/Technology ............... Cathleen Christensen P.O. Box 949, Fond du Lac, WI 54936-0949

Secretary-Treasurer ......................................... Steve Leitch P.O. Box 85, River Falls, WI 54022

Employee Benefits............................................. Tim Bever 555 Main St. #320, Racine, WI 53403

Chairman of the Board ..................................... Mike Froh P.O. Box 1320, Sheboygan, WI 53082-1320

Finance & Compensation .............................. Steve Leitch P.O. Box 85, River Falls, WI 54022

State National Director ................................ Linda Steiner 555 Main Street #320, Racine, WI 53403

Government Affairs .......................................Skip Hansen 100 North Corporate Drive #100 Brookfield, WI 53045

2013-2014 Board of Directors

Industry Relations ............................................. Tom Sitter P.O. Box 2424, Oshkosh, WI 54903-2424

Mike Ansay 101 East Grand Ave. #11, Port Washington, WI 53704 Jason Bott 330 East Kilbourn Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53202 Thomas Holter P.O. Box 938, Beloit, WI 53512-0938 Lise Meyer Kobussen P.O. Box 633, Sauk City, WI 53583 Bruce Kommers P.O. Box 66, Antigo, WI 54409-0066 Brian McClone 505 North Westfield Street, Oshkosh, WI 54902 Jeff Rasmussen 525 Junction Road, Madison, WI 53717 Michael Walston P.O. Box 236, Kewaunee, WI 54216-0236 Matthew Weimer 100 North Corporate Drive #100, Brookfield, WI 53045 WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

Membership Development ................................. Jeff Thiel P.O. Box 1610, Waukesha, WI 53187-1610 Smaller Agencies .................................... Michael Walston P.O. Box 236, Kewaunee, WI 54216-0236 Technical ......................................................Andy Burkart P.O. Box 1320, Sheboygan, WI 53081-1320 Young Agents ............................................ Janelle Higgins 6200 Mineral Point Road, Madison, WI 53705-4504

On The Cover… Our successful Growth By Association fall planning session has set the stage for the year. Our incredible committees have ambitious plans for 2013-14 and it should be very exciting as we move forward. The exclusive company sponsors and partners on the cover make achieving our goals possible and we are grateful for their continued support of the Independent Insurance Agents of Wisconsin. Our sponsors include: AAA Wisconsin, ACUITY Insurance, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Capitol Insurance Companies, The Hanover Insurance Group, The IMT Group, Integrity Insurance, Progressive Insurance, QBE, SECURA Insurance, SFM, Society Insurance, Travelers Insurance, West Bend, and Wilson Mutual Insurance.

> OUR ADVERTISERS AAA ................................................................ 46 ACUITY Insurance ........................................... 47 AmTrust North America ................................... 15 Badger Mutual ................................................ 45 Burns & Wilcox ................................................ 12 EMC Insurance................................................ 36 IIAW Continuing Education ............................. 25 Insurance Associates of America ................... 43 Northern Underwriting Managers .................. 37 Partners Mutual ............................................. 45 Pekin Insurance............................................... 41 Robertson Ryan.............................................. 33 SECURA Insurance .......................................... 26 SFM Insurance ................................................. 17 Society Insurance............................................ 21 The IMT Group ................................................ 30 Autumn Retreat.................................Back Cover West Bend ........................................................ 2 Western National Insurance ............................ 31 Wilson Mutual ................................................. 42 OCTOBER 2013 | 3

2013-14 EXCLUSIVE COMPANY SPONSORS

AAA Wisconsin, a member of the Auto Club Group Location of Company Headquarters: Madison, WI Founded: 1902 Officers: Chuck Podowski, Chief Executive Officer Terry McElroy, ACG Executive Vice President John Tomlin, ACG Chief Operating Officer Steve Brown, Senior Vice President Steve Wagner, President - ACG North Field Operations Fausto Martin, Vice President and Chief Claim Officer Tom Frymark, Regional President, Wisconsin Heidi Nienow, Regional Sales Director, Wisconsin Products Company Specializes In: The Auto Club Group Insurance Co. and Auto Club Insurance Association underwrite the insurance offered by AAA Wisconsin, which is part of the Auto Club Group, the largest affiliation of AAA clubs in the Midwest and South with more than 8.8 million members in 11 states. We offer personal lines auto, home, umbrella and recreational vehicle products. Through our affiliate, AAA Life Insurance Company, we also offer Term, UL, Whole Life and annuities. Our Independent Agents also sell the safety and security of our AAA membership. The membership offers 24-hour emergency road service, exclusive member discounts of up to 20 percent or more on hotels, dining, shopping, free maps, and discounts off of auto and home insurance.

ACUITY Location of Company Headquarters: Sheboygan, WI Founded: 1925 Officers: Ben Salzmann, President & CEO Ed Felchner, Vice President - Marketing & Personal Lines Jamie Loiacono, Vice President - Claims Sheri Murphy, Vice President - Services & Administration Pat Tures, Vice President - Actuarial & Strategic Information Neal Ruffalo, Vice President - Enterprise Technology Lynn Coady, Vice President - Human Resources

Tom Frymark

Other Comments AAA is the insurance industry leader when it comes to advocating for the motoring public. Since AAA was formed on March 4, 1902, the organization has been campaigning for better roads, safer automobiles and uniform traffic laws and signage. Today as one of the largest membership organizations in the nation, we continue to advocate for all motorists, from our youngest citizens and the need to keep them secure in car seats, to our teen drivers in our driver training classes, and to our seasoned drivers and their desire to remain mobile for as long as safely possible. We are also proud of the fact that AAA is the largest leisure travel agency in the country. Company Website: AAA.com

Wally Waldhart, Vice President - Sales & Communications Ed Warren, Vice President - Commercial Lines Wendy Schuler, Vice President - Finance Laura Conklin, Vice President - Business Consulting

Products Company Specializes In: Commercial Lines: ACUITY writes accounts of virtually any size, from small Bis-Pak (BOP) policies to accounts generating millions of dollars in premium. We emphasize underwriting discipline and utilize loss control to help pre-qualify accounts. This enables us to be open to many classes, including the best of tougher classes other companies won’t write. Our Bis-Pak is one of the broadest of its kind in the industry and includes ten different plans. Our Internet rating tools make it easy for agents to quote and apply online, and ACUITY ASIST delivers actual policies within seconds. Because of these capabilities, a full 80 percent of new policies are rated and submitted electronically. Although we write a very broad range of classes, we emphasize contractors, manufacturers, mercantile, service, truckers, and offices, and we offer specialized coverages needed by those accounts. Although we are a standard market, our ACUITY Edge commercial auto product provides agents a terrific market to write business that does not fit regular guidelines.

Outlook For The Company’s Future In Wisconsin where we have 620,000 members, AAA ranks in the top 9 largest writers of personal automobile and homeowners. Our goal is to become a premiere personal lines insurer and we plan to do that by providing a wide range of competitively priced products and excellent service to our 170 independent agencies in Wisconsin. We value our brand and work toward building strong partnerships with our independent agents and at the same time continue our commitment to public service and traffic safety. AAA is committed to the independent agency distribution channel.

Ben Salzmann

Personal Lines: ACUITY is one of the broadest personal lines markets in the industry. We emphasize package policies, including our PerPak and Road and Residence, but we also write many monoline accounts. ACUITY is known for offering coverages many carriers will not, such as Home-Biz, UM-PD, Car Damage Replacement Cost, and OEM Parts. We provide enhancement endorsements to expand our competitive basic programs. We have two motorcycle programs and a broad nonstandard auto market. Because of the robust online capabilities we offer agents, 99.9 percent of applications come to us electronically. In addition to

real-time online rating, we deliver actual policies to agents within seconds with ACUITY ASIST. Outlook for the Company’s Future ACUITY finished 2012 with an incredible 94.2 combined ratio and surpassed the $1 billion revenue mark in early 2013. Through the first seven months of 2013, written premium growth was up 15%. Policy count has increased to an all-time high, surpassing the quarter-million mark. ACUITY expects to maintain this momentum into the future for several reasons. A key reason for our optimistic outlook is our faith in and support of the independent agent distribution channel. We lead the industry in interfacing our online capabilities with management systems agents already have on their desktops. ACUITY’s technology leadership is proven not just by the high level of system usage by our agents, but by the recognition we have received. We have earned more technology awards from industry standards association ACORD than any carrier in the nation. We have been named by InformationWeek magazine as one of the top technology firms in the country among all industries. ACUITY also offers financial strength and stability. We are rated A+ by both A.M. Best and Standard & Poor’s and are one of the top 65 P&C insurers in the country based on size. We have also been named by Ward Financial Group, an independent industry benchmarking organization, as one of the 50 best-run insurers in the nation for the past 14 years, putting us in the top two percent of companies nationwide. CONTINUED ON PAGE 23

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WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

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Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Wisconsin Location Of Company Headquarters: N17 W24340 Riverwood Drive, Pewaukee, WI 53188 Founded: Proud resident of Wisconsin since 1940 Officers: Lawrence G. Schreiber, President & GM - Wisconsin Paul Nobile, Regional Vice President Sales & Account Management - Wisconsin Keith Bell, Regional Vice President State Underwriting - Wisconsin Lawrence Schreiber At Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield we’re committed to improving the lives of the people we serve and the health of our communities. We believe the best health insurance helps people stay healthy. That’s why our health plans go beyond simply providing health care coverage; Anthem encourages health and wellness by doing the following: !"" Offering large networks with outstanding physicians, specialists and hospitals. !"" Issuing helpful reminders when it is time for preventive screenings. !"" Providing programs and information to help individuals take control of their health and manage chronic conditions. !"" Offering comprehensive, “total body” insurance solutions including dental coverage, life insurance and pharmacy benefits management. Our value. We’ve been serving our members in Wisconsin since 1940. Located in Pewaukee, we have 1,377 associates on staff with over 1 million members in Wisconsin. Our parent company has over 60 years of experience and, for four years in a row, has been recognized among all health insurers as a Top 3 “America’s Most Admired Company” by Fortune magazine. Service that exceeds expectations !"" 97% of claims are processed in 30 days. !"" 99% claims dollar accuracy. !"" Live service hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. !"" Claims status available 24/7 online or by phone. Extensive provider networks !""PPO: 4,458 primary care physicians, 5,606 specialists and 127 hospitals. !""HMO: 3,384 primary care physicians, 4,686 specialists and 122 hospitals. !"" The BlueCard® Program provides Blue Cross and Blue Shield members access to health care services when they’re traveling throughout the country — in addition to providers in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. !"" Access to a network of about 62,000 participating retail pharmacies across the country, including most major chains and many independent neighborhood pharmacies. Cutting-edge technology !"" Online enrollment and self-service tools that save time for employers and members. !"" Simplified claims processing.

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360° Health Our innovative 360° Health® Program provides a customized health coverage solution for each employee. By identifying and providing the right programs and engaging employees to use them — we can help improve health and reduce medical claims. Online tools Anthem.com offers health and wellness tools to help your employees make the most of their health care. It includes MyHealth Assessment, an online questionnaire that helps members look for health risks and ways to be healthier. Your employees can also find up-to-date health information, watch videos about health and wellness topics, and take advantage of health-related discounts. Integrated products and services !"" Pharmacy Benefit Management. !"" Behavioral and EAP. !"" Dental. !"" Vision. !"" Life and Disability. !"" Productivity Solutions. Benefits to employer !"" One account management contact. !"Single renewal process. !"Administrative efficiencies. Consumer-driven health plans Our Lumenos plans give your employees more control over their health care costs and choices. They can lower costs without giving up the quality of their care. !"Allowed trend: down 5.6% vs. traditional plans. !"Preventive care usage: up 3% overall, up 8% for men. !"Office visits: down 9.3% overall. !"" Prescription drug usage: down overall with no negative impact on medications taken by members with chronic conditions. Designated Blue Distinction Centers This is a strong network of recognized specialty centers across the country that are committed to providing better clinical and cost outcomes. CONTINUED ON PAGE 23 WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

2013-14 EXCLUSIVE COMPANY SPONSORS

HANOVER INSURANCE GROUP INC. Location Of Company Headquarters: Worcester, MA Founded: 1852 Officers: Frederick H. Eppinger, President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Mueller, President - The Hanover’s Midwest Region Todd Bavery, Vice President - Regional Distribution Leader Andrew Knipfer, Regional Vice President - Commercial Lines, Wis. John Vose, Assistant Regional Vice President - Personal Lines, Wis.

The Best Partner for Independent Agents In 2003, The Hanover began a renewed journey to create a company that would deliver distinctive value solely through independent agents and brokers and to their customers every day. The goal being to deliver innovative products to a selective group of agents who were supported by locally empowered industry experts to enable them to compete and win, regardless of the prevailing market conditions. Since then, The Hanover has made unprecedented investments, building a unique and special organization, staffed by committed and talented professionals, exclusively focused on the needs of its agent and broker partners. In personal lines, The Hanover is a leading account writer of homes, autos, recreational vehicles and other personal assets. This year, the company is pleased to launch its Platinum Experience to help its agent partners win more account-oriented business. The Hanover’s commercial lines offer a wide range of innovative products and capabilities for small commercial, middle market, and specialty businesses. The company’s total solutions approach is executed by experienced and insightful local underwriting talent, who offer a broad risk appetite along with specialized capabilities, as well as a commitment to responsive, effective customer service. National Company/International Reach The Hanover has strengthened and expanded the organization on every dimension, assembling an outstanding team of professionals nationally and internationally through its Lloyds operations, building a world class products portfolio, creating a culture of execution, and developing deep, mutually beneficial partnerships with some of the best agents and brokers in the business. As evidence of its progress, the company has expanded its reach throughout the U.S. and globally in key markets.

Fred Eppinger

The Hanover distributes its products and services exclusively through a select group of independent agents and brokers. This selective distribution strategy is focused on deep and long-term relationships which enables the company and its agents to create sustainable value by further differentiating their organizations in their markets. At a Glance The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., based in Worcester, Mass., is one of the top 25 property and casualty insurers in the United States. For more than 160 years, The Hanover has provided a wide range of property and casualty products and services to businesses, individuals, and families. The Hanover distributes its products through a select group of agents and brokers. Through its international member company, Chaucer, The Hanover also underwrites business at Lloyd’s of London in several major insurance and reinsurance classes including political risk, marine, aviation and energy. For more information, please visit hanover.com. A.M. Best Company Rating The Hanover Insurance Group’s member insurance companies are rated “A” (Excellent) by A.M. Best Company. Local agents interested in learning more about The Hanover can contact John Vose at (262) 796-6743 or Andrew Knipfer at (262) 796-6735. Company Website: www.hanover.com

INTEGRITY INSURANCE Location of Company Headquarters: Appleton, WI Founded: 1933 Officers: Mark Russell, President & CEO Brent Hammer, Controller & Corporate Financial Manager Cindy Heindel, Vice President — Human Resources/Administration Brad Kelly, Vice President — Sales & Marketing Steve Klingemann, Vice President — Personal Lines Christian Martin, Vice President — Claims Jill Wagner, Vice President — Commercial Lines Integrity Insurance — Investing in Success Integrity Insurance, along with our network of Independent Agents, consistently provides high-quality service to our customers. Our brand promise is focused on service, trust, relationships and a commitment that our decisions and interactions will provide the ultimate customer experience – the way it should be®. Focused on “redefining partnership”, Integrity’s vision is to set the industry standard for independent agency/carrier partnerships through the depth, strength of commitment, innovation and return on investment of our relationship. Our Voice of the Customer program gathers feedback from customers, both agents and policyholders, who have experienced our service and allows us to continually improve on that service, establishing that we are a company that listens. Results from our June 2013 Agent survey revealed our satisfaction level increased from our last survey by over eight points – even though we were already performing at a high level. These measures confirm Integrity’s strategy and business approach has continued momentum in the marketplace.

Mark Russell

underwriter program, we’ve increased our personnel to reach out to more agents, making it even easier to do business with Integrity. We continue to offer unique products, such as our XPanded Premier® Policy (XPP) for Manufacturers, Wholesalers, Building Owners’ and Mercantile & Services. XPP offers customized, flexible coverages to ensure you’ll have the right coverage, at the right price. Integrity introduced a best-in-class Business Owners Policy enhancement in March of 2013. BusinessAssure® opens up many new business opportunities for our agents. With easy and intuitive access to quoting, competitive rates and 400+ classes, BusienssAssure has been the product of choice throughout our agency force, boosting segment performance over 60% in the first half of 2013. Integrity’s Loss Control representatives each boast over 28 years of experience in the industry and are well equipped to work with agents and insureds to help prevent losses that have an adverse impact on their business operations. Loss Control representatives are able to conduct onsite inspections and job-site surveys to identify loss drivers, assist in the development of workplace and fleet safety programs and offer OSHA compliance information.

We believe delivering outstanding service – whether it be formalizing a consultative business model with our agents or processing claims for our insureds – is the key to our success. We’re rated “A” (Excellent) by A.M. Best and in partnership with Ohio-based Grange Insurance, a $1 billion insurance provider. The affiliation with Grange is in the twelfth year and continues to drive high value for agents and policyholders served by the entire enterprise. When you deal with Integrity, we’ll take care of your needs today and we’ll be here for you tomorrow.

Personal Lines — Ease of Doing Business with a Personal Touch Agents look to us to provide products and coverages they can offer their clients to attract and retain customers. And they can do just that with IntegrityOne®, our “package” policy. This policy provides enhanced coverage, additional discounts and customer convenience. Further enhancements have been implemented since introduction, making this a premier product for customer satisfaction and agency retention,

Commercial Lines — Best in Class We continue to write the best in class in almost any segment with underwriters ready to take your call. Due to the success of our field

Meeting the needs of a diverse client base is important. That’s why we offer PinPoint® products targeting a broad auto and home market, including renter and condo owners to help you increase CONTINUED ON PAGE 23

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WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

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2013-14 EXCLUSIVE COMPANY SPONSORS

THE IMT GROUP IMT INSURANCE COMPANY & WADENA INSURANCE COMPANY Location Of Company Headquarters: 4445 Corporate Drive, West Des Moines, IA 50266 Founded: 1884 Officers: Richard Keith, President & CEO Sean Kennedy, Executive Vice President Dennis Patterson, Senior Vice President – Information Systems Richard Keith Greg Blythe, Vice President – Finance Brad Buchanan, Vice President – Personal Lines Brian Neitzel, Vice President – Research & Development Dalene Holland, Corporate Secretary Chris Owenson, Vice President – Claims Rich Nauman, Vice President – Marketing Mark Vasey, Vice President – Commercial Lines

Products Company Specializes In: The IMT Group uses a strong partnership with its Wisconsin Independent Agents to meet and exceed the needs of our personal lines and commercial lines clients. The IMT Group consists of IMT & Wadena Insurance Companies and insures autos, homes, businesses and more. Wadena Insurance Company has a great Auto program along with a cutting-edge Businessowners policy system. In addition, Wadena Insurance offers Workers’ Compensation, Power Sports and Boatowners policies. The Wadena Businessowners program includes many specialty ‘PAKS’ such as: Auto Kleen PAK, Convenience Store PAK, Dine PAK, Funeral Home PAK, Grocery PAK, Motel PAK, Office PAK, Par PAK, Storage PAK, and Vet PAK. IMT Insurance Company offers a wide array of personal and commercial lines products including Farm Liability, Homeowners, Commercial Auto, Commercial Property, Commercial Liability and Umbrellas. Bonds are also an important line of business at IMT. Together, IMT and Wadena offer the products needed for a well-rounded property and casualty agency. Outlook For The Company’s Future Both IMT and Wadena Insurance Companies are strong Midwest regional carriers that understand the needs of the people and agencies that reside in your area. Financial stability is one of our strengths — both IMT and Wadena Insurance companies are rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best. We are a stable company with over 50% of our workforce being with us for over 10 years. We have also added a number of good young Generation Y employees who have generated a higher energy level within the company. One of The IMT Group’s main strengths is our agency force. We use only independent agents and have over 800 agencies in the six states in which we do business.

and most will say, “The IMT Group!” We design the systems ourselves along with the help from our independent agents. We continue to advance with changes in technology and have dedicated ourselves to Social Media through our presence on Facebook, YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn. We’re committed to our independent agents and the future! It’s the simple things that differentiate us from our competitors. We are a strong Midwest regional mutual company that values our relationships with independent insurance agents and enjoy what we do. We like to have fun! We also strongly believe that in order to be successful, you must enjoy what you are doing. Our friendly, familyoriented employees carry the same Midwest values that our agents and insureds carry. Our agents know they can contact any of us at The IMT Group at any time.

PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE Location of Company Headquarters: Mayfield Village, OH Founded: 1937 Officers: Glenn Renwick, President & CEO John Barbagallo, Agency Operations and Commercial Lines President John Sauerland, Personal Lines President Products Company Specializes In: Progressive is the number one writer of auto insurance through a network of more than 35,000 independent agents and a leading writer of special lines and commercial auto, including coverage for motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, boats, personal watercraft, snowmobiles, RVs, travel trailers and food trucks. In addition, umbrella and homeowners products provide preferred customers with even more coverage at competitive rates*.

John Barbagallo

Outlook For The Company’s Future Progressive leads the way in usage-based insurance with Snapshot, offering personalized rates and big discounts for safe driving. Consumers can even test drive Snapshot to see if they can earn a discount with the program before switching carriers. We continue to help your agency move forward with industryleading technology, exceptional claims service, online and toll-free customer referrals, and a co-op marketing program to leverage our highly recognizable national brand. Company Website: www.ProgressiveAgent.com *Progressive Home Advantage is underwritten by American Strategic Insurance and available on a limited rollout basis in over 20 states.

John Sauerland

People buy their insurance from independent agents because they know them, like them, and trust them. That is exactly the reason independent agents do business with The IMT Group. We have been doing business in the Midwest since 1884. This experience will continue to help us in the future. When you think of The IMT Group, you can be sure it is a stable company with an eye on the past and a keen sense for the future. We will continue to live up to our slogan, “Be Worry Free with IMT!” Local independent agents interested in learning more about The IMT Group can contact Matt Casey at 1 (800) 274-3531, ext. 897. Company Website: www.imtins.com

Other Comments Another of our strengths is automation. Ask any of our 800 independent agencies which of their companies have the best systems

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WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

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2013-14 EXCLUSIVE COMPANY SPONSORS

QBE REGIONAL INSURANCE Location of Company Headquarters: One General Drive, Sun Prairie, WI 53596 Founded: 1925 Officers: Jeff Post, Senior Vice President, Midwest Region Scott Cummins, Branch Vice President, Sun Prairie Roger Kaland, Branch Vice President, Milwaukee

Jeff Post

For all your commercial property needs, the path is clear.

Products Company Specializes In: QBE Regional has partnered with Wisconsin’s independent agents to QBE has partnered with Wisconsin’s independent agents to meet the needs of main street and personal lines clients for over 80 years. With local management and claims handling, the company is represented by over 275 agents across Wisconsin and has developed commercial and personal lines products to protect consumers’ most important assets. Commercial Lines: From small storefronts to high-value multilocation corporations, QBE’s US Middle Market Division provides insurance protection across a wide spectrum of Wisconsin properties. We leverage our Underwriting Expertise, Loss Control, Products and Services to make it possible. Our experts see opportunities where others don’t, looking at every way to contribute to your success. In fact, our understanding of risk and ability to manage it better gives your customers the reassurance they need to be successful. Our FlexBizSM program includes coverages, limits and extensions to meet the needs of over 400 classes of business.

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

From skyscrapers to main street businesses, lessor’s risk to vacant property, Burns & Wilcox does it all. With unlimited access to the broadest range of markets, we can place coverages for every one of your commercial property clients. Whether their needs are traditional or complex, the expertise of Burns & Wilcox means you are always on the right road.

Personal Lines: QBE offers products to meet the needs of almost every household in Wisconsin. The introduction of a new processing system has improved agency efficiency and is the foundation for our FlexAuto® and FlexHomeSM products. In addition, our Crowne CondominiumSM product has been designed and priced to offer superior features and protection compared to a standard HO-6.

$6.5 billion in 2012, the company offers Wisconsin agents financial strength, stability and access to additional products and markets through other QBE member companies. These include NAU, the third largest crop insurer in the US, QBE Aviation, QBE Programs and in the near future, QBE Agri. QBE continues to maintain the local presence, approachability and individual service agents have come to expect from us. We are committed to maintaining healthy products that are open for business, enabling Wisconsin agencies to quote and close more customers, with confidence. Other Comments QBE has insured Wisconsin autos, homes and businesses since 1925. Our heritage continues with QBE Insurance Group Limited, one of the top 20 insurers and reinsurers worldwide, with operations in all key global insurance markets. QBE is an Australian listed company based in Sydney, with operations in 47 countries and over 13,000 staff worldwide. QBE’s gross written premium was $18.4 billion in 2012. Company Website: qbena.com FlexAuto, FlexHome, FlexBiz and Crowne Condominium are registered service marks of QBE Regional Companies (N.A.) Inc.

Outlook for the Company’s Future As a member of QBE North America, with gross written premium of

OCTOBER 2013 | 13

AmTrust has a bouquet of coverage for small businesses

SECURA INSURANCE Location Of Company Headquarters: Appleton, WI Founded: 1900 SECURA Leaders: John Bykowski, CEO & Chairman of the Board David Gross, President & COO Kathryn Sieman, Executive Vice President & CFO Scott Huiras, SVP – Claims Martin Arnold, SVP–Underwriting Jeffrey Bemis, VP & CIO Diana Buechel, VP – Personal Lines Underwriting Daniel Ferris, VP – General Counsel and Corporate Secretary Robert Van Beek, VP – Agency Automation Products Company Specializes In: SECURA Insurance is built on sound business strategy, longterm financial stability, and dedication of agency partners and employees. This approach has paid off throughout its 113-year history. The company continues to achieve exceptional operating results, expecting to grow direct written premium (DWP) by nearly 10% to more than $450 million by year-end 2013 and attain a combined ratio in the low to mid 90s. The company provides a broad spectrum of Commercial, Personal, Specialty, and Farm-Ag products to customers. Its reach includes partnerships with more than 430 agencies in 12 states. Commercial Lines represents 53 percent of business. Agents rely on the company’s industry-specific expertise to offer coverages for retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, contractors, restaurants, and numerous other markets. Last fall, the carrier introduced its new Work Comp Nurse Hotline, offering immediate medical guidance to injured workers. This free service for policyholders allows agents to readily sell the value to retain and attract Work Comp customers. Other key benefits include reduced claims, resulting in reduced loss ratios and greater profitability for agents. Its risk management professionals show policyholders how to improve the working conditions for their employees. Their consultative method results in safer work environments, fewer losses, and lower premiums. Complementing this team approach is Prevention Connection, the company’s online risk management resource that provides agents and policyholders 24/7 access to safety articles and videos. Agents help SECURA continue the momentum of its Specialty Line, which launched in 2010. A rapidly growing segment of the carrier’s portfolio — its Specialty niche programs, like sports and recreation, nonprofit organizations, and special events such as hole-in-one insurance – present more opportunities for agents to grow their books of business.

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John Bykowski Jean Van Den Brandt, VP – Marketing Garth Wicinsky, VP – Human Resources Shane Roh, RVP – Sales Jeffrey Kargus, Controller

The carrier’s MILE-STONE® home and auto package policy is the cornerstone of its Personal Line and offers the finest combination of value, coverage, service, and convenience. Lifestyle enhancements such as Pet ProtectorSM, Roadside Rescuer, Travel RescuerSM, and Identity Theft Protection give agents an edge attracting new customers. Farm-Ag rounds out the company’s products and represents the foundation of its heritage. The company continues to expand this segment by writing Agribusiness policies for those businesses that support farming operations, like grain haulers, seed dealers, and milk haulers. Outlook for the company’s future On Sept. 1, SECURA’s leader, John Bykowski, announced he will retire July 2014 and assumed the role of CEO and Chairman of the Board. He will continue as Chairman after he retires. Dave Gross was named successor and appointed President and Chief Operating Officer. The promotion positions Dave to be the next leader for the company after John retires. In addition, Kathryn Sieman was promoted to Executive Vice President; she also will remain CFO. Looking ahead, the company is well positioned for growth. With its talented people, it is focused on providing agency partners a solid, established market, new growth opportunities, and exceptional service to continue their success writing and retaining quality business.

Complementary workers’ comp and BOP coverage By offering a competitive businessowners policy (BOP) as an individual product or as an accompaniment to our workers’ compensation insurance or commercial auto products, AmTrust has a selection that serves small businesses well. Better yet, we offer a 10% discount on BOP for our existing workers’ compensation policyholders. An umbrella policy is also available, with limits ranging from $1 million to $10 million to fit over our BOP and commercial auto products.

For more information about how you can write business with AmTrust, please call 877.528.7878 or visit www.amtrustnorthamerica.com.

SECURA remains a dynamic, growing, and stable partner for agents and policyholders for the long term, evidenced by its “A” Excellent financial rating by A.M. Best. The company also ranked as a Top 10 carrier nationwide by agents in the Making Business Easier survey.

AmTrust North America A.M. Best rating of “A” (Excellent) FSC X

Company Website: www.secura.net

WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

An AmTrust Financial Company

Your Success is Our Policy.®

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SFM Mutual Insurance Company Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minn. Branch: Milwaukee, Wis. Founded: 1984 Officers: Bob Lund, President and CEO Terry Miller, Chief Financial Officer Scott Brener, General Counsel Steve Sandilla, Vice President – Strategic Business Operations Nick Marino, Director – Wisconsin Operations

Products Company Specializes In: SFM is a customer-owned mutual insurance group providing workers’ compensation coverage to more than 15,000 employers based in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. SFM also insures their operations in many other states. The company specializes in claims, medical, legal and loss-control service, and is supported by in-house attorneys, doctors and other professional specialists. Convenient policyholder services: CompOnline® Risk Management System, online injury reporting, premium e-payments, online payroll reporting and audit, pay-as-you-go wage reporting, extensive education and loss control resources. Offers employment practices liability coverage, easily endorsed onto the SFM policy. SFM enjoys the highest levels of customer satisfaction: 93 percent of SFM policyholders renew each year.

Chairman of the Board Gene Merriam and President and CEO Bob Lund

SFM provides agents with a reliable market, competitive commissions and satisfied customers. It’s easy to do business with SFM: quote and bind online through SFM Agency Manager (SAM); manage your entire book of business online; access client data. No minimum premium. SFM is financially strong with a growing surplus, positive net income, low expense ratio, low combined ratio, conservative investments, and debt-free. Helping Others SFM Foundation, now 5 years old, has committed more than $430,000 to help children of parents killed or injured on the job go to college. Agents are a main source of fundraising. Scholarships awarded so far involve workers’ comp claims handled by 20 different insurers. Company Information: Visit www.sfmic.com, or call (800) 937-1181.

SFM–The Work Comp Experts

Outlook SFM is expanding in Wisconsin and has recently added additional claim and underwriting professionals to its already strong team.

Providing superior injury prevention, claims management and cost control services

The company insures organizations of all types and all sizes — small, mid-size and large. The largest area of growth has been in Allied Health Care, defined as Retirement Living, Skilled Nursing, Group Homes and Hospital classes.

sfmic.com 16 | OCTOBER 2013

WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

OCTOBER 2013 | 17

2013-14 EXCLUSIVE COMPANY SPONSORS

SOCIETY INSURANCE Location Of Company Headquarters: Fond du Lac, WI Founded: 1915 Senior Managers: Rick Parks, President & CEO William Reeves, Senior Vice President & COO John Barouski, Vice President – Workers Compensation Claims Steven Binkley, Vice President – Property, Auto and Liability Claims Amy Collett, Director – Human Resources Thomas Konop, Vice President – Information Systems D. Holly Lifke, Vice President – Commercial Lines Underwriting Dina S. Schultz, Vice President – Sales & Marketing Edwin Storer, Vice President – Finance & Treasurer

Products Company Specializes In: Society Insurance writes only commercial lines. As a niche market leader, the company has developed in-depth expertise in its core classes of business. Supported by long-term trade association endorsements from the Wisconsin Restaurant Association and the Tavern League of Wisconsin, Society writes policies for more than 25 percent of the food and beverage establishments in Wisconsin. Society’s strong tradition of association partnerships and niche expertise also extends into hotels and motels, grocery and convenience stores, artesian contractors and food processors, auto repair garages and health care clinics. The packages Society offers for its core classes of business are consistently some of the most comprehensive on the market. Workers compensation insurance was the first coverage Society wrote when it was founded in 1915, and the company maintains a strong presence in this complicated and specialized line of business. Society’s claim management process keeps costs low for policyholders by stressing early intervention, advocating a quick return to work and obtaining the best medical provider discounts. Loss control services are customer-focused and tailored to the needs of both small and large businesses. Society also offers a number of internet-based safety tools for customers of all sizes. This combination of strong claim management and tailored loss control is a true competitive advantage that eliminates many problems business owners and agents may otherwise experience with workers compensation insurance.

THE TRAVELERS COMPANIES INC. Location Of Company Headquarters: Hartford, CT Founded: 160 years ago Officers: Lorie Kates, Regional President George Hogan, Regional Director Linda Petrillo, Regional Vice President - Personal Insurance

Rick Parks

Outlook for the Company’s Future Society Insurance continues to build on its strength as a regional carrier committed to service and value for its customers. In 2012, this focus helped Society Insurance exceed $100 million in policyholder surplus for the first time in company history. As a niche market leader, Society does not try to be all things to all insureds. Rather, the company concentrates on doing what it does better than anyone else — insuring its core niches — and will continue to do so going forward. Because of this focus on niche markets, the company better understands the lines of business it writes and has exceptional knowledge and experience with issues that are likely to arise. Other Comments In an industry not known for its creativity, Society isn’t afraid to be different. And it’s the small details at Society — they’re in each policy and they’re in the way the company underwrites and handles claims — that set the company apart. Society knows that agents and policyholders have unique needs that don’t always fit neatly within a strictly defined category, so Society offers insurance uniquely tailored to the businesses they write. Sharing core values and a commitment to service with agency and association partners defines Society Insurance as a company where the small details make a big difference to agents and policyholders.

Company Website: societyinsurance.com

Karen Eckert, Regional Vice President - Select Paul Kyrilis, Regional Vice President - Commercial, Technology, Construction, Public Sector Mark O’Brien, Regional Vice President - National Accounts Casualty & Discover Re Mike Powers, Regional Vice President - National Property Travelers Tower Allen Warner, Regional Vice President - Inland Marine Dave Wolfe, Regional Vice President - Boiler & Machinery Gail Schroeder, Regional Vice President - Bond & Financial Products Brendan Dunican, Regional Vice President - Ocean Marine Gregg Jeffers, Regional Vice President - Global Accounts Beth Printz, Regional Vice President - Claims John Tsourmas, Zonal Vice President - Excess Casualty Steve Ringler, Regional Risk Control Director Products Company Specializes In: Travelers provides a full breadth of insurance and surety products, as well as risk management services, to numerous types of businesses, organizations and individuals. Our products are distributed by independent insurance agents and brokers throughout the United States. Business Insurance: The business insurance segment offers a broad array of property and casualty insurance and insurance- related services to its clients, which range from “main street” businesses to Fortune 100 corporations. Business insurance is organized into marketing and underwriting groups with a specialized focus on particular markets or products. Travelers is the second-largest writer of commercial U.S. property and casualty insurance. Financial, Professional & International Insurance: The financial, professional and international insurance segment includes surety and financial liability coverages, which require a primarily creditbased underwriting process, as well as property and casualty products that are primarily marketed on an international basis. Travelers is the largest writer of surety business in the world. Personal Insurance: Travelers is the second largest writer of U.S. personal insurance through independent agents. We offer a broad array of property and casualty insurance products to individual customers under the Travelers brand.

carrier through one of the best-staffed field offices in the state. We are local, allowing our staff to understand the Wisconsin marketplace and to develop deeper relationships with you and our insured’s. With almost 200 people in Wisconsin, Travelers is proud of our commitment to you and the positive impact we have on protecting the industry and individuals here. Our national scale means that we can deliver many advantages to you, including: !"Financial strength and long-term market stability !"Broad underwriting appetite !"Innovative product development !"Cutting-edge technology efficiencies that save you money !"Risk capacity to accommodate your largest accounts !""Specialist expertise to understand your most complex exposures !""Professional delivery of claim, risk control and audit services that improve your account retention Travelers understands that life and business are inherently dynamic and that the best way to serve customers is to deliver insurance that behaves the same way — evolving to keep in step with life and business as they change. Protect your clients under the red umbrella! Company Website: www.Travelers.com

Outlook For The Company’s Future Travelers is uniquely positioned to help Wisconsin agents grow and be successful! We know that you value timely and professional service—our people are experts at what they do. We’re able to deliver the many attributes of a large national

18 | OCTOBER 2013

WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

OCTOBER 2013 | 19

WEST BEND MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY Location of Company Headquarters: 1900 South 18th Avenue, West Bend, WI 53095 Founded: April 1894 Officers: Kevin Steiner, President and Chief Executive Officer Dale Kent, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Tracey Berg, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Bill Hutchison, Senior Vice President - NSI Gary Alexander, Vice President - NSI Bonds Jim Blair, Vice President - NSI Claims Kevin Steiner David Ertmer, Vice President - Claims Rick Fox, Vice President and Chief Actuary Christopher Zwygart, Vice President - Chief Risk Officer Peter Hans, Vice President - NSI Legal Debra Cahoon, Assistant Vice President - Human Resources Paul Hingtgen, Vice President - Argent® Mike DeLaney, Assistant Vice President - Argent® Loss Control Rob Jacques, Vice President - Commercial Lines Heather Dunn, Assistant Vice President - Corporate Accounting Gary Klein, Vice President - NSI Underwriting Scott Grinna, Assistant Vice President - PAS Program Management Jim Pauly, General Counsel and Secretary Jim Keal, Assistant Vice President - Argent® Operations Dan Roskopf, Vice President - Finance Jason Moore, Assistant Vice President - IT Jim Schwalen, Vice President - Personal Lines & Marketing John Reyzer, Assistant Vice President - NSI Finance Kelly Tighe, Vice President - Sales

Products Company Specializes In: Personal Lines: West Bend offers a broad personal lines coverage package (Home and Highway®) with multiple rating tiers for home and auto. Many innovative coverages and features are also available. Commercial Lines: West Bend offers a full range of commercial products and services. In addition to products such as Workers’ Compensation and Commercial Auto, SMARTbusiness™ substantially expands our businessowners’ policy and provides agents with automated solutions and a more efficient process.

Outlook for the Company’s Future West Bend is well positioned to capitalize on the current market conditions. In 2012, the company was rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best. A.M. Best also recognizes West Bend as one of the 100 largest property/casualty insurers in the country. Listed as one of the top companies in a nationwide ease-of-doing-business survey, West Bend will continue to strive to maintain this rating by advancing our technology, products, and services while retaining our smallcompany, relationship-driven culture. Company Website: thesilverlining.com

At Society, we keep it simple and protect your customer’s outdoor property the same way we do their building— and that includes coverage for wind damage. In our experience, signage, fencing or satellite dishes are more likely to be damaged by wind than anything else. Ironically, some insurance companies don’t include this common risk in their outdoor property coverage. If you agree that details like these can make a big difference, give us a call at

Specialty Lines: NSI offers insurance programs for such specialty lines as social services, sports and leisure, special events, childcare, and bonds.

888-5-SOCIETY or visit societyinsurance.com.

Argent®: Argent specializes in monoline workers’ compensation. Argent works closely with agents and policyholders to determine their most critical workers’ compensation needs and improve results through loss control, medical cost containment, and education.

20 | OCTOBER 2013

Fine coverage instead of fine print. Small detail. Big difference.

WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

2013-14 EXCLUSIVE COMPANY SPONSORS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

Mike Lappin

With our voluntary staff turnover averaging just two percent, ACUITY also offers agents a stable workforce. This low rate is directly attributable to the quality workplace we offer employees. ACUITY is ranked as the Best MidSize Employer in the Nation by the Great Place To Work Institute. Collegegrad.com and AARP have recognized ACUITY multiple times as one of the top employers in the nation for entry-level college graduates and workers over age 50, respectively.

Other Comments Wilson Mutual is a Wisconsin-based property and casualty insurer with a strong presence in both Wisconsin and Minnesota, marketing personal and commercial insurance products through a network of independent agents.

Our service-focused claims operation offers the ability to file a claim online or via a smartphone, and even page an ACUITY adjuster with the click of a button. We consistently receive a 95 percent claims approval rating from policyholders and 99 percent from agents.

WILSON MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY Location of Company Headquarters: Sheboygan, WI Founded: 1872 Officers: Mike Lappin, President Tami Jones-Fahser, Senior Vice President – Administration and Claims Karen Schultz, Vice President - Personal Lines and Product Development Roxanne Freeman, Vice President of Information Technology Tim Kemmel, Vice President - Claims Jeff Jacobs, Vice President - Commercial Lines

Wilson Mutual, founded in 1872, has a deep-rooted history of exceeding agent expectations and supporting agent efforts by developing new, innovative products and services with a focus on ease of doing business. The company takes pride in providing superior customer service, outstanding claims service and having a team of professionally trained independent agents determined to help their customers find the right insurance products. “Our People Make the Difference” is more than a company slogan; it’s the secret of the company’s success. PRODUCTS Personal lines products include: homeowners, personal auto, mobile homeowners, dwelling fire, inland marine, personal umbrella and farmowners (Wis.). Flexibility and common-sense underwriting are key philosophical approaches practiced by the personal lines underwriting staff. Commercial lines products include: commercial package policy, businessowners, commercial auto, workers compensation (Wis) and commercial umbrella. Wilson provides several value-added services and products, such as risk management tools, to assist its agency force in meeting the needs of today’s business owners.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

Mike Lappin, president of Wilson Mutual, provides strong leadership and highly values the company’s relationships with independent agents. Mike is dedicated to continuously improving service to ensure the ease of doing business with Wilson Mutual.

Because we offer an extremely broad range of products backed by leading-edge technology, we provide our agents a viable and efficient market. ACUITY is strongly committed to the independent agency system because we

Other Comments Our mission is to provide a broad range of products for diverse risks that will protect and enhance our customers’ well-being. We will distinguish ourselves by consistently leveraging our underwriting discipline, claims expertise, and efficient technology and service, which follows the direction set by our sales and marketing orientation The word “ACUITY” means “sharp focus.” Our tag line, “For All That Matters,” not only describes our philosophy of rebuilding shattered lives after a catastrophic loss, but also describes our keen focus on providing our customers and agents with world-class service.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

Company Website: www.wilsonmutual.com

sales. Try Integrity’s non-standard auto product called Passport® — it’s easy to quote, features low-cost coverage with low down payment options. With suggestions from our agency partners, we rolled out a fresh new look on select policyholder documents in 2013. These documents make it easier for customers to find the information that’s important to them, reducing agency calls and increasing overall customer satisfaction. Life — Strengthen Relationships Retaining customers is especially important in today’s economy. That’s why cross-selling WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

Blue Precision A network of providers with cost and quality in mind for these specialties: cardiologists, OB/GYN, endocrinologists, rheumatologists and pulmonologists. Dental Blue Dental Blue offers great value with less hassle. Dental Blue members get extra savings with our negotiated pricing when they visit an in-network provider for: !""Services that aren’t typically covered, like porcelain veneers and treatment for TMJ. !""Services you get after reaching your annual maximum. Blue View Vision Blue View Vision can give your employees coverage to help maintain healthy eyes, while giving you coverage to help maintain a healthy bottom line.

Company Website: www.acuity.com

Outlook For The Company’s Future A member of The Motorists Insurance Group, The Group’s financial strength is rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best, which reflects a strong financial position as well as a solid record of profitable growth. Development of new products and improved services will continue to be the company’s focus, providing even greater market opportunities for agents.

Providing risk management services also to policyholders continues to be a focus for Wilson Mutual. Creating a culture of safety within policyholders’ businesses has made a significant impact in assisting agents with retaining quality business. Wilson helps customers establish successful risk management programs with an emphasis on employee safety, training and documentation.

22 | OCTOBER 2013

believe it is essential to the continued growth of the property and casualty industry. We are excited about our collective future.

is so important. Grange Life makes it easy with people ready to help you cross-sell life insurance to your personal and commercial lines customers. We also offer discounts on auto policies with the purchase of a qualifying Grange Life Policy. Ask about Grange Life’s new express products and applications.

Anthem Care Comparison Employees can make better choices and save money by comparing actual costs for common procedures at hospitals and facilities nearby. They can also see procedure and quality comparisons that focus on quality and safety at each facility. That means they have access to cost data on nearly 40 inpatient and outpatient procedures and quality measures for more than 150 inpatient procedures.

Contact Name for Further Information: Tim McAdow

Outlook For The Company’s Future Anthem is currently advancing strategies to improve quality, which can help to manage costs and improve insurance coverage. By working together with government, employers and providers, we are working to build a health care system that is accessible to all and provides quality care for those who need it most.

Contact Phone Number: 920.968.8327

Contact Phone Number: (800) 258-0012

Company Website: www.IntegrityInsurance.com

Company Website: www.anthem.com

OCTOBER 2013 | 23

INDEPENDENT INSURANCE AGENTS OF WISCONSIN

OPEN DOOR POLICY

THANK YOU!

“I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote best summarizes my sentiment as we embark on our 115th year. Thank you to all of our members (our friends) for allowing IIAW staff to serve you for another year. Your membership has elevated us to the 8th largest trade association in the state representing and serving independent agents across Wisconsin. And while we are an agent- focused association, I would be misguided if I didn’t extend our sincere appreciation to our exclusive company partners, because without their support we couldn’t do everything that we do to support the independent agent. We greatly appreciate all the companies that continue to support and promote the independent agency channel. Lastly, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our more than 100 committee members who attended our Fall Planning Session > Matt Banaszynski is the Executive Vice on September 17 at the Lake Lawn Resort in President of the Delavan, Wisconsin. These volunteers donate Independent Insurance their time and intellect to help the association Agents of Wisconsin. and its members continue to succeed and create Contact him at matt@ iiaw.com. new, innovative member services.

IIAW BOARD OF DIRECTORS JOB DESCRIPTION MISSION The fundamental purpose and objective of the IIAW is to promote and represent the common business interests of independent insurance agents within the insurance industry in the state of Wisconsin, before the Wisconsin State Legislature and other public bodies, and before the public. To this end, the IIAW shall promote insurance education among its members and encourage a greater public understanding of the working of the insurance business and the American Agency Systems; produce publications and programs of the highest quality designed to enhance the professional development of its membership; communicate with and explain to federal, state and local governing bodies, insurance companies, and the public the ramifications of matter of direct interest to its members and their conduct of the business of insurance; and generally to promote and encourage friendly relationships among its members, with insurance companies, and the public. POSITION The Board will support the work of Independent Insurance Agents of Wisconsin and provide mission-based leadership and strategic governance. While day-to-day operations are led by IIAW’s Executive Vice President (EVP), the Board-EVP relationship is a partnership, and the appropriate involvement of the Board is both critical and expected. Specific Board member responsibilities include: LEADERSHIP, GOVERNANCE & OVERSIGHT • Serving as a trusted advisor to the EVP as s/he develops and implements IIAW’s strategic plan. • Reviewing outcomes and metrics created by IIAW for evaluating its impact, and regularly measuring its performance and effectiveness using those metrics; reviewing agenda and supporting materials prior to board and committee meetings. • Approving IIAW’s annual budget, audit reports, and material business decisions; being informed of, and meeting all, legal and fiduciary responsibilities. • Contributing, on an annual basis, a minimum of $200 to Insuring Wisconsin Conduit and $100 to InsurPAC. • Assisting the EVP and board chair in identifying and recruiting other Board Members an leaders. • Partnering with the EVP and other board members to ensure that board resolutions and objectives are executed. • Serving on committees or task forces and taking on special assignments. • Representing IIAW to stakeholders; acting as an ambassador for the organization. • Ensuring IIAW’s commitment to a diverse board and staff that reflects the members IIAW serves. • Assist in facilitating the process in which IIAW provides quotes for their agency’s errors and omissions insurance on an annual basis.

24 | OCTOBER 2013

The IIAW plans to continue the strategic planning theme this November. The association has hired a consultant to lead a strategic planning session with the board of directors, past presidents and staff to evaluate our performance, direction and develop 5, 10, and 15-year strategic plans. Our objective is to ensure we are positioned to help our members succeed and meet their evolving needs. More information will be shared with the entire membership once the strategic planning retreat is complete.

SEEKING NOMINATIONS FOR THE IIAW BOARD OF DIRECTORS In an effort to be more inclusive and engage our membership, we have reformed our nominating process to allow members to nominate themselves or a peer to serve on the board of directors. A Declaration of Candidacy form has been included in this magazine as an insert. The nominating committee will then review the nominations and make a final recommendation to the full membership at the annual convention. The nomination form can be found in this magazine or on our Website at www.iiaw.com. To help interested individuals gain a better understanding of a board member’s job and its responsibilities, I have included the job description below. Every agent is encouraged to apply. Please send this form or direct any questions to me at matt@iiaw.com, or Matt Banaszynski, 725 John Nolen Dr., Madison, WI 53713. FUNDRAISING The IIAW Board Members will consider IIAW a priority and help make annual solicitations for membership and support that reflect that priority. So that IIAW can credibly solicit due from exclusive and supporting companies, organizations, and individuals. In addition, Board members are required to help solicit contributions to the Associations fundraising efforts such as Insuring Wisconsin Conduit, InsurPAC, Sales and Leadership and Autumn Retreat Conferences, and other special, non-exclusive company events and fundraisers.

Trusted Choice

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BOARD TERMS/PARTICIPATION & COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS The IIAW’s Board Members will serve a three-year term to be eligible for re-appointment for one additional term. Each Director shall be entitled to one vote on all matters coming before the Board. The Boards of Directors are to refer to Article V of the Bylaws for additional information on their Powers and Responsibilities. Board meetings will be held on a quarterly basis and are expected to attend all the board meetings. In addition, Board members are required to serve as a board liaison on IIAW volunteer committees of their choosing. Attendance is required to the best of the board members ability. QUALIFICATIONS This is an extraordinary opportunity for an individual who is passionate about IIAW’s mission and who has a track record of board leadership. Selected Board members will have achieved leadership stature in business, government, philanthropy, or the nonprofit sector. His/her accomplishments will allow him/her to attract other wellqualified, high-performing Board members. Only persons who are voting members of the IIAW are eligible to serve on the Board of Directors. IDEAL CANDIDATES WILL HAVE THE FOLLOWING QUALIFICATIONS: • Extensive professional experience with significant executive leadership accomplishments in business, government, philanthropy, or the nonprofit sector. • A commitment to and understanding of IIAW’s beneficiaries, preferably based on experience. • Savvy diplomatic skills and a natural affinity for cultivating relationships and persuading, convening, facilitating, and building consensus among diverse individuals. • Personal qualities of integrity, credibility, and a passion for improving the lives of IIAW’s beneficiaries. • Active participation in the IIAW and its programs. • Other qualifications as outlined under the bylaws of the IIAW. Service on the IIAW’s Board of Directors is without remuneration, except for administrative support, travel, and accommodation costs in relation to Board members’ duties as approved by the Executive Vice President. Members of the Board of Directors are to refer to the bylaws for additional information on the governance and operation of the Independent Insurance Agents of Wisconsin. WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

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IIAW STATE LEGISLATIVE AND POLITICAL BRIEFS

The Wisconsin Legislature has returned to work from its summer recess focused on legislative priorities that were put on hold while the biennial state budget bill was deliberated. Governor Walker said he will propose to the Legislature a package of bipartisan bills aimed specifically at bolstering workforce development, offering tax breaks to businesses, and eliminating regulations.

Legislative leaders from both houses and parties have echoed the governor’s call for a focus on bills that will help improve Wisconsin’s economy and facilitate job creation.

Assembly Republicans Elect New Leadership In September, the Assembly GOP caucus voted to elect a new majority leader and speaker pro tempore after former Rep. Scott Suder (R-Abbottsford) resigned. Representative Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha) was elected to the position of Assembly GOP majority leader defeating Assemblyman Dean Knudson (R-Hudson) in a competitive and spirited election. Representative Tyler August (R-Lake Geneva) went uncontested in his bid to become speaker pro tempore. He replaces Kramer who stepped down from the post in order to run for majority leader. Both Kramer and August will play an integral role in helping shape and advance the Assembly Republican agenda for the remainder of the 2013-14 session.

Senate Retirement and Two Assembly Resignations Lead To Special Elections

Success is finding an advantage. Today, the faster you move, the more likely you are to succeed. Agents know this. That’s why so many choose SECURA to help their business grow. Call 1-800-558-3405. Write your own success story.SM

26 | OCTOBER 2013

Commercial Personal

Farm

WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

Specialty

One state senator announced plans to retire at the end of his term in 2014 and two assemblymen resigned in September. Longtime politician, Sen. Tim Cullen (D-Janesville), announced that he would not seek re-election in 2014. Cullen’s 15th Senate district is a leaning Democratic seat. Republicans currently control the Senate by an 18-15 margin. Also, Representatives Scott Suder and Mark Honadel (R-South Milwaukee) both recently resigned mid-term to take jobs outside the Legislature. The governor has called for simultaneous special elections in both seats with a primary scheduled for October 22 and the general election planned for November 19. Both of these elections are expected to be competitive with a slight advantage to Republicans who currently control the statehouse by a 58-39 WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

margin. In the 21st, formerly held by Mark the WCAC to address this issue; otherwise, they Honadel, no Democrats have registered to run are likely to take action separately in the next as of this update but at least one candidate is legislative cycle. Agents should stay informed on expected to run. On the GOP side, candidates this issue since changes are likely to have a direct include: Jason “Red” Arnold, an independent impact with you and your frontline customers. IT contractor; Tea Party activist Larry Gamble; Oak Creek Alderman Ken Gehl; and Jessie Property and Casualty Rodriguez, who works for Hispanics for School Insurance Electronic Delivery Choice. In the 69th, formerly held by Scott Legislation Introduced Suder, Alan Slezak of Neillsville is the only Senate Bill 292/Assembly Bill 373 was recently Democrat who has registered. For Republicans, introduced by Sen. Frank Lasee (R-DePere) and candidates include: Tommy Dahlen, owner of Rep. Chad Weininger (R-Green Bay). The bill was Tommy’s Hilltop Tavern in Granton; Alanna initially requested by the insurers, is supported Feddick, an attorney and by the IIAW, and is designed Marshfield alderperson; to help bring the insurance Legislative leaders Bob Kulp, owner and industry (carriers and agents) from both houses and founder of a roofing and into the 21st century when it insulation company; and comes to providing customers parties have echoed Scott Noble, who ran with the option of receiving the governor’s call for unsuccessfully against certain insurance notices and a focus on bills that will documents electronically. Democratic State Senator help improve Wisconsin’s The bill would specifically Julie Lassa last year. There are likely to be more authorize an insurer to provide economy and facilitate legislative retirements notices and documents to an job creation. coming in 2014. insurance applicant, an insured, or a policyholder by electronic Worker’s Compensation Advisory means if the consumer has consented to this Council Meeting type of delivery. Both the Senate and Assembly The next meeting of the Wisconsin Worker’s bills are expected to receive a public hearing by Compensation Advisory Council (WCAC) is the standing Insurance committees sometime scheduled for October 15 in Madison at the during the fall floor period. Life and health Department of Workforce Development (DWD) insurers may also be included in an amended bill offices from 10 a.m - 4 p.m. This is expected during deliberations. to be the final meeting of the joint Labor and Management group before sending their OCI Commissioner Ted Nickel To Speak recommendations to the Legislature for approval At IIAW Autumn on changes to the state’s worker’s compensation Retreat system. One proposed policy change of Wisconsin Insurance significance currently being considered is Commissioner Ted a medical fee schedule to help contain the Nickel will be in skyrocketing cost of health care in the worker’s attendance at the compensation system. Providers are staunchly upcoming IIAW Autumn opposed to any fee schedule and may come up Retreat in Minocqua, with their own proposal(s) for consideration by WI from October 23-25. the WCAC at the October meeting. Some have Commissioner Nickel > Misha Lee is Owner/ Founder of Lee speculated that, in lieu of a fee schedule, the will give some brief Government Relations, WCAC may consider an option to allow medical remarks to the group LLC and lobbyist services to be subject to network discounts as and will be available for IIAW. Follow Lee they are currently negotiated in certain group during the reception for Government Relations health insurance plans. The Legislature has urged informal introductions. on Twitter @mishavlee.

OCTOBER 2013 | 27

ANSAY HOSTS ECONOMIC SUMMIT IN PORT WASHINGTON In August, Mike Ansay, chairman and CEO of Ansay & Associates, hosted the 2013 Economic Summit & Global Networking with the country of Luxembourg at Ansay’s home office in Port Washington. Representatives from the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), Independent Insurance Agents of Wisconsin (IIAW), and others from important business sectors throughout Wisconsin participated in the summit. The meeting served as a platform to learn more about how the state of Wisconsin and Luxembourg can strengthen their trade partnership. Luxembourg is a major player in health sciences and technology, a pioneer in e-commerce, highly successful in Insurance and financial services, and is well positioned to succeed with a highly skilled workforce. The partnership with the small European nation has helped Wisconsin’s manufacturing business sector to become the largest sector in this state. Manufacturing accounts for 20 percent of Wisconsin’s economy. The IIAW is working to find ways the state’s insurance industry can learn from and partner with our counterparts in Luxembourg. In addition, the IIAW is actively working with WMC and WEDC to have Gov. Scott Walker include Luxembourg on his important trade mission to Europe in 2014.

SALES SUCCESS

THREE KEYS TO SUCCESS IN SALES, BUSINESS & LIFE These three critical components always have been, and always will be, at the core of success in any endeavor in life. While they may seem obvious at first glance, my twist on them is not. taste or opinion and not life and death. Key #1 is embodied in the consummate “nice person” who genuinely likes other people and really cares about them. This person realizes that other people come before the sale, or anything else for that matter. They also understand at the deepest recesses of their being that life really is all about relationships and that our happiness or sadness depends upon the quality of those relationships.

KEY #2: THE ABILITY TO SELL

KEY #1: BE LIKEABLE AND GET ALONG WITH OTHER PEOPLE

Mike Ansay, chairman and CEO of Ansay & Associates, welcomed all participants to the 2013 Economic Summit & Global Networking in Port Washington.

Economic and business leaders from Wisconsin and Luxembourg shared their views on how to innovate, network, and grow. From left: Lora Klenke, VP international development, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation; Jean-Louis Wolzfeld, Ambassador, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; Mike Shoys, senior VP, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce; and David Perrott, chairman, Luxembourg American Cultural Society.

Matt Banaszynski, IIAW Executive VP, and Misha Lee, the IIAW’s lobbyist, listened intently at the meeting. The IIAW is working to find ways the state’s insurance industry can learn from and partner with our counterparts in Luxembourg.

28 | OCTOBER 2013

WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

Everyone knows that if people are going to buy from you, assuming it’s a substantial investment or the buying cycle is longer than ten minutes, the buyer needs to like you, but Key #1 goes WAY beyond that. Key #1 shows up when you’re looked up to, not just by family, friends, peers, and subordinates, but also by those who outrank you on the chain of command. It shows up when everyone respects you, even from those that don’t respect themselves. It shows up when you get along with the person no one else can and they get along with you. It shows up when people talk behind your back about what a nice person you are. The room is a better place when you’re in it and darker when you’re gone. Your ability to be respected, liked, and get along permeates gender, race, class, generation, and personality type. You don’t see any of that and people feel it. You intuitively treat people the way they want to be treated, show them respect, and make sure they know they matter. You don’t just get along in sales situations, or with your crowd, you get along all the time with everyone, from the young child, to the laborer, to the CEO. You let others be right, let them be important, you let them have the spotlight if they want it. You’re not a pushover, you know there are battles to fight and yet, you recognize that most things in life are simply a matter of

To get anywhere in life, you need to be able to sell yourself and your ideas. All people, from children to adults, need to learn to sell effectively. Every important accomplishment in life will involve working with and influencing other people. The ability to sell goes far beyond being great at selling a product or service. It also involves your ability to sell your ideas to coworkers, to get them to willingly work hard for you and with you. In your personal life the ability to sell means you are able to effectively sell your ideas at the town hall meeting or at the parent teacher conference. It’s the ability to sell ideas to your neighbors, business owners whose stores you frequent, and, in general, all the people you run into during the day. It means an open and full relationship with your significant other. It means having more influence over your children than their friends

Motivation means you keep going when times are tough and you don’t rest on your laurels when times are good.

WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

do. It means gaining an understanding with parents, siblings, and other family members. In short, the ability to sell is the ability to effectively connect, communicate, and positively influence others on all levels. It’s the skill to clearly articulate and educate others so they see and adopt your viewpoint. It means effectively selling yourself, not just as a salesperson, but also as a mate, parent, friend, and member of the community.

KEY #3: MOTIVATION Motivation is more than just being fired up and ready to go. Motivation includes all the mental weaponry necessary to bring a high level of performance at all times. Motivation means you keep going when times are tough and you don’t rest on your laurels when times are good. Though motivation is important when you are comfortable and things are going well, it is more important when times are tough because nothing is more difficult than enduring the hardships of life. Life is full of many great things but it’s also full of really bad things. If you’re lucky you’ll have far more good than bad. But the reality is, as Rocky Balboa said, “life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.” Perhaps Robert Service said it better in Carry On: “The [person] who can fight to Heaven’s own height is the [one] who can fight when [they’re] losing.” The reason most people give up on their dreams is because they get tired of being beaten down and they lose their motivation and give up. You must not let this happen. When health issues, relationship issues, flat tires, down economies, bad sales, and other bad things happen, you must not let them keep you from your dreams, from the best you can be. This is where motivation comes in. Motivation is the optimism and enthusiasm, the persistence, resilience and perseverance to carry on and get up even when you can’t. Motivation means suffering the slings and arrows, damning the torpedoes and moving forward despite seemingly impossible obstacles, and still working harder than everyone else. It means regaining a positive attitude after being human > For John Chapin’s free for a moment. It newsletter go to www. means never giving completeselling.com. With over 24 years of up on your dream sales experience, he until your very last is a number one sales breath. That is true rep in three industries, motivation and and author of the sales with it, nothing book of the year, Sales Encyclopedia. Contact will stop you from John at johnchapin@ achieving anything completeselling. you want. com.“Sales Encyclopedia.”

OCTOBER 2013 | 29

AGENCY EXECS: LINKEDIN BEST SOCIAL

NETWORK FOR RECRUITING NEW BUSINESS For agencies targeting new business opportunities, the best tactics are a mix of traditional and new media — with a heavy emphasis on digital.

According to a July 2013 survey of U.S. agency executives from RSW/US, a business development firm, client case studies and content marketing posted on the agency Website were the top two promotional tactics used to generate leads, cited by 62.6% of respondents each. The agency blog was also seen as effective, even slightly more so than social media outreach. And half of respondents cited press releases and publicity as a useful means of getting the names of potential new clients. E-mail lead capture programs were seen as effective for generating leads by just 29.7% of agency execs, while advertising was even less popular. Unsurprisingly, when rating the most important social platform for generating

new business, LinkedIn was No. 1, cited by 46.2% of respondents, followed by a company blog, with a 24.1% share of total responses. Facebook and Twitter were tied for a lesser 13.8% of respondents. But when respondents did not have to choose only one network to rank as most important, but rather rated them independently based on their effectiveness for driving new business, LinkedIn’s lead substantially diminished. Asked by RSW/US in April 2013 about social platform use vs. effectiveness for generating new business, LinkedIn and Facebook were tied by both measures. Twenty-one percent used each network to get leads, and 19% of users rated each as effective — defined as deserving a seven to 10 on a scale of 10. Twitter also showed a comparable amount of value. Twenty percent used the microblog, and

17% of agency execs considered it effective. Vimeo, in use by only 7% of respondents, was seen as effective by the greatest percentage of users overall — 23%. YouTube was also deemed effective by 20% of users, indicating an opportunity for agencies to potentially drive new business using video. The broader takeaway is that only a fraction of agency executives find social truly effective for generating new business. And yet when asked which new business tools they used overall, social ranked first, at 87% of respondents, followed by SEO tools, at 67%. Social is cheap and fairly easy to use, so most agencies seem to employ it, but for generating leads, most do not find social to be truly beneficial. Source: eMarketer.com

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OCTOBER 2013 | 31

FROM THE ARCHIVES

COMMENTARY FROM COUNSEL

WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT REFINES DEFINITION OF OCCURRENCE This summer, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that an insurance company had no duty to defend or indemnify a claim against its insured who hosted an underage drinking party. The case was Schinner v. Gundrum, 2013 WI 71, and the decision should be interesting to anyone in the personal lines insurance business. Reversing the Court of Appeals in a 4-3 decision, the Supreme Court denied coverage on two grounds. First, the court held that from the perspective of the insured, an assault at the party was no “accident,” based on the insured’s numerous intentional and volitional actions before the assault. Therefore, it was not a covered “occurrence” under the homeowner’s insurance policy. Second, coverage also was excluded because the party was not at the insured’s residence. Rather, it took place in a remote shed used by the family business, which was not an insured location even though a few insured personal items were stored there.

The Insurance, the Party and the Assault Gundrum was 21 years old and living with his parents, who purchased a homeowner’s insurance policy. Gundrum invited 40-50 people to a party in a storage shed used by his family’s trucking business, in which they also stored some personal items that were insured under the homeowner’s policy. The invited guests included Cecil, who Gundrum knew tended to get violent when drunk.

The Court also reasoned that from a public policy perspective, to require coverage would encourage homeowners like Gundrum to engage in risky behavior but escape responsibility, knowing that insurance would cover any damages.

Gundrum provided alcohol and knew that his guests, almost half of whom were underage, were drinking heavily at the party. Cecil got drunk, and later assaulted and seriously injured Schinner, another guest. Schinner sued Gundrum and the homeowner’s insurer for damages, alleging that Gundrum was negligent in hosting the party and providing alcohol to Cecil.

32 | OCTOBER 2013

The Litigation The circuit court in Washington County bifurcated the case, so coverage could be resolved before liability. The homeowner’s policy provided coverage for an “occurrence,” which it defined as an “accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions.” The policy also excluded coverage for liability “arising out of a premises that is not an insured location,” and defined an insured location to include grounds and structures used “in connection” with the insured’s residence. The circuit court granted summary judgment to the insurer, finding it had no duty of coverage because Gundrum’s intentionally procuring alcohol was not an “accident” and that the party occurred at an uninsured location. The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court, holding the assault was an accident from the perspective of either Gundrum (the insured) or Schinner (the injured person). It found that Gundrum did not intend for the assault to occur and, from Schinner’s perspective, the assault was accidental and not foreseeable. The appellate court also held that the noninsured location exclusion did not apply because the injuries did not “arise out of” any particular condition of the shed. The primary issue before the Supreme Court was whether the assault was an “accident” and therefore an “occurrence” under the homeowner’s policy. Only if the assault qualified as an occurrence would the court have needed to decide if the remote shed was an insured location. To decide whether the policy covered the assault, the Court first unanimously determined that a court’s analysis of whether a complaint alleges a covered occurrence must be from the perspective of the insured, rather than the injured party. The Court recognized the “occurrence” requirement in the policy, but noted that the term “accident” was not defined. It examined prior cases and adopted the definition as an “unintentional occurrence leading to undesirable results.”

The Court agreed that while Cecil’s assault was intentional, injuries were not a certainty at the party, and Gundrum did not intend for them to happen. Justice Prosser, writing for the 4-3 majority (joined by Justices Gableman, Roggensack and Ziegler), then reversed the Court of Appeals and held the insurer owed no duty of coverage. The Court found that Gundrum’s numerous intentional, illegal acts leading to the assault, including “setting up an isolated shed for a drinking party, procuring alcohol and expecting others to bring alcohol, inviting many underage guests to the party, and encouraging the underage guests to drink…especially an underage guest known to become belligerent when intoxicated” were inconsistent with the definition of an accident. The Court also reasoned that from a public policy perspective, to require coverage would encourage homeowners like Gundrum to engage in risky behavior but escape responsibility, knowing that insurance would cover any damages. That conclusion could have ended the Supreme Court’s analysis, but the majority (now joined by Justice Crooks) went on to examine and reverse the Court of Appeals on the insured location issue as well. The Court decided that even if the assault was an occurrence, the policy’s non-insured location exclusion applied to bar coverage. It found that Schinner’s injury arose out of, or originated from, the uninsured storage shed and rejected the argument that personal items covered under the homeowner’s policy made the shed a “premises used in connection” with the insured residence. The Court reasoned that business owners would have no need for business insurance if they could obtain liability coverage > Josh Johanningmeier by merely storing is the IIAW’s General insured personal Counsel. Call the Legal property on business Services Hotline at (877) 236-1669. premises. WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

Why is Perry Mason and Ironside on the side of the road? In the early to mid-80s, actor Raymond Burr was the national spokesman

for the Big “I”. This particular billboard was for the Independent Insurance Agents of Sheboygan County.

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ROBERTSON RYAN & ASSOCIATES, INC. OCTOBER 2013 | 33

NEWS FROM ACT

BECOMING A SOCIAL BUSINESS:

A MODEL FOR SUCCESS

“Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:17, King James version of the Bible) This parable accurately identifies the dynamic our industry grapples with as it tries to adapt, stay relevant, and make sense of the many challenges it faces in today’s rapidly evolving business environment. More often than not, agencies try to make social and mobile technologies work within the constructs of outdated business models, organizational structures and traditional processes. The result is an effort that fails. For example, social media is treated simply as a marketing tactic; a Facebook page is launched and an administrative employee is put in charge. Disruption in day-to-day office procedures results with little if any real benefit. Clearly, there is a difference between organizations that simply engage in social activity and execute social media tactics, and those that actually become social businesses.

What is a Social Business? A Google search will turn up hundreds of definitions. Understanding what a social

business model is and how it differs from a traditional business model is not all that simple. The concept of social business is new and still evolving. Yet, the definition below is a good start. I have followed Amber Naslund (president of Sideraworks) on several social channels for the past four years and consider her to be a pioneer and thought leader in this space:

the need to adapt and understand that their business must be transformed or reinvented. They realize the need for a comprehensive social strategy that is clearly aligned with business goals. (Too often this is not the case. An Altimeter survey of nearly 700 social media professionals and executives found that only 34% of businesses felt that their social strategy was connected to business outcomes.)

“Social Business is the creation of an organization that is optimized to benefit its entire ecosystem (customers, employees, owners, partners) by embedding collaboration, information sharing, and active engagement into its operations and culture. The result is a more responsive, adaptable, effective, and ultimately more successful company. Social business can encompass using external social media, but it’s not a requirement. Technically, an organization can be a social business without engaging publicly in social media at all.”

Further, these agencies have senior management involvement, organizational alignment and operational processes in place that enable execution of their social strategy. They also understand the need to integrate social methodologies into their organizations in order to enable their businesses to adapt to the fast and ever changing business environment.

The concept of social business is more than theory. A growing number of agencies realize

These agencies know that use of new technology, as well as social and mobile initiatives, will only be successful if there is an organizational and cultural transformation that

changes the way employees work, interact with one another and communicate with customers and prospects – in essence, a reinvention of the agency. The concept of reinvention is not new to our industry. When we first started installing agency management systems, we found that there was a big difference between just using “automation” vs. becoming an “automated agency.” Only when agencies reinvented operational processes and procedures (remember Transactional Filing?) did their investment in technology start paying off. Only when management became involved did agency management systems transition from being primarily accounting systems to tools that supported agency service, sales, and marketing activity. As difficult as process change is – changing an agency culture and the “people” part is even harder. It all starts with leadership.

Leadership Charlene Li, founder of Altimeter Group, and Keynote speaker at the 2013 ACORD Insurance Systems Forum said this about social business adoption: “The biggest determinants, by far, of whether you will be successful at social business are leadership and culture.”

As mentioned above, all the technology in the world is useless if operational processes and organizational behaviors aren’t changed. Change starts from the top and an agency’s senior management and leaders are the ones responsible for facilitating this change. That is, success depends on change management initiatives being driven by agency leadership and practiced at every level from senior management down to customer service and support personnel. Thus, executives must not only talk about changing the organization; they must also become involved and demonstrate the behaviors that drive change.

It is difficult to understand exactly what a social business is and how it is different from a traditional business by a definition alone. WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

Empower and trust your employees to participate on social sites on the agency’s behalf and trust that they will do the right thing. Consider starting a blog and use it to educate your customers and prospects and demonstrate your subject matter expertise. But also use it to build and strengthen your brand personality. Agency staff will be the foundation for building a fully collaborative social business. A shift in employee behavior becomes a key success factor in driving organizational change. Encourage your employees to build personal brands on social sites. Thus, opting out of social networking activity is not an option.

Collaborative Work Environment Develop a collaborative (vs. hierarchical) organizational structure. The new social and connected cultures have set new expectations when it comes to speed of communication and response. Traditional hierarchically structured agencies will not be able to adapt to this new standard of consumer expectation. Further, information must be available and shared – not horded, restricted or reside in silos. In fact, many agencies are inviting customers to participate in agency decisions. For example, they have customers sit on the agency’s board of directors or participate in advisory councils. Become transparent in your communication. Customers and employees expect to communicate more seamlessly and develop personal relationships. Agencies have found that this is one of the best ways to build trust.

Community Involvement Become personally involved in your real-life community, including active involvement and support of charitable initiatives. The profiles of successful agencies reflect social values that are embedded in the core of the organization. This is also a key value for

Becoming a social business means producers – in addition to using social tools to create personal brands – spend less time behind desks and more time in the field making “real life” contact, meeting in places like Starbucks.

What Does a Social Business Look Like?

WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

Trust Employees

Successful social businesses depend upon a team effort. They create processes that support organizational consistency. For example, when a new employee joins the agency and wants

This is often referred to as “transformational leadership” where the leader provides employees with an inspiring mission and vision for the organization and encourages them to challenge the status quo and to alter the landscape in which the business competes.

34 | OCTOBER 2013

Perhaps looking at some examples of the operational and organizational changes a growing number of agencies are making will make it easier to understand what becoming a social business means.

to start blogging or tweeting on behalf of the agency, a process should be in place that governs employee training and certification in the social media policy that the agency has in place. (For ACT’s guide to creating a social media policy, go to www.independentagent. com/act.)

Flexible and Responsive Work The definition of work changes – the incoming workforce will demand a more open and flexible work environment. Options as to how, when, and where work happens are expanded. For example, new models in the form of small virtual offices, expanded geographic locations, flexible work hours, 24/7 availability, outsourcing, niche or expertise-driven agents are transforming how we define work. For example, becoming a social business means producers – in addition to using social tools to create personal brands – spend less time behind desks and more time in the field making “real life” contact, meeting in places like Starbucks.

customers – they want to do business with a company that is socially responsible.

Technology Deploy technology that facilitates collaboration. Technology will not change an organization’s culture. However, having a strong understanding of your agency’s cultural

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

> Rick Morgan (rick@ Aartrijk.com), in addition serving as a consultant to ACT and chairing the ACT Social Web Work Group, is senior vice president with branding consultancy Aartrijk. He has four decades of experience in innovative technology, marketing, and publishing in the independent insurance agency system. Rick produced this article for ACT (www. independentagent.com/ act). It reflects the views of the author and should not be construed as an official statement by ACT.

OCTOBER 2013 | 35

NEWS FROM ACT

BECOMING A SOCIAL BUSINESS: A MODEL FOR SUCCESS CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

objectives will have an impact on your technical requirements, choice of technology and how to implement and configure it. Clearly, there will be need for agency management system technology to support the new social business model.

Responsive Marketing Most personal lines and small commercial customers are interacting with agents and insurers across the full range of channels: inperson, by mobile device, by phone, and even through services like Skype or Google Hangouts. It is necessary to understand your customer and adjust your marketing and communications accordingly. For example, shift marketing dollars from traditional marketing channels to digital ones. (i.e., Yellow Page ads to digital/on-line marketing). Keep track of the communications preferences of your clients and be prepared for communications of differ types from a wide variety of devices.

Reinvention of Agency Processes In addition to organizational and cultural changes, many traditional processes are also in need of reinvention. We need to think

through how many of our everyday processes might and should change, enabled by the new technologies available to us. Everything from managing passwords, e-signatures, certificates of insurance, ID cards, online self-service, mobile options, policy delivery, billing and payment options, and even coverage offerings must change to meet current customer service expectations.

Summary It is important to remember that consumer expectations are set by the culture, not the industry. The culture is shaped by new technologies and innovative applications of those technologies by other industries and social institutions. We have become a “social culture” and a “connected society,” where consumers are increasingly connected and empowered through changing technology to interact with and shape the world around them. Local agents are not on the verge of extinction, but we do need to change and adapt. We are past the theoretical stage – there are a growing number of agencies that have started to make the shift/transformation.

Agencies that are able to make the transition and become social businesses will be well positioned to meet the challenges of the new business landscape and the demands of the new social culture and connected society. Tying this to the opening parable, they are putting new wine in new bottles.

Additional Resources For the following resources about how agencies can reinvent themselves for the future, please go to www.independentagent. com/act: !""ACT’s “Agency Perspectives on the Future” Video !""ACT’s “Agency Strategies for Growth” Video !""5 Ways Agency Principals Can Seize the Future by Peter van Aartrijk !""Agency Strategies to Manage Change Successfully by Jeff Yates

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The staff of the underwriting department includes:

David Pauly Announces Retirement From Capitol Insurance On Aug. 27, Capitol Insurance Companies announced that David F. Pauly, chairman and CEO of Capitol, has advised the company of his intention to retire effective December 31, 2013. Mr. Pauly will step down as chairman and CEO on August 30, 2013, and serve as a senior advisor to Capitol, assisting in the implementation of Capitol’s recently announced strategic initiative. Weston M. Hicks, president and CEO of Alleghany Corporation, Capitol’s parent company, commented, “It has been a pleasure working with Dave Pauly over the past decade. He has made Capitol a better company by building a strong management team and a solid infrastructure. As a result of Dave’s efforts, we believe that Capitol is well positioned for continued success in the future. On behalf of Alleghany, I want to thank Dave for his significant contributions, and we wish Dave well in his retirement.” Mr. Pauly stated, “Over the past eleven years, it has been a privilege to lead Capitol and work with its talented employees and valued distribution partners. I look forward to further assisting Stephen and Capitol over the next few months as the company implements its new strategic initiative and broadens the product portfolio it provides to its agents.” In conjunction with Mr. Pauly’s retirement, Stephen Sills will be appointed chairman and CEO of Capitol effective August 30, 2013. In addition, Alan S. Ogilvie, currently executive VP of Capitol, will be appointed president of Capitol’s Property & Casualty operations and report to Mr. Sills. Rick Allen, currently president of Capitol’s Surety and Fidelity operations, will continue to serve in that role and report to Mr. Sills. Mr. Sills commented, “Capitol benefits from a deep bench of talented leaders and dedicated professionals. Alan and Rick lead strong underwriting teams that will continue to provide outstanding products and service to our agents and policyholders. I look forward to working with them to create a strong diversified specialty insurance company.” Visit Capitol on the Web at www.capitolindemnity.com.

AAA Starts New Regional Underwriting Department AAA Wisconsin recently started a new underwriting department at the Madison office. “Having underwriters with knowledge and familiarity of Wisconsin shows our commitment to our independent agents and the importance of building strong relationships,” said Heidi Nienow, AAA’s Regional Sales Director in Wisconsin. “We are very pleased to have them in Wisconsin.”

38 | OCTOBER 2013

Susan Morgan (not pictured), CIC, has over 33 years experience in the independent agency field. She has extensive experience working with independent agency companies and agencies. For the past 9 years she has supervised AAA’s underwriting department in Aurora, Illinois. John Flanagan brings with him more then 30 years of personal and commercial insurance underwriting expertise. He has held management positions and provided underwriting services for niche markets. In addition, he spent time as a marketing representative helping to appoint, train and service independent agents. Pamela Johnson has a diverse insurance background. She has underwritten personal lines insurance and holds her AIS designation. She was a field inspection manager for Millennium Information Services and worked as an independent agent for several years. She was most recently an examiner for the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance. Tim Partenheimer has worked for AAA Wisconsin for the past fourteen years. He has a variety of experience including travel and membership field management. He most recently was a sales and service agent in Madison. Stephanie Herman began her insurance career working as an agent’s assistant at an American Family Insurance office in Chicago. In 2010, she seized the opportunity to go company side with American Family working in personal lines underwriting in Madison, WI. She has her P&C license and AINS designation and recently completed courses for the API28 and is currently taking continued courses toward her CPCU designation. Visit AAA on the Web at www.wisconsin.aaa.com.

QBE’s First College Graduates Receive Accreditation QBE’s Amanda Jensen was part of the first class from the company’s College Graduate Program that received their accreditation in August. The program is designed to groom recent college graduates and professionals for insurance careers. The nine-month program allows for participants to rotate through various lines of insurance underwriting businesses, as well as receive training in actuarial and claims. Prior to being selected for the program, Amanda worked as a QBE Claims Representative. She now serves as a commercial underwriter in QBE’s Sun Prairie office. Additionally, Amanda earned her Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation in June, completing the requirements for the industry’s most comprehensive program in just 18 months. A graduate of Concordia University of Wisconsin, Amanda has also earned the Associate in Claims, Associate in General Insurance and Associate in Insurance Services designations.

M3 And The Starr Group Named Wisconsin Best Practices Agencies Since 1993 the annual Best Practices Study has served as a tool to help agency owners and managers understand how their business operations perform and measure up to the top performing firms across the country. The IIABA and Reagan Consulting partnered to conduct the study. In Wisconsin, the 2013 Best Practices agencies include M3 Insurance in Madison and The Starr Group in Greenfield. “We salute these firms for their participation in this year’s study and congratulate them for their outstanding performance,” said Shirley Lukens, principal at Reagan Consulting. Visit M3 Insurance on the Web at www.m3ins.com. Find The Starr Group at www.starrgroup.com.

Arnold Named Senior VP At SECURA SECURA Insurance announced today the promotion of Marty Arnold to senior VP – underwriting. In this newly created position, Arnold will oversee the company’s commercial, personal, farm-ag, and specialty underwriting departments, as well as reinsurance, research and development, and risk management. “Since Marty joined our company, he has proven himself as a top strategic thinker,” said Dave Gross, SECURA President and COO. “That talent will serve him well as he sets the vision and direction to maintain profitable growth for all lines of business, while ensuring we offer policies and services our agents can offer to consumers.” Arnold started with SECURA in 2000 as its chief actuary. Since then he has championed the company’s predictive modeling efforts, led the products team, and has been an outstanding reinsurance buyer. Prior to SECURA, Arnold spent nine years with The St. Paul Companies where he provided leadership and support for small commercial accounts, public entities, and professional liability. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. SECURA also promoted Amy DeHart to VP - actuarial services. DeHart joined the company in 2000 as an actuarial consultant, and was promoted to manager - pricing in 2005 and director pricing in 2006. Before SECURA, she spent five years with Sentry Insurance as an actuarial analyst. DeHart earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in actuarial science and risk management & insurance from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society.

Visit QBE on the Web at www.qbena.com Visit SECURA on the Web at www.secura.net. WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

ACUITY Insurance Company Earns A+/Stable Rating From Standard & Poor’s ACUITY announced that Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has reaffirmed the insurer’s financial strength rating of A+ and stable outlook. ACUITY also maintains an A+ financial strength rating from A.M. Best, making ACUITY the only regional carrier that offers independent agents the financial security of two superior ratings. “Financial strength is the foundation of growth,” said Ben Salzmann, ACUITY President and CEO. “Our dual A+ ratings affirm that we have the resources to protect a growing number of individuals, families, and businesses and to provide rewarding jobs for an increasing number of employees throughout our operating region.” In its reaffirmation, S&P noted, “Our rating reflects ACUITY’s strong business risk profile and its extremely strong financial risk profile stemming from its extremely strong capital and earnings.” Also highlighted were ACUITY’s “exceptional” liquidity, leveraging of technology, and consistent track record of effectively planning and executing strategies. The stable outlook is based on S&P’s evaluation that ACUITY will be able to maintain its better-than-peer underwriting performance.

Company Jumps 4 Spots In National Insurer Size Rankings ACUITY has grown to become the 65th-largest company in the latest National Underwriter ranking of Top 100 Property and Casualty (P&C) Insurance Groups, a four-point jump from the previous list. ACUITY’s ranking is based on the company’s year-end 2012 written premium. In 2012, ACUITY gained $143 million in written premium, a 17.1 percent increase over the previous year. In early 2013, ACUITY surpassed the $1 billion written premium mark. In contrast, the P&C industry saw a meager 4.3% growth rate in 2012. Over the past 10 years, ACUITY’s written premium growth has been more than double that of the industry. Additionally, ACUITY continues to outperform the industry in terms of profitability. The insurer’s 2012 combined ratio of 92.4 was a full 11 points better than the P&C industry average. ACUITY also passed the $1 billion policyholders’ surplus milestone in 2012 and is on track to reach $3 billion in assets in 2013. “Our growth shows that we are fulfilling our mission of protecting and enhancing the well-being of our customers and rebuilding shattered lives,” said Ben Salzmann, ACUITY President and CEO. Find ACUITY on the Web at www.acuity.com.

Arthur J. Gallagher Acquires R.W. Scobie Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. said Friday that it has acquired R. W. Scobie, Inc. headquartered in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 1932, R. W. Scobie, Inc. is a managing general agent and wholesale insurance broker which provides excess and surplus, property/casualty, professional business liability and other specialty insurance products and services to their independent insurance agent and broker clients throughout United States. CONTINUED ON PAGE 41

OCTOBER 2013 | 39

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

MARKETING MINUTE

SO YOU CALL YOURSELF A PROFESSIONAL SALESPERSON

IT’S ALL ABOUT HOW CUSTOMERS VIEW YOU

There was a time not so long ago when accountants, attorneys, doctors, some musicians, certain ball players, the clergy and a few others earned the right to be called a “professional.” But that was about it.

hanging or wondering. Does what’s agreed on without being reminded. Knows that learning is endless. Doesn’t get to a particular knowledge level and stop, while others stick with outdated products, concepts and solutions.

Follows through. Never leaves issues up in the air or anyone guessing. Gets back to customers quickly with “spot on” information and answers. Keeps promises. Doesn’t leave a customer

40 | OCTOBER 2013

Wants to be ahead of the curve. Constantly works to be seen by customers as thoughtful and forward thinking.

Seeks performance improvement. Comes away from sales presentations and asks, “What could I have done better?”

Never considers anything “beneath me.” Will tell you that “getting my hands dirty” is part of the job.

Stays in touch. Understands the value of making sure customers and support staff are always in the loop.

Doesn’t like saying to a customer, “I’ll get back to you about that.” With a tablet and smartphone, the professional salesperson works hard at responding instantly to customer requests.

Never says, “I’ve paid my dues.” Doesn’t act like a “prima donna” or expect “special consideration.” Recognizes when help is needed. Asking for help deepens one’s knowledge base and is smart business, while “faking it” fosters deception.

A professional will tell you that “getting my hands dirty” is part of the job. Asks questions. Wants to understand the issues or the problem before offering solutions.

Welcomes challenges. Sees difficult tasks as growth opportunities rather than as bothersome interruptions.

Thrives on problem solving. Views these as opportunities to demonstrate value by assisting customers with troublesome situations.

Understands the harm of “cutting corners.” While “taking the easy way out” is often camouflaged as “saving time,” professionals know it can easily become a “slippery slope.” Never expects a quid pro quo. Acts in the best interest of the customer, which, at times, may mean foregoing a sale.

Views selling as helping. The professional salesperson knows that trust is earned by using knowledge and experience to assist customers reach their goals, not just closing a sale. Whether it’s selling a product, service, an idea, a vision or an opportunity, the need has never been greater for those who have earned the right to call themselves professional salespeople.

Grange Insurance has announced that Christianna Wood and Dr. Mark Boxer officially joined the company’s board of directors on September 1. Michael V. Parrott, who has served on the board since 1984, along with Robert O’Brien, who has been a member of the board since 1995, have both retired. Christianna Wood is CEO of Gore Creek Capital, Ltd., an investment management consulting company located in Golden, Colo. Prior to her current position, she served as CEO of Capital Z Asset Management, an independent hedge fund sponsor located in New York City. Throughout the past seven years, Wood has also been a member of several boards of directors for corporations, investment management firms and organizations. She recently served as chairman of the board of International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) in London, England, and has been named by the National Association of Corporate Directors as one of the 100 most influential people in American corporate governance. Dr. Mark Boxer is executive VP and global chief information officer for Cigna Corporation, a position he has held since 2011. Before

Parrott, who most recently served as chairman emeritus, has been part of the Grange Board of Directors for 29 years. O’Brien joined the company’s board in February of 1995 and served as chairman of the audit committee from 2003-2011. “With more than 47 years of experience between the two of them, Bob and Mick have contributed greatly to Grange’s continued growth,” Wetmore said. “With their guidance, we’ve been able to expand our geographic footprint from just six states to 13, and exponentially grow direct written premium, assets and surplus. Grange is privileged to have been able to benefit from their strategic direction and knowledge, which have positioned us well within the market.” Visit Grange on the Web at www.grangeinsurance.com. Grange Insurance includes Integrity Insurance based in Appleton, WI.

Since 1921, Pekin Insurance® has committed to go beyond.

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> John Graham of GrahamComm is a marketing and sales consultant and business writer. He publishes a free monthly eBulletin, “No Nonsense Marketing & Sales.” Contact him at johnrg31@me.com, 617.774.9759, or johnrgraham.com.

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Takes responsibility. Doesn’t make excuses or blame others when a problem arises.

“We are excited to welcome both Mark and Christy to the Grange Board,” said David Wetmore, chairman of the company’s board of directors. “Christy’s expertise in investments and corporate governance, and Mark’s extensive background in information technology and customer-facing applications make them both outstanding additions as we work to sustain our position as a high performing company. We know Grange will benefit greatly from their leadership and counsel.”

Understands what’s important to a customer. Recognizes that valuing what the customer regards as important is the basis of their relationship.

Visit these businesses on the Web at www.ajg.com and www.rwscobie.com.

The only definition of “professional” that makes any difference is how customers define it. Looking through the eyes of customers, take a look at the qualities that describe what it means to be a professional today:

joining Cigna, he served as group president of government health care for Xerox Corporation/Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. Boxer has also served in executive leadership positions at other healthcare benefits and information technology corporations, and has been a board member of several corporations.

CP CU

For “professional” to mean something special, something unique, something above the crowd, it requires content that’s specific and concrete, a standard against which a salesperson’s behavior can be viewed and –– mostly importantly –– measured.

Peter Scobie, Robert Giles and their associates will continue to operate from their locations in Eau Claire; Minneapolis, Minnesota; New Albany, Indiana; West Des Moines, Iowa; Omaha, Nebraska; and Waukesha, Wisconsin under the direction of Joel Cavaness, president of Risk Placement Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Grange Insurance Announces New Board Members

More recently, the dam burst and we’re now flooded with “professionals.” Everyone wants in the club. It’s as if just calling ourselves a “professional salesperson,” for example, is magical, lifting us above all those unfortunates, the “unprofessionals.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 39

TOM BUSS Extension 3037

MIKE TIETZ Extension 3081

AUTO • HOME • BUSINESS • LIFE • HEALTH

DAVE GANSCHOW Extension 2178

ERRORS & OMISSIONS

IIAWW CONTRIBUTES TO FIREFIGHTER TRAINING PROGRAM The Independent Insurance Agents of Western Wisconsin (IIAWW) presented a check for $2459.25 to Marcy Bruflat of Chippewa Valley Technical College to purchase equipment for its firefighter training program.

NAVIGATING THE E&O PITFALLS

OF INSURING HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATIONS

Partially driven by the wave of housing foreclosures over the past several years, and partially driven by other interests (an aging population, convenience and desire for more amenities), common interest developments account for a fast-growing portion of the changing real estate market in the U.S. The CVTC trains 53 departments within their district. The donation will be used for purchasing water rescue suits and rescue rope. The suits protect the rescuers, preventing drowning and hypothermia. The IIAWW and CVTCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s partnership have benefited the entire western Wisconsin area since 2008. That first contribution of $4000 was used for purchasing a thermal imaging camera, a valuable tool used to locate victims and fire hotspots. Other purchases made possible through IIAWW contributions include: !"Rapid Intervention Team Pack (RIT). This is a self-contained breathing apparatus, rescue tools and rescue rope.

! Mannequin Family. A family of three adults and one baby used for rescue training. !"Student/Instructor Headsets. The headsets are used for communication in high-noise situations. !"Folding Attic Ladder/Gate Valve/Spanner Wrenches. These miscellaneous tools are needed for class. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Since 2008, the IIAWW has contributed over $17,000 to the CVTC Firefighter Training Program,â&#x20AC;? said Steve Leitch, IIAWW member. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This has been a great opportunity for our organization to impact an organization that benefits all of our communities, increasing safety and minimizing loss.â&#x20AC;?

Steve Leitch and Ryan Leitch, IIAWW members, present a check to Marcy Bruflat of Chippewa Valley Technical College. The donation will be used to purchase equipment for the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s firefighter training program.

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They pose challenges for homeowners associations across the country, at a time where litigation concerning the daily decisions made by association boards and managers is on a rise. The HOAs governing the CIDs must have adequate insurance coverage in place, since most lawsuits are primarily filed by the condo owners or homeowners the associations serve. Insurance agents must always be careful in the procurement and renewal of this type of insurance, because not all HOA policies are equal. The first step to successfully procuring HOA insurance coverage for your customer is learning about the scope of coverage of the HOA policies that are available in your market. What does the proposed HOA policy cover? Are the officers, board members and employees of the association insured under the relevant policy? Generally, HOAs are responsible for buying insurance that covers all public areas of the development. The bylaws of the HOA will define what property is owned by the association and therefore falls under the HOAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s obligation to insure against damage and loss. Nevertheless, it is often difficult to determine where the physical structure of the HOAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s building ends and where the individual ownerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s obligation begins. For example, when dealing with multifamily units, the dividing line is typically the interior wall of the units, with some HOA policies covering up to the studs and beams, while others will extend coverage into the

unit itself, to cover the finished interior walls. Individual homeowners must insure their own units. In addition, some states require that HOAs have insurance to pay the costs of lawsuits filed against homeowners by parties who are injured or killed on the property. Many HOAs carry a master policy that generally covers the parts of the residential structures shared by all homeowners, such as common walls, lobbies, stairways, roofs, elevators and basements. HOA governance documents should state which areas (such as pools, stables and other common facilities) the HOA must insure. As such, it is crucial that this information and any changes to the HOA governance documents be provided to the agent during the application or renewal process for this type of insurance coverage. The standard master policy should cover two key risks: general liability and property for common areas. Additional coverage options should also be considered to protect both the homeowners and the association. Coverage that might be considered for protection of the homeowners and the HOA includes:

building suffers a major loss but a portion is still standing, this coverage will provide an indemnity for demolition and removal expenses.

!"Backup of sewer and drain: This option provides coverage for damages caused by sewer and drain backup.

In addition, the HOA may need to consider additional coverages to protect its employees or volunteers, such as hired and non-owned auto coverage, crime and fidelity coverage, and even workers compensation. As all HOA policies have coverage gaps to a varying degree, knowledge of your HOA customerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s operation is essential. Many insurance carriers will negotiate the terms of their HOA policy forms to suit the unique needs of your customer. Accordingly, it is important that every step of your HOA customerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s insurance procurement and renewal process be documented in your agency file, as any subsequent legal action concerning coverage under the insurance policies may ultimately be resolved based upon how a court or jury perceives the agentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s credibility against that of the customer. In short, the agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s file can be the best weapon in defending against a frivolous lawsuit brought by a disgruntled homeowner or a new HOA board.

!"Demolition coverage: This option provides for various extra expenses incurred after a covered loss. For example, if the HOA

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!"Law and ordinance coverage: This coverage provides for extra expenses associated with bringing a property up to existing building codes after a loss, which can be significant if the insured property is older and lacks elements currently required under building codes, such as disability access, emergency lighting and sprinkler systems. !"Directors and officers liability: This option provides protection for the directors and officers of the HOA in the event they are sued in connection with their duties within the HOA. For example, if a contractor hired by the HOA board damages the building, the board members will be protected against a lawsuit in that regard. This add-on coverage is essential for protecting the personal assets of the directors and officers of the HOA from exposure arising out of their service to the association.

> Crystal Ivy is an assistant vice president, claims and liability management with Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. She handles claims against insurance professionals out of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chicago office.

FALL PLANNING KICKS OFF ASSOCIATION YEAR AT LAKE LAWN RESORT On Sept. 17, beautiful Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan, Wisconsin served as the headquarters for the 2013-14 IIA of Wisconsin Fall Planning Session. Over 100 volunteer members enthusiastically set committee objectives for the upcoming year. President Dave Dunker welcomed a packed meeting room and special guests Bobby Bramlett, IIABA Chairman, and Rep. Mary Czaja (R-Irma), 35th

Assembly District. Each committee chairperson stepped to the podium to summarize their ambitious agendas. A wonderful networking dinner followed the meeting. Dan Schwartzer, OCI Deputy Commissioner, spoke briefly during the dinner. The year started out successfully and we thank all of our committee members for their hard work and service. The Technical Committee gets down to business during Fall Planning.

OCI Deputy Commissioner Dan Schwartzer addressed committee members and guests at Wednesday’s dinner.

Bobby Bramlett, Big “I” Chairman, was a featured speaker at the fall planning session. Bramlett is from Oklahoma but he has a fondness for the Badger State. He was presented with a Green Bay Packers jersey. Rep. Mary Czaja spoke about the state of the industry and the importance of getting involved. Czaja represents the 35 Assembly District and is a licensed agent and agency owner.

Over 100 volunteer committee members serving on 10 committees set their agendas for the upcoming year. Dave Dunker, the president of the IIA of Wisconsin, is in the upper right of the picture.

From the friendly voices of our customer service staff to the personal visits by our marketing managers and underwriters, to the promptness of our claims adjusters, we are told time and again …

Our people set us apart. For information about becoming a Partners Mutual Insurance Agent please contact Lyn Schumann at 262.432.3430 or schumann.lyn@partnersmutual.com

The Automation/ Technology Committee found a comfortable place to conduct business.

Where Better Service Matters | Since 1931 44 | OCTOBER 2013

WISCONSIN INDEPENDENT AGENT

OCTOBER 2013 | 45

FOOD FOR THOUGHT IRON COUNTY: 919 SQ. MILES OF HOPS & BARLEY FIELDS According to 2010 data, on average there are 1.52 bars for every 10,000 people in the U.S. Wisconsin is third in the nation in both number of bars and bars per capita. At the county level, Wisconsin’s Iron County, with one for every 240 residents, leads the nation in bars per capita.

‘‘

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes. - Jack Handey

Rank

State

Bars per 10,000 population

North Dakota

6.54

Montana

6.34

Wisconsin

5.88

South Dakota

4.73

Iowa

3.73

Nebraska

3.68

Wyoming

3.4

Source: floatingsheep.org and The Capital Times

AT LEAST MAKE IT ‘1235’ Each year about 7 percent of Americans have their debit cards hacked or stolen and 10% fall victim to credit card fraud. The result is more than $5.5 billion in theft attributed to credit card fraud each year. Give the thieves a challenge and change your password. Here are the top 10 most-used PINs, according to the DataGenetics study. Because of their popularity, these PINs are, by default, also the least safe ones: Source: Time.com 1. 1234

3. 0000

5. 7777

7. 2000

9. 2222

2. 1111

4. 1212

6. 1004

8. 4444

10. 6969

Have u heard the latest about ACUITY?

YES! Every1 is talking about them : )

PLACED

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See what they’re saying at: www.acuity.com

>*#1#%)#*$",%4+%?@ABACABC?DE% "-%FG$#*$",H&&&I#(5"$(#$=5";%+"149J Insurance underwritten by Auto Club Insurance Association or Auto Club Group Insurance Company.

46 | OCTOBER 2013

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