St. Paul Introduces ?MainStreet'

By Mark E. Ruquet

NU Online News Service, March 7, 10:20 a.m. EST, NEWYORK?Celebrating the company's 150^th birthday,the head of The St. Paul Companies marked the occasion Wednesday byintroducing a new small commercial product that underscores what hesaid is the company's re-focused position on success.

Jay Fishman, chairman and chief executive officer of the St.Paul, Minn.-based company, introduced the company's new offering ofsmall commercial coverage to more than 200 independent agents fromthe New York area. The introduction is part of a multistate tourthat he said is designed to introduce what he felt had been "a biggap" in the company's offerings, small commercial insurance.

Mr. Fishman said the company's latest venture is part of therepositioning the company has been going through since he took over18 months ago. When he came on board, he said, the St. Paul wasviewed as a niche player "not properly focused on success."

To be successful, he said, the company had to become moremainstream and needed to exit businesses that "threatened itsfuture."

One of those exits was medical malpractice, which Mr. Fishmansaid he felt if the company had not exited, "would have sunk thecompany."

Aiming to become a "key trading partner" with agents, the St.Paul has transformed its attitude and focus, working to provideproducts agents need for their clients.

The new offering, called "St. Paul MainStreet," is designed forcommercial small-business clients with revenues of less than $15million and less than 100 employees, the company said.

The strategy behind growth with this product, said MaritaZuraitis, president and chief executive officer, commercial lines,is to have lines of insurance products for agents to "grow with thecustomer" as the client's business grows.

The aim, Ms. Zuraitis noted, is that St. Paul is looking tobecome one of the top three markets agents go to for theirclients.

Marc Schmittlein, president, small commercial, said the companyasked agents what they need and expect for a successful smallcommercial lines practice. St. Paul responded by adding newregional sales directors and state account executives to facilitateagents to develop their new accounts with the carrier.

The company's "Main Street" coverage is designed to becompetitive with other companies' commercial lines throughout thecountry, said Mr. Schmittlein. The new product line has beenapproved in 24 states, with approval for rate and coverage in NewYork expected in April.

He noted that small commercial makes up a large amount of anagency's business, but only a small proportion of its profit?the80-20 rule, 80 percent of the business but only 20 percent ofprofit.

Agents also said they wanted a more cost effective line. Thecompany responded by setting up a customer service center inAtlanta for commercial clients. Mr. Schmittlein is looking atsetting up a second facility on the West Coast.

The last leg to providing a small commercial line agents willwant to use is technology, Mr. Schmittlein explained. He saidSPCXpress is the company's online application process that cansimplify applying for coverage online.

The software allows agents to fill out an application online.With simple risks, a policy can be quoted and purchased in a matterof minutes, the company said. More complicated applications willreceive an answer within 24 hours.

"After you've spent a whole day getting a lead, we'd better beable to respond quickly to you," observed Mr. Fishman. "There isnothing worse than a slow ?no.'"

He added, "We are not looking to push our product on you, ourgoal is to respond to your needs."