CONGRATULATIONS to Derek Parsons, Sama Hershey Davis, Shawn Blofsky and Taryn Bacon for winning The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers’ (CIAB) first Benefit Broker Smackdown held in Denver, Colorado. They competed against 4 other teams and defeated Arthur J. Gallagher in the final round for the win.
The objective of the 2.5 day workshop was to run a simulated employee benefit brokerage, competing in a virtual marketplace. In teams of four, they experienced a unique level of decision-making, with a bird’s eye view of the brokerage value chain – from customer segmentation analysis and lead source management to financial management and service platform excellence. Their learning objectives included:
- A “total agency” perspective to Lead vs. Manage the business
- How to apply proven business and management topics to agency operations
- How to think strategically and analyze complex business issues
- How to analyze key financial statements including balance sheet and income & cash flow statements
- How to measure success using financial ratios and key performance indicators (KPI) including production, expense and Trust ratios, segment profitability, and EBITDA
- How decisions in one function impact the entire agency (integrated decision making)
- How to establish effective group decision-making roles and processes
- The importance of the customer and their “lifetime value”
- How to make better decisions and drive improved business performance
The next competition depends on the number of future regional smackdowns. If there is a national competition, it will be held in May, 2018 and InterWest will be there to win!
