March 16, 2020
To: All Premier Agency Owners,
Please see the below notice sent to Premier staff yesterday, March 15th. Our operations remain very much 100% active, including the timely deposit of commissions later this week. The Premier team is available to provide you the same Premier service and support, with most working remotely from home on a basis which we will determine week to week..
This message is to check in with you and provide you thoughts on how to best prepare and have contingencies for the current situation and moreover challenges that may develop with regard to the Coronavirus and its potential impact on our business. While no one knows the extent or duration of how things will unfold exactly, being prepared is a sound policy.
AGENCY OPERATIONS and CONSIDERATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
You and Your staff Safety to Sustain Agency Operations:
- Please see the links below in the Premier staff notice for Federal guidance and updates and that of the CDC. You will also want to source your own state link for where you are domiciled for updates state by state.
- As social distancing and handwashing are critical factors in preventing contracting the Coronavirus and preventing its spread, it is worth taking stock of the percent of clients that typically visit YOUR agency in person and look for alternative ways to service them to reduce personal engagement.
- Some businesses are posting signs on their door stating READ FIRST BEFORE ENTERING, to identify customers or prospects who may be at higher risk or those at higher risk of spreading the virus if they’ve traveled international recently, etc.
Staff Roles & Responsibilities, Workflows & Processes, and Backups
- Part and parcel with this is having contingency plans for staff roles and responsibilities in consideration of staff age and any underlying health conditions for them and members in their household. For example, if a staff member typically interfaces with clients face to face, but is elderly and/or has an underlying health condition, you may want to consider having that more susceptible person engaged in remote service work.
- Now is also a good time to refresh checklists for staff roles and responsibilities and workflows & processes in the event you have a staff person out ill, and it is necessary for another staff person to assume that person’s duties as a backup.
- For larger or multi-location agencies, if you haven’t yet done it, centralizing service functions is worth taking a look at, or considering a virtual assistant, or utilizing carrier service centers..
Client Outreach
- Some agencies are reaching out to clients proactively advising them for their own safety to email or text changes and to not drop of payments in person, or if paying cash to set up other payment plans…
- Agencies have different mediums and different methods of timing their outreach to clients… Mediums include face to face, phone, social media, newsletters, texts, special functions, etc. Timing is often related to transactions, sales, follow ups, annual reviews, payments, renewal preparations, newsletters, and proactive and systematic touchpoints… We recommend adjusting your outreach in a manner that you feel best fits your needs, for what your customers would want, and that also promotes your readiness but is honest and presents to clients options to service that may include self-service, carrier service centers, or any changes you are considering in servicing…. This is especially important if you are on a carrier service center and you feel your clients may need a reminder of the respective carrier contact information.
- This is a time to share your agency story, your commitment and resolve to your clients, and to differentiate yourselves.
For all of the 9 items above we stand ready to provide you additional information and consultation. In fact we are preparing the following, as contingencies to help you, which will be sent to you this week.
- Virtual Assistant Options;
- How to set up Auto Dialer voice mails to all of our clients;
- Payment options for your customers that may not have checking accounts;
- Respective Carrier Service Center Contact Information;
- How to sign up for respective carrier service centers;
- Other information related to the above…
- Carrier information updates related to their operations and response to the Coronavirus;
- Updates on any Federal bills that would support small businesses and or provide benefit relief for small business and or staff.
Please know we are here for you and will endeavor to do everything possible to help you to sustain and grow your operations. If you have a 1-off extenuating circumstances situation or see one on the horizon, let’s talk through it. My cell is below. Being ahead of the curve is critical.
On behalf of Youngdon Yun, Founder & CEO, our best to your continued health and prosperity.
Rex Hickling, President
Cell: (303) 818-6218
600 17th St. Suite 1425N
Denver, CO 80202
March 15, 2020
To: All Premier Staff & Recruiting Partners,
You know our core mission, a complete focus on Premier Agency Owners Success and Support. With that is a concurrent internal mission to have the very best in talented personnel to bring about our state of the art deliverables to Premier agencies and superior results to our insurance carrier partners.
Part and parcel with the aforementioned is an ongoing investment in Premier Staff and Premier Agencies, especially during times of impactful events. We’ve sustained Premier’s operations and helped to sustain Premier Agency Owner’s operations in the past whenever Mother Nature has given us curve balls in the form of Hurricanes and we stand ready, intending to do the same with this new challenge, the Coronavirus.
First and foremost, it is our feeling the Coronavirus pandemic requires an investment in modified business practices that promote precautionary protections for Premier Staff and Premier Agencies. Such business practices shall be in accordance with the advisements and/or mandates made by Federal agencies and the respective State agencies where Premier staff or Premier agencies are domiciled, and in some cases even beyond, for our specific business and partnership needs with our agencies and the well-being of staff and agencies, and continued business operations.
As the respective Federal and State (Colorado) agencies (see links below) are providing public updates daily to weekly, plans at this time are that Premier’s response will accordingly be modified on a weekly basis, as needed.
3/16-3/20 week – Premier’s Action Response:
For Premier Staff:
- We encourage all staff to work remotely via your laptop and remote phones, as per our preparation from last week, EXCEPT where essential operations require in-office personnel.
- Remote staff duties are to be carried out as per usual, including phone/email communication to/from agencies. Individual department managers and leads will have direction to you on individual and/or departmental key measures, tracking, expectations, and shall field any Qs you may have…
- Essential in-office operations includes, but are not limited to, the continued timely and accurate payment of commissions to agencies; the receipt, scanning, and forwarding of mail or scanned mail from Premier to Premier Agencies; technology set up for communications transference/re-routing from Premier’s home office to remote staff; possible remote phone service option plans/call routing for Premier licensed personnel to help Premier agencies greatly adversely affected by the Coronavirus; and staff engaged in optimizing and communicating to agencies individual carrier service center options and carrier help-lines/e-forms, and related insurance carrier information regarding the Coronavirus for agencies, etc.
- On Monday, March 16th, specific managers and staff have already been notified to meet with me with the aim that these essential operations continue and evolve without lapse, and that the aforementioned precautionary measures for staff and agency safety remain first and foremost.
- All Premier staff non-essential travel, flights and otherwise, and in-person visits with agencies and insurance carrier or vendor personnel, shall be postponed, or the agenda items covered by conference calls, instead, etc.
Special Premier Staff Notice:
- Where essential operations require staff to be on site at our Denver Home Office, in-office social distancing and other safety measures as per Federal and State Agency advisements must be adhered to…. (See the links above…)
- In addition, Premier advises that all Premier staff heed such social distancing and related Federal and State Coronavirus advisements in their private lives as well. We have an abundance of talented young people at Premier, where thus far the scientific data shows that you are less impacted by the severity of the Coronavirus. That, however, does not mean you are no less susceptible to being a carrier of the Coronavirus. Your engagement in public transportation, restaurants, bars, and any gathering where there are large numbers and/or public interaction in closer proximity than the recommended social distancing of 6 feet, not only puts you at risk, but does so for every other person you may have contact with as well, including Premier staff and the elderly that lives w Premier staff and those with underlying health conditions… Please exercise the appropriate caution as recommended by Federal and your State agencies.
- Note, a separate Premier Agency Owner notification will be sent to all Premier Agency Owners tomorrow, on March 16, 2020.
On behalf of Youngdon Yun, Founder & CEO, our best to your continued health and the health of our agents and all of our business.
Rex Hickling, President
Cell: (303) 818-6218
600 17th St. Suite 1425N
Denver, CO 80202
