Does your agency have a perpetuation plan in place? Is theagency creating enough value to see those plans come to fruition?What are you doing to boost sales and profitability? What will thenext generation of workers demand of agency principals?

These are among the topics to be tackled during the IndependentInsurance Agents and Brokers of America Legislative Conference andConvention in Washington later this month–which includes four April27 seminars aimed at improving an agency's sales and officemanagement.

In one workshop–”Analysis for Improving Your AgencyPerformance”–Shirley Lukens, senior vice president withAtlanta-based Reagan Consulting, will introduce agents to the toolsneeded to make critical self-evaluation and control and maintainagency growth.

“Too many agencies look inward and assume that because they aredoing better than last year, they are doing well,” she said. “Butif they look outside of their business, they will realize they arenot doing that well.”

Using the “IIABA Best Practices Study”–the benchmark of agencyperformance, prepared by Reagan Consulting–agents will useself-diagnostic tools to determine where their agency stands inrelation to its peers and where it needs to go to boost itsvalue.

Also at IIABA, agents will get their first look at the“2007-2008 Non-Producer Compensation and Benefit Survey” from theBusiness Management Group–an agency consulting unit of The HartfordFinancial Services Group. The results will be revealed at an IIABAworkshop–”Recruitment and Compensation Strategies for YourNon-Producer Staff”–conducted by BMG's president, Sharon D.Cunningham.

Ms. Cunningham will focus on the new generation of support staffentering the workforce–Generation Y–which she said is used totechnology in the workplace and is looking for a balance betweenwork and life outside the office. They also seek more say overtheir jobs, expecting an environment that promotes team work andopportunity, she noted.

“Agencies have not done this, to a great extent,” according toMs. Cunningham. “Principals need to understand what their needs areand what motivates them.”

“Most agencies see a lot of turnover because there is a lot ofcompetition for trained people,” she said. “If you are going tokeep people, you have to manage them differently. At some agencies,money is the answer, but it is not the whole picture.”

That afternoon, Chris Amrhein, president of Amrhein andAssociates Inc. in Lorton, Va., will discuss “deconstructing” anagency in his workshop, “Power of Change 2007.” Any agency pursuingexcellence must consider tearing down its operations and rebuildingitself, he explained, adding that the aim is to identify managementfailures and improve efficiency.

“There is a running joke that in the past you could anger 100auto policy clients, but with technological advances today you cananger 400 clients,” said Mr. Amrhein.

Noting that “The Power of Change” is normally a 16-hour course,he said the two-hour workshop is intended to be an introduction tothe benefits of taking the entire program.

In another seminar, Rodger Sitkins, president of Sitkins GroupInc. of Fort Myers, Fla., will discuss “The Vertical GrowthExperience.” (Originally, Mr. Sitkins was to lead the “UltimateProducer Challenge,” but scheduling conflicts changed plans.)

Mr. Sitkins will address agency selling and the issues that arepreventing a firm from growing and making a profit. He will alsoexamine what producers need to do to escape these failings with“The Proactive Sales Model.”

Mr. Sitkins contends that agents have trouble finding time tomeet with clients, falling into a comfortable routine of renewingaccounts without looking closely at the risk, while also failing todevelop new prospect leads to grow their business.

Under “The Proactive Sales Model” producers increase theirclosure of new accounts, increase revenues and profitability, growtheir pipeline to new clients, and increase agency value, hesaid.