producer to platform · 2017-11-09 · producer to platform the rise of sales and consulting many...

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PRODUCER TO PLATFORM

THE RISE OF SALES AND CONSULTING

Many top performing firms already understand how the service model with true trusted adviser resources can help elevate new business production, long-term retention, remarketing inefficiency drains, and establish long-term client commitment. Page 2

A U G U S T 2 0 1 7

What’s Good for the Producer

IS GOOD FOR THE AGENCY

Page 4

BUYERS APLENTY

The State of the Employee Benefits M&A Market

Page 6

NEW BUSINESS: The Big Difference Between the Best

and The RestPage 8

“9 THINGS” We Think Your Agency Should Focus On in the

Second Half of 20170

MARSHBERRYlearn. improve. realize.

800.426.2774 MarshBerry.com

Securities offered through MarshBerry Capital, Inc., Member FINRA and SIPC, and an affiliate of Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. 28601 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 400, Woodmere, Ohio 44122 (440.354.3230).

Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. is honored to be the investment banking firm that brokered the transactions that brought these 24 agencies and one networking organization together to form Alera Group1, as funded by Genstar Capital.

HAS ACQUIRED A&B Insurance and

Financial, Inc., AB Capital Group, LLC, Insurance

Exchange, LLC, & Smart Choice Health Plans, LLC

dba Florida Health Team, LLC

HAS ACQUIRED C.M. Smith

Agency, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Coury Health Services, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Hampson

Mowrer Agency, Inc. dba Hampson

Mowrer Kreitz Agency

HAS ACQUIRED K.B. Group

Services, Inc. dba Group

Services, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Shirazi Benefits,

LLC

HAS ACQUIRED American Insurance

Administrators, Inc. dba AIA

Benefits Resource Group

HAS ACQUIRED Centennial Group

Benefits and Insurance

Services, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Forum

Benefits, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED HP Planning, LLC (dba CBP and/or Creative Benefit

Planning)

HAS ACQUIRED

Pentra, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Shirazi-Miller Benefits, LLC

HAS ACQUIRED Benefit Advisors

Network, LLCdba BAN

HAS ACQUIRED Beacon Retiree Benefits Group,

LLC

HAS ACQUIRED

MFG Retirement Systems, Inc. dba

PWA Insurance Services

HAS ACQUIRED TRUEBenefits,

LLC

HAS ACQUIRED

Benico, Ltd.

HAS ACQUIRED INGROUP

Associates, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Robert G. Relph Agency, Inc. (dba

Relph Benefit Advisors) & Flexible

Benefits System, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Virtus Benefits,

LLC

HAS ACQUIRED

Brown & Noyes, LLC dba Ardent Solutions

HAS ACQUIRED Corporate Plans, Inc. dba CPI-HR

HAS ACQUIRED GCG Financial,

Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED J.A. Counter &

Associates, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Silberstein

Insurance Group, LLC

1 Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. was financial adviser to the participating selling organizations. These organizations were acquired by Alera Group effective December 30, 2016.

1CounterPoint August 2017

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORSSARAH LUCAS, Vice President

TOMMY MCDONALD, Vice President

ELISSA WALDMULLER, Research Analyst

JIM WOCHELE, Unit Manager – Sales Performance

COUNTERPOINT EDITORIAL BOARDMEGAN BOSMA, Senior Vice President

LAUREN BYERS, Vice President, Marketing

ALISON WOLF, Director, Research

SOURCES & DISCLAIMERS+2017 Market and Financial Outlook - Retail Report

ABOUT COUNTERPOINTCounterPoint is the proprietary publication of MarshBerry. The magazine offers eleven editions annually and is published for independent insurance agents and brokers, national brokers, private equity firms, banks & credit unions, insurance carriers and specialty distributors.

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HT Is Your Agency Positioned for Continued

Organic Growth? In our experience, high-performing agencies and brokers (“agencies”) share several characteristics that help position them as industry leaders. They’re high-growth, progressive businesses that attract top talent, consistently grow organically at double-digit rates, and are positioned for long-term sustainability. These agencies embrace planning and a defined, repeatable sales process that all of their producers follow with proven success. They set growth goals and coach producers to cultivate profitable and growing books of business. They know the importance of differentiation and a defined service structure — and they take ownership in fostering a sales culture.

Our recently released Whitepaper, The Ultimate Sales Performance Playbook, showcases proven best practices and effective tools you can apply to better help position your agency for continued organic growth.

SIX REASONS WHY ORGANIC GROWTH IS IMPORTANT TO OWNERS AND EMPLOYEES

1 ENERGY AND EXCITEMENT. I’m sure most of us have been in that dreary sales meeting before. No wins to talk about, non-existent pipelines, prospects that won’t let us in the door, and everyone is spinning their wheels without any success to show for it. We believe that a renewed focus on new business can change all of that.

2 CARRIER MINIMUM VOLUME REQUIREMENTS. Carriers are going to grow one way or another. If you’re not helping them grow, you may drop to their bottom tier, where the carrier doesn’t spend much time with your agency and won’t offer educational or sales training opportunities. We are seeing that compensation cuts from the carriers are a regular occurrence now.

3 ABILITY TO HIRE QUALITY NEW EMPLOYEES. New business means new revenue to the agency, which allows for additional hires to be made in production and service staff. It helps employees manage capacity and gives career pathing opportunities.

4 PROFIT TO REINVEST IN THE NEXT GENERATION. High-growth agencies are consistently focused on their perpetuation plan and grooming the next generation.

5 PROFIT TO PAY BONUSES & RAISES. Expenses grow every year. If revenue doesn’t grow equal to the expense growth, then profits shrink. If profits shrink, so do the employees’ bonuses and raises.

6 SUSTAINABILITY. Assume you will lose 10% of your business (on average) due to leakage if you aren’t generating at least 10% of new business as a percent of prior year’s.

To download the full Whitepaper visit: www.MarshBerry.com/Whitepaper n“High Growth” is defined as the top 25% of reported organic growth in MarshBerry’s 2017 Organic Growth Trends Report.

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2 August 2017 CounterPoint

“No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose

out to a team.” Reid Hoffman, American internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author.

PRODUCER TO PLATFORM

THE RISE OF SALES AND CONSULTING

by Tommy McDonald, Vice President440.392.6700 | [email protected]


Why Should You Care? Well, for starters, the historical 85-90% revenue retention statistics are most likely going to change.

In Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc.’s (“MarshBerry”) opinion, any account worth writing (should) care about compliance, technology, payroll, human capital management, the indirect cost of risk, alternative compensation and benefits programs, return on investment, and long-term cost containment around health care.

Many top performing firms already understand how the service model with true, trusted adviser resources can help elevate new business production, long-term retention, remarketing inefficiency drains, and establish long-term client commitment.

This evolution has forced some firms to redesign their sales approach. Firms are changing the game when it comes to creating new business by including business developers, telemarketing, seminar selling, thought leadership content, public speaking and robust, integrated marketing plans. Pushing producers to make more calls and play more golf has become secondary to leveraging the intellectual capital advantage a true consulting firm can provide to a prospect.

Carriers are continuing to tweak their distribution models and in some markets, in some lines, carrier to broker compensation has dramatically changed.

We are seeing that the individual benefits marketplace is no longer a focus for the traditional employee benefits firm and those writing a large amount in small employer groups have lost value. Human capital management consulting and technology are constant strategic initiatives for customers of all shapes and sizes and they are looking to you as a resource. Compliance has taken firms to a whole new level in terms of capabilities. It appears that having on-staff analytics professionals is becoming the norm.

The industry’s evolution seems to have sped up significantly over the past 24 months and we are seeing that many firms are having a hard time keeping up. Consistent growth driven by expected price increases have masked the need to reinvest in the service model. In our opinion, being strategic and proactive about your business is more important than ever.

THE EMPLOYEE BENEFITS MARKETPLACE CONTINUES TO RAPIDLY EVOLVE, AND THE ACQUISITION MARKET IS RE-SHAPING THE WAY THE INDUSTRY LOOKS AT “INDEPENDENT FIRMS.”

ORGANIZATIONAL CHART OF THE FUTURE

Source: MarshBerry opinion and experience. EB = Employee Benefits; HCR = Health Care Reform; PHM = Population Health Management.


Diving deeper, there is another important evolution taking place. Health care reform has certainly been a factor, but we feel the core driver of this change revolves around evolving customer needs, an undercurrent of disruptors, and the need to be more sophisticated in your approach. MarshBerry believes the traditional business model in the employee benefits space has changed forever. Even the title “broker” is becoming more and more obsolete. Firms are forced to reevaluate why they exist and the light switch has gone off about your role in the distribution space. Hopefully, you see the opportunity to add customer value. From a broker to a consultant, this evolution should allow you to have a bigger impact than ever before on the cost of health care for the employer and the complexity of insuring their employees’ health and welfare.

This evolution has also had an impact on the organizational make-up of an average employee benefits distributor and put a spotlight on the most important role inside the walls of the insurance distributors, the “producer.” There will be arguments about whether this is a positive or a negative to our industry. We believe anything that forces out poor performers and elevates the quality of the firms that makeup our industry is a positive.

The Producer Isolation Model For over 70 years, in our opinion, this is how employee benefits firms grew revenue and created value for its owners:

STEP ONE: Grow your own individual book of business as the only owner or the majority owner of your firm.

STEP TWO: Hire a clerical service person to do reactive service work.

STEP THREE: Once your book gets too big, hire one or more producers to grow their own book of business. Hire more clerical service people based on the success of the producers. Assign these service people to a producer’s book. Even if they do not formally report to the producer on the organization chart, the producer controls their workload and what services are provided to the client.

STEP FOUR:Plateau in growth because producers stop producing because they handle all client-facing, service-related responsibilities on their entire book. Many firms have not adjusted their sales and renewal commissions to incent new business and almost push strong sales people to focus more on retention versus new business.

Growth continues, not from significant performance but rather from the cost of healthcare insurance going up for most firms. Consulting and resources that create value for the customer seems to be less important because investments in these tools come at the expense of strong profitability to owners.

Under the traditional producer isolation model, many firms have still created tremendous value. Many firms have given sales people the opportunity to make uncapped income, build their own business within a business, and in many cases, maintain satisfied customers loyal to the producer. In reality, there are less entitled sales people in this industry as there are under resourced sales people and many of them continue to write new business because sales is in their DNA. But now, we are seeing that even the best producers in the industry cannot save accounts on the sheer strength of the relationship. Core competencies and competitive resources firms need to employ today greatly exceeds what an individual producer can handle. In our opinion and experience, it is impossible to be a one-person band and expect to grow.

Where Are You? A Three Question Test To gauge the quality of your firm as it relates to institutional versus individual relationship, run a list of your top 20 accounts with the following three columns to the right of the account name:

1 TOTAL ACCOUNT ANNUALIZED REVENUE

2 TOTAL ACCOUNT REVENUE AS A % OF THE AGENCY’S OVERALL REVENUE

3 PRODUCER 1 NAME

Then ask yourself, these three questions:

1 If you were to ask the client: “who is your business with?” Does the customer answer with (a) your company’s name or (b) the producer’s name that sold the account?

2 Outsideofproducer1,whoelseinyourfirmhasanexisting, client-facing, adding value relationship with the customer and decision maker(s) or employer group?

3 If you terminated the producer, would you retain this customer?

Look at your producer with the biggest book, and the amount of new business they sell on an annual basis. Then challenge your perspective on how much of your firm’s value is wrapped up in one individual’s contribution? Then ask yourself what would happen if this person decided to leave the firm?

METRICWHAT’S GOOD FOR THE PRODUCER IS GOOD FOR THE AGENCYAgencies that invest more in their Life & Health (L&H) production payroll see substantial gains in both organic growth and new business growth.

The top 25% of MarshBerry’s proprietary financial management system, Perspectives for High Performance (PHP) agencies (based on organic growth) are almost 10% higher in organic growth (14% - 4%) when raising an average benefits producer’s pay by only 6%. The same is true for New Business growth, the top 25% of PHP agencies saw an increase of approximately 4% (17% - 12%) in growth compared to the average agencies.

In MarshBerry’s experience, compensation and performance are a two-way street, reward those that work hard and encourage agency growth with competitive pay. n

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LIFE & HEALTH

PRODUCER PAYROLL AND GROWTH

Source: Perspectives for High Performance (PHP) data from 6/30/16 to 3/31/17. “Average” is the average of all agencies in the PHP database, while “Top 25%” is the best 25% based on organic growth.

The fears and unknowns around the answers to the three-question test are core reasons why we feel the insurance industry is so slow to change and implement best practices. Almost any strategic initiative that matters within a firm will impact the producer.

From a Producer to a PlatformWe believe it is time to re-think the model. Take out a blank piece of paper and draw the organizational chart differently.

Breakout the duties of the traditional producer. Where does origination, relationship development, closing, servicing and resources sit on your value continuum? It is important to make these considerations to the model as you evolve.

Continued on Page 11

WHAT IS A PRODUCER?

n Opportunity Developmentn Technical Supportn Closingn On-Boarding Clientsn Appointment Settingn Mentorshipn Researchn Presentation Deliveryn Presentation Designn Project Managementn Carrier Managementn Sales Reportingn Data Inputn Renewal Activitiesn Claims Advocacyn Plan Strategyn New Business Marketingn Remarketing

Source: Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2017.


Buyers Aplenty The State of the EB M&A Marketby Sarah Lucas, Vice President 616.723.8375 | [email protected]

We are seeing that Employee Benefit & Consulting (EB) firms continue to generate buyer interest, generally on par with Property & Casualty (P&C) firms, in the current Merger & Acquisition (M&A) market.

In 2016, 18% of the publicly announced acquisitions were of EB only firms . EB & Consulting firms generally are comprised of one or more of the following lines of business: group employee benefit advisory and brokerage, human resource consulting, payroll services, retirement and other financial services, individual health and financial products, and executive benefits. Many EB firms have already sold, or are considering an external sale due to growth challenges, lack of resources, and expensive investment required to compete on larger accounts in their markets.

In our opinion, the level of buyer interest in EB firms comes down to:n Historical and prospective growth rates

n Attractive pro forma profit margin

n Employee group that includes younger/ next generation talent

n A holistic approach to accounts and attractive base of accounts (generally 100+ employee groups)

IN OUR EXPERIENCE, THE FIRMS THAT CHECK THESE BOXES OFTEN GET THE MOST ATTENTION FROM BUYERS.Additionally, we have seen that there is generally stronger interest in progressive firms. That is, firms that embrace technology, collaboration, and new ways of approaching the business of selling employee benefits and related services and coverages. The acquirers are typically looking for firms that add something to their regional mix – whether it is young talent, production bench strength, leadership, new/innovative products and services, or a new geography, the acquisitive firms consider strategic rationale for their acquisitions. They are generally not just looking to increase volume.

There are a large number of active buyers in the marketplace and even more that want to get into the space but have not yet acquired, or acquire infrequently. In 2016, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Journal and other publicly available sources, there were just over 40 buyers that did at least one EB only agency transaction. The top five acquirers of EB firms completed just over 1/3 of the announced transactions for 2015, 2016, and year to date 2017 (through May), combined, of EB firms. These buyers are the most acquisitive across the industry as a whole

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Securities offered through MarshBerry Capital, Inc., Member FINRA and SIPC, and an affiliate of Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. 28601 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 400, Woodmere, OH 44122 • 440.354.3230.

EB FIRM ONLY DEALS IN 2016

Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Journal, and other publicly available sources

PEER EXCHANGE NETWORK NEWS

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT OUR PEER EXCHANGE NETWORKS? Please contact Tommy McDonald today at [email protected]

2017 fall network summits are right around the corner!BANK/TASC September 11-13The Ritz Carlton, Atlanta, Georgia

Our theme for the Fall 2017 BANK/TASC Summit is Using Data to Create a Winning Playbook.

What to watch for:

n THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRY presented by John Wepler, Chairman & CEO Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc.

MarshBerry examines the playing field for current factors affecting the insurance industry, providing our outlook and what to expect in the year ahead.

n UNLOCKING THE BLACK BOX: MERGING PSYCHOLOGY AND AI TO UNDERSTAND THE CUSTOMER presented by Igor Volzhanin, Co-Founder & CEO, DataSine

While companies are increasingly realizing the value of their so-called ‘Big Data’, many are unclear about how they can best use it. Unintelligible results and black box-algorithms are increasingly running our world. DataSine decided to take a different approach. They bring psychology into the picture, and pair it with machine learning to create individual personality profiles and make them actionable. This allows their customers and financial institutions to build individual relationships with each individual client, by understanding their personalities, key life events, and propensity to buy different products. That information is used to improve marketing and communication, acquire new customers and build trust, as well as retain existing customers by offering products and services in a way that makes sense.

Register now! www.MarshBerry.com/FA17BANKTASC


(not just EB) and are typically actively seeking out prospective agency sellers.

While the conversation continues around the U.S. health insurance system and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the EB acquisition activity appears to be continuing at a strong pace. Through May 2017, the EB firm acquisition activity is on par with prior years, continuing the most active M&A activity in the industry’s history.

There are potential valuation headwinds, however, as the ACA legislation continues to be debated nationally, interest rate increases are pending, and legislative activity is occurring that signals states may be trying to take health insurance into their own hands. n



New Business: The Big Difference Between the Best and The Rest

by Jim Wochele, Unit Manager - Sales Performance 440.392.6559 | [email protected]

If you’re a Property & Casualty (P&C) only or P&C majority agency, you may not necessarily care about the Employee Benefits (EB) world. However, the charts in this article are why you should care!

A few years ago, agencies had three options relative to the EB space: (1) stay in, (2) get in and start selling EB, or (3) get out. Many of those that stayed in and properly invested, reaped the rewards of a growing market with a lot of confusion that created opportunities for new business.

In 2016 alone, Life & Health (L&H) organic growth exceeded P&C organic growth on average: 4.3% relative to 3.1%. The top performers in the EB space reached 17.1% organic growth with P&C reaching 10.9% organic growth. The reason for such a big disparity is the next set of numbers: new business production as a % of prior year’s commissions & fees.

The top performing EBs practices had fantastic new business production in 2016 at 25.8% new business as a % of prior year’s commissions & fees. Comparatively, almost 7% higher than the top 25% of P&C growth at 18.9% (which is still a decent production year, but not enough to be “fantastic”).

THIS CONFIRMS TOMMY MCDONALD’S POINT IN HIS FEATURE ARTICLE — IF YOU BUILD THE “PLATFORM,” THE RESULTS WILL COME.

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ORGANIC GROWTH+

Data as of 12/31/2016.

NEW BUSINESS PRODUCTION AS A PERCENT

OF PRIOR YEAR’S COMMISSIONS & FEES+

CONGRATULATIONS to the following organizations

that were recently represented by MarshBerry in their transaction:

J U N E 2 0 1 7

National Senior Insurance Inc. unit Seeman Holtz Property and Casualty Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Direct Choice Insurance Services Inc.1

Specialty Program Group, LLC HAS ACQUIRED

Workers Compensation Business from Marketscout Corporation2

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. HAS ACQUIRED

Northern Star Insurance Services1

Hub International Limited HAS ACQUIRED THE ASSETS OF

Ponce de Leon Insurance Group, Inc. dba Colton Insurance Associates1

1MarshBerry represented the Seller in this transaction. 2MarshBerry represented the Buyer in this transaction


NOW AVAILABLE2017 MarshBerry Organic Growth Trends Report MarshBerry has released its biennial Organic Growth Trends Report. The goal of the report is to identify organic growth trends, as well as to provide insight into the relationship between Talent Acquisition and Sales Performance management and determine any differences between “High Growth” and the “Average” of all responding agencies.

Interested in learning more? Log on to www.MarshBerrycom/2017GrowthTrends for additional details and cost.


We are confident that most of the top growing agencies in the EB space have evolved by building their platform, and aren’t the typical Producer Isolation Models that are still prevalent on the P&C side. A high-growth EB sales engine consists of a marketing team to get their brand out there, business developers to start the conversations and set appointments, and closers that do exactly that, close the deals because they’re so strong technically and client-facing. Service is separate from all of this, or at least should be.

The service model for a typical EB client will have touches from multiple people, so it’s easier to separate sales from service and retain the business without the producer so heavily involved.

Even diving through the L&H organic growth numbers, compare the 4.3% average to the 17.1% top 25% — those firms are in a different stratosphere. They invested in their sales model, invested in their resources and capabilities, invested in their service delivery method, and it has paid off. If Tommy’s feature article doesn’t convince you to rethink your business approach, hopefully the graphs in this article do. n

“9 THINGS”We Think Your Agency Should Focus On in the Second Half of 2017 We’re at the halfway point of 2017 which makes it a good time to evaluate where you are in relation to your organic growth goals for the year.

At MarshBerry, we closely monitor insurance industry trends in order to try to stay ahead of the curve. As the Property & Casualty (P&C) rate environment continues to lose steam and with an uncertain health care market, driving new business production is more important now than ever before.

We know that the areas your agency should focus on the remainder of year is quite extensive, so based on our experience, we’ve tried to consolidate that list into the 9 priorities below. If these don’t seem too far off, you’re on the right path. If you need help aligning your priorities, contact us for consulting and we will happily put a plan together to help you grow your agency.

1 BE ABLE TO DOLLARIZE YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION SO YOU CAN SHOW WHY YOUR AGENCY IS DIFFERENT

2 SEPARATE SALES FROM SERVICE

3 IDENTIFY AND EXPAND ON YOUR NICHES

4 DEVELOP YOUR PROVEN SALES PROCESS

5 TRACK ALL SALES ACTIVITIES

6 HAVE A FORMALIZED AND CONSISTENT PROACTIVE HIRING STRATEGY

7 HAVE A STRATEGY TO RECRUIT, DEVELOP AND RETAIN MILLENNIALS

8 HAVE A REGIMENTED DEVELOPMENT PROCESS FOR ALL EMPLOYEES

9 IMPROVE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

For more information on the “9 THINGS,” attend one of our upcoming Agency Leadership Workshops: www.MarshBerry.com/trainingsessionsM

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in Partnership with Insurance JournalMarshBerry and Insurance Journal have joined forces to bring a series of online technical training courses designed specifically to provide new producers in the Property & Casualty insurance industry the knowledge they need to develop a foundation for success.

This 15-hour, 8-week program is authored and instructed by Christopher J. Boggs, CPCU, ARM, ALCM, one of the top insurance educators in the country. In addition to the 8-week program, subscribers also have access to the entire catalog of courses and live webinars.

For more information, and to view a current training curriculum, visit: www.MarshBerry.com/training-portal

Property & Casualty Insurance Training for New Producers


PRODUCER TO PLATFORMContinued from Page 5

Is your firm a business or just a collection of producers? It is becoming more and more apparent that building a business versus a collection of producers is better for your employees, your customers and the firm’s value. Combating this issue takes commitment. Ultimately it takes an unrelenting focus on creating a platform that becomes so much more important than one individual person. In our opinion, it is about building a sales and service process that solely focuses on creating employee and employer value through consulting, execution and communication on plan performance back to the customer.

What does it take? First, deconstructing the producer isolation model and reinventing an organic growth engine that allows for the firm to effectively generate new revenue, service existing customers, deploy agency-owned and leased resources, gain commitment from the client, and refuse to let the producer control the relationship.

Here are FIVE things we think you should focus on in 2017:

1 REORGANIZE THE SEATS ON THE BUS and build an organizational chart that focuses on sales, service and resource deployment.

2 BUILD A CLIENT RETENTION STRATEGY for institutionalizing (vs. individualizing) your customers.

3 HIRE CLIENT-FACING SERVICE or resource people that add value to the employer/client relationship.

4 DEVELOP A CUSTOMER NEEDS MATRIX for your clients based on market or industry segment.

5 TAKE A HARD LOOK AT YOUR COMPENSATION MODEL based on sales, service and resources.

Where are you? Where are you going? How are you going to get there? From our experience, for many firms, our commentary is probably validation of business strategy built 10 years ago. These firms have already grinded through the change, built a business model that reduced its reliance on individuals, spent the money on resources, and have wrote enough new business to justify the investment. The other firms are starting now. It may be too late, but success comes when you have stomach for change, tough decisions and innovation.

For those sitting on the back end of the necessity of change, employing strong leadership, a valuable value proposition, well-resourced sales staff, predictable new business production, and commitment to innovation, congratulations on what you have accomplished. We believe the future is bright for your firm and your customers.

For those that are just now starting to move, we recommend moving faster. We believe it all starts with addressing the biggest issue: reducing the reliance on an individual or small group of individuals to control your future. n


MGA, MGU, Wholesale & Program Manager Study:

NOW OPENMarshBerry is aiming to create insight into the wholesale broker, managing general agent (MGA), managing general underwriter (MGU) and program manager space through our annual 2017 Market & Financial Outlook Study for Specialty Distributors which is open now through September 1, 2017.

Your confidential responses will create, what we believe to be, a unique collection of data specific to specialty distributors that represents:

n Financial Benchmarkingn Compensation Structuresn Strategic Initiatives

Results will be collected and aggregated (only averages will be presented) into a report that will be published in early 2018.

One complimentary download of the report will be available to companies that fully complete the study*. Both binding and non-binding authority financial perspectives will be presented. No specific company results will be published or identifiable.

The study should take less than 15 minutes to complete and should be completed by a decision maker of the firm.

To participate, log on to: www.MarshBerry.com/ 2017MarketFinancialSpecial*Only fully completed survey responses, and those who provide their email address, are eligible for one complimentary PDF copy of the MarshBerry 2017 Market & Financial Outlook Study for Specialty Distributors. Partial completes are not guaranteed to receive a complimentary report.

Register Today!MarshBerry’s 2017 Peak Performance event is set for January 28-30, 2018, at the Hyatt Centric Park City.MarshBerry’s Peak Performance event is the preeminent event for specialty distributors and specialty carriers in the insurance space. This intimate networking opportunity allows executives to learn and help improve their business while enjoying the slopes of Park City, Utah.

Registration Now Open! www.MarshBerry.com/Peak Interested in being a sponsor for 2018? Contact Jessica Stogran at [email protected] or 440.392.6558 for details.

S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarshBerry Host 11th Annual Insurance Brokerage Summit The 11th Annual Insurance Brokerage Summit, in partnership with MarshBerry, brings together top industry executives, advisers and analysts for an open and informed discussion of strategic planning, growth, and the outlook for Merger & Acquisition (M&A) in the insurance distribution marketplace.

Register today at: www.MarshBerry.com/BrokerageSummit

Use discount code IBMB200 and receive $200 off your conference registration.

Securities offered through MarshBerry Capital, Inc., Member FINRA Member SIPC and an affiliate of Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. 28601 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 400, Woodmere, Ohio 44122 • 440.354.3230

2016 DealsA

MARSHBERRY

EVERYONE ELSE

Merger & Acquisition Transactions in Insurance Brokerage 1999-2016Ranked by Total Number of Deals

1999-2016 Completed Transactions

Completed transactions in the United States as reported by S&P Global Market Intelligence, February 1, 2017

MOST ACTIVE: ADVISER RANKINGS

• 602B total Merger & Acquisition (M&A) transactions advised on since 1999, representing 28% of total tracked M&A deal flow receiving advisory credit since 1999 as reported by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

• $4.1B in advised transaction value since 2012C

• 325 M&A transactions since 1995 with the 100 largest brokers of U.S. business as identified by Business Insurance, and over 205 Bank-Related Insurance M&A transactions since 1997

• Completed more than 275 diagnostic and confirmatory due diligence projects over the last thirteen years

Securities offered through MarshBerry Capital, Inc., Member FINRA and SIPC, and an affiliate of Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. 28601 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 400, Woodmere, Ohio 44122 (440.354.3230).

A Completed transactions (insurance brokerage) involving a financial adviser in the United States for 2016 as reported by S&P Global Market Intelligence, February 1, 2017.

B These totals include certain transactions completed by Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. professionals while employed at another firm, whereby substantially all of the assets were acquired by Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc.

C Based upon maximum possible purchase price; MarshBerry advised deals through 12/31/16.

CHALK IT UP TO MARSHBERRY.

#1 M&A RANKING BY S&P GLOBAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE

602B

70

800.426.2774 • www.MarshBerry.com

This data displays a snapshot at a particular point in time of the number of deals as reported by S&P Global Market Intelligence. It has not been updated to reflect subsequent changes, if any.

MARSHBERRYlearn. improve. realize.

28601 Chagrin Blvd., Ste. 400 Woodmere, OH 44122

www.MarshBerry.com

@marshberryinc

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Mark your calendars!

SEPTEMBER 20179.11-13 • BANK/TASC Summit, Atlanta, GA

OC TOBER 201710.5-6 • SalesPro-Producer Performance Workshop,

Cleveland, OH

10.16-17 • The Art & Science of Mentoring Producers, Scottsdale, AZ

10.17-20 • APPEX Summit, Scottsdale, AZ

NOVEMBER 201711.8-9 • 11th Annual Insurance Brokerage Summit,

Washington D.C.

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producer to platform · 2017-11-09 · producer to platform the rise of sales and consulting many...

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