To Stop A Thief…
About a year ago in this column we talked about social media, and how posting on Facebook or Twitter the vacation that you are currently enjoying, or the wonderful dinner in a restaurant that you are eating, or the luxury box that you are sitting in at a ballgame, can cause your homeowners carrier to cringe as you are inviting unwanted “guests” to use your home and wipe you out of everything that you have while you’re busy posting that picture of your buddy doing the “soaring dance” after a Jets touchdown (sorry Bills, Pats, Giants, Steelers, Eagles, Ravens, and Redskins fans) or your family online at Space Mountain. Well, another technological means for thieves to know if it is safe for them to ransack your home has arisen, and this time you’re even providing them with directions!
The bad guys operate this one like this: while you are at Jets game that we spoke about the thief breaks into your car parked at MetLife Stadium. Stolen from the car are a garage door remote control, and a GPS which had been in the glove compartment (the mount was still attached to the windshield which alerted the crook to the fact that he who has a GPS mount, most likely has a GPS).
When the victim returns home, they find that their house has been burglarized. What happened in the three hours that it took to play the game and three hours afterwards that it took to get back on the Jersey Turnpike after the game, was that the thieves had used the GPS to guide them to their target house, and then used the garage door remote control to open the garage door and gain entry into the home. Instead of opening the interior door to the home in the garage which they assumed was alarmed, they simply cut a hole in the wall of the garage using the homeowners tools, and casually walked into the kitchen, helping themselves to a snack before stealing whatever they could grab, as they watched the game on the television before they unplugged it, so that they knew when their two minute (or should I say two hour) warning was, allowing them plenty of time to exit the home the same way the entered…only this time with all of your precious belongings.
Therefore, the moral of this story is to not list your actual home address on your GPS, but use the address of a 24 hour convenience store that is located in your town, so that if your GPS and garage door opener are stolen, the worst that will happen is that your thief may have to upgrade his M.O. from burglary to robbery, and stick up a 7-11 if he still wants to steal something. Your cell phone is no different. Thieves are now stealing cell phones not to clone and resell them as they did in the past, or even use the number for spoof scams, but to erroneously obtain PIN’s of your bank accounts or to draw you out of your home in order to burglarize it. What they are doing is immediately after stealing a ladies’ pocket book which contains a cell phone and wallet, they search the contact list for key words like ‘Hubby”, “Kids”, or anything else that may resemble a member of their household. They then text the unsuspecting husband asking him for their PIN to their bank account, and once they receive it they simply use the stolen debit card to shop till they drop, or just hit the ATM… or both. Simple advice: do not disclose the relationship between you and the people that you have listed in your contact list, and very importantly, when sensitive information is requested through a text from a loved one, provide it the old fashioned way by calling them on the phone and confirm that it is them. Do not leave it in a voice mail, as some people have their voice mail code preprogramed in the phone so all the thief would have to do is dial voice mail and voila! There it is!
Another con that thieves are using after stealing a cell phone is to text people in your contact list asking them to meet “you” immediately, as it is an emergency. Typically they will pick a contact whose address is listed, and as soon as the person leaves the house in order to help you in your time of need, they burglarize it as well. Again, if someone texts you to meet them in an emergency, confirm the emergency with a call back to make certain that the message did indeed come from the person whom you believe sent it. If you don’t reach them directly, be extremely careful about going somewhere to meet ‘family and friends’ who text you unexpectedly. On the conference/convention/event front, The Professional Insurance Agents of New York in conjunction with the New York Insurance Association held their annual CEO conference on Monday November 14th at The Century House in Latham, NY. This extremely well attended and very informative event brought senior level people from carriers, agencies, and insurance technology providers together to discuss how carriers and agency owners are utilizing technology within their businesses in order to become more efficient and effective, and how carriers can become more technology friendly towards agents and their clients.
Two panel discusses took place during the conference. The first panel: Keep and expand your business: What you must have from your partners today was moderated by PIANY President Richard A. Savino, CIC, CPIA, and included: Elizabeth Heck, President and COO, Greater New York Mutual Insurance Co.; Mark Prechtl, Executive Vice President and CEO, Chautauqua Patrons Insurance Co.; Kevin Ryan, CIC, CPIA, President/CEO, The Valley Group Inc.; and Michael J. Skeele, CIC, CPIA, President, Skeele Agency Inc. The second panel: Trends in a changing market—who will prosper (and why)? was moderated by NYIA Chair Richard Zick, CPCU, AU, and included: Steven Coffey, President and CEO, Broome Co-operative Insurance Co.; Timothy Dean, CIC, CRM, President Marshall & Sterling Inc.; Charles Hinman, President and CEO, Oswego County Mutual Insurance Co.; and Keith Savino, CPIA, president, Professional Insurance Agents of New Jersey Inc., and COO, WRG Insurance.
Agency/Company Interactions
Moderator Rich Savino asked each of the panelists what they considered the “must haves” and the “wants” from their agency/company partnerships during the first panel discussion. All the panelists agreed communication and personal connections are the keystones of this partnership. “It’s still a people business,” said Mr. Ryan, about the importance of strong relationships with carriers. “The interactions that happen face-to-face when people can shake hands are valuable to the agent/carrier partnership.” When asked how different marketing and services affect the way agents and carriers engage their customers. Most of the panelists discussed how social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) can be helpful, but needs to part of a balanced with other forms of communication. “Technology is important—but tricky,” said Ms. Heck. “We want to provide information, but we don’t want to lose the agent-insured relationship.” From the company side, she stressed the importance of a “middle-of-the-road” approach where companies can help their agents provide service by making more information available online (e.g., billing and claims), without losing the face-to-face interaction between the agent and the insured. During the roundtable discussions that took place after the panel discussion, participants discussed several topics, including: changes that affect the agency/company partnerships most; catastrophe property loss; or agency-company interface technology. When discussing the changes in how agencies and companies need to interact, a number of groups discussed the importance of working together to raise awareness of the agent distribution system. PIA members and their insurance companies can participate in the compelling new PIA Branding Program, Local Agents Serving Main Street AmericaSM, to increase their market share while strengthening the place of America’s professional independent agents in the insurance marketplace. The campaign consists of a series of print and radio advertisements that PIA members can run in local publications, customized with their agency logo and contact information, and (optionally) a company logo. For more information, visit PIA National’s website online at www.pianet.com/piabrandingprogram . One group that discussed catastrophe property loss noted that it’s important for producers to protect themselves by having customers sign a written document to indicate they have declined flood and other coverages. And, after the catastrophe, producers can get more involved in taking first reports to help speed up the claims process. With regard to interface technology, one group noted: “Social media is nothing more than amplified networking capabilities. It increases agencies’ ability to deal with customers.”
PIA members who are considering or who need help with their social media plans, should visit PIA’s Agency Marketing Tool Kit (www.pia.org/COMM/sam), which offers free marketing tools and strategies that coordinate with PIA’s public relations efforts to remind the public why their professional independent agent is the best way to purchase insurance. Resources include consumer fliers, print-ready advertisements, social media materials, sales letters and more.
The second panel focused on trends (e.g., technology, call centers, multiplesales channels, etc.) occurring in the insurance industry and discussed what it will take for agencies and carriers to thrive as the industry evolves. As the conversation began with all the changes in technology, the use of social media and how it continues to affect how the insurance industry does business, Keith Savino offered this advice: “We can’t make more out of technology than it is—it’s just business. It’s just a way to communicate. Forget about it as technology and embrace it as a business practice.”
The panel had mixed feelings about the use of call centers. While the panelists acknowledged that they can offer a valuable service for answering day-to-day questions, most stated that call centers diminished the relationship between the agent and his or her insured and make professional independent agents seem more like captive agents.
When Moderator Richard Zick asked about the effects of carriers utilizing multiple- sales channels, Dean noted: “The best bet is to think local first. We should support the carriers that support independent agents to the best extent possible.” In addition, Mr. Savino cautioned, “What works today may not work 20 years from now. Captive agents are looking to get back into the independent distribution system.” PIANY’s Business Issues Director Jim Pittz, CPIA, took a few moments to review the major findings of the 2011 PIA System & Transaction Agency Research Survey (aka: STAR), which include the following:
Rate-quote systems. Insurers may want to get their agents’ feedback on their rating systems, because the STAR survey finds a good deal of differentiation in this area. More download. Agents want carrier download to expand its usefulness, beyond the usual personal lines. Sales process management. Agency management system vendors may have an opportunity to introduce or expand functionality in managing the sales process.
Commercial-lines comparative rating. For premium-comparison system vendors, agents need more companies and more lines to work with these systems, especially for commercial-lines rating.
Consistent Real Time use. The most consistent Real Time users get the most value out of their companies’ technology. This finding is an important reminder for agencies to explore ways of using Real Time more consistently whenever it’s available. For more on the STAR survey, see the October issue of PIA magazine, or view more results online at www.pia.org/GIA/ starsurvey/2011starsurvey.php Another wonderful event that is always one of my favorites of the year, is the Council of Insurance Brokers of Greater New York34th annual dinner dance and business meeting. Master of Ceremony Al Caputo of Buckingham Badler Associates Inc. spoke to the capacity crowd, introducing the speakers such as CIBGNY President Michael Demetriou who presented the Scholarship Awards; and then himself presenting GMAC Insurance Company with the 2011 Company of the Year Award. My thanks go out to the CIBGNY executive committee and to all of the members (and dear friends of mine) of this wonderful organization for all that you do for this thing of ours.
Last but not least, The Young Insurance Professionals of New York, in partnership withLong Island Cares, held a charity event at Kodiak’s Restaurant in Farmingdale, NY, during Monday Night Football to raise money for the Long Island Cares charity founded by the late singer, Harry Chapin. The NY YIP’s know that “Hunger is closer to home than you think, and Hunger is the reason for Long Island Cares”. If you would like more information on how you can help those who are so much less fortunate than we are, please visit http://www.licares.org My sincere appreciation goes out to Dina Bruno of MetLife and the NYYIPs event committee who organized this wonderful and extremely well attended event, as it was a tremendous success and raised “a ton” of food and money for this fantastic and much needed charitable organization. As a NY Jets fan I wasn’t upset that the Giants were clobbered in the game, but it was fun to sit and chat with former NY Giants punter Sean Landeta who hung with us YIPs, taking pictures and signing autographs… all for a tremendous cause! Thank you NY YIPs!
Well that’s all I have this week, and Ann Marie, Devin, Jessica and I wish you and your families a blessed, healthy and safe Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year!
Ciao for now!
