2010-12 Best Practices Agency

Oklahoma Business Insurors
Retains Status as One of Nation’s Best

Oklahoma City – For the third year in a row, Oklahoma Business Insurors Agency has been included on a list of the best-run independent insurance agencies in the country, according to the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America.

Oklahoma Business Insurors Agency has been selected to remain as part of an elite group participating in the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big “I”) “Best Practices” Study Group.

Each year since 1993, IIABA and Reagan Consulting, an Atlanta-based management consulting firm, have joined forces to study the country’s leading agencies in six revenue categories. The agencies comprising the study groups are selected every third year through a comprehensive nomination and qualifying process and awarded a “Best Practices Agency” designation. However, agencies do not automatically retain the honor of being included in the group. OBI proved it was deserving of continuing in the group by submitting extensive financial and operational data for review last year.

Tony Caldwell, agency principal, said OBI was able to keep the best-practices status by remaining true to the agency’s primary focus: clients.

“We are honored to be included in such a prestigious group, but we’ve gotten there by staying true to our core principles,” Caldwell said. “For us, the client comes first. We specialize in business insurance so that our clients can know we are experts in the field, who can help them avoid every pitfall and find every advantage. We’ve arranged our office into two separate units of business insurance and employee benefits because those are our clients’ two major needs. And we offer a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee because we think our clients deserve nothing less.”

More than 1,200 independent agencies, out of more than 35,000 throughout the U.S. were nominated to take part in the study in 2010, but only 224 agencies qualified for the honor. To be chosen, the agency had to be among the 35- 40 top-performing agencies in one of six revenue categories.

“There’s nothing more satisfying to us than knowing we can be successful and profitable by making sure our clients are successful and profitable,” Caldwell said. “The formula is simple: courteous service and the lowest insurance rates possible for the best policies.”

The Best Practices Study was initiated by IIABA in 1993 as the foundation for efforts to improve agency performance. The annual survey and study of leading independent insurance agencies documents the business practices of the “best” agencies and urges others to adopt similar practices.

For further information, please contact Lance Singleton of Oklahoma Business Insurors at 405.463.0822.

Oklahoma Business Insurors Agency serves clients’ needs for business insurance in one business group, while a separate unit of professional insurance counselors focuses on employee benefit plans. OBI was founded in 1987 on the belief that customers deserve not only professional and courteous service, but also the lowest insurance rates possible. All OBI products come with a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. OBI serves clients in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, Louisiana and Missouri from its headquarters in Oklahoma City. Website: www.obionline.com.

 Founded in 1896, IIABA is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of more than 300,000 agents, brokers and their employees nationally. Its members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. Independent agents and brokers offer all lines of insurance – property, casualty, life and health – as well as employee benefit plans and retirement products.  Web address: www.independentagents.com.

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Image caption: Oklahoma Business Insurors Agency Partners
L to R: Tony Caldwell, Russ Wolfe, Larry Gundlach, Ken Anderson