And The Winner Is
What does it mean to be named the “National Underwriter Commercial Insurance Agency of the Year”?
Last year's winner, F. Scott Addis, principal at The Addis Group, said he feels like “the Miss America of the independent agency system.” Nearly every week, he hears from some carrier or agency offering congratulations and wanting more information about how he goes about his business. It is a tremendous honor and a big advantage, he said, to be held up as an example of the finest the industry has to offer.
Last September, when he accepted his award, he spoke from the heart about how he wanted to inspire young agents to follow his lead. Standing in Las Vegas before a packed opening general session at the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America annual conference, he proudly noted that his agency doesn't sell insurance for a living. Instead, he functions as a risk manager, insisting on doing a customized, diagnostic audit for a prospect to identify exposures and create a loss control plan before offering insurance as just one option to protect the client.
The Addis Group has come a long way from the days when it was launched about a dozen years ago, financed by a $50,000 bank loan. By the time they won the NU award, Addis had grown into an $80 million premium volume powerhouse.
The inaugural award winner in 2002 was Higginbotham & Associates of Ft. Worth, Texas. Led by the dynamic J.R. “Rusty” Reid, Higginbotham continued to thrive after stepping into the spotlight as NU's Agency of the Year, on pace to boost revenue by at least 20 percent last year and projecting over $250 million in premium volume.
As with Addis, Higginbotham stays focused on the client, suggesting basic service benchmarks as part of “The Wedge” sales approach. Without attacking the incumbent agency, Higginbotham allows clients to make up their own minds if they find their current broker coming up short.
We are now accepting entries for the 2004 award program. You can get full details by clicking on the award icon, pictured with this column, at www.NationalUnderwriter.com. I urge you to check it out and enter before the July 12 deadline.
The winner and a guest will get a free trip to the IIABA annual conference in Orlando. More importantly, the winner will receive an extensive cover story profile in our Oct. 11 edition, with bonus distribution at the conference. Four additional agencies receiving an honorable mention will be profiled in that issue as well.
This is your chance to really make your mark. All five agencies profiled in the Oct. 11 edition will no doubt see their stock rise with their respective carriers, and could capitalize on their “celebrity” status when prospecting for clients and new markets. In addition, we might tap additional entrants as candidates for our periodic “Agent/Broker Profiles” feature well into 2005.
One of my biggest pleasures in this job is reviewing the award entries and seeing the unique ways agencies go about achieving excellence in this very competitive business. I can't wait to hear from you this year!
Sam Friedman
Editor-In-Chief
Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, April 9, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
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