We continuously refer to the GPP Analysis because, for over 35 years, it has been the baseline consultation for all Agency Consulting Group, Inc. clients. However, a long-time client recently pointed out that we are addressing a new generation of agency owners who may not be aware of the GPP and its effect on agencies in which the study is done.
When you hire a consultant, you expect him/her to be fully knowledgeable about insurance agency operations and systems. While advanced age is NOT a pre-requisite for an effective consultant, always investigate younger people who profess to know everything about how agencies operate. Without years and decades of experience they will probably not have encountered all the various scenarios that you could face as an agency owner. Similarly, consultants who have only been in one or a few agencies for their entire careers and industry specialists who have never served in agency operations probably haven’t had the range of experience to help you in the huge variety of situations that agency owners face during their careers.
So, you need a consultant who is experienced and knowledgeable. But how does that consultant know the unique circumstances of YOUR agency to help you identify, evolve and help your agency grow, prosper and, eventually, perpetuate?
THE GPP ANALYSIS WAS CREATED TO SIMULTANEOUSLY FAMILIARIZE YOUR CONSULTANT WITH THE COMMON AND THE UNIQUE CONDITIONS THAT YOU FACE WITH YOUR MIX OF CARRIERS, CUSTOMERS, EMPLOYEES AND MARKET CONDITIONS AND PROVIDE HIM/HER WITH ENOUGH INFORMATION TO GIVE YOU VALUABLE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ORGANIZATIONAL IMPROVEMENT.
As the name professes, the GPP Analysis allows your consultant to analyze some or all of the features of your agency in a short period of time to permit recommendations to be made and discussed with you to resolve issues that you have that may have minimized your growth, productivity and/or profitability.
Features of the GPP Analysis:
Financial Operations – We will carefully analyze and trend your historical lines of revenue and lines of expenses to identify those that don’t coincide with your Peer Group (like-kind and sized agencies throughout the U.S.). We have collected Peer Group data on over 4,000 agencies since 1987 to identify averages against which we compare your historical performance.
Book of Business Analysis – Every agency defines and is defined by its customers and the book of business lines that are written. Agencies operate differently if they are Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, Life & Health, mixed, or specialty agencies. We look at current and historical growth and loss ratios by line for the entire agency.
Carrier Analysis – We look at your carrier performance (growth, LR) over time to establish if you have too many, too few, not the right carriers or a mis-match for the type of clients and markets you write.
IT Analysis – We analyze your agency management system, website and social media to determine if you are using these tools efficiently and effectively to communicate with your client base.
Telecommunications Analysis – Specially in this “Covid Year” we analyze the use of your internal and external telephone systems to see if you are using the available technology to service your customers and employees safely and seamlessly.
Market and Marketing Analysis – This analysis looks at how you get and keep your clients using your markets and skills equated with the type of market in which your agency is resident.
Producer and Production Analysis – Compensation, Retention, and Growth is analyzed for the agency and for each producer to determine if the producers are being managed and compensated to benefit just themselves or the agency, as well.
Staffing and Productivity Analysis – Each type of position and each employee is analyzed to determine if they have a full workload or have room for expansion compared to your own history and to the Peer Group of other agents performing similarly to you.
Procedure and Workflow Analysis – Many procedures and much workflow were perfect for old technology but no longer works as well in new technology. We analyze and recommend changes to speed the process and allow maximum efficiency for the employees.
Incentive Compensation Programs – Too many agencies continue to pay for longevity instead of for productivity. We analyze existing compensation programs and offer recommendations to incent employees to become as productive as they can be, enjoying the fruits of their productivity as the agency enhances its profitability by working more effectively instead of having to hire ever-increasing staffs.
Some or all of these forms of analyses perform a dual purpose. It helps the consultant understand the dynamics of each agency as it differs from all other agencies and it productively allows for recommendations that will improve the organization, productivity, growth and profitability of the client agency.
Please consider calling Agency Consulting Group, Inc. at 856-779-2430 to discuss the potential of conducting a GPP Analysis for your agency. The worst-case scenario is that you might find that the cause of the limitations of the agency are in the desire of the agency owners, themselves, to remain the same while hoping for different results from the same efforts that limited the business performance historically (the classic definition of insanity). More likely, agency owners will have a menu of changes that will be prioritized and implemented (sometimes over several years) that will turn desired goals into actual achievements to help the agency grow, help it be more productive for clients, employees and owners and help it increase profitability until it is time to perpetuate and cash out the new, greater asset value created because of the pro-active changes sponsored by the agency owners.