Focusing on the Little Things
By: Bob Fulwider
Spring has finally made its way to Iowa. And like many of your states, it’s been a long time coming! Jan and I have started our first round of new plantings—ornamentals, grasses and other annuals and perennials. This time of year always brings back memories of my childhood. When you grow up on a working farm you see new growth “springing forward” year-round, but it’s especially apparent this time of year. I have fond memories of time spent with both of my grandmothers—marveling at how they worked the family gardens.
My grandma Siders was as conservative as they come—her methodology stemmed from her struggles of raising a family of six during the Great Depression. She planted rows so close together I know her seed count far outdistanced today’s agricultural recommendations. Nothing but the very basics were included in her plantings—enough to eat during the summer months, with plenty left for canning and processing to get her through the winter. Flowers that bloomed were considered wasteful because their true beauty was short lived.
My grandma Hipple was quite the opposite. She subscribed to every seed catalog in the nation and bought from most of them. Her garden graced the entire western bank of the city limits of Springdale, Iowa. I got my first tastes of rutabaga, salsify, ground cherries and spaghetti squash from her harvest. If something new was on the list of possibilities, she planted it and made it a staple in future gardens. What amazed me most, and continues to be the strongest image in my mind, were the little tiny things she planted. By her towering seeded asparagus field were Tiny Tim tomatoes. Next to the gorgeous, dark purple peony bushes were tiny little blue flowers. She had an eye for the beautiful and really cared about “the little things” and it was these “little things” that made her gardens famous. I asked her once why she spent so much time planting and cultivating the miniatures. Her reply: “Anyone can do great and significant things if he or she puts a mind to it, but it’s the little things in life that really count and set those who really care apart from those who only care about themselves.”
My garden marveling ended with my childhood. I tried vegetable gardening on several occasions, but decided farmers’ markets were created for a reason. However my grandma’s message of cultivating the “little things” never left me and it remains a motto utilized in my agency today. Unfortunately many of us feel we no longer have time to display or practice the “little things.” We’re too busy doing much of the company’s workload attempting to capture or retain an account. We know those “little things” should and could make a difference, but we often remind ourselves to keep our operations lean and mean in these soft market times.
Yet there are many “little things” that can and do make a difference. I’m speaking of management practices and the host of things our association provides each and every one of us in our day-to-day operations. For example:
Virtual University—The online library of everything you need to know to do your job better, a place to go for online training and certification, a site to challenge your company in underwriting or handling a claim via the “Ask the Expert” service. VU gets turned on each morning right after I turn on the work station, bring up my data management system and engage Real Time.
Best Practices—At a recent state convention where I was a speaker, an agent approached me stating my comments about Best Practices weren’t that important because only a handful of his state’s agencies are recognized. I told him that’s not the point. Qualifying as a Best Practicing agency is a great achievement and should be a goal of every progressive agency within the Big “I.” Plus, utilizing the array of information and programs Best Practices offers is the most important thing we can do in emulating those agencies who have proven to be the best.
Contract Review—Your national office maintains a legal staff bar none. Part of its never-ending responsibilities involves researching and measuring your individual company contracts against the association’s recommended templates.
Technical Affairs Committee—Do you know of something written in the policy language of one of your carriers that seems counter-productive to what you are attempting to deliver as a product? Your association has a means of discussing and many times actually changing that standard wording. We are the only trade association still advocating in favor of constant policy substance review and are continually getting results.
That’s just four “little things” you can use to make your agency garden beautiful and, in return, provide value to someone else—your clients, staff, community and the industry. So start planting!
Bob Fulwider
Chairman
My grandma Siders was as conservative as they come—her methodology stemmed from her struggles of raising a family of six during the Great Depression. She planted rows so close together I know her seed count far outdistanced today’s agricultural recommendations. Nothing but the very basics were included in her plantings—enough to eat during the summer months, with plenty left for canning and processing to get her through the winter. Flowers that bloomed were considered wasteful because their true beauty was short lived.
My grandma Hipple was quite the opposite. She subscribed to every seed catalog in the nation and bought from most of them. Her garden graced the entire western bank of the city limits of Springdale, Iowa. I got my first tastes of rutabaga, salsify, ground cherries and spaghetti squash from her harvest. If something new was on the list of possibilities, she planted it and made it a staple in future gardens. What amazed me most, and continues to be the strongest image in my mind, were the little tiny things she planted. By her towering seeded asparagus field were Tiny Tim tomatoes. Next to the gorgeous, dark purple peony bushes were tiny little blue flowers. She had an eye for the beautiful and really cared about “the little things” and it was these “little things” that made her gardens famous. I asked her once why she spent so much time planting and cultivating the miniatures. Her reply: “Anyone can do great and significant things if he or she puts a mind to it, but it’s the little things in life that really count and set those who really care apart from those who only care about themselves.”
My garden marveling ended with my childhood. I tried vegetable gardening on several occasions, but decided farmers’ markets were created for a reason. However my grandma’s message of cultivating the “little things” never left me and it remains a motto utilized in my agency today. Unfortunately many of us feel we no longer have time to display or practice the “little things.” We’re too busy doing much of the company’s workload attempting to capture or retain an account. We know those “little things” should and could make a difference, but we often remind ourselves to keep our operations lean and mean in these soft market times.
Yet there are many “little things” that can and do make a difference. I’m speaking of management practices and the host of things our association provides each and every one of us in our day-to-day operations. For example:
Virtual University—The online library of everything you need to know to do your job better, a place to go for online training and certification, a site to challenge your company in underwriting or handling a claim via the “Ask the Expert” service. VU gets turned on each morning right after I turn on the work station, bring up my data management system and engage Real Time.
Best Practices—At a recent state convention where I was a speaker, an agent approached me stating my comments about Best Practices weren’t that important because only a handful of his state’s agencies are recognized. I told him that’s not the point. Qualifying as a Best Practicing agency is a great achievement and should be a goal of every progressive agency within the Big “I.” Plus, utilizing the array of information and programs Best Practices offers is the most important thing we can do in emulating those agencies who have proven to be the best.
Contract Review—Your national office maintains a legal staff bar none. Part of its never-ending responsibilities involves researching and measuring your individual company contracts against the association’s recommended templates.
Technical Affairs Committee—Do you know of something written in the policy language of one of your carriers that seems counter-productive to what you are attempting to deliver as a product? Your association has a means of discussing and many times actually changing that standard wording. We are the only trade association still advocating in favor of constant policy substance review and are continually getting results.
That’s just four “little things” you can use to make your agency garden beautiful and, in return, provide value to someone else—your clients, staff, community and the industry. So start planting!
Bob Fulwider
Chairman
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