Earlier in the month,
Insurance Business America gave you the opportunity to speak out and review the insurance carriers in your professional life. In exchange for your valuable time, we promised to award one lucky winner with an iPad Mini.
Today, we’re pleased to announce that Wendy Keene of Torian, Hofmann, Dillow & Flittner Insurance in Evansville, Ind. will soon be the recipient of that iPad.
Currently a personal lines account manager, Keene recently celebrated her 10th anniversary at the 24-employee agency, which last year won “Agency of the Year” with the Indiana Independent Insurance Agents.
In her position, Keene estimates she works with about eight different carriers to elicit quotes, coordinate with underwriters and make changes to policies in support of producers.
Given that experience, she has a few thoughts on what makes the best insurers stand out from the crowd.
“For us, our day is very, very full and quoting is very time consuming for an independent agent,” Keene said. “We work with several companies, and when you’ve got one that takes longer to quote, it is a turnoff.”
Specifically slowing down the process are excessive questions that need to be answered in order to get that quote, such as the number of bathrooms in a home, Keene said.
Underwriting expertise was another high priority for her, as she prefers to work with underwriters she can have a long-term relationship with and who are not afraid to work in ways that aren’t “strictly by the book.”
As for overall suggestions for improvements, Keene urges carriers:
“Streamline the quoting process, improve the ease of agents to work online, and make operating systems user-friendly.”
Congratulations to Wendy Keene, and thank you to everyone who took the time to participate in our reader survey! Be sure to look for the results, along with other in-depth insight on producer priorities in selecting carriers, in our upcoming print issue of
Insurance Business America magazine, set to hit desks in early September.
