A survey is being sent to our customers from Sharon Heard, Director-Customer Research for Farmers Insurance Group of Companies (She works for a "trademark"?)

Of the 20 questions, nine deal with the agent. Question #7 asks, "Is it a benefit to me to have an agent?" But hasn't Marty already proclaimed how important we are already? Why do they still have to ask the question?

Dan Stevens, a Colorado District Manager wrote to the agents in his district about committing to get a Series 6 license. He asked for a written response.  He then said, "If no response is received by the district office within a week of this confirmation letter, the district office will assume that you have no interest in obtaining a Series 6 license. We will then begin marketing directly from the district office to the Farmers Insurance clients so they are aware of the new financial service products available to them."

Notice he claims they are "Farmers Insurance clients" and not the agent's clients.  When a customer switches from Foremost to AARP/Foremost, should the losing agent receive one years' commission? Why isn't it the same as one Farmers agent losing a policy to another Farmers agent?

The "Fair Access" test on the dashboard is "Federally Mandated" or mandated by "the court" according to which DM or DMM you want to listen to.  Interestingly, none of the other companies (Allstate, State Farm, American Family or Nationwide) have the same "mandate".

The "reduced fire commissions" rumors are starting to surface. It's only right, the six months is almost up. Ask you DM to find out what is supposed to be happening in your area.  The credit scoring battle is heating up in more and more states. Remember, the critical debate is over secrecy. If your clients score goes from "F" to "S" you will never know why and neither will your customer. The only way to protect your customer is to encourage your legislature to pass a law guaranteeing full disclosure.

A recent fire re-inspection blitz in the Phoenix area produced some interesting numbers. Forty percent of the homes re-inspected by one team were out of force. Some had gone out of force several years ago. Its time to make each DM check every policy on his/her list before he/she gives them to the agents. Demand it! And ask for the policy numbers for each one to double-check the DM.

More changes are coming. Effective November 1, 2001, Michigan will start charging for comprehensive losses. What they are doing is doubling the base rates and giving discounts based on comp losses or lack of losses.

Recently an agent received a call from the Marine Center of Excellence and was asked to answer some questions. The caller first stated that boat policies would be transferred to Foremost next year. So, it would appear that MCNA will be closed. Is this happening because agents will get better service, better prices or better commissions? Or is it happening because the management company will receive a bigger "fee"?

California agents that have written HO+ policies are receiving a letter from the state executive that says, "You have successfully sold over 5 Homeowner Plus policies this year. I am confident you can sell 30 more policies by the end of the year!"

If you read the management company's response to the Texas class action lawsuit and want to know what the other side says, go to ufaa.com and read it.

Have a great day.

Ralph