NAILBA Perspectives - July 2016 - 30

member profiles Target Insurance Services, Inc. Matt McAvoy Based in Overland Park, Kansas, Target Insurance Services has been a NAILBA member since 1989. Matt McAvoy, President, provided input for this article. Target's headquarters building 30 perspectives JULY 2016 About the Agency Target Insurance Services, Inc. was formerly known as Louis J. McAvoy & Associates. The agency was originally founded by Matt McAvoy's father, Lou McAvoy, in the 1960s. Louis J. McAvoy & Associates was one of the early companies to handle impaired risk business. Lou was exposed to independent brokerage business through National Fidelity. He also developed a franchise relationship with First Colony and was contracted with the company in 1972. Matt joined the agency full time in 1981 after he became licensed as an agent during college. At that time, the name of the agency was changed to Target Insurance Services, Inc. Target Insurance Services, Inc. currently employs 32 employees in Kansas City and five employees in Pennsylvania. Kansas City staff is comprised of two executives, four source/line of business leaders, eight inside sales support employees, four outside point of sale specialists, and 14 case management, licensing, and administrative employees. What makes your agency unique? How is it different from others offering the same services? At Target, we have set ourselves apart by establishing and maintaining a culture of confidence and trust for many years. We have an unequalled reputation in our field for doing what is right for our customers-both the producing agents and their clients. We are extremely flexible, always finding ways to adapt to our customers' work styles and preferences. We continue to offer access to quality term products, while many of our competitors and peer agencies have chosen not to remain in that marketplace due to low profit margins. However, we continue to recognize that term insurance is often the right solution for the insured, and we work hard to ensure term insurance cases are handled with the same respect and diligence as larger permanent insurance sales. What type of customer are you trying to attract? Over the past decade, our core business model and producing agent has Matt and Lou McAvoy at a Kansas City Royals Game moved from independent insurance brokers toward advisor representatives with assets under management. We have developed knowledge and expertise in working with registered investment advisors and have several broker dealer relationships. Where do you see your agency in the next 3 to 5 years? It's not easy to predict what the future holds. While the brokerage business has most recently been product and underwriting fulfillment or backroom focused, we are shifting to customers who have backgrounds in assets under management, group benefits, or property casualty. Their professions have become as complex as ours, and they have a difficult time and little desire to pivot from their core competency to insurance sales. We believe future opportunity lies in becoming a retail hybrid general agency, that processes applications and does basic fulfillment for those agents who want to identify the client and need and then let the firm execute with a consumer to place-

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NAILBA Perspectives - July 2016

NAILBA Perspectives - July 2016
Contents
Chairman’s Corner
CEO Insights
Mooers Award Nominations
Cyber Liability/Cyber Security
NAILBA 35 Program Preview
NAILBA Charitable Foundation
Life Happens
Member Profile
Agency Successor Networking Group
Calendar of Events
Brokerage in Motion
Index of Advertisers

NAILBA Perspectives - July 2016