BREAKING THE RULES

Rough Notes, Dec 2004 by Boone, Elisabeth

"We have a computer steering committee, and any project over 200 hours has to be approved by the committee," Salzmann explains. "Why? So we don't waste a lot of time on maintenance and we're always building new and advanced systems. Our goal is to build the best paperless commercial lines issuing system available, so we're not going to waste hundreds of hours fixing minor problems."

ACUITY recently added another honor to its list of automation awards: In September the company was named to the InformationWeek 500, a listing of the most innovative users of information technology in the United States. Although about 30 insurers made this list, ACUITY was the only P&C regional independent agent carrier, as well as the smallest P&C carrier.

Keeping agents happy

Happy employees are motivated-to work as a team, to perform at a high level, and to provide five-star service to agents. It's no surprise that ACUITY'S staff, from the top down, is committed to creating and maintaining strong ties to the independent agents who distribute the company's products.

"At one time we had 1,200 indepen-dent agencies," Salzmann says. "We canceled half of them when the new management team came on board, because those agencies really weren't committed to us and would try to block the market with multiple quotes. We went down to 600 agencies, and since then we've added another 100 with plans to add another 50. We choose agencies that are dedicated to the independent agency system," he says. "They're looking to grow, they're investing in themselves, and they have a positive view of automation. We believe in the independent agency network. And we believe in the agents who believe in themselves. We work to create an intense mutual loyalty," Salzmann declares.

"When we go on our speaking tour, we're on the road for a month. In each city, we have dinner with our agents at the best restaurants. We tell them our story and listen to theirs, and the next morning we give three hours of speeches. We tell them what we're looking for, and we talk about industry trends, even if they're negative," he continues. "Some of what we say is blunt and hard hitting, right in their faces. We get such wonderful response to our meetings because our agents find the information valuable."

Banking on success

ACUITY owns and operates ACUITY Bank, which it uses as a channel through which agents can offer financial services to their commercial clients. "Our agents have their finger on the pulse of a lot of small businesses," Salzmann says. "Our bank specializes in Small Business Administration loans. An agent can identify a client who is looking to expand its business. The agent can contact the bank and tell the lender all about the business, because it's in the agent's local community. The bank will extend a loan, and we'll pay the agent a finder's fee," Salzmann says. "Similarly, we can sell a host of other products through our independent agent network, without our agents having to become bankers as they would if they dealt with home mortgages. The beauty of it is that no one else is taking this approach. By making SBA loans to our agents' clients, we're doing a huge service for a business that's just starting out or just starting to expand," he comments, "and we can do it without losing our shirts because we know the businesses through our independent agents. We're insuring these people, so we're already taking a risk with them, and we believe in them."