Big "I" Best Practices Study Group

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Only 224 independent agencies throughout the U.S. qualified for inclusion in the Best Practices Study. An IIABA-affiliated state association or an insurance company must first nominate the agency, which then must qualify based on outstanding customer services, growth, stability and financial management. More than 1,200 were nominated this year.

Selected Virginia Agencies are:

• Armfield, Harrison & Thomas,  Leesburg
• DeJarnette Insurance Agency, Inc., Brookneal
• Engle Paxson & Hawthorne Insurance Services, Leesburg
• Ezra T. Summers, Inc. T/A The Ware Insurance Agency, Virginia Beach
• Scott Insurance, Lynchburg
• Short Insurance Associates, Ltd., Charlottesville
• SL Nusbaum Insurance Agency, Norfolk
• Towne Insurance Agency, LLC, Chesapeake
• Trustpoint Insurance, Bristol
• Welch Graham Ogden Insurance, Inc., Manassas

The Best Practices Study was initiated by IIABA in 1993 as the foundation for efforts to improve agency performance. The annual study of leading independent insurance agencies, which is conducted for IIABA by Reagan Consulting of Atlanta, documents the business practices of these "best" agencies and urges others to adopt similar practices.

To assist agencies in adopting best practices, IIABA has developed a family of products, services and workshops known as the Best Practices Implementation Series. The series includes materials such as the Agency Self-Diagnostic Tool, Agency/Company Joint Planning Tool Quick Step, Customer Service Made Simple, Best Practices in Business Perpetuation & Management Succession handbook and Top Producers: Discover, Train, Reward. Additional studies and tools are added periodically. The publications include guidelines, worksheets and case studies to help agents apply the information contained in each report.

In addition to the written materials, hundreds of workshops and seminars have been conducted at various producer association functions, company sponsored agency meetings and national automation users group conventions.

The IIABA and Reagan Consulting jointly maintain the Best Practices Gateway website (http://bp.reaganconsulting.com) that provides executive summaries of the annual Best Practices Studies, the Best Practices Quick Check interactive comparison took and samples from the various Best Practices tools. The Gateway, as well as the annual study, is made possible in part through the financial sponsorship of various insurance companies and industry organizations.

The 2010 Best Practices Study sponsors include Applied Systems, Addis Intellectual Capital, Central Insurance Companies, Chubb, EMC Insurance Companies, ENCOMPASS Insurance, Erie Insurance, Great American Insurance Group, The Hanover Insurance Group, Harleysville Insurance, Imperial Credit Corporation, InsurBanc, Kemper - A Unitrin Business, Liberty Mutual, MetLife Auto & Home and Zurich North America.

For more information on the Best Practices Study, contact Jennifer Becker at IIABA, 1-800-221-7917.