NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017 - 13

Since October 2016, NAILBA
has been examining itself and
gathering data to determine
the best way forward in the
current insurance and economic
environment. Now that
evaluation process is complete
with the approval of its new
three-year strategic plan.

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NAIFA

An Overview of the
Strategic Plan
he strategic plan recognizes
NAILBA as the premier insurance
industry organization promoting financial security and consumer
choice through the use of independent brokerage distribution. It sees
NAILBA as essential to the future success of independent distribution.
The plan sets prioritized tasks to
be achieved during the three year
period. Here are the top priority
tasks that need to begin within the
next fiscal year.
■ Increase the relevance in content
and delivery of educational opportunities to members' success while
raising member awareness and understanding of the value NAILBA's
educational programs provide.
■ Benefit from insurance marketing organizations (IMOs) by
increasing communication between NAILBA and IMO leaders
and their agencies, using these
relationships to grow NAILBA
membership, and having IMOs
increase advocacy with carriers and others. Ask IMOs what
NAILBA can do that they cannot.
■ Change the format of the Annual
Meeting's trade show to provide
more study group-like small group
discussions to improve interaction opportunities among members and carriers/vendors. Provide
more idea exchange/best practices workshops at the meeting and
spend more to have sessions led by
experts in practice management.
Evaluate the meeting's schedule
and length and consider changes.
■ Grow NAILBA membership by 30
new members annually. This will
require gaining members who currently belong to IMOs, dedicating
resources to membership growth,
and getting more cooperation
from carriers and vendors.
■ Have NAILBA leadership communicate bi-monthly with carrier

decision makers and improve understanding of the roles of carriers and independent distribution.
The full strategic plan can be
viewed at www.nailba.org (select
About/Strategic Plan).
"Delivering more value to our
members in a changing marketplace
is the overriding factor behind the
new strategic plan," noted NAILBA
Chairman Jim Sorebo, CLU, who is
President and CEO of Four Seasons
Financial Group Inc. "What needs
the most immediate attention is
providing education to our producers and our agency staff on a more
productive basis than ever before
and embracing technology, whether it's processing or other tools, to
allow that to happen." As chairman,
he sees his role in implementing the
plan through providing leadership
to the board, the staff, the committee structure, and the members.
One high plan priority is adding
30 new NAILBA members per year.
"Our Membership Marketing Committee, chaired by Ben Nevejans,
and the rest of the great committee
volunteers are executing this now,"
Sorebo said. "The first task is making
sure our existing members know our
great story so they will continue to
renew and then going to non-members and helping them see the value of NAILBA membership. There's a
lot of the IMO community where we
have a small penetration so it's natural to start there and the committee is doing that. Then they will target ancillary people, those with more
of an annuity shop or healthcare
focus-anyone who's doing independent distribution, we want to be
talking to them."
How can NAILBA members help
in implementing the strategic plan?
"Volunteer and get engaged," Sorebo
said. "That's where the Membership
Marketing Committee needs to get
out to them and show the great proposition that NAILBA brings."
www.nailba.org 13

http://www.nailba.org http://www.nailba.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NAILBA Perspectives - July 2017