Fidelity

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Fidelity Guaranty Life presents SalesLink
Enabling the Broker-Agent Presented
byHarry N. Stout Mark Stone September 30,
2002
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Enabling the Broker/Agent
Presentation Overview

• Who we are
• In the beginning
• Lessons Learned
• Case Study 1 - Subscriptions
• Case Study 2 - Sales Marketing Materials
• Case Study 3 - New Business
• A Success Story
• Business Benefits
• What next?

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
Who we are

• Fidelity Guaranty Life Insurance Company
• Incorporated in 1959, we are licensed in 49
  states, the District of Columbia, and in New York
  through our subsidiary, Fidelity Guaranty Life
  of New York.
• 1993 - Began turnaround effort to rebuild
  business after the near bankruptcy of USFG
  Corporation.
• 1997 - Turnaround process completed, economic
  platform for the business rebuilt.
• 1998 - Acquired by St. Paul as part of the merger
  with USFG Corporation, sales double within one
  year.
• 2001 - Acquired by Old Mutual plc.
• Asked to build platform for sustained growth in
  the U.S. market.
• Sales increase 200 over prior year

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
Who we are

• FG Life focuses its activities on the
  development and sale of
• family protection and retirement planning
  products including
• Single (and flexible) premium deferred and
  immediate annuities
• Indexed annuities
• Structured Settlements
• Tax Sheltered Annuities (TSA)
• Term, whole life and universal life contracts
• Distribution channel through independent
  agent/broker network
• Over 150 Master General Agents
• Over 70,000 Writing Agents

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
In the beginning...

• In 1998 we were confronted with the advent of the
  Internet as a means to conduct business.
• It was transitioning from more of a gee whiz
  concept for the public and businesses to an
  actual tool being utilized to streamline business
  operations.
• The problem?
• We werent sure who to target - the agent? our
  policyholders? both?
• What do we build? How much will it cost? Who
  would use it?
• A large portion of our agents were still living
  in the technology dark ages with outdated
  software and hardware and few were Internet
  savvy.

However, given the companys size and new
business volume, we felt were in a position to
utilize the internet to provide value to us and
our customers.
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Enabling the Broker/Agent
In the beginning...

• We decided on a target audience - our agents.
  Why?
• An agent-based web site would enable agents with
  24/7 access to key business information.
• Agents could essentially serve themselves.
• The company could streamline communications,
  product information, policy details -- all things
  related to day-to-day operations - in one
  resource - SalesLink.
• Targeting our policyholders would result in a
  conflict with our distribution channels.
• The shear volume of policyholder traffic could
  result in technology problems we werent yet
  ready to handle.
• But, in the beginning, we encountered
  resistance...

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
In the beginning...

• Our Master General Agents said the majority of
  agents would not use the tool.
• They said we should wait two or three years.
• Despite their criticisms we decided to go ahead
  with our plan as we felt we were headed in the
  right direction.
• The result?
• We have been successful beyond our wildest dreams.

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
Lessons Learned

• Involve the end-user in the early stages of the
  project
• Do they like the navigation?
• What business areas would they like to add?
• Are there areas that can be omitted?
• Build the site not only with the end-user in
  mind but with the end- user.
• Aligning ownership of web-based solutions
  (content, design and development) with our
  Internet Technology and Corporate Communications
  teams enabled the project to be closer to the
  end-user and more of a collaboration between
  business and technology teams.
• Allowed the team to get a better understanding
  of
• What the internal challenges were
• What the agents wanted and needed
• What the challenges were in the marketplace

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
Lessons Learned, contd

• Have excellent documentation throughout the
  project lifecycle
• Makes the process easier
• Decreases unnecessary development time
• Provides the developers with a clear
  understanding of the projects business needs
• Ensures that participating and contributing
  business units fully understand the scope of the
  project
• Allows for a project roadmap throughout the
  various phases planning - development -
  production - testing - implementation
• Test the site repeatedly, with as many of the
  stakeholders as possible. We utilized
• External and Internal focus groups
• Pilot programs with agents to ensure
  functionality and suitability
• Formal agent surveys

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
Case Study 1

• Email Subscriptions
• Problem
• The company needed a way to get information to
  agents without requiring them to come to us.
• Agents were being inundated with too much paper
  from a variety of constituents - our company
  included.
• Consolidation of our communication efforts was
  essential!
• Solution
• Via SalesLinks Subscription feature, we
• Reduced the number of incoming calls to our Sales
  Support and Service Centers.
• Anticipates the information needs of the agents
  and pushes information to them before they ask
  for it.
• For agents, this results in less time spent on
  the phone with our office and more time
  focusing on their business.

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
Case Study 1

• Solution, contd
• Via SalesLinks Subscription feature, we
• Are able to help our agents streamline their
  business by "pushing" regular email reports
  including
• The latest interest rates
• Whats New items
• New business and commission data
• Product updates
• Details on new contests/promotions
• Results
• Subscriptions provides us with an audience
  seeking information from us.
• With over 39,000 active agent accounts, 900,000
  monthly hits, 5,000 unique visitors per month,
  and nearly 15,000 daily agent email subscribers,
  SalesLink has become our primary tool for
  communication and
  promotional needs.

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
Case Study 2

• New Business Functionality
• Problem
• Agents were relying heavily on phone contact to
  track new business and to inquire about open
  requirements
• Sales Support staff were being overwhelmed with
  phone calls which resulted in long hold-times,
  high call abandonment and angry agents.
• Solution
• The New Business section of SalesLink
• Empowered our agents to manage their business by
  having the information they need most prominently
  featured on the homepage via quick links.
• Displays the status of pending cases and
  identifies outstanding requirements.

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
Case Study 2

• Solution, contd
• The New Business section of SalesLink
• Allows Master General Agents to monitor agents
  and policies with the Agent and Policy WatchList
  features
• Enables agents to check the receipt of submitted
  annuity applications
• Results
• Our agents are now more self-sufficient and
  less-reliant on day-to-day phone contact.
• New business has provided agents with a window
  to the factory -- they now have access to much
  of the information needed to maintain a pseudo
  home office environment.
• SalesLink has quickly become the primary tool our
  agents use to meet their business needs.

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
Case Study 3

• Sales Marketing Materials
• Problem
• Due to an influx of new business, service to
  agents was suffering.
• As demand for products increased, and
  correspondingly the materials that promoted them,
  it was not possible to handle materials requests
  efficiently.
• Solution
• A Sales Materials section was developed in
  SalesLink
• Agents are able to download, print and order
  their own materials
• Results
• We have better inventory management control as we
  are able to establish order limits for sales
  materials, brochures, etc.
• SalesLink has provided an annual reduction in
  excess of 1,000,000 through decreased
  fulfillment costs of Sales Marketing Materials.

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
A success story

• Of those agents that have produced business over
  the last 12 months, we
• have witnessed the following results
• On the Brokerage Life side of the business
• Active Producing Agents (with production of
  2,000 and above) 5,079
• Number of those agents who are SalesLink users
  80
• Percentage of life production that comes from
  SalesLink users 96
• On the Brokerage Annuity side of the business
• Active Producing Agents (with production of
  10,000 and above) 11,031
• Number of those agents who are SalesLink users
  34
• Percentage of annuity production that comes from
  SalesLink users 72

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
A success story

• SalesLink visitors use the site an average of
  twice daily to
• Check the status of pending applications
• Review commission statements
• View content that is filtered specifically for
  the visitor
• Access, download and order sales and materials
• Check current interest rates
• Obtain product specifications and availability
• Check contest standings
• View the status of agent appointments

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
Business Benefits

• Investment in site development and maintenance
  has totaled 3 million dollars over a 3 year
  period. We currently realize savings of nearly
  2 million a year. Savings realized fall
  primarily within two areas
• Processing requests for marketing materials
• Agents are able to download and print their own
  materials from our Sales Materials section
• We have better inventory management control as we
  are able to establish order limits for sales
  materials, brochures, etc.
• Downloads of illustration software
• Software was previously placed on CD-ROM and
  shipped to agents. With an agent base of nearly
  70,000, production and fulfillment costs were
  staggering.

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
Business Benefits

• Continued company growth necessitated a different
  approach to service - the correct utilization and
  uses of SalesLink have reduced frustration levels
  and increased the amount of time service
  representatives can focus on proactive issues.
• Agents have 24/7 access to the information they
  need, when they need it most
• Early on, we determined that we could put 90 of
  tasks on the web site and make it a tool agents
  can use any time - day or night.
• SalesLink is completely Internet-based
• Agents do not need special hardware or software
  to access the contents.

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Enabling the Broker/Agent
What next?

• Increased site utilization from our key
  stakeholders
• Current FG Life agent users of SalesLink
• Current FG Life agent non-SalesLink users
• Newly appointed FG Life agents
• Master General Agents
• FG Life employees
• With the help of our parent company, Old Mutual
  plc, we plan to strengthen the infrastructure
  that supports the site.
• Focus on agent feedback as it will, ultimately,
  drive site updates, system and design
  enhancements.
• Better agent understanding of the sites
  functionality
• We hope to witness a noticeable shift in the
  types of inquiries received.
• Transition from basic assists (ex. agents seeking
  passwords) to
• those encountering systematic or functional
  problems.