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The event hosted by ACT/AUGIE/AIMS proved to be an outstanding one, completely geared toward our industry.  For those of you there, I’m sure you can relate when I say that my head was spinning by the time it was over.  For those of you not present, I’ll give you a recap of my biggest takeaways.

People On My Radar

• Kitty Ambers– Executive Director for the American Insurance Marketing and Sales (AIMS) Society.  Kitty offers her exceptional guidance and knowledge in the insurance world and utilizes that to work with employees and agency leaders in the fields of marketing, management and sales.  Kitty’s presence is explosive and being able to network with her was one of the biggest takeaways of the trip. 
• Jeff Yates– ACT Executive Director, but in my opinion, a major leader for the Independent Insurance Agency world.  Jeff is constantly offering new and improved techniques and trends for agencies to embrace while offering the leadership and professional guidance to so many of us throughout the country.  Jeff is a trend setter and industry leader.
• John Fear– I cannot say enough about John Fear.  Whether your agency needs redirection, guidance, work flow assistance, more efficient day-to-day business conduct, John Fear is your consultant. From sales to service to renewals and retention, John Fear can change the flow and feel of any agency and bring it to profitable standards in today’s world.  Don’t take my word for it, ask any one of the agencies he works for….MANY!
• Rick Morgan-Vice President of New Media and social media strategist/advisor with Aartrijk. Rick is constantly pushing the evolution of marketing including social media to help agencies nationwide with growth, retention and branding. Rick is another industry leader that, if you have the chance, will want to know on a name to name very quickly.
• Peter Van Aartrijk– CEO of Aartrijk and one of the most well-known in the industry and a true leader on the forefront of the insurance world.  Whether you have seen him on tv or in the magazines, Peter Van Aartrijk is the leading voice and guide for the insurance world while merging in the digital age.

Of course there were so many people we could mention (so please take no offense!) In addition to the amazing networking opportunities, it was also interesting to hear of the future technology to come to the industry to make us more efficient, while offering clients a much better experience.  From policies being emailed much more efficiently, e-signatures, delivery, while helping on our end with servicing and cost effectiveness, the best customer experiences are yet to come and thanks to this convention and those leading the way, our agencies will be able to offer this much and so much more!

Thank you to ACT/AUGIE/AIMS for a great, insightful and incredibly beneficial.

-Chris