J.D. Power Examines Agents' Company Satisfaction

By Mark E. Ruquet

NU Online News Service, Dec. 17, 11:53 a.m. EST?Carriers seeking to expand their business with independent agents should work on communication and a variety of other factors influencing their relationships with producers, a new survey reports.[@@]

According to the research by the marketing services information firm J. D. Power and Associates, agents who have a good working relationship with carriers plan to increase the amount of business with those companies. Consequently, where agents are unhappy with the carrier relationship, the amount of business may decline or remain unchanged.

Jeremy Bowler, director of the finance and insurance practice for the Westlake Village, Calif.-based firm, said 1,600 agency principals were asked to rate their carrier relationships based on:

? Policy offerings.

? Relationship with key contacts or representatives at the carrier.

? Compensation.

? Claims handling.

? Product information and training.

? Cost and price of policies.

? Carrier technology.

Lack of communication concerning product information and training was a major point of dissatisfaction in the survey, while contacts at the carrier, claims handling and policy offerings had the most impact on the agent's perception on the carrier relationship, he said. However, when looking at the total scope of the survey, Mr. Bowler explained, all seven factors had an effect on the agent-carrier relationship.

"It's a very competitive market. The agency may not be able to switch companies day to day; their partnerships are formed over time and are not broken easily," Mr. Bowler observed. "But, clearly there is a withering behavior. If [the agent is] unhappy with the product, the offerings or the pricing (or one of the other seven factors) of company A, and company B, C and D offer the same thing, fewer and fewer customers are going to be led to company A."

The survey looked at 15 carriers accounting for 50 percent of the property-casualty business in the United States, both personal and commercial lines, Mr. Bowler said. The companies include some of the major national carriers including Progressive, Hartford, Travelers and Chubb.

Of the 15 surveyed, Auto-Owners Insurance, based in Lansing, Mich., received high marks for all seven factors, the firm said.

This is the first survey by the firm, more known for its consumer surveys, that is geared to inform carriers about their relationship with agents.

Mr. Bowler said the survey was undertaken after J.D. Power recognized an interest by carriers in this information. The survey is fully funded by the firm, ensuring J.D. Power objectivity, Mr. Bowler noted. He added that the identities of individual respondents are kept completely confidential.

In the future, Mr. Bowler said, the firm would like to rank the carriers and issue an award to companies for Independent Insurance Agent Satisfaction. However, he said, the firm is not comfortable with producing a ranking and issuing an award until it gets a larger company pool to choose from.

Results of the survey are available to subscribers of J.D. Power. The Web address is www.jdpa.com.

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J.D. Power Examines Agents' Company Satisfaction

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