We will begin at half past the hour! Welcome to: Planning for Success in 2012 Today’s Presenter: David Estrada Founder & Managing Director of Rainmaker Advisory Brought to you by: “Rainmaker’s mission is to help insurance professionals grow their practices and flourish! We provide sales coaching, professional development programs, tools and vendor resources, outbound marketing campaigns, PR & Media relations services, strategic growth plans for insurance agencies......and much more."

Presents Monthly Webinars Free to Community Members. Community webinars are archived online Community webinars do NOT qualify for CE The University does conduct monthly webinars that qualify for CE in 17 states 2

In addition the community has unique business networking opportunities. Enjoy the Monthly Newsletters on a specific topic with a tip of the week; claim; quiz flash and articles o This month’s Newsletter is on the Holiday Season 3

Insurance forms and endorsements vary based on insurance company; changes in edition dates; regulations; court decisions; and state jurisdiction. The instructional materials provided by The Insurance Community Center and its authors is intended as a general guideline and any interpretations provided by The Community do not modify or revise insurance policy language. Information which is copyrighted and proprietary to Insurance Services Office, Inc. (“ISO Material”) is included in this publication. Use of the ISO Material is limited to ISO Participating Insurers and their Authorized Representatives. The Insurance Community Center assumes neither liability nor responsibility to any person or business with respect to any loss that is alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of the instructional materials provided. Insight Insurance Consulting Copyright 2011© 4

Today’s Agenda! Assessment Methodologies for Evaluating your practice Establishing YOUR metrics Re-examining your market, clientele and the competition Planning Guides and Best Practice Tips Execution, Monitoring your plan, and making adjustments Follow-up Packages and Resources for attendees

Established December 2008 In Portland Oregon Offices in Oregon, California and New York Focus on providing services to retail insurance broking firms ranging from $2M to $20M of annual revenues Relationships with approximately 7,800 Insurance Agencies and Producers of all practice disciplines nationwide We maintain both Affiliate Solution Provider Partners and Endorsed Vendor Solutions Resources and Tools Library of approximately 1,200 templates and best practice resources Average tenure in the insurance industry of our professionals: 32 years Backgrounds and experience of our professionals include production, single and multi-location agency operations, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), senior leadership positions in top 10 public brokerages, and practice specialty group leadership - all within local, regional, national and global insurance broking segments, public and private We are now the 4 th largest consulting firm in the US dedicated to providing services to the retail insurance broking sector About Rainmaker Advisory

“Our Mission is to help insurance professionals grow their practices and flourish!” We provide an outsourced sales campaign of coordinated services which include: 1) marketing 2) surveys and polls 3) webinar hosting; and 4) PR & Social Media in order to achieve synergies with the campaign We demonstrate to insurance agency owners and brokerage leaders how they can scale their organization's on a sustainable basis through our consulting services and vendor resources We show insurance producers of all practice disciplines how to win more new business and successfully manage the growth of their book through our sales coaching and professional development programs We provide a cloud based environment with tools, templates, best practice vendor resources, collaboration forums, CE Credit Courses, On-Demand Training Webinars, and ability for users to grant permissions and access hierarchies to co-workers, clients and prospects

ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGIES

Planning Methodologies Examined: “You don’t have to throw spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks!” Qualitative: Achievement/Accolades/Recognition Process Driven: Metrics by count and volume within phases of the sales methodology used – activity/results Initiative Driven: essentially ‘maps’ pre-pipeline efforts Business Drivers: new vertical, new location, acquisitions, book purchases, new programs, new capabilities, new services, etc

A CLEAR ASSESSMENT OF YOUR PRACTICE IS KEY TO THE PLANNING PROCESS Book Analysis Caliper Skills Analysis Best Practices Analysis Metrics Analysis and Benchmarking Cash flow analysis and projections Operational Analysis “Establishing the ‘point of origin’ for any journey is critical to success – this must be precise!”

ESTABLISHING YOUR METRICS

Sales Process Metrics: establish ‘count’ AND revenue for each phase of your sales methodology 1.Preliminary Phase: ‘a staging area’ for leads and suspects 2.Research Phase: you are performing research and developing your approach 3.Discussion Phase: by phone or or the first ‘meet and greet’ 4.Discovery Phase: A substantive fact-finding meeting with your prospect 5.Capability Phase: A meeting that communicates your capabilities and services, your resources, your process of managing a client’s business over a 12/18/24 month period, your team’s credentials, etc 6.Marketing Phase: Bid specs, marketing, negotiation, spread sheeting, reporting of results 7.Awaiting Decision: the period of time where you pace up and down the office wringing your hands waiting for the ‘green light!’ 8.Won/Lost: the results

Once you’ve established the ratios between the counts and volumes by stage – you now have a working model to establish reasonable goals It’s okay to pick one or two metrics to focus on For Developmental producers: focus on the metrics at the beginning stages For Veterans: most tend to gravitate towards total volume in the pipeline and ‘awaiting decision’ phases It’s easier and more effective to ‘add a vertical’ or new sales initiative than it is to just increase activity in the same vertical or program

THE MARKET YOUR CLIENTELE & THE COMPETITION

Google Yahoo Finance – analyst reports Whitepapers Reports from ‘the Big 3’ NBER Competitor websites Monitoring of ‘agents of change’ through GoogleAlerts Research takes less time than you think – and it can be both fun and revealing!

PLANNING GUIDES & BEST PRACTICE TIPS

PLANNING GUIDES & BEST PRACTICE TIPS Examine 3 Year History Analyze Your Book Where did your business come from? Who is an ideal client? Narrative of last 12 months Narrative of challenges faced Establish Goals Establish Prospecting Methods Identify Sales Initiatives & Verticals Identify Training/Resources Required

EXECUTION MONITORING YOUR PLAN MAKING ADJUSTMENTS

Dedicate the time to start planning – you can do it in two or three afternoons! Pick a start date: calendar year? Fiscal year? Choose! Best practices are to update your pipeline weekly Operational/Qualitative Goals/Business Driver Plans can be monitored and measured quarterly It’s okay to adjust/add/modify along the way – that’s where best practice development and continuous improvement live! Run it by a colleague/partner/advisor to gain input and suggestions

FOLLOW-UP PACKAGES AND RESOURCES FOR ATTENDEES

+ COMPLIMENTARY FOLLOW UP PACKAGE FOR ATTENDEES:

For Additional Toolsets and Planning Resources – please visit our website. We have a section dedicated to 2012 Planning which includes tools and a producer skills assessment

Thank You! For more information about Rainmaker Advisory and our services, please go to: -or (direct) Upcoming Insurance Community Center & University Webinars: 1/19 – Captives Presented by Marjorie Segale 1/18 – Commercial Property for CE Credit 1/25 – Commercial General Liability for CE Credit And tons more!