SWOT Analysis
Strengths
•The inherent strength and integrity of the State Farm brand as a property & casualty insurer.
•The depth and breadth of the product lines available through State Farm.
•A viable geographic market that has demonstrated respectable strength and growth in a tentative economy.
•A predominantly white-collar and diverse economy (medical, professional, governmental, educational, and tourism) with a natural predisposition for the State Farm line of products.
•Relationships with securities customers are more resilient than those based exclusively on insurance.
•Experienced real estate broker with proven sales, business development, and networking abilities.
Weaknesses
•Brand strength as a property & casualty insurer overshadows and limits the perception of and expansion into a broader financial services segment.
•Auto insurance is highly competitive and rate sensitive. State Farm does not have the brand inertia and loyalty with Generations X and Y that it has enjoyed with prior consumer segments.
•The Washington County unemployment rate is higher than the State average.
•Online marketing is drastically underutilized in the insurance industry as a whole. A recent report stated that 48% of independent insurance agents have web sites, and of those, only about 20% keep the sites updated.
•Securities products have not been aggressively marketed in Washington County.
Opportunities
•Maintain the existing “auto insurance as lost leader” model for multi-lining while dedicating a financial services representative to aggressively market directly to that segment’s growth and capitalize upon the nation’s transference of wealth phenomenon.
•Design an approach that shields the agency from auto insurance rate sensitivities and health insurance reform uncertainties.
•While the overall Washington County household market penetration of 20.6-25.6% is commendable, growth to 30% does not seem unreasonable. County-wide penetration levels of 1.4-1.6% for State Farm Bank suggest room for considerable growth.
•The auto and fire penetration levels for Abingdon are 19.4% and 12%, respectively, signaling potential market-specific growth for these product lines.
•2010 Census Data will be available in March 2011. Revisit and refresh this plan as needed at that time.
•Promote Life, Bank, and Mutual Fund products to the market’s 47% medical, professional, governmental, educational, and tourism professionals.
•Target the county’s 30% of households with a presence of children below the age of 18 for Education Savings, Life Insurance.
•Solicit rental coverage from the county’s 6,000 rental households.