Welcome to IIAWC

To all of my industry peers and associate members,  it is difficult for me to believe, but I write this 2008’ “Presidents message” to you, as I enter my 24^th year in the industry.  After so much time, one tends to think about things like… “I’ve seen it all”  “the market is cyclical” and “this all used to be a lot more fun”.   While I feel these sentiments from time to time, about this great business that we are all in, it truly is a great business.

 

At the moment, our economy is in a severe economical down turn. Banks are falling.  Federal regulators announced just recently, sweeping moves to shore up the finances of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The dollar’s value is at or near historic lows. All of this has, and will continue to affect the world in which we all work, but our industry still remains so important and perhaps even more necessary.

 

The property casualty industry’s, recent success of reporting its third underwriting profit in the last four years, has led to more competitive market conditions, and a downward trend in insurance premiums. This is a soft market if I have ever seen one, but, prior to 2004, the industry went 25 consecutive years without earning an underwriting profit.  So could it be that many of us are just not used to working this hard?

 

As your new president I occasionally think of the things that we can all do on a Macro scale, to help our agencies perform better in a market such as this, and into the future. I tried to narrow it down to just two areas of focus and they are: InVest and Trusted Choice.

 

These are not times to sit and wait for the phone to ring and they are not the times to cut back on customer service either.  We have to get out and compete against others in the market place and win more than we lose, to do that…YOU NEED A SOLID TEAM!

 

For those who know me well, you know that I am a big Youth and High School sports fan.  (It is easy to be that way with three boys and one girl…all of whom play in two or more sports.) I find that the principles applied to building a solid youth sports program, can all be applied to building a solid business, association or industry group. What is a high school sport team without a good youth “feeder program”? The answer is: Uncompetitive, based on experience and talent.  What is the insurance industry and Independent agency system, without a flow of new incoming talent? The answer is the same…Uncompetitive, based on experience and talent. Over the past 10 years, I think one of the most common complaints I hear about the daily operating of an insurance agency or insurance company, may very well be, “there is no good talent out there”. We do not want that to continue to happen to our industry and we need to help our industry keep the Feeder program alive!!

 

I spoke at my installation dinner about “InVEST”.  InVEST promotes insurance education to attract individuals to pursue employment in the Insurance industry.  Specifically, InVEST develops a diverse pool of insurance professionals and informed consumers by educating high school and community college students about careers in insurance, financial services and risk management, and encourages them to pursue careers in the industry.

 

I ask each of you to contact myself or InVEST directly if you want to help make a difference.  www.investprogram.org There are many different ways that one can get involved from direct donations to teaching classes in your own area, to providing internships and much more.

 

The second thing that I feel strongly about is “Strength in numbers” and “Brand Recognition”.  “Trusted choice” helps give us as small business owners, the National platform of what we do for our customers, helping us show and remind the public how we are different from traditional direct writers that we compete against. I believe we all need to participate in, and benefit from the National awareness that “Trusted Choice” can provide. Many of the carriers that you and I represent are now becoming “Trusted Choice Insurance Company Partners.” We need to be unified in our cause.  If you have not already done so…please visit www.trustedchoice.com  and request a login and password to see what the program can do to give your business and our industry that extra branding edge.

 

In closing, the balance of 2008 and the quickly approaching 2009 clearly looks to be a challenging time for all of us, but we have always met the call as an industry group. I encourage you to get involved in your association and industry groups to see what more you can do to promote your business, our industry and even your association.  Again, “this is not the time to sit and wait for the phone to ring” .

 

With great appreciation and respect,

 

Michael A. Coughlin

President, IIAWC