50 Ways to Market Personal Lines Insurance

By Alan L. Shulman
With apologies to Paul Simon’s classic song, there must be at least 50 ways to promote personal lines policies. Below is my list. I stopped at 50 due to the song, so if you wanted more, it’s Paul’s fault, not mine!


12 Social Media

Fun video where you "fast read" all the potential [car] policy discounts you offer.
Run radio ads on YouTube as audio behind a slideshow.
Post Vine and Instagram mini-videos touting services or discounts.
Policy-specific Facebook ads and promoted tweets targeted to local prospects.
Offer free "executive level" insurance reviews to LinkedIn connections.
Display entertaining mini-posters on Pinterest linked to relevant landing pages.
Post fun personal insurance quizzes. Have prospects contact you for the answers.
Post tip sheets to inform shoppers of personal insurance basics.
Tweet insurance-related images along with your text.
Offer free insurance tips to first-time home buyers.
Display images of the many recreational vehicle types you insure.
Post vehicle-specific promos for pickups, minivans, crossovers, etc.

10 Captive Audiences

Poster-type ads in restrooms.
Car insurance flyers placed under windshield wipers.
Display ads on busses and taxis.
Ads on supermarket shopping carts.
"Fishbowl" business card drawings for free lunches at local restaurants.
Entertaining insurance handouts at county fairs, etc.
Offer outdoor quotes at sidewalk sales (strip mall-based offices only).
Give a business card to neighbors of new home insureds "in case of emergency."
Present condo insurance tips at homeowners association meetings.
Work with property managers to offer renters insurance to tenants.

6 Web-Related

Offer online real-time personal lines quotes.
Feature quote request forms when real-time quotes are unavailable.
"Blind" Web banner ads with a single promotional message.
Clicks to a landing page revealing who you are.
Post discount checklists for major personal lines policies.
Display typical agency new business dollar savings by policy type (when known).
Post a graph comparing premiums for the same policy specs among multiple insurers, when you have winning rates.

5 Internal Marketing

Offer personal lines to commercial lines insureds.
Cross-sell "missing" policies and upsell needed coverages to agency insureds.
Resolicit desirable cancelled policies and failed quotes.
Solicit group auto insurance from employers and groups you insure.
Ask quality clients for "just one" referral.

5 Office-Based

Limited weekend and evening hours.
Offer teen driver insurance seminars to the community.
Provide defensive driver courses to attract prospects.
Waiting room slideshow of recently paid property claim photos (with permission).
Provide old insurance paper shredding sessions for new prospects and insureds.

6 Printed Places

Use personal URLs in conjunction with diret mail (and email) campaigns.
Add QR codes to direct mail to send folks to online quote pages.
Advertise in local road rally or vehicle-specific auto club publications.
Place inserts for various personal lines policies in area newspapers.
Consistently run small 2-inch ads in newspapers that focus on a single policy.
Buy front-page Post-It note ads that direct readers to a special Web landing page.

3 Giveaways

Distribute door hanger bags with a policy price comparison graph and small giveaway.
Give kids kites imprinted with the message "If your family [auto] policy premium is too high…"
Give drink umbrellas to eligible shoppers to entice them to get an umbrella quote.

3 Team-Ups

Join up with non-competing pros for a financial fair.
Exchange permission referrals with car dealers, marinas, etc.
Tout the cumulative value of stacked discounts… Multi-policy, pay in advance, digital policies, etc.



Source: Insurance Journal

NOI Polls: 86% of Nigerians are not insured

Nigerian opinion polling and research organisation, NOI Polls Limited, says the lack of awareness and public enlightenment on the benefits of insurance are the major factors hindering the growth of the sector in the country.

NOI’s recent survey titled "Poor Enlightenment Hinders Insurance Penetration among the General Public," reveals that 9 in 10 Nigerians (86 percent) do not have any form of insurance cover while vehicle/car insurance (63 percent) is the most commonly purchased insurance cover compared to a much smaller 20 per cent of the population that had life assurance.

Of the 86 percent who do not have any form of insurance cover, nine percent of them do not trust insurance service providers, the research firm said.

The research which sought to review the insurance culture in Nigeria also identified cultural and religious factors as essential factors leading to the slow growth of the insurance sector.

Previous studies have shown that low awareness and lack of knowledge about insurance products characterised people’s opinions about the insurance sector.

The recent poll however indicated that despite the poor insurance culture, there are huge potentials for insurance companies and practitioners, particularly in the area of designing new products that will be attractive to youths across the country.

The firm however said that "It is imperative to note that only nine percent stated that they do not trust insurance companies, compared to some decades ago when insurance practitioners were considered fraudulent for use of hidden clauses and non-payment of claims."

Insurance companies (42 percent) and agents (41 percent) were identified as the key channels of insurance purchase.

Source: Ventures Africa




　

　

Candidates square off in New Haven Mayor's race

By CHRISTOPHER KEATING

Four Democratic mayoral candidates squared off Wednesday night over fixing New Haven's underfunded pension system, improving public education, reducing crime and trying to hold the line on local property taxes.

The candidates appeared in the only live, statewide televised debate in the mayor's race before the Sept. 10 Democratic primary. Previously, they appeared in more than a dozen other debates in a contentious race that has been marked by charges, countercharges and personal attacks.

They disagreed Wednesday night over the city's future and whether it might be headed toward a fiscal cliff. One of the major problems is that two pension funds administered by the city are underfunded by more than $500 million — and the candidates said that more money must be found to boost funding for pensions without overburdening the taxpayers.

City Alderman Justin Elicker said that pension reforms must be made, adding that a projection that the pension fund could grow by 8.25 percent is unrealistic at a time of low growth and low interest rates.

"We, as New Haven, are the Detroit of 10 years ago,'' Elicker said during the one-hour debate at the Long Wharf Theatre. "We need to change the benefit package'' from a traditional pension plan to a 401 (k) plan that is more common in the private sector.

But state Sen. Toni Harp, the widely acknowledged frontrunner who received the most votes at the Democratic Party convention, said the city is prepared to rebound fiscally.

"I've heard from many of my opponents that we are Detroit, that our glass is half empty,'' Harp said. "Well, I believe that our glass is half full. … I believe that we can do it. We are not Detroit. Together, we can move this city forward.''

Harp acknowledged that police officers are permitted to retire at a relatively young age, but she added that they "have really high blood pressure'' and need stabilized pensions.

Henry Fernandez, a Yale Law School graduate who served previously as the city's economic development director, said the unfunded liabilities of the pensions are a serious problem.

"This is a ticking time bomb in the city's budget,'' Fernandez said. "It threatens taxpayers. … Right now, it's possible for people to retire in their mid-40s and get a full pension from the city.''

City police officers are currently permitted to retire after 20 years of service, but newly hired officers will now need to serve 25 years before they can retire with a pension. Fernandez recently unveiled a plan in which the state would contribute millions of dollars to New Haven, and the city would agree to pour that money into the pension plans. At the same time, city workers would then agree to contribute more to their pensions.

Kermit Carolina, the principal of Hillhouse High School, agreed that pension costs have spiraled too high.

"Let's be honest. We have been fiscally irresponsible,'' Carolina said. "We've allowed our unions to inflate their pensions. … They sit on beaches, while we sit here and struggle in the city.''

Carolina said that one way to improve the city's fiscal outlook is to start a commuter home buyer program that would encourage public employees to live in the city — a program that has already been started by Yale University for its workers.

"We have revenue leaving the city on a daily basis,'' said Carolina, noting that city workers spend money in the suburbs where they live.

The candidates are seeking to succeed Democrat John DeStefano, who has held the mayor's chair for the past 20 years but decided not to seek reelection this year.

The November general election could end up being a replay of the September primary. Three candidates — Fernandez, Elicker and Carolina — have already collected the necessary signatures to run as independents if they do not win on Sept. 10.

Harp has avoided that strategy, saying she intends to win the primary and the general election.

No prominent Republicans have stepped foward for the general election in the overwhelmingly Democratic city.

Source: The Harfort Courant

　

　

Market teaches county pension officials the risks of ‘innovation’

By Dan McSwain

Warren Buffett famously quipped that you can’t tell who is swimming naked until the tide goes out.

Well, the waters supporting San Diego County’s pension fund have been receding lately, siphoned by losses in bond, commodity and foreign markets.

Now one of the officials charged with protecting the investments of taxpayers and retirees is taking a hard look at the fund’s exotic, supposedly low-risk investment strategy.

Last month County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who serves on the pension fund’s board, told investment officials that she was concerned about how the fund’s Treasury bond portfolio was being managed in the wake of heavy losses in May and June. And she asked for a thorough review of the fund’s use of leverage.

Ordinarily, Jacob’s alarm over short-term losses would send me into a tizzy. Overreaction to market fluctuations is precisely why individual investors — and most fund managers — tend to sell at the bottom and buy near a market top.

Yet in this case I’m delighted. Sticking to your guns is admirable only if you have the right investment strategy and a skilled practitioner.

But San Diego County’s pension board has chosen a strategy that is expensive and far riskier than advertised.

It’s possible that the architect of this strategy, consultant Lee Partridge, is in fact a skilled practitioner. Or he may have been lucky.

Since the board hired him in October 2009, the fund’s investments have grown in value at an average annual rate of 9.3 percent.

Although that lags the performance of the S&P 500 stock index since then, it’s better than the average traditional pension fund with a portfolio of 60 percent in blue-chip U.S. stocks and 40 percent in top-rated bonds. It also beats some benchmarks that seek to simulate a broadly diversified portfolio.

However, it’s also possible that the county’s luck has turned, highlighting the inherent vulnerabilities of Partridge’s particular approach to diversification.

Partridge reported this month that he substantially underperformed his peers in the fiscal year that ended June 30, as bad bets on bonds, commodities and foreign securities produced losses in recent months that cut into previous gains from investments in U.S. companies and real estate.

Overall, San Diego County’s portfolio grew in value by 7.8 percent during the year, compared to an average of nearly 13 percent in a peer group. The fund for San Diego city workers grew by 13.4 percent. Sonoma County’s fund gained 15.3 percent.

Yet the news for local taxpayers gets worse.

The county fund pays about $7.2 million a year to Partridge and his firm, Salient Partners. Tens of millions more go to fund managers picked by Partridge.

Meanwhile, the investment strategist for San Diego’s city pension system makes under $200,000 a year. Although additional city employees do some of the work that is done for the county by Salient, I’d be surprised if the annual staff cost is more than a tenth of $7.2 million.

The members of the county’s pension board are no dummies. So why are they paying so much for fund management? I fear the answer boils down to hubris, along with a strange susceptibility to investing fads.

For years county pension officials have prided themselves on their investing skills, using terms like "innovative" and "cutting edge." Then the Panic of 2008 hammered the fund with paper losses as values fell among stocks, real estate, hedge funds and other investments.

But instead of being humbled by the experience, board members doubled down.

They hired Partridge, a bond trader by experience who was relatively unknown in the small universe of pension advisers and had never run a large public fund.

But he was touting an investing strategy he has variously called "partial risk parity" or "risk allocation." The strategy was popularized by Bridgewater Associates, the giant manager whose All Weather hedge fund performed well during the 2000s, when stock markets crashed twice.

The strategy promises the Holy Grail of investing; market-beating returns at reduced risk.

It has several problems. The most serious is that the pitch just isn’t true.

Partridge’s strategy, which involves exotic bets on bonds, commodities and foreign securities, is incredibly risky.

Like Jacob, I’m particularly worried about his use of leverage. At present the fund uses derivatives and swaps, mostly in bets on U.S. Treasury prices, to control 35 percent more in securities than the county portfolio’s total assets.

If those bets go south, Partridge must deplete the fund’s cash holdings or liquidate hard securities. This isn’t investing; it’s speculating, pure and simple.

And Partridge has openly discussed raising that leverage ratio from 35 percent to an astonishing 137.5 percent. For better and worse, the fund’s $9 billion would behave like a $21 billion diversified portfolio — supposedly with less risk — by reducing the proportion of blue-chip U.S. stocks and instead betting billions on Treasuries, foreign bonds, commodities, real estate and hedge funds.

With any luck, a new fad is taking shape in the investing industry.

The Wall Street Journal reports that pension managers in Montgomery County, Pa., concerned about high fees and lousy performance, are moving their assets into funds offered by Vanguard Group Inc. These passively managed funds charge rock-bottom fees and simply match the performance of various market indexes.

Montgomery made the move after seeking the advice of Jack Bogle, the retired Vanguard CEO who pioneered index funds after research showed that the overwhelming majority of the hotshots who manage hedge funds, mutual funds and other "actively managed" portfolios routinely underperform stock and bond indexes.

Bogle understood that the primary goal on Wall Street was to maximize fees.

They may be boring, but index funds have saved clients billions over decades in lower fees and improved performance.

Clearly, some of the cool kids on Wall Street are using derivatives to trade in and out of U.S. Treasuries and Brazilian copper mines.

But the county’s pension board is speculating with money that belongs to taxpayers and retired government workers. That isn’t cool at all.

Source: U-T San Diego




　

NHIF likely to be overhauled

By Brian Otieno

The government should overhaul the National Hospital Insurance Fund management and engage a consultancy firm, the National Assembly Health Committee has said. The committee, which met at a hotel in North Coast yesterday over NHIF, said a management consultant should be hired for three years to reorganise NHIF

Source: allAfrica.com

Court Orders City to Cancel Amaco Insurance Tender

By Peter Kiragu

THE Nairobi county government has been stopped from awarding its 2013-2014 general insurance business to Amaco insurance company. This is after CIC Insurance lodged a complaint with the Public Procurement Oversight Authority over the way the more than Sh90 million tender was awarded.

Only the two insurance companies, out of 12, qualified for the financial evaluation after scoring above the required technical score of 70 per cent as was set in the bid document.

Amaco, which is associated with Deputy President William Ruto, was granted the tender after scoring the highest in both the technical and financial evaluations. It quoted the lowest amount at Sh87.8 million against CIC's Sh88.4 million.

The tender was given to Amaco on June 3 but CIC lodged a review at PPOA on June 17 arguing that the City Council had broken the public procurement laws in awarding the tender.

CIC and other companies claimed that Amaco had not earned or transacted annual gross premiums of Sh600 million under the general insurance business excluding motor insurance as was stipulated in the tender document. Amaco had only transacted Sh370.8 million worth of business against CIC's Sh4.3 billion.

But in its submission, Amaco said it is too late to lodge a review against a tender that is already granted. Amaco termed the request for a review as unlawful, invalid, null and void, which amounts to abuse of the process of the PPOA review board.

In its defence, the City Council said it had been issued with the insurance cover and made the payment by the time it was notified of the request for review. As such, the request for review had been overtaken by event.

But CIC said it filed the review request in time since it was notified of its unsuccessful bid on June 3 and had up to June 18 to lodge the complaint. In addition, CIC and Amaco were notified of the outcome of the tender on different dates which is a breach of the Procurement Act.

Source: allAfrica.com

Presidential Decree Abolishes Social Insurance Law

Interim President Adly Mansour issued a decree abolishing Law no. 135 on social insurance and pensions which was issued on June 2010, Social Solidarity Minister Ahmed el-Borai said.

Source: allAfrica.com