HOULTON — F. A. Peabody Company is part of an elite group of independent insurance agencies around the United States participating in the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA) “Best Practices” Study Group.
Each year since 1993, IIABA and Reagan Consulting, an Atlanta-based management/consulting firm, join forces to study the country’s leading agencies in six revenue categories. The agencies comprising the study groups are selected every third year through a comprehensive nomination and qualifying process and awarded a “Best Practices Agency” designation. The selected “Best Practices” agencies retain their status during the three-year cycle by submitting extensive financial and operational data for review each year.
Contributed photo
BEST PRACTICES — F.A. Peabody Company received a “Best Practices” designation Oct. 25 from the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America. Showing off the award are, from left, Amanda Dunn, manager, Lincoln; Ken White, sales manager, Hampden; Bob Norman, manager, Calais; Troy Heald, manager, Caribou; Carol Curtis, manager, Sherman; Peter Holmes, chief financial officer, Houlton; Chelsea Henderson, PHR, Houlton; Tom Clowes, manager, Presque Isle; Chris Anderson, president, Houlton; Ben Lynds, vice president of information systems, Houlton; Julie Bradstreet, manager, Mars Hill; Gregg Swallow, vice president of marketing, Houlton; Marcene Long, vice president of insurance services, Houlton; and Max Lynds, vice president of life and benefits, Houlton.
Chris Anderson, president of F. A. Peabody Company, said “We typically participate in the study to compare ourselves against other agency’s best standards. I was pleasantly surprised to learn we were selected as an agency by which others would measure against us.”
More than 1,100 independent agencies throughout the U.S. were nominated to take part in the annual study, but only 216 agencies qualified for the honor. To be chosen, the agency had to be among the 35-45 top-performing agencies in one of six revenue categories.
The agency was nominated by either an IIABA affiliated state association or an insurance company and qualified based on its operational excellence.
The Best Practices Study was initiated by IIABA in 1993 as the foundation for efforts to improve agency performance. The annual survey and study of leading independent insurance agencies documents the business practices of the “best” agencies and urges others to adopt similar practices.
The F. A. Peabody Company was founded in 1927 and is a multi-line property casualty and financial services agency offering insurance products from several regional and national companies. FAPCO has eight offices located throughout northern and central Maine. To learn more, visit www.fapeabody.com.
