IMC Says Insurance Is Still The Best Policy

 

While most independent agents talk about insurance being a people business, one firm feels so strongly about the value of its "braintrust" that it cites a daily, staffwide meeting as the backbone of its successful approach to client service.

 

Each morning at 8:15 a.m, the 25-member staff of Insurance Management Company in Erie, Pa., assembles to share and discuss their experiences in underwriting, claims, sales and customer service.  The point of the open dialogue is to help one another through the challenges of the day, especially valuable in a demanding hard market.

 

"It is the biggest [service] tool we have," said IMC President John C. Bloomstine.  "our accounts are big accounts and a lot happens.  There is always something new, whether it be an acquisition or in claims.  To have a bunch of individuals together [from different disciplines] to solve problems is a great resource." 

 

IMC remains, after 69-years, a family business that has amassed $26 million in premium volume solely through commercial lines.  In its third generation, it remains a family-oriented firm--and, according to Mr. Bloomstine, the goal is to remain that way. 

 

However, he confesses, with the rapidly changing face of the insurance industry, it is hard to predict exactly what the agency's future niche will be

 

For now, the agency's customer service efforts have won it an "Honorable Mention" in National Underwriter's first "Commercial Insurance Agent of the Year" award program.

 

This is not the first time the agency has been noticed beyond Erie.  It has been the subject of several business pieces in local and trade publications, including an article in the April 26, 1999, edition of NU, after it won the "Arthur Quern Quality Award" from the New York-based Risk and Insurance Management Society.  The RIMS award honors the memory of the former chairman and chief executive officer of Aon Risk Services, who was a services role model for the risk management community.

 

Besides its commitment to quality service, IMC continues to keep its focus on the insurance side of the business.  While self-insurance is always an option, the agency does not deal in captives.  Instead, it feels the best way to adequately and comprehensively fill client coverage needs is through the standard insurance market.  "We always find a market source,"  Mr. Bloomstine explained.

 

Understanding where those market sources are means research, communications, and staying in touch with the underwriters who decide what their risk appetite is.

 

To help everyone on staff stay on top of the market, IMC has assembled a vast technical research and reference library, in which the agency invests $15,000 a year.  Despite the wealth of information available on the Internet, producers can't find everything online in the public domain, he noted, and so the library gives IMC a proprietary edge in this knowledge-based business.

 

"We don't use [the library] every day, but when you need it, you need it,"  Mr. Bloomstine said.

 

However, with carrier appetites changing continually, research is sometimes not enough.  "There seems to be more focus on a smaller amount of companies [among agencies]," observed Mr. Bloomstine.  "An independent agent sometimes finds he has to go the way the company goes.  One has to really focus on whom one is going to work with, and so plan where you are going to go.  Guys who have been around a long time or know where they are going have been able to create their [agency] business around some carriers."

 

IMC Looks for carriers that are comfortable working with the large commercial accounts the agency represents.  What this means is attending a lot of conferences and meeting with underwriters to "get a sense of where they are going."  It also means a lot of homework, reading everything available to understand where insurers are heading, and doing business with the right ones.

 

The reason for concentrating its efforts on the standard market and not captives, explained Mr. Bloomstine, is that the standard market allows for the spread of risk, and, as he asks clients, "can you do a better job than [insurers]?"

 

To keep the current hard market in perspective, IMC points out to clients that, generally, insurance rates are back to the levels they were in 1993, and the agency uses charts to illustrate their case.  The lesson is that despite hard market premium increases of late, the cost of insurance is by no means beyond historical bounds.

 

Clients, however, still must keep premium hikes under control.  To accomplish this usually requires accepting higher retentions, lower limits, or cutting back on coverage--thus implementing a less formal and more flexible form of self-insurance, IMC noted.

 

There are some lines that are very difficult to write in the traditional markets these days, Mr. Bloomstine admits, such as medical malpractice and high-hazard property coverage.  The agency has filled client needs in such areas by layering programs with carriers.  In only one case, he said, has a client left the agency to form a captive because standard insurance was unavailable. 

 

New business is hard to write at the last minute in this market, Mr. Bloomstine conceded.  Often a prospect desperately shopping for a better price or coverage comes to IMC too late for producers to prepare a proper proposal to shop to carriers. 

 

When concentrating on renewal business, IMC tries to prepare its applications thoroughly, emphasizing the quality of the account to make sure it "rises to the top of the stack" and gets the underwriter's attention.  It also means knowing who to go to with a risk.  "You can't do a shotgun approach.  You have to know who is interested in that type of business," Mr. Bloomstine noted.

 

Technology also helps, allowing everyone within the agency to access information quickly, and to easily update an account or communicate internally through e-mail.  "We are on the technology bandwagon, but it does not sell insurance," said Mr. Bloomstine. "It helps us, but it certainly doesn't sell [by itself]."

 

In response to customer concerns after the terrorism attacks of last Sept. 11, IMC called upon GE Global Assets Protection Services to help educate clients on how to deal with the media in case of a disaster.

 

IMC's staff assembles every day to share experiences, news, problems and ideas.

Leading the way is IMC's president, John C. Bloomstine, (front row, second from left).

 

While clients in IMC's Western Pennsylvania area have been spared terrorism exclusions, the agency used its eight-year relationship with GE to create the disaster response program and make a video as part of its risk management seminars.  While it is hoped there would never be a need for clients to implement the lessons they learned, the initiative at least creates awareness in the minds of clients, and adds value to the services IMC offers, Mr. Bloomstine said.

 

Mr. Bloomstine sees IMC growing beyond its regional reach as its clients expand internationally.  When they move into the global arena, he said, he wants to make sure they can take IMC with them as their broker.  With the carrier relationships the agency has built, he does not see placing global business as a problem.

 

The challenge, he said, will be to make sure communication technology does not depersonalize the relationship with clients and carriers as their sphere of business expands geographically.

 

"This business is a people business," observed Mr. Bloomstine.   "It is all about trust; that is what it all comes down to.  And that is measured by how involved you are with your clients, and sitting down and telling them what is happening [in the insurance market]."