2006 'Trading Season' in full swing.

There are only a limited number of new accounts available in the world of high quality, low risk--preferred--auto business. Sure, people move into an area, some people achieve preferred status, and some new drivers come along, but since the opposite is also true--deaths, negative changes in quality of risk, family moves, etc.--the pool remains relatively static tied to general population figures.

So this year, as always, companies will trade business with other companies. One company is going to take some of what Company X considers their best business and vice versa. Chances are, many competing company managers will review results at the end of the year and say," It was a pretty good year. We showed some growth and made a profit."

But how did they do on the trades? Do they have a mechanism in place to evaluate the quality of the new preferred business compared to the business lost through trades? Would that be a meaningful measure of success?

Some company managers appear to make a real effort to determine why quality business is lost to the competition, while others are more inclined to simply look at bottom-line statistics. In view of the highly competitive nature of the game, evaluation of the trading dynamics may be a good call.

Adrian Frodge

Regional Manager

URI Information Services 

Kirkwood, Mo.