How to Get More Prospects from Facebook Affordable Ideas to Grow Your Prospect Pipeline Overcoming Substance Abuse with a Positive Attitude Is Your Non-compete Really Limited to One Year? www.napaaUSA.org A Magazine for Allstate Agency Owners Exclusivefocus Summer 2016 An Official Publication of the National Association of Professional Allstate Agents, Inc. Has Your Staff Commandeered Your Technology and Cell Phone Protocols? How You Can Fix the Problems Has Your Staff Commandeered Your Technology and Cell Phone Protocols? How You Can Fix the Problems
Transcript
How to Get More Prospects from Facebook
Affordable Ideas to Grow Your Prospect Pipeline
Overcoming Substance Abuse with a Positive Attitude
Is Your Non-compete Really Limited to One Year?
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A Magazine for Allstate Agency
Owners
ExclusivefocusSummer 2016
An Official Publication of the National Association of Professional Allstate Agents, Inc.
Has Your Staff Commandeered Your
Technology and Cell Phone Protocols?
How You Can Fix the Problems
Has Your Staff Commandeered Your
Technology and Cell Phone Protocols?
How You Can Fix the Problems
BECOME THE OWNEROF YOUR OWNINDEPENDENT
INSURANCE AGENCY
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6 President’s Message32 News from NAPAA34 Letters to NAPAA35 Membership Application37 NAPAA Market Place38 NAPAA Board of Directors
Contents
Departments
Su
mm
er
201
6
Features
12 Finding the Right Prospects Through Social Media By RoByn ShaRp
24 Tracking Prospects for Long-Term Success By Scott BRodBeck
28 What to Do About Your Staff’s Personal Use of Agency Technology and Cell Phones
personal growth
14 Rekindle Your Inner Fire for Maximum Results By david neuenSchwandeR
16 The All-Powerful Search Engine By Bill GouGh
30 Learning the Hard Way By Joe daviS
sales anD marketing
8 Riding the Wave By lezlee lilJenBeRG
10 The Art of the Close By ed hoRRell
22 Point Guards vs. Shooting Guards how the right people in the right sales roles can make a difference By Bill nicholSon
transition planning
18 When is Your One-Year “Non-Solicit” Not Really Limited to One Year? By diRk BeameR
23 Retirement Planning for an Agent By mel clemmonS
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6 — Exclusivefocus Summer 2016
president’s message
Choose Your Battles Wisely
Jim fishNAPAA President
Thirty years ago, I attended a regional payoff in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It was on that trip that I met with two agents from my district to discuss moving into an agency together. They were both assigned to a booth in a local Sears store, and I was located in a company-owned Neighborhood Sales Office (NSO). In those days, Allstate agents were employees.
I wanted to relocate because I would have more freedom and less company oversight. John and Rose were itching to move from the booth into a more professional office setting. The catch was that we would all have to sign the Neighborhood Office Agent Agreement. Some of you will recall that NOA agents received an Office Expense Al-lowance (OEA), which was supposed to pay for most agency expenses.
Long story short, John and Rose jumped at the chance. Our combined OEAs would easily cover basic office expenses. By the time we left Mexico, the wheels were in motion and our new location soon became a reality.
The arrangement worked well, particularly for me, because I was the landlord and my tenants al-ways paid the rent on time!
This partnership is how I really came to know John. I had never worked with him, but he was well-regarded by everyone in our market. I never heard anyone – agent, customer or manager – dis-parage him, which was the kind of reputation I was looking for in an office partner.
John wasn’t a big hitter, but his results were con-sistently above average. He could have easily been one of the top agents in the state, but that wasn’t a priority for him. Every now and then, however, he’d get excited about an award trip to a place he really wanted to go, and he made sure he earned it.
“Balanced” would be how I would describe him. John truly enjoys and embraces the finest things in life. I’m not talking about mansions or exotic cars, either; I’m talking about quality time with family and friends, and enjoying life to the fullest. His interests include fishing, hunting, biking, travel-ing, scuba diving, snorkeling, gardening, boating and getting the best deals possible. In other words, Allstate was not his sole priority in life, it was just
one of many. I’m the type who doesn’t respond well to author-
ity. Ask me nicely, and I’m happy to oblige, but order me around, and it’s another story. John was a “roll with the punches” kind of guy. Rather than protest every single unreasonable management di-rective that came along, he picked his battles – and they were few and far between.
Some agents believe that management creates agent programs, rules and busywork solely to justi-fy their existence. This belief helps stoke the fire of agent discontent. But if John ever got angry, you’d never know it. He understood – perhaps better than anyone – that most company programs end up in that giant compost heap of failed initiatives, so why worry about them?
John taught me some valuable lessons over the years. While I was knocking myself out to be num-ber one, he was leading a rich, full life that includ-ed work, family, favorite hobbies and little stress.
Our business partnership lasted until I decided to convert to the EA contract in 1995. It only end-ed then because Allstate would not allow EAs and NOA agents to share office space. This saddened me, but it was the next logical step. I was unhappy with my employee status – mandatory meetings and mediocre agent programs, like QES, ADP, and BPS were a waste of my time and hindered my production. I was excited about the EA pro-gram, and I believed management when they said it would eliminate all the employee BS and grant me the freedoms I had long coveted.
The programs listed above riled me, but they didn’t seem to bother John. He took them all in stride – and they eventually disappeared, just as he had predicted. If I had learned more from him ear-lier in my career, I might have saved myself a great deal of anger and stress.
Admittedly, I haven’t yet completely mastered this philosophy, but I’m getting better at it. My ad-vice: Shed the negative stressors in your life. Most of the programs you dislike will die on their own. Cry foul only when truly necessary, then rise to the occasion. Let minor irritants roll off you like water off a duck’s back – you’ll be happier, healthier and far less stressed. Ef
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8 — Exclusivefocus Summer 2016
A distressing turn of events began last fall for agents across the country when Allstate took drastic measures to address its profitability issues. Like a riptide, rate increases and tightened RMPs caught many agents unprepared for the resulting commission loss and reduced bonuses. The ongoing ripple effect of losing exist-ing customers has been even more devas-tating to our businesses.
Anyone who has been around for a while knows there’s one thing certain about owning an Allstate agency: You should always be prepared for 180-de-gree turns. Virtually overnight, the auto new-business spigot was turned off.
Clearly, we won’t be writing as much auto business as we’d hoped in the near term. Therefore, let’s consider ways to “ride the wave” until things improve—at least till the end of 2016, and possibly longer.
Get back to basics. Maybe you used a shotgun approach to marketing over the last several years, as I did. Maga-zine ads, writing articles, sponsoring and conducting lunch & learn events, radio programs, speaking engagements, com-munity involvement, etc. I’ve tried to hit the masses every way I could think of. To be sure, all of these are great promotional activities, but what I’ve been missing are the one-on-one relationships with cus-tomers and referral sources that were so important when I was getting my start in the business.
Oh, I’m not abandoning any of these activities, but I am adding grassroots marketing as a new focus in my agency. In my new “Five-A-Week” strategy, I will ask each staff member to give me five op-portunities a week to reach out to a cus-tomer or employer. They are seeking life leads, Allstate Benefits appointments, referrals, marriages, newborn babies, di-vorces, and customer loyalty opportuni-ties. Of course, this should happen all the
Riding the WaveBy Lezlee Liljenberg
time, in my view. But without a strong focus and a direct request, it won’t. This requirement will keep me busy as I get back to my “roots.” My staff likes to keep me busy, so I expect we’ll have a lot of fun with this.
So, now it’s up to me to do something with the leads they provide. When my staff is making calls with the EFS each Wednesday, I follow up on the Five-A-Week leads they give me. This gives each of us two hours of intensive effort to work on retention, production, and IPS count. Scheduling this time is crucial—if it’s not set, the work won’t get done. With so many things to drag us in other directions, this activity is a must – and it is paying off.
Allstate Benefits. Ask your local All-state Benefits Rep to go to meetings with you and to do enrollments. Start with your book of business and people in your community. In other words, people you know well. Every business person should want to have a conversation about re-taining employees and possibly reducing payroll taxes, but the idea still remains a tough sell. However, keep your chin up and keep plugging away. These enroll-ment cases pay well and will continue to pay through the years. The other great thing is that this activity will open the door to prospects you may not otherwise approach, such as the employees of the business and their relatives.
ivantage Commercial. A couple of years ago, I might have urged you to hire a commercial specialist for your agency. I hired one. She is still with me, but now she does 50 percent commercial and 50 percent personal lines. Why? Because Allstate’s commercial lines are simply not competitive enough. Many policies in my book have either doubled in price or have been non-renewed. I am a huge advocate of Ivantage products, but they
don’t pay enough to sustain a full-time commercial person— at least for now.
Our commercial book with Ivantage is strong and growing. Since it takes some administrative work to keep up with it, I purchased a CRM software program called ACT to manage the accounts and commissions. I did this because the systems don’t speak to each other. I get statements and commission payments from Ivantage, Braishfield, Griffin, American Modern, and Butwin—and this software helps me keep a tighter rein on all of it.
Writing commercial insurance opens the door to writing Allstate Benefits, which is an IPS count. It also opens the dialogue for personal lines. Another great benefit is consistent referrals from these clients.
Renters. Build a book of renters now for built-in auto prospects when the time is right. Find a property manager who requires that tenants have insurance in order to move in. Then be there for that property manager and those tenants at every turn. You’ll have to move faster than your competition to earn the right to be their go-to agent. Property manag-ers will be grateful when you help them close deals, and you’ll bring new clients into your book. Definitely a win-win.
Positive attitude. It won’t be easy to stay positive during this downturn. But as we say in my agencies: “Keep your head down, walk fast, work hard and the numbers will come!” Ef
Lezlee Liljenberg is an active agent from Arlington, Texas. She has proudly served on the NAPAA board since 2011. Lezlee is an ac-complished author, artistic welder and winner of many Allstate
awards; she started her first agency from scratch in 2004, and currently has two agencies.
sales and marketing
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10 — Exclusivefocus Summer 2016
“Coffee is for closers!” This is one of the classic lines from the movie “Glen-garry Glen Ross.” The scene involves a tough sales manager addressing his team and explaining the “ABCs” of selling… Always Be Closing! (Author’s note…if you haven’t seen this movie, you need to!)
In the “old days,” sales people were taught to close. Ask for the order. Close and stay closed. If there’s an objection, overcome it and close again.
But in this day and age, the best way to lose prospects is to annoy them by closing too hard. Consumers are savvy enough today to detect desperate sales tactics by salespeople who try everything to get their business.
With that in mind, here are some “softer” closing techniques you might employ instead:
1. Use your existing clients as you close. Instead of saying, “Here are some reasons to do business with my agency,” you might try something like, “Here are some reasons our customers say they like about doing business with us.” This is ef-fectively a third-party endorsement that is not boastful, but one that conveys a powerful message about the great things
The Art of the CloseBy Ed horrell
your customers say about you.2. Challenge your new customer to
make you better. Make sure your new customer is armed with a request to make you better. As you list the reasons your customers like doing business with you, ask your prospect, “When you come aboard with us, I would appreciate you telling me if we ever fall short of your ex-pectations. If our customers fail to tell us, we can’t improve.”
3. make a list of your desired cul-ture, communicate it, and live it. Make a list of how you want to be seen by your customers. These should be one or two-word descriptors. Here are a few to get you started: Responsive. Professional. Customer-oriented. Inclusive. You get the idea. Then describe what your cus-tomer can expect from you in each of the descriptors you provided. For example: What should they expect from a respon-sive agency, or from a professional agen-cy? And so on.
4. Let your prospect know that by doing business with your agency, they become a part of your corporate family. More than ever, people today want to be a part of something. Fraternity, sorority,
neighborhood association, civic group, etc. Make them feel part of something.
5. Emphasize anything that you and your team are doing to make your com-munity better. Causes are awfully im-portant to a large number of customers, so it is crucial that you let them know the causes your agency supports. Here at The Kindness Revolution™, for ex-ample, we stress to how important it is for our Community Champions to make sure their prospects and customers are aware of the commitments they’ve made to make their local communities kinder.
6. make sure you are tuned to sta-tion Wiifm. Back when I was hosting a talk radio show, I used to hear people say that everyone listens to the same ra-dio station…WIIFM, which stands for “What’s In It For Me?” As you present the reasons why your prospect should do business with your agency, make sure that each of those benefits has a reason that is important to them. Why should your prospects care that you are timely? What’s in it for them if you respond quickly? What’s in for them if your agen-cy is inclusive?
7. if it’s not important to them, don’t discuss it. I once had a client who want-ed to list in his bio that he was a member of a certain country club. Obviously, he wasn’t tuned in to WIIFM.
Your close is your chance to shine. Share your benefits proudly, as they are the DNA and fabric of who you are and what you represent. Ef
Ed Horrell is the author The Kindness Rev-olution™ and founder of the national ini-tiative of the same name. Ed can be reached at [email protected]. To learn more about how you can get involved, call Dave Daily at 404.384.6060 and be sure to ask about using Executive Advantage.
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12 — Exclusivefocus Summer 2016
Most agents want to learn how to use social media so they can get more sales, right? You don’t want to connect with people just to discuss what you’re having for breakfast – the goal is to grow your agency. So how do you find the right pros-pects when you advertise on Facebook?
Most agents lack a well-thought-out social media strategy, they simply post content and hope for the best. But you can do better than that! Let’s look at how to segment your prospects and create spe-cific marketing goals that turn into leads.
Who is a Prospect? You’ve heard the terms “hot,” “warm” and
“cold” applied to leads, haven’t you? The old definitions went something like this:
Cold lead. Someone who didn’t ask you to call them. You blindly reach out, hop-ing the person will respond. Cold calling and non-targeted direct mail would be good examples of cold leads.
Warm lead. A person who requested a quote. Maybe they filled out a form on your website and now they’re a warm lead in your pipeline. You’re in the pro-cess of contacting and quoting this lead.
Hot lead. Somebody you’ve quoted, who liked your price and seems like a great prospect. They should close fast.
A better way to identify your marketing goals.
In 2016, there is a better way to clas-sify your prospects. Consider these new definitions:
Cold leads. People who have never heard of you or your agency. They are prospects because they’re local, but they don’t yet know you. If you’re a newer agent, a lot of people are going to be cold prospects because they don’t know who
you are or what you do.What should be your marketing goal for
cold leads? Build awareness! You want your agency to become a household name. You want to get your agency brand in front of these people. They might not be ready to ask for a quote right now, but when the right trigger comes along—like a rate increase—they will. A lot of cold- prospect marketing is based on name recognition and branding.
Warm leads. People who have heard of you but who aren’t current clients. They might be someone you’ve met through networking. They may have received a quote from your agency in the past. They might be a prior client who left for an-other company. You probably have lists of these people: win-backs, re-quotes, pros-pects, networking contacts, and the like.
What is your marketing goal for warm leads? Quote them (or quote them again)! You want to pull these leads back into your sales pipeline for another round.
Hot leads. No longer does “hot” mean they’re ready to buy. Rather, these peo-
ple have already bought—they are your current clients! Odd as this may seem at first, it makes total sense. A truly hot prospect is a person who has signed the papers, given you the premium, and made the commitment. They are ready for the next step.
What is your marketing goal for hot leads? You want to bundle their business and use them to generate referrals. In order to grow your agency, you need to have high retention and high value per customer. This is achieved through bun-dling. If they have auto only, you should be marketing for home or renter’s busi-ness. If they have home and auto, you should be marketing for life insurance, and so on.
Think about this: A lot of the people who “like” your agency’s Facebook page are current clients—“hot leads,” by our new definition. You don’t want to only talk about new quotes on your Facebook page. Why? Because a lot of your read-ers are already long-term clients. You’ll see better results if you regularly promote your referral rewards program and stress those multi-line discounts.
Does this segmentation make sense? Basically, we are separating every person in town into three categories: people who don’t yet know you; people who know you, but aren’t doing business with you now; and current clients. Your prospects always fall into one of these categories, and you should have an action plan in place for each type of prospect.
how does this apply to my direct mail marketing? Let’s try this same segmen-tation strategy with a direct mail post-card. Each of your three groups would get its own postcard.
feature
Finding the Right Prospects Through Social Media
By Robyn sharp
Summer 2016 Exclusivefocus — 13
Cold leads. The ones who don’t know you will get a simple postcard or letter from time to time. You want them to start recognizing your name and face. They might not convert immediately but, over time, you’ll warm them up.
Warm leads. Let’s say you have a list of clients who left you for competitors and whom you want to win back. You already know their renewal date. So start sending postcards out a few months before the renewal date. You might even do some telemarketing after sending the postcard to ask them about a new quote.
Hot leads. Mail your agency newsletter or a flyer about your referral rewards pro-gram each quarter to your current clients. You can also send out a postcard to your mono-line clients, stressing the value of multi-line discounts.
how does this apply to my facebook marketing? Now let’s use this segmenta-tion strategy on Facebook.
For your cold leads, you’ll create Face-book ads to target local people who’ve not yet heard of you. Facebook lets you select ad recipients by Zip code, age, relation-ship status, homeowner status, and more. Precisely target the people you want as clients. Craft advertisements that create interest in your agency and—especially important—in your community involve-ment. Go for something specific that people will remember about you—your involvement with The Kindness Revo-lution™, for instance, or the Allstate Foundation, or the Little League team you coach. Then, point them to your website, where they can request a quote.
Facebook ads work great for warm leads, too. You can upload a list of pros-pects’ email addresses and run ads tar-geted right at this group to get them in-terested in a new quote. Maybe you want to make a special offer, like a gift card or free pizza, but only want it to show up to warm leads. Upload your list to Facebook and only the right people will see it!
Then, create content for your agency Facebook page. Here, focus on your cur-rent clients. Include reminders about your referral thank-you program, or photos of customers who won a referral-rewards drawing. You can post personalized thank-you messages when someone gives
you a referral. Try to use photos whenever you can for a livelier, more personalized feel. Be sure to post news about everything your agency does in the community, such as sponsoring a local high school “athlete of the week” award, or volunteering in a local literacy program. Let your clients get to know and like you and your staff. Use personal messages about your family and pets, as well as events that highlight your expertise in the industry, such as earning an insurance designation or an Allstate award. Aim for at least one new post each week to keep your agency in front of your clients.
If you don’t have a lot of clients who “like” your Facebook page now, you can use Facebook ads to reach them. Upload a list of your current customers’ email ad-dresses to Facebook and create an ad that simply ask your clients to “like” you. The cost of Facebook ads to reach your book
of business is a very small investment that will let you keep in touch regularly.
Facebook advertising is easy. You con-trol the audience and the amount you want to spend. Get started by clicking the arrow dropdown menu at the top of your Facebook page, and then on Adver-tising on Facebook.
The key to seeing better results from your marketing is simple: Target the right people with the right message. Fo-cus on segmenting your prospects and watch your response rate grow! Ef
Robyn Sharp, owner of Mega Agency Mar-keting and former Allstate agent, specializes in helping insurance agents get referrals and leads through social media. Visit the Mar-keting & Professional Services page at www.napaaUSA.org for a link to Robyn’s free marketing calendar and tips to increase your sales.
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14 — Exclusivefocus Summer 2016
Summer is upon us. It seems like we just got over winter, but here we are, more than halfway through the year. Before you know it, the kids will be starting school and the holiday season will soon take up all our time and attention.
Last January, many of us were making New Year’s resolutions. Some of my agent friends declared that 2016 would be their best year ever. But now that its midyear, some of those bold prognostications now seem unattainable. The good news is that there is still time to recommit and achieve what you set out to do last January.
If you still want to make this the best year you have ever had, what should you do? There is no simple answer, and no “easy button” to click that will instantly turn things around. Like anything else you seek to achieve, it will come down to hard work and reigniting the burning desire that originally inspired you.
Rekindling your inner flame is key to your success. Keeping it alive is easier that
Rekindle Your Inner Fire for Maximum Results
By David Neuenschwander
you think. Each time you make a sale, you feed the flame. So the more you sell, the bigger your inner flame grows. Getting off your duff is the hardest part. Once you get started, the rest is a matter of maintaining your momentum for the next six months.
Today, I am going to share two secrets that many top agents practice to attain their objectives. The first is that you must “Recharge to Enlarge.” It’s an impressive catchphrase, but what does it mean? To answer that question, I’ll assume that you know yourself better than anyone else. If not, you should. Why? Because nobody, and I mean nobody, can run at full speed all the time without stopping and refuel-ing. Unlike running a hundred-yard dash that is over before you know it, successful Allstate agents compete with each other in year-long contests both regionally and na-tionally – and when the year ends, and the winners are declared, it starts all over again. It is then that thoughtful agents stop to as-sess their performance, regroup, retarget
and get back to work. At some point, how-ever, you must recognize when it’s time to take a well-deserved break.
The second key to success is under-standing that you need to grow. I know I just said you should relax and take a break, and now I’m telling you to get back up and grow. So which is it? Should you rest or run? The simple answer is both!
As entrepreneurs, we know that “leav-ing it all behind” is not a really viable option. It’s simply not in our DNA. We can’t afford to act like the nine-to-fivers who can drop everything and go – we have businesses to build and awards to win. What we can do, however, is remove ourselves from the day to day madness of the office while we catch our breath and relax a little. It’s not only healthy, but therapeutic, especially in terms of seeing things from different perspectives. You may even find that some of your best marketing ideas come to you when your mind is uncluttered and your creative juices are flowing unimpeded.
In summary, you have to recharge to enlarge, and you have to go to grow. Bear in mind that you can’t run at full speed forever. Nor can you get ahead by sitting back all the time. By learning to balance work and play, you will be more produc-tive and less stressed; it’s the secret to a healthy, happy and successful career.
Here’s hoping you reach all your goals. Ef
David Neuenschwander is a nationally recognized specialist in helping Allstate agents grow their BOBs and bonuses using tested and proven, though sometimes un-conventional, strategies. If you would like help with your online presence, please visit www.CaptiveAgentProfits.com.
personal growth
Summer 2016 Exclusivefocus — 15
16 — Exclusivefocus Summer 2016
personal growth
Your mind is a very powerful search engine. It takes ideas and behaviors that you focus on and searches for ways to make them become your reality. But if your focus becomes your reality, what search results do you want to achieve?
There are many productive behaviors to focus on, but today I want to talk about: Doing your best every single day.
Everything around us affects our best efforts. Most people function better when they are rested and energized, which is often in the morning. We also perform better when we are healthy. Our moods affect our performance, as well. When we are feeling happy and confident, we make better decisions and work harder than when we feel angry, sad or jealous.
The fact is, our “best” changes from day to day, and sometimes even from minute to minute. So, how do you do your best with all of those distractions day in and day out? For one thing, you must form good habits.
Get into the habit of giving every-thing your very best effort. I call this the 100 percent habit. It doesn’t matter if you are happy or sad, always give 100 percent. If you can do that, only great things will happen to you.
When you give all you’ve got, you will be living your life more intensely. You’re going to be more productive, you’ll be better to yourself and your family, you’ll excel and succeed at work, and because you are giving 100 percent of yourself to your family, your work and your commu-nity, you will eventually become better, if not the best, at everything.
As you slip into the 100 percent habit, you will find that giving your all to every-thing you do will make you feel happier and push you to keep giving everything your best effort. It’s self-perpetuating. You will find that your happiness comes
The All-Powerful Search EngineBy Allstate hall of fame member Bill Gough
from the action – not the reward – which is opposite of what most people think. My advice is to enjoy the action and the rewards will come.
Remember, developing the 100 percent habit takes time and practice – lots of practice. You’re going to make mistakes; everyone does. But those who practice the 100 percent habit don’t dwell on the past; they learn from their mistakes, tweak their processes, and move on.
Wendy Murphy, who bought my agency a few years ago, is an excellent example of a person in tune with the 100 percent habit. She built a closing system that produces top results, yet she and her staff continue to practice – and tweak their technique – all the time. They prac-tice closing techniques, overcoming cus-tomer objections, and cold-calling scripts – all of which have produced better and better results. The best part is that her staff is happy because they’re writing lots of new business.
What’s the best part about joining the 100 percent club? Doing your best will soon come naturally to you and it will no longer feel like work. You will simply enjoy everything you do, every single day. The lesson here is that practice increases your
awareness and boosts employee morale.here are some tips to getting the
“search results” necessary to help you become your best and achieve the re-sults you desire:
• Focusyourthoughtsonlyonwhat’spositive and possible – and on the actions you need to make them happen.
• Do not waste energy or attentionon worry, fear, doubt or potential failure. Keep your “search engine” working on the positives you seek.
• Focusonlyonwhatyouwant,noton what you don’t want. You will get one or the other, depending on which one you think about.
• Monitor your attention and focus.Look for what’s positive and what’s next, which you’ll need to make the progress you seek.
• Don’t pay any mind to negativegossip, complaining, blaming, fear or worry.
• Bediligent aboutwhat you searchfor (think about). What you search for, you will attain.
These are all “search engine” entries. Focus on them with passion and you will get the corresponding results.
Remember to focus only on the things you want, such as happiness, love and success. Keep it positive and your results will begin to change at once!
What will you search for?Ef
Bill Gough is an Allstate Hall of Fame agent who has trained, coached and consulted more than 2,500 insurance agency owners in North America. His coaching clubs provide “done-for-you” services and his marketing conferences are among the best in the in-dustry. For more information, go to www.BGISystems.com or call Darlene Wallace at 256-246-2182.
Summer 2016 Exclusivefocus — 17
EXPOSED “Small Town Allstate Agent Speaks Out and Reveals the RAW TRUTH About that Marketing Guy BILL GOUGH,
Who Advertises in this Magazine All the Time!” By: Jason Juliano
This guy, Bill Gough, promises all sorts of things to us Allstate Agency Owners. Advertising ideas that really pay off. Ways to increase leads, improve sales processes, ways to find sales superstars, how to increase referrals, and so on. He would send me mail, and I would see his ads in many of the insurance magazines. Every time I read one of his ads I thought, “Who could be dumb enough to fall for this guy’s BS?” Now I’m going to tell you the raw truth about this guy and his “marketing secrets.”
My name is Jason Juliano and I live in a small town in Western New York. My father and I started an Allstate agency from scratch back in May 2007. We copied what every other agent was doing at the time… buying internet leads. We “bought” our growth quickly, and then the rug was pulled out from under us! Underwriting guidelines tightened, rates were going up and up, and we could no longer make internet leads work.
By this time, I had been in business for 5 years. I kept seeing Bill Gough’s ads in magazines. All the promises he makes. He had been mailing me these long letters for a couple years. I ignored them. I figured, I was doing well winning many awards, a smart person and didn’t need anyone’s help. Bill is persistent, if nothing else.
In October of 2011, I got a letter from Bill that he’d be doing a 1-day seminar 30-minutes from my office. I was still pretty skeptical, but I decided to go to the seminar anyway.
I figured now that I had to make it in this business or starve, it might be a good time to be a bit more openminded about different ideas. But in the back of my mind, I was still thinking “what can this loudmouth teach me anyway?” After all, we were growing and winning company awards and recognition, could he really help that much?
What I discovered at that 1-day seminar actually scared me! Most of it was so different from what I’d ever seen, heard, or been taught or believed. I invested in his “systems manuals” and membership while I was at the 1-day seminar. I had every intention of going through the materials then
returning them for a refund.
After spending time with Bill’s systems manuals and listening to his seminars on CD, I discovered a whole different way to develop a better quality agency that generates more income, more leads, more referrals, and could give me more freedom.
Still skeptical, but hopeful at the same time, I started implementing some of Bill’s ideas. To my surprise, they started to work!
Since starting with Bill, we’ve rebuilt our sales process to target the best quality accounts. We’ve increased our cross-selling and bundling from 50.5% in 2013 to 78.4% at the end of 2015! Our average policies per household is up from 1.6 to 2.3! Nearly 17% of our book has a PUP! We DOUBLED life production credit goals in 2015. Retention is almost 91%. We are selling at higher prices than the competition, and we are growing a quality book of business with polite, respectful clients, that aren’t price sensitive. What more could I ask for? Better quality clients, fewer headaches, and we’re growing in all the right areas!!
You’ve seen Bill’s ads in this magazine month after month. He probably even mails stuff to your agency a couple times a year. If you haven’t responded, I don’t know why?! If you have responded, and aren’t using his strategies to grow your business, that’s even crazier! Maybe you think you’re too smart and know it all, like I did - but if you’re so damned smart, why are you still reading this? Maybe you are doing really well already - but you could do better. Many of Bill’s students are already very successful, just looking for that slight edge. Maybe you just don’t want to be “sold” something that’ll be a waste of your hard-earned money. You can relax, Bill guarantees his stuff… If you don’t see measurable results, you pay ZERO! What could be fairer?
Bill has made a tremendous impact to my agency and I truly don’t know where I would be right now without him. I know he can help your agency too.
Here’s how easy it is: Bill and his great team over at BGI Systems are doing FREE 1-hour strategy sessions. You’ll getcustomized coaching and consulting foryour agency and you can have the strategysession FREE of any cost or obligation.Simply call 256-246-2612 or go to:www.BGISystems.com/fish to scheduleyour FREE strategy session today. You’llalso receive Bill’s audio CD: “Double YourClosing Ratio Selling on the Phone” as afree gift, just for calling. They only can offer5 FREE strategy sessions per week and theytypically book up weeks in advance. It’s slimpickings, so it’d be smart to call immediately.
By the way, what I’ve written about Bill is all true. I’m not a paid endorser. Writing these nice things about Bill is just a way of saying thanks for everything he’s done for me. And I’m not the only one that feels this way… When they send you your free audio CD: “Double Your Closing Ratio Selling on the Phone” you’ll also get a book of letters, comments, and testimonials from other agency owners that Bill has helped from all over the country. Many, like me, are now working less but making more money with less hassle than ever before. More business than we can handle every day. We never worry about where our leads are going to come from or what the future holds in store. All I can say is: don’t envy me: Join me!
P.S. PLEASE don’t get my number and call me or email me about this article! I’m serious. The last thing I need is a zillion pesky phone calls and emails asking about Bill. I’ve said what I have to say right here. What else could you possibly need to know? There’s a limited number of open times per week so call Bill’s office right now at 256-246-2612 or go towww.BGISystems.com/fish to scheduleyour FREE 1-hour strategy session - I knowit will be worth your time!
Allstate Agent Jason Juliano
Advertisement
18 — Exclusivefocus Summer 2016
Agents deciding to leave Allstate need to know and follow the contrac-tual limits the R3001 Agreement places on their subsequent business activities. While most agents seem to understand they are subject to a one-year/one-mile non-solicitation provision, they may not be aware that Allstate actively uses other provisions of the agreement to challenge perceived competitive practices long af-ter the one year expires.
how does the non-solicit work?The non-solicitation provision falls
under the heading “Obligations upon Termination of Agreement.” It says this:
D. For a period of one year following termination, neither Agency, nor any of its officers, directors, shareholders, members, or employees, including Key Person or any other persons working in connection with this Agreement, will solicit the purchase of products or services in competition with those sold by the Company:
1. With respect to any person, company or organization to whom Agency or anyone acting on its behalf sold insurance or other products or services on behalf of the Com-pany and who is a customer of the Company at the time of termination of the Agreement:
2. With respect to any person, company or organization who is a customer of the Com-pany at the time of termination of this Agree-ment and whose identity was discovered as a result of Agency’s status as a Company agent or as a result of Agency’s access to confidential information of the Company; or
3. From any office or business site located within one mile of the agency sales location maintained pursuant to Section V. of this Agreement at the time this Agreement is terminated.
When is Your One-Year “Non-Solicit” Not Really Limited to One Year?
By Dirk Beamer
Notice that it has three components. The terminated agent (or people affiliat-ed with the terminated agency) will not, for a period of one year after termination:
1. Solicit the agent’s Allstate custom-ers (as of the Allstate termination date) to buy competing products;
2. Solicit other Allstate customers whom the agent learned about by virtue of being an Allstate agent or accessing Allstate data; and
3. Actively sell competing products from a location within one mile of the former Allstate location.
“Soliciting” is not synonymous with “selling.” The agreement does not pre-vent the former agent from selling to her former Allstate customers if they come to her on their own and not as a result of her solicitation. That said, you can be confident Allstate will be highly suspi-cious of any situation where there is a large defection from the Allstate book to the agent’s new independent book of business.
After one year, is the former Allstate book fair game?
Assuming the former Allstate agent does not have a separate, longer com-mitment with her buyer that extends her non-solicit beyond the one year, she is — in theory — free to actively pursue her former Allstate customers to sell com-peting products.
However, she needs to make sure she does not run afoul of the R3001’s confi-dentiality provisions in the process. Here is what it says:
D. Confidential information includes, but is not limited to: business plans of the
Company; information regarding the names, addresses, and ages of policyholders of the Company; types of policies; amounts of insurance; premium amounts; the de-scription and location of insured property; the expiration or renewal dates of policies; policyholder listings and any policyholder information subject to any privacy law; claim information; certain information and material identified by the Company as con-fidential or information considered a trade secret as provided herein or by law; and any information concerning any matters affect-ing or relating to the pursuits of the Compa-ny that is not otherwise lawfully available to the public.
All such confidential information is whol-ly owned by the Company. Such confidential information may be used by Agency only for the purposes of carrying out the provisions of this Agreement.
Under the agreement, Allstate claims exclusive ownership of “the names, ad-dresses, and ages of policyholders … [and] the expiration or renewal dates of policies.” The agreement goes on to provide that, “Agency agrees that [Allstate] will be en-titled to an award of reasonable attorneys’ fees in the event that it is successful in an application for injunctive relief or in an ac-tion based upon breach of the foregoing pro-visions.”
By claiming ownership of policyholder data, Allstate retains a weapon it has used against multiple former agents who have become independent agents and have sold policies to former Allstate custom-ers. Allstate has filed a series of lawsuits across the country – typically represented by the same Chicago law firm – alleg-ing that the former agents improperly retained policyholder data and then used
transition planning
Summer 2016 Exclusivefocus — 19
the data to solicit those same policyhold-ers. Customer lists and renewal dates are at the heart of these lawsuits.
Many judges are reluctant to treat ba-sic customer information as “confidential information.” However, the R3001 pro-vides Allstate the argument that, regard-less of what the judge thinks, the parties contractually agreed to treat such data as confidential. Because the restriction on using confidential data continues in-definitely, Allstate can challenge former agent sales to Allstate policyholders even after the one-year non-solicitation re-striction has expired.
In most cases, Allstate will file a lawsuit and ask the Court to issue an injunction preventing sales to Allstate policyhold-ers during the pendency of the lawsuit. Quite commonly, these cases end with a negotiated settlement. No doubt the sheer expense of litigating with Allstate impacts an agent’s decision to settle, even if he has plainly done nothing wrong.
How do former agents avoid these claims? They follow Allstate’s rules, and they take meticulous care to document the independent means by which former Allstate policyholders found their way into the agent’s new book of business. The contract does not prevent a former agent from sitting down at his kitchen table and leafing through the phone book or the church directory for familiar names and numbers that are publicly available. Nor does it restrict mass mailers and other common forms of marketing.
financial pressures applied by AllstateAs mentioned above, the expense of a
protracted legal battle with Allstate may be enough to discourage competitive behavior by former agents after the ex-piration of the one-year non-solicitation requirement.
Likewise, by stretching termination payments over twenty-four months, and by tying them to compliance with con-fidentiality provisions, Allstate gains ad-ditional leverage to discourage competi-tion. The R3001 Supplement provides:
The payment of the Termination Payment will be made in 24 monthly installments [R3001S and R3001C specification], sub-ject to appropriate adjustments, beginning no later than the end of the month after the
month in which all property, confidential in-formation and trade secrets belonging to the Company have been returned or made avail-able for return to the Company. Payments are subject to compliance with the terms of the confidentiality and non-competition pro-visions of the R3001 Agreement, which sur-vive termination of the agreement.
Any unremitted payments received by the agency on behalf of the Company and any debts incurred by the agency for which the Company pays may be deducted from the agency’s Termination payment at the Com-pany’s discretion.
If Allstate believes a former agent is violating the non-solicitation or the con-fidentiality restrictions contained in the R3001 Agreement, it will cut-off termi-nation payments in a heartbeat. Once it does, the agent will be hard-pressed to get payments reinstated without resort-ing to a lawsuit against Allstate.
Know the ContractAgents planning a future in the insur-
ance business outside of Allstate need a
thorough understanding of the post-ter-mination restrictions contained within the R3001 Exclusive Agency Agreement and the related documents that Allstate claims to incorporate within the contract (the Manual, Supplement, and Agency Standards).
They should develop a business plan that allows them to survive the first year without sales to Allstate policyholders and, thereafter, allows them to grow a book of business without relying on data Allstate believes is confidential and pro-prietary. Finally, they should measure the perceived benefit of any course of con-duct against the potential expense of be-ing sued by Allstate. Ef
Dirk Beamer serves as General Counsel to NAPAA and helps NAPAA track legal issues of interest to its members. NAPAA has pro-vided this article for informational purposes only. The contents should not be construed as le-gal advice or an endorsement from NAPAA or its attorneys, and NAPAA expressly dis-claims any such advice.
WRIGHT BEAMER, AttorneysSERVING NAPAA AND THE AGENTS OF ALLSTATE SINCE 2000
DIRK A. BEAMER, ATTORNEY
EXPERT CONSULTING FOR AGENTS AND THEIR ATTORNEYS ON: ALLSTATE CORPORATE SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS
Loans and lines of credit subject to approval. Potential borrowers are responsible for their own due diligence on acquisitions. CA residents: Loans made pursuant to a Department of Corporations California Finance Lenders License.
1 In October of 2014, Oak Street Funding sent an online survey via email to over 20,000 insurance agency owners throughout the United States. Learn more at oakstreetfunding.com/growthsurvey.
An agency growth survey revealed 60 percent of captive agents either just met or
didn’t meet their growth goals1. It also showed that financial resources pose challenges
for 83 percent of those agents.
Oak Street Funding’s loan products have helped numerous Allstate Agents grow their
businesses by hiring staff, initiating marketing strategies, upgrading technology
and more.
Learn more about how we can help you meet your goals — whether you’re looking
to grow, acquire or exit your agency business.
Get a quote and learn more today. 877-879-6771 · oakstreetfunding.com/napaa
Grow Your Allstate Agency with Rates as Low as 5.25%
Customized Loans• Flexible structures
• Amounts starting at $25,000
• Terms up to 7 years
• Quick loan process
Uses of Capital• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Working Capital
• Successions and Owner Buyouts
• Business Debt Consolidation
Where do you want to take
your agency?
Exclusive Focus 2016.indd 2-3 6/8/2016 4:03:46 PM
Summer 2016 Exclusivefocus — 21
Loans and lines of credit subject to approval. Potential borrowers are responsible for their own due diligence on acquisitions. CA residents: Loans made pursuant to a Department of Corporations California Finance Lenders License.
1 In October of 2014, Oak Street Funding sent an online survey via email to over 20,000 insurance agency owners throughout the United States. Learn more at oakstreetfunding.com/growthsurvey.
An agency growth survey revealed 60 percent of captive agents either just met or
didn’t meet their growth goals1. It also showed that financial resources pose challenges
for 83 percent of those agents.
Oak Street Funding’s loan products have helped numerous Allstate Agents grow their
businesses by hiring staff, initiating marketing strategies, upgrading technology
and more.
Learn more about how we can help you meet your goals — whether you’re looking
to grow, acquire or exit your agency business.
Get a quote and learn more today. 877-879-6771 · oakstreetfunding.com/napaa
Grow Your Allstate Agency with Rates as Low as 5.25%
Customized Loans• Flexible structures
• Amounts starting at $25,000
• Terms up to 7 years
• Quick loan process
Uses of Capital• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Working Capital
• Successions and Owner Buyouts
• Business Debt Consolidation
Where do you want to take
your agency?
Exclusive Focus 2016.indd 2-3 6/8/2016 4:03:46 PM
22 — Exclusivefocus Summer 2016
Basketball superstars attract great crowds. The rare talents who can score over 30 points in a professional game, accomplish a triple-double or perform nearly impossible maneuvers are capti-vating. But superstars aren’t necessary to win games. In fact, teams that mas-ter basketball fundamentals and develop well-rounded rosters sell out stadiums. When each player knows his or her role and plays it with precision, teams suc-ceed. This is especially true with point guards and shooting guards.
Point guards are typically good ball handlers and passers. Their primary role is to get the basketball up the court and get the offense initiated. Point guards will occasionally take shots, but most often pass the ball to shooting guards. Shooting guards, on the other hand, take shots — usually a lot of shots — because their goal is to score points.
In sales, leaders hope to recruit super-stars who can close a large number of deals. They hire someone with proven experience or potential and expect great results. But that’s not always the best
Point Guards vs. Shooting GuardsHow the right people in the right sales roles
can make a differenceBy Bill Nicholson
approach, and it’s certainly not the only approach. Agency owners and managers should consider building a sales organi-zation that is staffed with professionals who are akin to point guards (pointers) and shooting guards (shooters).
Pointers are employees who are skilled at the first stage of the sales process. They work to make contacts with leads and turn them into real opportunities. They are good about making initial contact with people, identifying needs, and set-ting up appointments. Once they estab-lish that a contact is interested in their product or service, they have no problem passing that contact’s information along to the next person in the process. Shooters take hand-offs from point guards. They cultivate relationships, drill down to really understand needs, craft solutions that will meet those needs, negotiate, and attempt to close sales. The hope is that they will experience a decent success rate.
Both positions are important to the process, but each requires a slightly dif-ferent skill set and level of experience. Because shooters have to fully grasp the
potential client’s challenge and develop an appropriate solution, they need to be more seasoned in selling and closing. Pointers have to be skilled at making connections with people and convincing them to go further in the process to learn more. Pointers should also be persistent and okay with not being the person who will actually close the deal.
This type of model can be successful not only because it can be very effective in selling, but also because it helps re-duce personnel costs and develops talent. Pointers will typically command lower salaries as they are likely to be more ju-nior-level employees. What’s more, their role allows them to grow and learn over time, paving the way for them to eventu-ally take on a shooter position. The close contact between pointers and shooters also allows pointers to be mentored over time. And since training to be an insur-ance agent can be a long learning pro-cess, pointers can make great contribu-tions to sales early in the training process – and increasingly as they learn – versus making a significant impact after several months or even years.
If your agency is struggling to find and develop new talent, and you wonder how you can afford to pay for new hires, you may want to consider adopting this unique, but effective model. Ef
Bill Nicholson is Executive Director of Sales for Oak Street Funding. Bill understands the unique complexities of the insurance agency business model and its unique capital needs. For more than 16 years, he has successfully led sales organizations in highly competitive en-vironments. He can be reached at [email protected].
sales and marketing
Summer 2016 Exclusivefocus — 23
I have decided it’s time. In five years, I am going to hang up my hat and sell my agency. When my spouse asked me why, I explained that things have changed a lot over the years, and I haven’t. Then she asked, “Well, what are you going to do all day?”
It was a good question. I have heard many stories about people who seeming-ly die from boredom shortly after they retire. The one thing I know is that I do not want to sit around and deteriorate.
Maybe I’m too young to retire. I prob-ably won’t have enough money from the sale of my agency to relocate and stop working. Before I do anything, I should find out what my agency is worth.
I always hoped my son would take over my agency someday, but that ship has long since sailed. I’m not sure if I would even want him to take over with all the changes that lie ahead. There are just so many unknowns…
I have enjoyed this journey, but the more I think about selling, the more doubts I have. I’ve made many friends over the years and my faithful clients have been with me so long. I am not making what I used to make, but at my age, where can I go and make the same amount of money? When I think about it, I haven’t had a real job in 25 years. In-surance is all I know. Maybe, I should just hang in there, but my book keeps shrink-ing, and I wonder how much smaller it will be in five years. Sarah has been with me 16 years. She’s a better agent than me – maybe she would buy me out. If I help get her approved, she might do it. I should discuss it with her soon. But what if she turns me down and decides to leave when I tell her I want to retire? She might say she needs to know that her job is secure and stable – and what if my other employees feel the same way? If it all blew up in my face and they all left, it would be like starting all over again.
Retirement Planning for an Agent
I really need to put more thought into this. I wish the company had a depart-ment that would offer advice to retiring agents. Maybe my market leader has some solid advice. However, I don’t know if I can trust him because I hardly know him. On second thought, it might be a bad idea to alert management; they may think I’m not focusing on my agency. One thing is for certain, I want to leave on my own terms. I don’t want somebody telling me it’s time to go.
I think I know what’s best for me… I just don’t know how to get there from here. What I really want is to transition to the next phase of my life.
The foregoing questions are but a frac-tion of the thoughts many business own-ers consider when they think about tran-sitioning to retirement or to a new career. What I have learned is that when it is time for us to make that critical decision, it will affect our spouses, children, and for some of us, our mental or physical health.
Many of us have dedicated our work-ing lives to the companies we represent. In our communities, we are identified by this. For some of us, the transition is like leaving our legacies behind and walking into to the unknown. For others, it is a timely business move that will provide financial security in our golden years. All I know is that I want to be prepared so that my family’s future is secure.
Let me tell you a true story about Christie. Christie’s husband purchased an agency in 2012 after he left IBM. He had a great first year and landed in the top 10 percent nationally. In his second year, he was diagnosed with cancer and opted to undergo treatment.
The company supported the family with resources and guidance during this time. The biggest concern was that he did not have clear plan for his business. He kept a positive outlook and refused to accept defeat from the cancer. Eleven
months later, he passed away. One thing I remember fondly about
him was that he was bull-headed. Once he made up his mind, it was made up. I regret that I was unable to convince him to write down some transitional instruc-tions for his family. After he passed, the family was understandably in mourning. Unfortunately, businesses do not mourn; they move forward, backward, or they stagnate – but they continue.
Because there was no plan, the fam-ily didn’t know the computer passwords, payroll amounts or the amount of his business loan. As a result, the agency payroll was weeks late and emails went unchecked for four weeks. Keep in mind, this was a $4 million agency.
The agent wanted his 21-year-old son to take over the business, but he was far from ready. He did his best, but had no experi-ence in sales, insurance, or agency manage-ment. He was doomed to fail. Six months later, after losing $600,000 in premium, the agency sold at a $300,000 discount.
This is a sad story, but one that could have been prevented with proper plan-ning. As my friend Bill Gough says, “Transition planning is like life insur-ance for your business.” Like clients who put off their life insurance needs, there are agents who are guilty of putting off transition planning for their businesses. I hope you won’t make the same mistake because it could be costly.
To learn more, search online for Death and Transition Plan, Succession Plan-ning for Business Owners. Ef
Mel Clemmons is an author, motivational speaker, business owner and founder of SAMM Staffing & Consulting, a lead-ing expert in the merger and acquisition of insurance agencies. Interested parties can contact SAMM Staffing & Consulting at www.sammconsulting.com or by calling 678.223.7397.
transition planning
24 — Exclusivefocus Summer 2016
Much like other sales-focused profes-sionals, Allstate agents spend a lot of time worrying about arbitrary short-term cut-off dates. Typically, they worry about how many sales they’ll close by the end of the month, the end of the quarter, or by year’s end. What’s so special about these dead-lines? In reality, nothing, unless you are a midlevel manager whose bonuses may be based on attaining certain predefined goals. If I ask an agency owner about their sales pipeline, I am often given answers that include short-term timeframes, such as what they think they can accomplish by the “end of the quarter.”
Many agents spend their careers wor-rying about meeting short-term goals. In my opinion, this is very near-sighted because they spend much of their careers “chasing their tails.” Occasionally, I will ask agents how much business they think they’ll close by the end of a given month, such as November. Typically, they say something like, “I have no idea what next November will bring; I’ll worry about that in October.” That tells me they are not focused on long-term objectives.
Tracking Prospects for Long-Term Success By scott Brodbeck
Prospect pipelines should be long. Putting prospects into your pipeline to-day will ensure a long-term repository of leads and help lessen the need for recur-ring short-range solutions.
I’m a fan of small town newspapers and the plethora of leads that they con-tain. I’m talking about newspapers that tend to fill their pages with things that are going on in the community. These are great for filling your long-term pros-pect pipeline. They typically include a lot of lists. When looking at these lists, the first question to ask is: “What can I do with this?” The second question – which is often more important – should be: “When can I do something with this?” Ordinarily, these lists don’t represent op-portunities for immediate sales, but they are a gold mine for future sales.
Birth, Wedding Announcements and DUis
Birth and wedding announcements are fantastic opportunities for life insurance sales for obvious reasons. In addition, they are not usually short-term leads.
After having a baby, particularly when it’s the first, the parents’ world is turned upside down. They don’t have time to breathe, let alone find time to deal with life insurance on themselves or their newborn child. But once they have set-tled into their new routine – usually by the time the child reaches its first birth-day – they are often much more recep-tive and can be guided into considering a small life policy that has a guaranteed future purchase privilege rider that can be exercised at certain times throughout their child’s life. The same holds true for recently married couples; their first year of marriage is often filled with new expe-riences and getting used to one another. By the time their first anniversary ap-proaches, they may be thinking of start-ing a family or buying their first home. These are life-altering decisions that de-mand serious attention and require the kind of financial security that only life insurance can provide.
In both instances, I make note of these events and follow up on them a year later. Granted, the commission on a small, per-manent life policy on an infant doesn’t pay much, but if you close enough of them, they add up, not to mention help satisfy your IPS requirements. In addition, the premiums are so minimal, they’re easy to sell and can lead to bigger life sales on the parents.
Selling term insurance to young mar-rieds with the intention of converting them to permanent policies later is another good strategy that will result in consistent new sales, and allow you to sow the seed for future sales by informing the prospect that you will be back in 2-3 years to convert their term policy.
It only takes a few minutes a week to add the names and follow-up dates from these newspaper lists to your long-term
feature
Summer 2016 Exclusivefocus — 25
pipeline. By regularly updating your pipeline and faithfully carrying out your follow-up strategy, you should easily meet or exceed your life goals.
Back when I owned an independent agency, I had a carrier that specialized in substandard auto. Drivers convicted of DUIs were one of their target markets. The local paper listed those arrested for driving under the influence every week. They not only published the name of the driver, but their full address, which I suppose was their attempt to shame them. When I first saw this list, I im-mediately started mailing letters to them, explaining that good people sometimes make mistakes and that the resulting consequences could be monumental. I reassured them by saying I had an af-fordable auto policy for them. Then I sat back and waited for my phone to ring, thinking I had a captive audience who could lose their driving privileges and/or get dropped from their current insur-ance company. To my surprise, I received absolutely no responses, even though I faithfully sent out the mailings every week.
Then a friend of mine got a DUI, and through his experience, I learned how the legal process actually works. In my area, it takes about six months – from the time of the arrest to the date the case is disposed of and is considered closed – before the state is notified and takes action.
The vast majority of DUI cases are handled prior to going court through pre-trial dispositions, wherein offenders plead guilty, and in return, are offered an accelerated rehabilitation disposition or ARD, which is eligible for expungement at a later date. When the state is notified, so is their insurance company. A letter to the offender letting them know that they are being dropped by their insurance company is in the mail shortly after this.
I had a great target audience, but my timing was way off. By the time they needed new insurance, they had forgot-ten about the letter I sent them several months earlier.
In my state, court records are a matter of public record, so you can easily find the current status of any pending court case on the Internet. I started looking up each of these prospects to determine the
date of their first real court appearance, after their formal arraignment, and re-corded that information in my pipeline. Then, once their plea bargain became of-ficial, and their case was considered ad-judicated and closed, I waited two weeks and mailed my DUI letter to them.
By investing a few minutes to look up their court appearance, the timing of my marketing letter coincided nicely with the cancellation letter from their insur-ance company, which in most cases, put them in a panic mode, prompting them to respond to my letter. This simple change effectively moved my DUI leads from short-term status to long-term sta-tus and my response rate went from zero to phenomenal! This example shows why timing is critical when you ask yourself, “When can I do something with this?”
New Business Listings and Real Estate Transactions
New business openings are another category of leads that you can typically find in your local newspaper. I am a fan of the expanded market as I’ve discussed
in previous articles, not for the commis-sion, which is incredibly low, but because it gives me a tool to get my foot in the door and a chance to write a lot of busi-ness in one place. By the time an opening is published, the prospect already has their business insurance, making it too late to do anything in the near term. However, shortly before the first anniversary of their grand opening, they may be sufficiently motivated to shop around, especially if their premium has increased. Once again, a lead that provides no short-term benefit goes into my long-term pipeline. I try to get in front of them about six weeks before their anniversary – right around the time they receive their first policy renewal no-tice. Armed with the ability to write their business through the expanded market, I leverage it to build rapport so I can quote their personal home and auto. In many instances, I even quoted their group vol-untary benefits through Allstate Benefits.
Real estate transfers are among best leads that appear in local newspapers. Once again, by the time a transaction is published, the sale has already been com-
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pleted and the new owner has purchased property insurance. There’s little oppor-tunity to do anything in the near term because most people aren’t willing to re-place a policy that is only two or three months old. However, if you reach out to them six weeks before the first anniver-sary of their closing – right around the time their policy renewal is being gen-erated and mailed – you’ll have a great opportunity to pick up a new customer. If you use automated quoting software, these are the perfect prospects to include a quote with your letter of introduction.
A Better WayAt this moment, you are likely to be
much more concerned about the number of items you’ll close by the end of this month than you are about what you’ll be producing a year from now. But if you really want to get off the deadline tread-mill, you’ll need to do things differently.
I’ve seen agents who keep a folder of all their previously purchased internet leads. Every once in a while, one of their producers will pull the folder and make some calls to see if they can revive some interest. Oftentimes, something on the original loss report or MVR made them a poor prospect at the time the lead first
came into the office. These leads should go into a long-term pipeline – either six months after originally receiving it, or a week after the incident has fallen off. Suddenly, your price may be a lot more attractive than it was the first time.
Depending on the situation, some of these leads may be in your pipeline for two years or more, as you wait for their record to clear up. I recommend keeping these leads warm by staying in touch with them while you’re waiting for the incident to clear. Calling them out of the blue two years after they filled out a quote request on the Internet is like making a cold call because they are not likely to remember you. Continuing to touch base once or twice a year to let them know that you’re still planning to call as soon as they are eligible is a good idea; it builds rapport and shows that you care.
Old leads can be effectively recycled, but only when they are contacted at the right time, which may be at some point in the future. Maintaining a pipeline that includes a year or two in the future gives you the ability to recycle them.
The good news is that the amount of time that it takes to put this information into your pipeline database is relatively short. Unfortunately, many agents don’t
want to be bothered unless there is an opportunity for an immediate payoff.
Year-end will be here before we know it and many agents will be scrambling to hit their objectives. Wouldn’t it be better if you had some leads in your pipeline that you could potentially close that month? Why start populating that pipeline in Oc-tober when there is so much information available to you at no cost today?
So the next time you see a list, ask yourself what you can do with the infor-mation it contains. Chances are, you will eventually be able to do something with it – all you have to do is add the informa-tion into your sales pipeline today.
Creating a pipeline that’s fully developed a year or more in advance will not only help you meet your long-term sales goals, but will help alleviate the pressure you put on yourself to meet those short-term produc-tion deadlines that drive us crazy. Ef
Scott Brodbeck is a Microsoft Certified Sys-tems Engineer and a Master Certified No-vell Engineer who is also a former EA and IA. Currently, he develops technical market-ing tools and provides marketing consulting services specializing in the profitable growth of insurance agencies. Scott can be reached via email at [email protected].
Thank You to our Vendor Memberssupport the businesses that support NAPAA
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Find out what a membership with SIAA, the proven total solution for independent agencies, can do for you.
28 — Exclusivefocus Summer 2016
Walk through your office and take a look around. Jeff ’s texting, wearing a big smile. Donna’s on the office phone—it’s obviously not a business call. Marlene’s in a meeting, “multi-tasking” and pretend-ing to listen as she flips through emails and texts on her phone. Mike, surfing the web again, quickly exits out of the page when he sees you coming. And Carol calls over the cubicle wall to Geri, “Hey, look what I found on Facebook!”
These are classic timewasters you’ll find going on in just about any office in the Western world. But things can get even worse in an insurance agency. Are your staff using their agency worksta-tions to browse websites unrelated to their work? Some may be accessing inappropri-ate internet content, using your agency’s time and resources to view or share this material. Are your staff using Allstate email to send or receive personal email? Are they texting or emailing agency cli-ents from their personal cell phone?
how much does lost time cost your agency?
If you’re like most agents, you have an unwritten “self-restraint” office pol-icy. After all, you hired professionals, so you shouldn’t have to monitor them like sixth graders. But what happens if just one member of your staff is misus-ing office time? First, there’s the issue of that person’s wasted time. But what if other employees are being distracted by overhearing phone conversations or by the constant buzzing of devices. What’s more, your tolerance of such unwanted behavior can quickly lead to resentment from the rest of your staff, who feel they are carrying more of the workload than their colleague, and who may perceive and resent a “double standard.”
Take the example of a large agency with seven highly productive LSPs. Routine agency processes have been optimized for efficiency, and are documented in an office procedures manual. Everyone’s on board and follow procedures consis-tently. Virtually no one is using agency time for personal calls, texts, and the like. The agency owner then decides to step things up, and hires a new producer. The new person can be seen checking their phone occasionally during the day—usu-ally for just five or six minutes at a time, and then goes back to work. Seeing no objection from you, a few others begin to do the same. Soon everyone in the of-fice thinks this is perfectly okay, and sud-denly, you have eight employees spend-ing an hour each day doing something other than work.
Unexpectedly, perhaps without even realizing it, you’re faced with a much larger financial impact than you might have thought. Eight hours of staff time wasted every day. In effect, you are now paying eight salaries instead of seven, with no increase in production.
Let’s face it—cell phones are ingrained in our daily routines. How do you prevent
non-business activity from negatively impacting your staff ’s performance? It can seem impossible to keep tabs on your employees’ mobile and internet activity, let alone control it. What can you do to address this growing workplace issue?
set your policyIf you haven’t done so already, develop
a written policy for the use of person-ally owned cell phones and other mobile devices, as well as your agency’s phones, computers, and internet access. If you al-ready have a policy in place, review it fre-quently. Be sure to consult legal counsel as necessary to avoid potential exposure to unfair labor practices and privacy re-quirements.
Privacy expectationsMake it clear to your staff that they
should not expect any of their correspon-dence or activity to be private while they are using agency computers, networks, email systems, mobile devices, or any other agency or company-owned modes of communication. Staff are subject to lawful monitoring while using these sys-tems, and they need to know it.
You are responsible for the actions of your staff and for compliance with Allstate’s security controls. You should maintain access to staff passwords at all times. Include, as part of your policy, ran-dom periodic monitoring of web brows-ers and email. Learn more by reading “Personal Privacy Rights in the Work-place” by attorney Dirk Beamer, which you’ll find in the members only portal at www.napaaUsA.org (see “Agency Op-erations” tab).
AccountabilityEmployees must know they are re-
feature
What to Do About Your Staff’s Personal Use of Agency Technology, Cell Phones
Summer 2016 Exclusivefocus — 29
sponsible for their activity while on the clock. During the work day, agency provided cell phones and internet-connected devices should be used for work-related activities only. Accessing or communicating any discriminatory or harassing content should be specifi-cally prohibited.
Clarify acceptable useMake sure your employees are clear on
what is and what is not appropriate dur-ing working hours, and beyond, if appli-cable. Offer specific examples.
internet use. Job-related internet use may include research, training tasks, and anything that would help someone do their job. Using the Internet to shop or to search for vacation deals does not typically fall into the acceptable use cat-egory.
Email. Allstate.com email should al-ways be used for agency-related business, such as for existing customers, prospects, quotes, and the like. Employees are di-rectly responsible for using appropriate language and for protecting confiden-tial customer information. The Allstate email system should never be used for personal or non-Allstate business email.
Text messages. Many customers pre-fer text messages. To be certain that text messages from clients come directly to the agency for timely handling, many agents text-enable their office landline, using a service such as Zipwhip, while others keep an “agency cell phone” in the office for everyone’s use in texting. Staff should not call or text customers from a personal cell phone, as customers may save the number as a contact for your agency and use it months or years later – perhaps long after the staff member has moved on to other employment.
social media. Social media has pro-duced new ways to reach our customers and communities. If you have incor-porated social media into your overall marketing plan, it’s vital that you clarify your expectations for handling agency business pages. Your staff will likely identify themselves as agency employ-ees on their personal sites, so you should address this as well. Your staff ’s post-ings on personal sites can affect how the public perceives your agency. Part of the
responsibility of working in your agency includes maintaining a higher standard of conduct and a professional public image. Each staff member should know what to do if contacted about the agen-cy by anyone, including the press. They should also know what to do if they see a post online that speaks adversely about the agency or any of its employees. Your staff should never claim to speak on behalf of Allstate or your agency. They should also refrain from discussing in-dividual customers or specific details about insurance coverage.
Define consequences Rules and standards carry no weight
unless their breach brings real conse-quences. Clearly explain what will hap-pen should an employee fail to comply with your policies. Ramifications will vary based on the infraction, and may range from progressive discipline to im-mediate termination for the most egre-gious conduct. Do consult an HR pro-fessional—your payroll provider may be an excellent source—when drafting your policies.
Enforce your rules Once you’ve established a set of writ-
ten guidelines and standards around the use of cell phones, internet access, and other electronic communications, be true to your word and consistent in your enforcement. Document every infrac-tion and the resulting disciplinary action taken. Consistency will help mitigate ex-posure to discrimination claims.
Disciplining employees for inappro-priate behavior requires that you catch them in the act. While you don’t want your staff to feel Big Brother is lurking over them constantly, you should check in on the office floor to observe from time to time. Are employees chatting away on their cell phones discussing per-sonal matters? Are they glued to their phones texting or checking Facebook? If so…catch it now. If you’re adopting a new policy to tighten control, the sharp employer will praise, or even reward, su-perior compliance.
Use your best judgmentLike you, your employees are only hu-
man. Emergency calls are a fact of life, and your staff may sometimes need to take or make a personal call during the work day. Or perhaps they need to call or text their spouse that they will be home late so they can finish a big sale.
There are agents who have zero tol-erance for personal cell phones during business hours. Other agency owners be-lieve more lenient policies will keep their staff happier. There is no single right or wrong strategy. You may even want to ask your staff for their input in develop-ing your agency policy. Most of them are level-headed and understand the need for rules of conduct.
A sound employee handbook or policy and procedures manual is an essential part of being an employer. Your hand-book or manual should be a living docu-ment that is reviewed, revised and updat-ed regularly. The best time to craft new rules is before there’s a problem. What-ever specific rules you adopt, having a policy around cell phone and internet use will eliminate ambiguity. Get a policy in place—you can always make changes as needed. Review your employee manual with new employees when they come onboard. Review the policy with all em-ployees at least annually.
Treating your staff with dignity and respect is the most important thing you can do to improve productivity. People naturally work better and harder when morale is high. Approach expectations from a positive standpoint. Concentrate on what your staff is doing right and keep the lines of communication open. Keep your staff engaged by fostering a learning environment. Role-playing and training should be ongoing activi-ties, and can fill downtime between calls. Lastly, encourage innovation and reward improvement—often. Ef
Need help with HR issues related to mobile and internet use at your agency? Contact Paychex today at 844-846-7827 and men-tion code 5699. Paychex, Inc. is a national provider of cost-effective payroll and HR services trusted by more than 80,000 busi-nesses. NAPAA members save 25% on Paychex payroll processing and 15% on HR setup fees. For more information, visit www.paychex.com/allstate.
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news from NAPAA
Agent satisfaction survey ResultsWe’d like to thank the 1,800 Allstate agents who participated in our recent Allstate Agent Satisfaction Survey. The
survey was created to measure agent satisfaction levels and identify the most pressing issues that agents currently face. The good news is that 50% of Allstate agents are “somewhat” or “completely” satisfied with their relationship with
Allstate and 3% are “very” satisfied. That’s a great improvement over our 2012 survey, when 73% of respondents re-ported they were “not very” or “not at all” satisfied with their relationship with the company.
Alas, not all the 2016 survey news was upbeat. In several key areas, agents expressed high levels of dissatisfaction. Following are the areas of greatest agent concern. The accompanying percentages include all levels of agent dissatisfac-tion measured.
Even though these results were not unexpected, the survey allowed Allstate agents to express their concerns to All-state management with a unified voice. The complete summary, results, and more than 1,200 agent comments can be found at www.napaaUSA.org on the About NAPAA – Advocacy page.
Another Call to ActionNAPAA wants to help you keep Home Office listening to you! If you agree that it’s time to scrap variable compensa-
tion and give agents a simple commission structure they can rely on and understand, be sure to sign our new petition at www.surveymonkey.com/r/AgentCommissionPetition.
myth Busters: Reasons Agents Give for Not Joining NAPAA myth #1: “I must be a member, I receive Exclusivefocus magazine and emails from NAPAA.”
The Truth: Receipt of Exclusivefocus magazine and/or the e-newsletter Agent Informer, does not mean you are a NAPAA member. We provide these publications to Allstate agents as a source of information, the costs of which are largely covered by our advertisers.
myth #2: “I can’t become a member because I fear reprisal from Allstate.”The Truth: Membership in NAPAA is completely confidential. No one at Allstate has any knowledge – one way or the
other – unless you tell them. No one – not even the NAPAA Board of Directors – has access to our highly protected membership roster. What we can reveal is that when you join NAPAA, you will be in good company. Our members include hundreds of highly respected, successful agents.
myth #3: “NAPAA is trying to entice agents to leave Allstate and go independent.” The Truth: NAPAA is dedicated to the success of Allstate agents. Our members do not join to escape Allstate, they
join for the assistance and information we provide. Communicate, educate and advocate – that’s what NAPAA does for you! The work we do is funded by dues-paying members. So the more members we have, the more we can do for you! Intentionally pushing agents away from Allstate would be counterproductive and not in the best interests of NAPAA or Allstate.
NAPAA members can expand upon the great information found in the pages of Exclusivefocus magazine by logging into the Members Only Website Portal, which is filled with good ideas and best practices. Topics include: hiring, training, motivating and compensating staff; ideas for employee handbooks and policy and procedures manuals; marketing via social media; community involvement; speaking engagements and more. Please consider becoming a member today.
Agents are the predominate driver of revenue for Allstate. Agent compensation should be fair and equitable, and products should be competitive. Let’s keep the conversation going.
Sign the online Agent Commission Petition if you agree that it’s time to scrap variable compensation and give agents a sol-id, simple commission structure you can rely on to pay your staff and agency expenses: www.surveymonkey.com/r/Agent-CommissionPetition.
Start a local Agent Idea Sharing Group in your area. Learn more at www.napaauSA.org, News and events.
Combine your voice with other like-minded agency owners by joining your professional agent association. Join online at www.napaaUSA.org, or complete the application in this magazine.
www.napaaUSA.org
Is Home OfficeListening?Telling them is as easy as 1-2-3
123
34 — Exclusivefocus Summer 2016
I read Dirk Beamer’s article – When the Seller is the Bank: Common issues in Seller Financing – in the winter issue of Exclu-sivefocus. I think sellers have to be very careful. If they purchased their agency instead of building it from scratch, they will be required to recapture the entire amount of that write-off in the year of the sale. For instance, I purchased my business for $1.1 million. I wrote off 1/15 of the principal each year for 15 years. Now that I am selling the business for $1.3 million, I will have to recapture the principal I wrote off and report it as ordinary income. I had a number of mega agents who swore I was wrong, and that it should be treated as capital gains. But my tax advisor and those agents – who checked into it – finally agreed that the amount depreciated should be reported as ordinary income.
This could be a killer for the seller if they self-finance all or part of the sale and do not have enough to pay the taxes on the recaptured amount. In my case, the taxes on the recaptured amount may be $400,000.
NAPAA response: Thanks for writing. You may want to discuss the difference be-tween “acquired intangible assets” and “self-created intangible assets” with your tax ad-visor. In at least one case, the IRS issued a Private Letter Ruling allowing a taxpayer to bifurcate the customer-based intangibles between acquired and self-created. Custom-er policies created as a result of your ongoing business operations have not been amor-tized, and may not be subject to the ordinary income rates. Members can contact NAPAA for additional details.
I recently returned from the Leaders Forum in Las Vegas. In one of the ses-sions, Tom Wilson talked about the future and how social change will affect Allstate over the next five years. He seemed to imply that people are tired of money-grubbing corporations that have no social conscience and that Allstate plans to do something about it. Allstate wants to be a force for good, especially in the “local communities where we work and live.” The idea is for people in those communi-ties to do business with us for who we are, not necessarily for what we sell.
While I say “Bravo,” I can’t help but wonder what he has in store for the agency force. Reading between the lines, it seems pretty clear that he will strongly urge agents – and perhaps staff – to get more involved in their local communi-ties. It doesn’t bother me too much be-cause I’ve been involved with The Kind-ness Revolution in my local community for a couple of years now, and have been very pleased with the results.
As independent contractors, how-ever, this should be our choice, not the company’s. In the end, I expect Allstate will demand that agents get involved by making community service part of our bonus calculation.
I am sure we will hear more from leadership about their plans for us in the coming months. In the meanwhile, agents would be wise to start looking into ways they can get involved in their local communities, whether it’s through The Allstate Foundation, The Kindness Revolution or another community-based organization.
NAPAA response: To reach The Kindness Revolution, call Dave Daily at 404-384-6060. To learn more about The Allstate Foundation, go to the Allstate Gateway and type in “Allstate Foundation.” You will then be presented with multiple links that provide detailed information about the program.
My agency is currently under contract to be sold. I have an offer in hand and I am waiting for my buyer to obtain fi-nancing, which should be soon. I expect the sale to close by September 1.
NAPAA has been very helpful over the years. I also appreciated the warm welcome I received from members when I attended a NAPAA convention just be-fore becoming an Allstate agent.
I’m selling my book for a couple rea-sons, the first of which is the financial pressure we’re under to make bonus. It’s either feast or famine, and I’m getting mighty tired of it. It’s not like I haven’t been successful either; I’ve earned Na-tional, Chairman’s and Inner Circle in my relatively short tenure with the company.
My second reason for selling is the “Trusted Advisor” program. If Allstate was serious about it, they’d let us place life and financial products with outside companies if their product is best for the customer.
If Allstate really wanted to be a force to be reckoned with in the financial ser-vices sector, they should buy or combine with Edward Jones. At this point, how-ever, I don’t think Allstate’s Board of Directors is serious about making things better for the consumer – there’s prob-ably not enough profit potential.
Thanks again for everything. I’ll let you know when I’m officially done.
I am an EA with Allstate working on my will. What happens to the agency at the death of an agency owner? Is there an article or contact person to consult?
NAPAA response: The R3001 EA Man-ual explains that your death or permanent incapacity will trigger the automatic ter-mination of the agent agreement. Your le-gal representative may elect to transfer the
letters to NAPAA
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economic interest to an approved buyer or they can elect the TPP (subject to vesting requirements). They will have 90 days to complete the transfer of the economic inter-est. The company may allow the office to re-main open to service the book if there is at least one licensed staff to run the office. If the office is closed, no commissions will be paid during the 90-day period.
The person “buying” the agency must sign a new R3001 Agreement and complete all of the requirements for new agents, includ-ing training classes, licenses, and so on – even if that person is a licensed support staff or relative. If the buyer is already an agent,
the training is waived. The biggest problem is that the buyer
MUST be approved by Allstate, which means there are no guarantees that the per-son you intend to take over the business will be approved by the company.
The best way to prepare for the succession of your agency is to be sure it is always ready for sale. Your family or trustee should be pre-pared in advance and possess the necessary knowledge about your agency and the tran-sition process so they are able to see the sale through from beginning to end. Otherwise, they will spend much of the 90 days trying to figure everything out. They may submit
your intended buyer for approval right away, but they should continue to market the book in the event the first buyer is not approved.
NAPAA has a great deal of information about selling agencies available to members, including an A to Z Reference Guide that takes you or your rep through the entire pro-cess. This can help ensure you have the nec-essary information readily available when needed. Whether you’re planning for the unexpected — or for retirement — keeping your agency ready for sale is a good way to stay abreast of the current value of the busi-ness. The materials we have online would be helpful to include in your succession plan.
I am not an attorney, so I cannot advise you about your will. NAPAA attorney Dirk Beamer has worked with many agents on succession planning. He is an expert who is already familiar with the agent contract and can assist you or your attorney. You may want to reach out to him by calling 248-477-6300 or by emailing him at [email protected].
NAPAA members can receive personal-ized assistance and more detailed answers to questions like yours.
I hope you will consider becoming a mem-ber. Learn more about other advantages of membership on the Member Benefits page at www.napaaUSA.org.
Communicate – Reliable and accurate communication on issues af-fecting Allstate Exclusive Agency Owners • DirectExpressweeklye-newsletter • Exclusivefocus quarterly magazine • www.napaaUSA.org
Port TownsendHubbard Financial [email protected]:$550,000PIF:2,200Premium:$1,600,696NumberofStaff:2Establishedagency;perennialChairman’sandMDRT.1200sf,customfurniture,newcomput-ers.OnlyAllstateagencyinJeffersoncounty.Agencyrevenuefor2015:$285,000+.
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Exclusivefocus and DirectExpress are official publi-cations of NAPAA - The National Association of Pro-fessional Allstate Agents, Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. It is the policy of this publication to reflect the professional thoughts and attitudes of our members and to advance the professionalism of the insurance in-dustry to the ultimate benefit of the insuring public.
The views expressed by NAPAA, or any of its positions relative to its activities and those of its members’ actions on behalf of this organization, are expressly those of NAPAA, and do not reflect the views or the opinions of Allstate In-surance Company, or any of its affiliates.
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Exclusive Agency Owners and to advance the independence and entrepreneurial spirit of our members.
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NAPAA encourages its members to actively par-ticipate in the process of defining and refining our Mission, Goals and Positions.
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How to Get More Prospects from Facebook
Affordable Ideas to Grow Your Prospect Pipeline
Overcoming Substance Abuse with a Positive Attitude
Is Your Non-compete Really Limited to One Year?
A Magazine for Allstate Agency
Owners
ExclusivefocusSummer 2016
An Official Publication of the National Association of Professional Allstate Agents, Inc.
