Last month, the annual Agent Summit conference and expo was held at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, drawing in more than 550 attendees. The show had 72 sponsors, with 42 of those exhibiting — a significant increase from previous years on all fronts.

"The spirit and the energy of this year's conference was overwhelmingly positive," said David Gesualdo, show chair. "The numbers prove that the idea of a show designed by agents, for agents is no longer a radical concept."

For those who couldn’t attend this year, here are some of the highlights.

The First Annual Participation and Reinsurance Symposium

The show kicked off with a half-day event looking at reinsurance. Jim Ganther, Mosasic Compliance Services, was the emcee for the event, with four speakers: Mark Macek, president, U.S. Warranty Corp.; Steve Mailho, president, Mailho Co.; Steve Barrett, executive vice president, Resource Automotive; and Hugh Barit, chairman and CEO, PRP Proforma Ltd.

“By all measures it was a huge success,” said Ganther. “In the months leading up to the Symposium, its viability was questioned by some agents; after all, isn’t reinsurance as a topic about as exciting as watching paint dry? Not so. After the strong audience reaction to last year’s presentation on reinsurance by Randy Crisorio and Greg Petrowski, it was clear there was interest in an expanded treatment of the topic. When it finally came to pass, the room — with seats for 400 — was overflowing, and remained so for the duration of the program. Additional seats were brought in to accommodate the attendees left standing in the back, but even these were not enough to give everyone a chair.”

Macek’s session covered retros, dealer obligors and dealer-owned warranty companies. He explained the differences between each type of structure, and gave the pros and cons of each to the attendees. Mailho and Barrett took on “controlled” and “non-controlled’ foreign corporations. They disagreed on which was a better format, with each devoting a session to their specific type. At the end of the day, the best advice is for anyone looking to set up either one is to seek council, so they know all the benefits and risks before starting on either path.

Barit wrapped up this part of the conference by addressing what to do with the cash any reinsurance plan will generate. He broke down the complicated terminology — such as what, exactly, an asset allocation strategy is and how to use one — and gave attendees concrete ideas on how to proceed.

In all, the Reinsurance Symposium was a huge success and will definitely be repeated at the next Agent Summit.

The Nitty Gritty

The Agent Summit agenda kicked off with a keynote from Joel Kansanback, president, Automotive Development Group. He noted that the playing field for agents is changing quickly — there were 22,250 franchise dealerships in 2000, and only 17,540 in 2012. “That changes the landscape for us,” he said. More and more, he went on to note, those franchise dealerships are being held by large public companies, which have different expectations as to what they expect from agents than a smaller, single dealer or group, would have. And those smaller opportunities are where most agents find their sweet spot.

To reach that group, he said, “you have to solve a problem, and be a compelling option.” He went on to say agents need to be more proactive on all levels — with identifying and solving problems before the dealer even knows about them, to offering training before they are even asked. “Become a partner agency,” Kansanback said, “and set yourself apart from everyone else.”

Scott Karchunas, president, Protective Asset Protection, started day two of the show with a look at the economics of F&I. He is, overall, very optimistic about the current state of the industry. But he asked the agents in attendance, “Is that good enough, or should we be looking to grow beyond the good job we’re doing today?”

Times are good now, he noted, but it comes with an industry that has changed dramatically. The model for vehicles in general went from a push model, where OEMs sent models and products to dealers to sell to the customer, to more of a pull model, where the vehicles are shaped by customer preferences and demands. Now, he noted, is the time to innovate and invest in ideas, while the cycle is profitable, so both providers and agents can differentiate themselves in the market.

“The car is now an extension of technology and experiences that make up our daily lives,” Karchunas said. “F&I products must become part of that experience. We need to look ahead, rather than wait for demand to happen. We have got to be part of the conversation, or others will define it for us.”

Rich Moore, director of training, Protective Asset Protection, took a more direct approach with his session on prospecting dealers, challenging agents to create a “hypothesis of need” — how you will make that dealer better — that you know by heart before ever making the first call. This, he told attendees, will help position the agency from the start as a business peer, rather than a vendor. “You need to know why you’re calling, and exactly what you’re going to say,” he said.

To do that, Moore suggests taking a “3x3” approach, where you start with learning three items about the dealership to build your hypothesis of need, and then you take three minutes to begin the conversation and expand on that. At it’s heart, he noted, this is a process that takes time, because you’re building a relationship. “Become a conduit for sharing information,” he said. “Don’t talk about how great your product is; talk about what they want to hear about. They hate talking to sales people, but they love talking to other executives.”

Peter Chafetz, national sales training manager, Allstate Dealer Services, took a similar approach in his own session, noting that when it comes to an agent reaching their full potential, differentiation matters. “Sales people fail to reach their potential because they don’t fully understand the rules of the game, or the dynamics of the environment it’s played in,” he told attendees. “They fear losing something they never had in the first place.”

He told agents that it is they who decide who and what they want to be, and that the deals they get in the future are based, in part, on the deals they already have. “If you don’t deliver results,” he told them, “you will be vulnerable.” Like Moore, he noted that one of the most important pieces of information an agent can have when calling on a new dealer is “why should [the dealer] be willing to hand over a multi-million dollar piece of their organization to you?”

More to Come

Each panel held a wealth of information for attendees, and these were only some of the sessions that had attendees talking. The board of directors put together a list of sessions that gave agents the information they needed. And next year is already shaping up to break all records.

Every agent looking to increase their business, and profits, should start making plans now to attend next year’s show. It is scheduled for March 10–12, 2014, and will be held at Caesars Palace for a third straight year. We’ll be looking forward to seeing you there.