Thank you to our loyal “Benchmarkers” for making suggestions to make the Benchmarking process easier for both the participants and for us!
Several thousand agencies continue to use Agency Consulting Group, Inc.’s Benchmarking services to measure their agencies against:
a) Their own historical performance
b) Against the Composite Groups of agents of similar size nationally and other agents of similar size within their own State or Association.
We are grateful to everyone for their continued annual contribution and pleased to report that most agents are requesting the Quick Analysis to provide them with the Benchmark Comparisons.
Several participants have pointed out a few weaknesses in the Benchmarking program and we have strengthened the programming to make it easier than ever for you to benchmark your agency. The upgraded changes are:
1. SAVING DATA – If you should need to stop inputting the data into the benchmarking system, the data will be save IN YOUR OWN COMPUTER in the form of a cookie. You will be able to recover your saved worked when you return to the benchmarking site. Saving it on YOUR site instead of ours we retain the total confidentiality of your information to you alone. As usual, we never know the identities of the benchmark agencies. When your data entry is completed your identifying information goes into one database and the data, itself, goes into another.
2. GOING BACK TO CORRECT DATA – Previously when trying to correct the data inputted, somehow the data would be lost when returning to the previous page. You could start over and be frustrated but could not go back to correct. That has been improved. You may now freely go backwards or forwards without losing data.
3. MEASURING DEVICES – We have improved this service by inserting a measurement device that tells you what percentage of the input has been completed as you enter the data for each question.
We will once again publish the entire data set for all Composite Groups in the October’s Issue of the PIPELINE so the industry can see how several thousand agents have performed (divided by size groups). In the meantime, as contributors, you have permission to see the Composite Group results at will for an entire year. Remember, it is an ever-changing living database as agents input their data throughout the year.
Thank you again for your participation. If you haven’t yet Benchmarked your agency, please consider doing so. All you need is your Operating Statement and Balance Sheets for two consecutive years. The result will be your free access to the Composite Groups for a year and, if you desire, a Quick Analysis of your agency against your Composite Group by return e-mail.