Exclusivefocus Spring 2013 - National Association of Professional ...

DirectWriter magazine, the forerunner
of Exclusivefocus. Like many other
NAPAA members, our membership was
a private matter, so when the magazine
came out it was a surprise to many, especially
to us. Most of the agents in our
territory thought it was hilarious, but we
were told that top regional and territorial
management did not find it the least bit
amusing. After all, Nancy had been one
of their own – a decorated Key Manager
– and there she was gracing the cover of
NAPAA’s DirectWriter magazine. It was
blasphemous!
Nancy’s EA office was located a couple
of miles from mine and we helped each
other in many ways. As we grew closer,
we decided to combine our agencies,
merging her book into mine and closing
her location. She became the agency
manager in our agency and was primarily
responsible for staff training and support.
This meant she was the go-to person for
the staff, answering all their underwriting,
claims and operational questions.
As a management trainee at Allstate, she
had gone through the management rotation
program, which was a process that
gave future agency managers exposure to
each department in the region, including
claims, underwriting and human
resources. This training, along with her
intimate knowledge of company procedures,
made her perfect for her new role
in our agency, allowing me to focus on
agency growth and marketing, which I
pursued relentlessly.
We were writing business hand over
fist and we topped the charts in our Territory
and the Region month after month
and year after year. And unlike some big
producers, we wrote clean business and
our loss and retention ratios were spectacular,
considering the amount of new
business we wrote.
In 1998, Nancy and I attended the
NAPAA Convention in Reno, Nevada.
It was part of what was called a “Great
Convention,” which was when all the
major captive agent associations held
their conventions at the same time at the
same venue. This event occurred every
three years, giving each association an
opportunity to interact with other associations.
In theory, the concept was a
good idea, but the conferences lasted far
too long, leaving attendees who might
not want to attend every session with
blocks of time to fill. In Reno or Las
Vegas, that is not a problem if you’re a
gambler, but if your not, it can lead to
filling your time with unplanned activities
– such as getting married – which is
exactly what happened to us. We were
scheduled to leave for home on Sunday,
but by Friday, we’d had enough. That
night we stayed in, ordered pizza and
watched The Big Lobowski starring Jeff
Bridges. We decided to play hooky the
following day and skipped the meetings.
As we lounged around the room the
next morning, the subject of marriage
came up. Neither one of us can recall
who first broached the subject, but there
we were, getting hitched a few hours
later. It is really easy to do when you’re
in Reno. No lavish wedding or complications
– just a simple ceremony performed
by the Commissioner of Civil Marriages
and you’re done. Fifteen years later our
bond is stronger than ever.
After we returned home, our agency
continued to write business at a recordsetting
pace. At the same time, we
stepped up our commitment to NAPAA
to support the agents, who were undergoing
painful changes at the hands management.
The company was intensifying
its efforts to exert more and more control
over the agency force. At one point, they
attempted to force agents keep their offices
open all day on Saturdays, even on
major holiday weekends when the rest
of the working world was off playing.
Mercifully, the bulk of this effort failed,
thanks to a spirited and nearly unanimous
outcry from the agency force and
NAPAA. Remnants of this ill-conceived
plan still remain today, as agents must
maintain a 44-hour workweek and keep
their offices open the day after Thanksgiving,
and on Christmas Eve.
In 2000, I was elected president of
NAPAA. It wasn’t that I coveted the job;
it was because nobody else wanted it. It
was a tumultuous year; the company was
forcing its remaining employee agents
– except for those in certain areas – to
convert to the EA contract or leave the
company. It was a time fraught with uncertainty,
anxiety and anger. Many agents
felt betrayed by the company, which took
away their pensions, health insurance
and other benefits in exchange for what
has turned out for many to be a bag of
empty promises.
Newer agents may never understand
the scope of this initiative and how disruptive
it was for the agency force. The
same holds true for what has happened
over the past few years wherein thousands
of agents have been terminated
or forced to leave because their jobs
were threatened by the insatiable greed
of senior management. Newer agents
have been led to believe that the agents
who were forced out deserved their fate.
This may be true for a small percentage
of agents, but it defies reason that more
than a third of the agency force – should
have been targeted for termination.
As many of you know, I was among
the first agents fired for something other
than lying, cheating or stealing. This
happened in 2002. It certainly wasn’t
because I was unproductive; it was because
I “failed to maintain a professional
relationship” with the company, which
is corporate speak for “we don’t like you
anymore because you challenge management
and advocate for agent rights.”
The following year, I stepped down as
NAPAA president because I thought it
best to have an active Allstate agent serve
in that capacity. At that point, Nancy and
I had decided to ride off into the sunset.
Nancy went to work in furniture sales
and I affiliated with a national brokerage
that wrote business in 47 states.
Our self-imposed hiatus away from
NAPAA didn’t last long, however. The
NAPAA Board of Directors was unhappy
with the firm managing its day-to-day
operations and because of a declining
membership base. In the spring of 2005,
I received a call from board member John
Lindsay asking if I would consider serving
as NAPAA’s Executive Director. I
gave it some thought and agreed, subject
to certain terms and conditions. Then
when the association management contract
came due, NAPAA put it out for
bids. Nancy submitted a proposal for the
job and it was accepted. Eight years later,
we’re still going strong.
Nancy tackled her new job with great
energy and passion, even in spite of us
losing everything we owned in Hurricane
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