Liberty Mutual
Agency Corporation

Liberty Mutual Agency Corporation (LMAC) offers property and casualty (P&C) insurance through approximately 12,000 independent insurance agents to individuals and small and midsized businesses throughout the United States.

LMAC offers personal lines products nationally under the Safeco Insurance brand, and commercial lines products through the eight regional companies that compose the Regional Companies Group: America First Insurance, Colorado Casualty, Golden Eagle Insurance, Indiana Insurance, Liberty Northwest, Montgomery Insurance, Ohio Casualty and Peerless Insurance.

Liberty Mutual Agency Underwriters offers specialty commercial products, including excess casualty and program business nationally. Liberty Mutual Surety provides nationwide contract and commercial surety and fidelity bonds, and its Liberty SuretyFirst brand meets the bonding needs of individuals and small to midsized businesses.

As with the entire U.S. P&C insurance industry, LMAC’s personal and commercial lines companies were impacted by the year’s tornadoes, hailstorms, hurricanes and wildfires. In response, its claims professionals and front-line teams worked tirelessly when customers and agents needed them most.

Despite these weather-related events, as well as a depressed economy, LMAC experienced many successes in 2011. Its underlying fundamentals remained strong in personal lines and surety, and it continued to strengthen its commercial lines.

LMAC’s Regional Companies Group (RCG) continued to roll out its expanded policy administration and quoting system, which delivers a broadened product set and an easy-to-use interface for agents. RCG is also focused on improving the efficiency of its underwriting process to ensure its companies meet agents’ expectations on improving quality, timeliness and consistency of service.

Liberty Mutual Surety, the nation’s second-largest surety business, consolidated its bond platforms and introduced a new agency portal to agents that provides personalized tools and resources in a single location.

Safeco Insurance achieved significant growth relative to the industry in 2011. Demonstrating its strong commitment to customer satisfaction, its service, sales and claims call centers have all been recognized by the J.D. Power and Associates Call Center Certification Program for providing “An Outstanding Customer Service Experience.” And positioning itself firmly in the competitive auto insurance environment, Safeco introduced a new advertising campaign to appeal to its “Do More” customers.

LMAC begins 2012 with strong momentum and an unrelenting focus on strengthening agent relationships while providing responsive service and quality products to its agent partners and policyholders.

Response

“The Worst I’ve Seen”

On the afternoon of Sunday, May 22, 2011, one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history tore through Joplin, Missouri, carving out a path of destruction a mile wide and eight miles long.

Arriving quickly on the scene was Rick Price, a claims adjuster and 18-year employee with America First Insurance. “You arrive and find yourself speechless. It’s sobering, and as a claims professional, it reinforces the importance of what I do,” Price said.

One of Price’s claims was from a dry cleaning business owned by Brigitte Pippin and her husband, Ken, which was completely leveled by the tornado.

“When I arrived, they were digging to find their customers’ laundry tickets,” Price said. “In the process, Ken cut himself severely, so we went straight to the temporary medical center at the Joplin Town Hall, where we all got tetanus shots.”

Nine months later, the Pippins were back in business in a completely new building on the same site, albeit surrounded by vacant lots, a daily reminder of the devastation that had transpired.

“After an event like this, the worst I’ve seen, we know that customers like the Pippins can’t be expected to get their business back up and running on their own,” Price said.

Ability

Bricks & Clicks™ Helps Agents
Compete in the Digital Space

Developing an effective website or figuring out how to market on social channels can be a daunting—if not impossible—task for independent insurance agents with limited digital-marketing resources. But thanks to Bricks & Clicks, agents are forging and strengthening customer relationships in the digital space.

Bricks & Clicks provides a growing slate of services, including customized insurance websites optimized for search and mobile, for a small fee. The program also offers online and face-to-face workshops on web-related topics, such as the use of social media to connect with customers.

Bricks & Clicks also recently launched Search-Score, a tool that grades agencies on how easily prospects and customers can find their sites—then provides specific improvement tips.

“We’re providing independent agents with the feedback and tools they need to grow their business,” said Dale Steinke, Bricks & Clicks manager for Safeco Insurance.

The program continues to grow. In 2011, Bricks & Clicks built more than 500 agent websites and provided digital-marketing expertise to more than 2,400 agents.