Additional specialty programs have been the focus of Arrowhead in second quarter 2017. Three of these moved from OnPoint – LIBRIS Booksellers, Builders & Contractors and Managed Care – providing better economies of scale and savings in licensing and other fees. The fourth program, Automotive Aftermarket Express, is a program recently opened to new appointed producers. Here’s the inside scoop on each.
Automotive Aftermarket Express Package
Our Auto Aftermarket Program was closed to new producers for quite some time; however, as of late last year, it’s now open to independent agencies with eligible accounts below $50k. Even better, it’s now available on Arrowhead Exchange to be rated, quoted and bound. Our Marketing Services team (Wendy Castelo, Abby Berard, Steve Goebel and Brian Jackson) has been hard at work, calling on potential agencies across the country to grow the business.
“We’ve probably called on well over 200 agencies. In states where Arrowhead is well-known, producers have been excited to finally be able to offer this product,” Wendy said.
Steve Goebel has touted the benefits of the Express Package to producers at various tradeshows this year.
“The product has worked well for large and small agencies, and it’s creating a stir in the marketplace,” Steve explained. “Some agencies tell us they have all the markets they need; but they get quite a surprise when one of their accounts is rewritten to our program by another smaller agency who was more willing to take on our Automotive Aftermarket Express product. Because there are no BORs for this program, there’s no way for the former agency to get that client back (outside of writing it with another program). They’re learning a tough lesson!”
One Washington producer, Abel Puerta, saw immediate success in offering our Express product to garages in his Yakima, WA area. "In just two months, I’ve sold $100k in premium. And I sold another $20k within the last couple of days," Abel said in a phone interview with us last month. "I’m finding that most of these garages say 'Yeah, my policy hasn’t been reviewed in years, so let’s look at it'. We don’t have a lot of rejections."
LIBRIS Booksellers
Formed by the American Booksellers Association (ABA), LIBRIS was created expressly for independent bookstores. The program migrated from OnPoint to Arrowhead early this year.
The team is comprised of Whitney Balaun, business development specialist, who works remotely from her home in Manhattan, KS, along with Production Underwriter Judi Yacovazzi and Assistant Underwriter Sudona Padgett, who both work out of the Denver office.
“We’ve worked with LIBRIS and the ABA for many years,” explained Judi Yacovazzi. “Producers tell us their bookseller clients love us for our added features, competitive costs and customer service. We try to make it fun for them when they call!”
Builders and Contractors
Arrowhead's risk management solutions for building professionals in the construction industry are provided by the risk retention group Golden Insurance Company. This program also migrated from OnPoint early this year to Arrowhead. This group offers excess liability and commercial GL exclusive to homebuilders, contractors, remodelers and artisans.
The team is located in Colorado and consists of Whitney Balaun as business development specialist and Janet Walker as assistant underwriter. Richard Poling, former Golden / OnPoint program manager, has moved to Golden Insurance RRG as their president.
What’s a risk retention group, we asked, and Janet explained: “An RRG is an insurer that’s owned by its policyholders, in accordance with the 1986 Federal Risk Retention Act. In our case, the homogenous group of policyholders are all construction-related.”
Managed Care
Another program migrated from OnPoint to Arrowhead, Managed Care provides protection to HMOs, providers and employers for catastrophic health care costs associated with a member within their at-risk population. This program is led by Carl Phillips out of his office in Plymouth, Minnesota (a Minneapolis suburb). With many years of experience in managed care, Carl joined Beecher Carlson and then moved to OnPoint when the Brown & Brown acquisition occured, and now has moved again to Arrowhead.
"My favorite clients are the ones that others shy away from," he said. "I refer to them as 'the bad and the ugly'." Despite a very soft market, Carl foresees significant potential and plans on building out Arrowhead's capabilities in this market.
