Local agency credit and collections

Rough Notes, Sep 2000 by Mason, James Woolverton

"Pat said come and join Arrowhead and build a business within a business. I've never looked back," Sweeney says. "Pat endorses forward-thinking vision, with capital and enthusiasm, which is rare in this industry."

YouZoom, is a multi-fold, Internetbased software product that gives Arrowhead agents and customers the ability to shop different Arrowhead carriers on a comparative basis, purchase the coverage and obtain customer service from their agent 24 hours a day. As for the agents, it provides a creative template for their own Internet presence and a method of developing and marketing a customer base over the Internet in addition to other more traditional methods they might use.

The vision took two years to develop and You Zoom, Inc., finally was born with Sweeney and Arrowhead driving the belief that people will choose this mechanism over time. Arrowhead began live demonstrations of YouZoom's capabilities in December 1999, while at the American Agent's Alliance in Indian Wells, California.

For now there are about 150 auto agents using You Zoom. Many more are being added every month with about 250 being the goal for year-end 2000. It is available only in California, but in 2000 You Zoom will open up to Arizona agents. There are also plans to add Florida, Oregon, Texas and Washington as well. Even homeowner products will get into the You Zoom act, including H03s, H04s, and H06s that will be available along with current auto products. Life insurance products are scheduled to be online by the end of the year, and small commercial products should be online by the first quarter of 2001.

Arrowhead's move into the commercial insurance realm was the first outside its comfortable nonstandard auto walls. It happened in 1997 soon after Andrew (Andy) Barile, CPCU, a long-time niche market specialist joined Kilkenny's management team.

Barile's position and tenure with Kilkenny, the longest of any in his upper management force, is based on the development of the group's commercial division. Barile moved to Arrowhead from Agency Programs, Inc., where he was president and owner of a consulting firm for insurance agencies and insurers. In this role, Barile acted as a consultant to the Arrowhead Group of Companies along with other clients. Today, Barile's principal focus with Arrowhead is overseeing the development of profitable niche commercial business, a process that takes instinct, insight and often intestinal fortitude. Today, its Artisan Contractor program serves as an aggressive market.

Now in its fourth year, it has grown to be extremely successful-a program that started with no commercial producers onboard but now has 1,000 plus and an internal support staff of 22 commercial underwriters.

As of June 1999, in just two years Arrowhead had written $10 million in artisan contractors liability at an average premium of $1,400. "We've grown so much and added experienced staff who can handle both lines of business," Barile adds. "Our goal is to set ourselves apart by our service commitments of 24-hour turnaround time on quotes and policies."