BEST'S KEY RATING GUIDE AVAILABLE TO IIABA MEMBERS
VIA BIG "I" ADVANTAGE SECURE WEB SITE
Big "I" Advantage, A.M. Best Work Together to Help Agents & Brokers Assess Insurers
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 20 - Continuing its efforts to help independent agents and brokers monitor the financial status of the insurance companies with which they do business, Big “I” Advantage—the products and services arm of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA)—has reached an agreement with A.M. Best Company to offer Big “I” members a 25 percent discount on the purchase of either the property/casualty or life/health edition of Best's Key Rating Guide® for insurance companies.
“Under this new agreement, IIABA members will have discounted access to a great insurance industry resource,” says Paul A. Buse, CPCU, ARM, president of Big “I” Advantage. “We are pleased to work with A.M. Best to make such a valuable product available at a special rate to independent agents and brokers. This tool will ease their everyday decisions about where best to place their clients’ business.”
IIABA members can purchase Best's Key Rating Guide at discounted prices through Big “I” Advantage’s secure Web site. It is this level of security that has made the relationship between A.M. Best and Big “I” Advantage possible. The site meets the industry’s strictest standards for online security and allows agents to comfortably make purchases while providing A.M. Best with assurances of secure transactions.
“We are very selective about establishing co-marketing relationships with other organizations,” says Arthur Snyder III, executive vice president and chief operating officer of A.M. Best. “It is our confidence in the security of the Big ‘I’ Advantage site that enables us to be comfortable and confident in this working relationship with the IIABA.”
The efficiencies offered by transacting Best's Key Rating Guide purchases through the association Web site also are instrumental in allowing Big “I” members to purchase the Guide at a deeper discount than is typically offered. Administrative costs are minimal for both A.M. Best and the Big “I,” since each purchase occurs online and is paid for by credit card.
Best's Key Rating Guide provides insurance industry professionals with Best’s Ratings and five years of key financial data on thousands of insurance companies. Each purchase includes:
· A convenient, portable print reference.
· An interactive, searchable CD-ROM that can be used to compare insurers, locate companies by criteria or generate lists.
· Access to BestDirect—A.M. Best’s customizable, real-time notification and tracking service that provides e-mail alerts on rating changes, company reports, news and other company-specific information. Agents and brokers can set up the companies that they represent using their Best's Key Rating Guide edition to receive e-mail notifications when new information is available. For more details, please visit www.ambest.com/sales/BestDirect.
· Personalized/Client Presentation Reports—Exclusive online access to personalized Best’s Key Rating Guide Presentation Reports containing each company’s current Best’s ratings plus the same information found in Best's Key Rating Guide, complete with definitions. These reports can be used in proposals and are individualized to the subscriber only. Additional subscriptions to Best’s Key Rating Guide are required for additional users. View a sample report at www.ambest.com/sales/krg/presrpts.
· A one-year subscription to Best's Review magazine with regular service.
A.M. Best is one of several non-insurance companies that provides special benefits and discounts to more than 300,000 Big “I” member agents and 23,000 member agencies through Big “I” Advantage.
Big “I” member agents and brokers can conveniently order the 2003 Best's Key Rating Guide by visiting www.independentagent.com/ambest and entering their member ID and password. The discount is available to IIABA members for online purchases using a credit card only.
Agents will receive the print volume of Best's Key Rating Guide as well as the CD-ROM and other benefits for $105 (not including taxes or shipping and handling) when they purchase the product with a credit card through the Big “I” Web site. Retail value is $145.
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.independentagent.com.
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