Nov/Dec 2009 - By Dave Willis
Looking forward more than back.
A tough economy and a weeklong spell of “cool and cloudy with a little rain thrown in here and there” weather didn’t dull enthusiasm at this year’s ASCnet TENCon. From the opening session to the closing party, nearly 1,200 attendees made the most of the event’s education and networking opportunities.
Strong Connections
ASCnet 2009 Chair Mike Montgomery—complete with ruby red Wizard of Oz slippers—enthusiastically welcomed the members and business partners to his hometown, Kansas City, and previewed the week’s events. “This year’s theme, TENCon Connect, drives home what ASCnet and our annual conference are all about: an opportunity to connect with top-notch education sessions, connect with long time and new friends, to connect with vendors who offer products and services to help you work smarter, and to connect to new ideas you can take back and put to work immediately.”
Montgomery, an associate development consultant at Lockton Companies, recognized sponsors, staff, business partners and, especially, volunteers for their role in bringing the conference to life. “Over the past year, I’ve been amazed by your energy, your dedication and your selflessness,” he said. “Whether it’s in volunteering in your local chapters, on the newsgroups, at TENCon, or serving on committees, you go above and beyond.”
Rick Morgan, ASCnet Interim CEO, followed Montgomery, noting, “ASCnet and TENCon are all about members helping members thrive—in good times and not-so-good times. And we’re not about to stop.”
Morgan, a former agency owner and Applied Systems marketing vice president, described ASCnet as “all about connections. I think of it as a three-legged stool, if you will. The stool includes, first, the thousands of ASCnet agent and broker members; second, the hundreds of carriers we work with every day; and third, of course, our key technology provider, Applied Systems.”
Each leg is important, but the organization works well only when all three are strong. “The relationships we’ve built over time—and that we continue to nurture—are more important now than ever,” he noted. “We must build on the respect we’ve earned. We must continue to work together to support a system that allows agents and brokers to thrive in a tough economy—in any economy, for that matter.”
Mark Layden, Applied System chief operating officer, stepped in for company CEO Jim Kellner, who missed this year’s event due to a family death, and shared insight from ASCnet’s vendor partner. (See Applied~411, pg. 15)
A Lot of Class-es
Key to TENCon’s success was the extensive list of educational sessions. “You get a little nervous when a third of your classes are brand new,” says outgoing ASCnet Education Committee Chair Patty Andree, TAM Specialist at Johnson Insurance, a multi-location agency based in Racine, Wis. “It was a pretty bold thing to try.” Feedback indicates the committee hit on the right mix of Applied versus office suite versus “everything else” information. “People could get a more rounded view of what’s going on,” she adds.
“Rick Morgan’s sessions on social media were very well attended,” Andree notes. “People are unsure of the technology and what their roles should be. Some of those sessions were standing room only.”
Another popular session—a group of sessions, actually—was the new Industry Solutions Committee series on workflows and technology. “I know a session is well received when people ask me afterwards whether a manual is coming out on the topic,” Andree says. In a request for volunteers, she adds, “Until someone takes the time to write it, it’s not available.”
A class on cleaning up system data, presented by AB Solutions’ Todd Arnold and Renee Foo, also generated positive feedback, she adds. The class was standing room only, even after a couple dozen more chairs were added. “We had attendees standing in the hallway,” she remarks. “Some people saw it as an ‘Epic prep’ class, but the reality is, everyone needs to do cleanup on data, whether they’re going to Epic or not.”
“One of the most compelling reasons to at least consider cleaning up your lists in TAM is operating efficiency,” the presenters explained. “Every unneeded item on a list increases the chance for time-consuming and frustrating errors.” The AB duo shared other reasons for cleaning up data and demonstrated a method for organizing the purging process.
Another class, Show Me the Data with Download, led by Donna Barr, president of Premier Insurance Consultants of the Treasure Coast Inc., in Palm City, Fla., focused on what’s needed to make agencies efficient with download. “We covered a number of topics that were new to attendees,” Barr says. “People commented that what they learned was worth the cost of coming to TENCon.”
One topic she covered was reprocessing policies in suspense. This allows items in suspense to be manually corrected on the billing screen and then automatically attached. Other key lessons included: Com-pany unique coverages can be copied; status codes don’t need to be entered in download setup if users don’t want them to update with the download (the same holds true with premium); and, a utility can copy a business owners policy app to a package and vice versa, leaving the original application for marketing to various companies.
Technology and the Older Adult, a session led by Sarah Ratcliffe, project manager at Chicago-based Lamb, Little & Co., and Jeff Kite, president and CEO of Baltimore-based Kite Technology, explored ways agencies can retain experienced workers, equip these workers with technology training and awareness, and provide accessibility tools that boost their confidence, comfort and efficiency. “Baby Boomers are aging,” Kite explained. “Many agencies find value in retaining these workers because of their great knowledge and experience.”
One attendee noted that, while generational stereotypes exist across the spectrum, it’s important to realize that people often break stereotypes. As another remarked, the skills needed in agencies today are markedly different from those required years ago. “By spelling out requirements, agencies can establish expectations and increase the likelihood of success,” Ratcliffe noted, “especially when they incorporate appropriate training and tools for workers.”
A session, A Better Bottom Line: Connecting Sales, Marketing and Customer Relationship Management in Epic, led by Applied Systems Strategic Analyst Kara Harris-Crowell, CIC, CRM, focused on Epic’s relationship management, policy management and sales and marketing capabilities. The class was designed to showcase ways to better gather and organize client information and then use this information to market and sell better.
According to Harris-Crowell, attendees commented on Epic’s expansion of relationship associations and the ability to report on those relationships. “This helps them better see financial impact,” she explains. “They also were impressed with the Quicklinks feature, which puts more client information at users’ fingertips.” Others commented on how new marketing searches could help drive automated marketing campaigns and how agency-defined categories could be used to better track and report on agency initiatives.
Customer Marketing in a Challenging Economy, led by iMarketingManagement.com’s Laurie Donohue, focused on what she calls “radical changes in both marketing vehicles and customer expectations.” Donohue stressed that agents must understand and adapt marketing strategies to new expectations created by upcoming generations and then tap the Internet and social media tools to build relationships at a very low cost. “The Internet is a great way to communicate because it’s essentially a free medium,” she explained.
Many younger session attendees were eager to learn how to reach older generations, while older participants were trying to get a grasp on new media, in general. “Particular interest was shown in Web site development—what a Web site should include, how to keep it fresh and easy to find, and what functionality should be included,” Donohue noted.
Between classes, attendees took part in ASCnet’s first-ever silent auction. According to Andree, more than 50 items were donated by individuals, chapters and other organizations. “Participation was great,” she explains. “I’m astounded by the generosity of people who work with ASCnet, who give until it hurts.” In all, the auction raised more than $8,500, which will be used to bolster the Certified Presenter Program mentorship initiative.
Commit, Connect, Prosper
In her closing-session remarks, incoming ASCnet chair Lisa Parry Becker recounted her journey into insurance and how her experiences tied in with ASCnet’s theme for next year: Commit, Connect, Prosper.
The fifth-generation agent recalled her grandfather asking, “Are you sure you want to do insurance?” After some soul-searching, she made the commitment. Once in the agency, she recalls, “I looked at all the paper and thought, ‘Wow, this is nuts.’ I read about SEMCI and said, ‘This makes sense. This is where we need to be and where our carriers need to be.’
This led her to connect with ASCnet members—locally and later as chair of the ASCnet Interface Committee. She went on to co-chair the industry-wide Real Time/Download Campaign.
Parry Becker complimented attendees on their commitment to ASCnet and to leading-edge technology. “I'm excited to see how agents have embraced the [real time and download] workflows—especially my fellow Applied Systems users,” she said. “I'm thrilled at the prospect of even more of you making that commitment.”
She shared “connections” advice handed down from her grandfather and father. “[They] taught me, ‘Do your job. Do good work for your clients and represent your carriers well... Don't lie to people or try to sneak stuff in under the underwriting wire. Be honest and truthful and committed, and it just works.’”
This advice led to her closing call to members. “Commit to this business, to your clients, to your carriers, to your agency and to your technology,” she said. “And connect. Attend user group meetings. Bring fellow employees along—to the meetings and on the system. Connect with business partners and customers, as well. And you know what? You'll prosper. I promise.”
TENCon Postscript
Attendees listened and made connections throughout TENCon and beyond. For instance, on one shuttle ride to the airport, nearly a dozen attendees were excitedly discussing TENCon, insurance and friends in common. E-mail addresses were exchanged.
A first-time attendee from Iowa summed up the conference like this: “I could not have asked for a better first TENCon experience. Classes were great. Our presenter did a terrific job. Everyone at the conference was very helpful and friendly.
“I hope other DORIS users know what a terrific system they have and want to come and learn all DORIS has to offer,” she added. “If they were like we were, we were not using our system to the maximum because we didn’t know all it could do.” But with commitment, the information and connections will help the agency prosper.
Dave Willis is an AQ2 contributing editor.