Using Customized Reports to Track Your Agency's Success

When making decisions on the course of your agency, it's important to use objective information and not subjective information.  Subjective information is perceived and based on someone's guess or opinion.  Objective information is measurable and factual.  Many agents are quite surprised when learn the data tells a much different story about their agency than they had perceived.

One of the most important features of InsurancePro is the ability to pull objective data in just seconds with the extensive built-in report capabilities.  This month's InsurancePro Newsletter article will focus on running customized reports.  We will also share some of the more common reports many of our agencies use to objectively monitor their success and identify opportunity areas.

Customized Reports can be accessed in InsurancePro on the left navigational menu under "Agency Reports."

Under Step 1, the reports are broken into four categories:

Agent Report

Get detailed information on each producer

Company Report

Analyze your book with each company

Policy Type Report

Details are provided by line of business 

Payment Report

Get data on payments taken in your agency

Step 2 gives the option of getting a Summarized Report or a Detailed Report.  Detailed Reports include specific policyholder information whereas Summarized Reports give you only totals.

Step 3 allows you to choose what fields you want to appear on the report.  You can reorder how these fields will appear by highlighting a field and selecting "Move Up" or "Move Down."

And the final step, Step 4, will give you the opportunity to identify a date range, separate the reports by location, and set additional criteria options which differ on each report type. 

If you find you are running a report with the same criteria often, click on "Save Template," type in a descriptive name for the report, and click "Save." Your templates can be accessed in the future on Step 1 by clicking on "Load Templates."

The data that can be retrieved from InsurancePro about your book of business is almost limitless.  Below we've listed some common reports many of our clients use and the information they gather from those reports.

Agent Reports

Agent by Line of Business

Step 1-     Agent Report

Step 2 -    Summarized

Step 3 -    Number of New Policies

Include Policy Count Breakup for Policy Type

Step 4 -    Select date range desired

This report will show the number of policies written by agent, by line of coverage.  By reviewing this data, agency owners can identify if a producer is not effectively cross-selling other lines of coverage.  Cross-selling existing customers will not only increase the agency's revenue, but will also increase retention.  Identifying that a producer is struggling with their cross-selling techniques gives the agency owner the opportunity to sit down and counsel them.

Percentage of Agency Commissions by Agent

Step 1 -     Agent Report

Step 2 -     Summarized

Step 3 -     Total Commission From New Business

Show Percentages for Each Selected Field

Step 4 -     Select date range desired

Analyze each producer's salary against the commission income they are bringing in. You may determine you need to adjust the workload or take a closer look at each individuals productivity.

Company Reports

Percentage of Agency's New Business Policies by Company

Step 1 -     Company Report

Step 2 -     Summarized

Step 3 -     Number of New Policies

Show Overall Totals for each selected field

Show Percentages for each selected field

Step 4 -     Select date range desired

Knowing what percentage each company is getting from your agency may cause you to rethink your placement practices.  While placing a large amount of your book with one specific carrier may offer increased commission structures or other bonus packages, it also could leave your agency vulnerable if the carrier has a history of inadequate rates, is prone to have significant rate hikes, or runs into financial difficulties.

High Cancellation Rate

Step 1 -    Company Report

Step 2 -    Summarized

Step 3 -    Number of New Policies

Number of Cancellations

Step 4 -    Select Date Range desired

Working diligently to place the business is useless if a high percentage of those policies end up cancelled.  Once the problem is identified though, the agent can then determine where the fault lies so adjustments can be made to keep the business on the books.

Policy Type

Commission Income versus Number of Applications by Line of Coverage

Step 1 -    Policy Type

Step 2 -    Summarized

Step 3 -    Number of New Policies

Number of Renewal Policies

Total Commission for New Business

Total Commission for Renewal Business

Show Percentages for each selected field

Step 4 -     Select date range desired

Identify what percentage of your book is in each line of business and which line of business is producing the highest commission income for the least amount of work.

Payment Reports

Payment Report by Type of Payment by Agent

Step 1 -    Payment Report

Step 2 -    Report for received payments only

Step 3 -    Payment Date

Payment Receipt No

Client Name

Agent

Step 4 -    Payment Account/Category

This report will identify if your producers are spending more time taking payments then producing.

 Understanding the amount of payments that go through your agency in a month's time frame will also help you better identify the costs involved in taking payments (payroll, bank fees, paper costs, etc).

These are just a small sampling of the information that can be retrieved from the customized reports within InsurancePro.  With each agent having different  priorities and different objectives, the customized reports feature gives you the ability to pull the data you need to make educated decisions to meet your specific goals.