Selling insurance is about finding the best price and coverage to fill a client's needs, while being a risk manager is all about identifying how a business can improve its loss experience and best cover its exposures, even if that means going to alternative markets. The challenge for most independent agents today is successfully combining the two approaches, regardless of whether the insurance market is hard or soft. A role model that vividly illustrates how to deliver such a one-two punch is Barney & Barney, LLC, which is why the San Diego-based risk management specialist was chosen as the fifth winner of National Underwriter's "Commercial Insurance Agency of The Year" award.

Barney & Barney is certainly not new to the scene, having been founded in 1909 by two brothers--Phillip and Lorenz Barney. But a commitment to risk management over the last five years in particular has certainly changed the way the agency presents itself to clients and how it positions itself against the competition.

Today, the firm--with 21 owners, over 200 employees and more than $250 million in commercial lines premiums--features a 10-person division of loss control specialists who can hit the ground running for any client, acting like a SWAT team to identify and minimize major exposures.

"We're a risk management organization, not a quote generator," noted Paul Hering, the agency's chief executive officer--only the third person to hold that title in the agency's history.

"Our producers work under the philosophy that we do so much more than just push quotes. We try not to do business with price shoppers, because they do not really listen to the total cost of risk," Mr. Hering explained in his award essay.

"We do not talk price," he added. "Rather, we discuss our skill sets. As a result, when a client is ready to do business with us, they ask us about buying insurance almost as a secondary thought."

The agency has stood fast with this approach despite the siren call of the softening insurance market in most lines. "We invest over $1 million each year in resources dedicated to managing risk on behalf of our clients...and in spite of the soft market, we have continued to add to these resources," Mr. Hering said.

This isn't always an easy discipline to maintain, he confessed. "A challenge for a top agency is to successfully keep risk management at the apex of their priorities in spite of the inevitable industry ebbs and flows," Mr. Hering said. "At the crux of this is our insistence on considering ourselves risk managers rather than insurance salespeople."

He added that "whether the market is hard or soft really becomes irrelevant to us because we look beyond insurance premiums to the overall cost of risk."

Noting that his producers will "get under our clients' skin" to infuse a buyer with the firm's risk management mentality, he said that "most brokers will not help clients develop claims management and loss control programs from the ground up. This is where we are different. We are proactive and strategic."

The key when selling Barney & Barney's approach against the competition, according to Mr. Hering, is to point out that "we use our resources not to sell based on price, but on the basis of how we can deliver the lowest net cost of insurance over time."

He added that while "someone may offer a lower price today, based on what we offer--a competitive price, plus the ability to help a client reduce claim activity and better manage claims--over time we can deliver a lower net cost of insurance. This affords a more lasting impact and is of more value to our client over the long term."

A key player in executing this philosophy is Jack Galloway, director of the firm's commercial department, who manages 90 people. The agency pays particular attention to what it defines as large accounts--those generating $25,000 or more in commissions or fees.

A team of three representatives is assigned to an account--no small task for a firm with some 250 accounts of that size in its commercial book. The trio includes a producer, an account service representative (a senior employee who spends time with the account) and an account administrator (or, as Mr. Galloway put it, a keeper of the files). The strategy is that when a key account needs assistance, someone knowledgeable is always available.

From there, the firm's risk management blanket gets wrapped around the account, he explained.

Robert McAlister, director of the risk and loss advisors department, recalled that about five years ago he was asked to build a division of specialists who could deal with a wide range of risk management challenges--including workers' compensation, claims management and advocacy, general loss control, occupational health and safety, among other key service functions.

"We were looking for ways to take some of the work off [our client's] plate," Mr. McAlister explained. That meant targeting a client and reviewing their frequency and severity history. The goal was to put the client's risk profile in a better light, which would result in lower pricing for insurance.

But this was not enough. More had to be done to modify the client's claim experience, he pointed out, and that is where the loss control team shined.

Often, for a lone human resource manager trying to find ways to cut the number of employee accidents, he explained, the agency's risk management team would come in and take a tremendous burden off the buyer's shoulders.

The initial effort, he said, requires a buy-in from the client to commit to risk management--agreeing to safety initiatives and quarterly tracking reports to keep the focus on loss mitigation. It also means developing training programs and auditing each facility's performance.

For a new client, the first 30 days involves "a lot of hand holding," he said. Throughout the year, the team sticks close to the client, helping roll out loss control initiatives to target trouble spots uncovered in the agency's initial analysis.

Having a highly experienced loss control team in place to identify and shore up a client's weak spots makes Barney & Barney unique, according to Mr. McAlister, who said each of his players has five-to-10 years in the field under their belts.

Barney & Barney keeps risk management front and center by sending a loss control team member, along with the producer, out to work with an account throughout the year. The aim is to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to lower the cost of risk--via both loss control and risk transfer (whether in the traditional market or via the alternative markets).

Barney & Barney does not charge clients for these loss control services, viewing them as an intricate part of its risk management culture. In addition, the firm emphasizes that it does not cut corners by stamping out cookie cutter risk control plans for clients, instead customizing a program for each. "No two clients are the same," said Mr. McAlister.

While distinguishing itself from the rest of the pack with its risk management approach, Barney & Barney sees its loss control focus as an important sales tool. "Without these services to complement our [insurance] sales, we would not be where we are," said Mr. Galloway. "We would not be as effective as we are on large accounts. We would not be able to differentiate ourselves."

He added that while "we have good brokers, the ability to attract good people and can pick-off talent from others," the key to the agency's success is that "we can surround them with a great support staff and wrap our risk management staff of experts around them, so we can get results for clients."

Probably the biggest challenge for a Barney & Barney producer is overcoming a new client's skepticism, according to Mr. Galloway. So one of the first things producers do is enter into a written commitment that the firm will do what it promises. The firm then uses its resources to come through on that commitment. The payoff is not only reducing costs in the long-term for the client, but a high retention rate for the agency.

A key part of the Barney & Barney approach is to include the risk and loss advisor division in the sales process. Having the people who walk the walk on risk management on hand with those who talk the talk--the producers pitching the account--can make a big difference, noted Mr. McAlister.

Indeed, he cited one instance where a human resource manager was firmly convinced there was no need for change--that her current broker was providing the same level of service--insisting that nothing Barney & Barney could say or do would change the firm's loss picture.

Barney & Barney's loss control specialist asked to take a tour of the work floor with the human resource manager right then and there to review conditions. After the specialist spotted a series of ergonomic issues that were causing muscle strains among employees, and made on-the-spot recommendations to remedy the situation, the human resource manager was so impressed that she changed her mind and became a Barney & Barney client, he noted.

"A culture of safety is our ultimate goal within the organization," Mr. McAlister pointed out. "If we can look at where you are at today, make these recommendations and project where you are going to be 12-to-18 months from now, and we achieve those goals--that says a lot."

Besides de-emphasizing the sale of insurance, Barney & Barney is prepared to offer alternative market solutions to clients.

In one such case, the agency created a captive facility for what Mr. Galloway described as some very loyal clients in the light-service industry who were suffering the strains of "out-of-control" workers' comp rate hikes. Barney & Barney actually had skin in the game, literally putting their money where their mouth was by helping finance the new entity.

Partnering with The Hartford and a third party, the three put up the financing to provide more reasonably priced coverage without asking the clients to take any of the underwriting risk. The firm also created another captive to provide general liability for a homebuilder client who was finding it impossible to get affordable coverage in that distressed insurance marketplace.

"This program helped our clients save money, and it was a tool that we could offer exclusively," Mr. Hering noted in his essay. "We took risk in the captive, so we put out own resources at risk."

Indeed, Barney & Barney is so confident of its ability to achieve results for its customers that in a few cases it has entered into agreements to return a percentage of its fee to a new client if it fails to deliver on its risk mitigation promises. Mr. Galloway said that sales strategy, used very rarely, has won over a skeptical prospect or two--adding that the firm has never had to return any percentage of its fee.

You certainly cannot argue with the results of Barney & Barney's approach. Mr. Hering noted that for the past six years, the firm's annual revenue has grown at just under 20 percent a year, while the agency has doubled in size over the past four years. All of that growth, he proudly noted, was organic.

"Our last acquisition was 25 years ago," he said. "That is unusual for our [industry]. We have hired talented people who have been more productive than our competitors and have found ways to operate our business more efficiently through technology systems and procedures. All of that has accounted for our tremendous growth."

However, the firm might begin looking for acquisitions in consideration of its size and M&A market conditions, according to Mr. Hering.

"That's just a natural," he said. "As your market share grows, you have to look for ways to grow the company, and that is fueling our interest into going into new geographic regions." He said that such a move would probably remain in-state, or at least close by.

Special Reports /

Risk Management SWAT Team Helps Put Barney & Barney Over The Top

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