"In your time we have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society but upward to the Great Society." President Lyndon B. Johnson

Here we are on the brink of a new year, and so many exciting changes are taking place at United American. 2002 was a transitional year, and also one we have learned from and are improving upon. 2003 stretches out before us full of promise and opportunity, and I am confident we are prepared for a most profitable future.

At the Branch Managers’ Meeting in December, I set forth two primary objectives to our Managers. The first is to increase our recruiting efforts and thus our First Year Agent production. Recruiting should be 90% of each Branch Manager’s focus, everyday. The second is to continue to diversify by growing our market share in Underage Health. Let me elaborate:

Recruiting
A strong correlation exists between recruiting and sales. It’s simple logic — the more recruits, the more sales.

UA has begun a rigorous program of seminar recruiting (see Vision Dec. ‘02). The idea of only relying upon traditional one-on-one interviews has been re-examined, and a new method has been added and adopted to strengthen our marketing by drawing upon fresh ideas from a focus on new Agents added from outside our industry. In the fourth quarter 2002, we have seen excellent results from seminar recruiting, and the new ideas brought by these people from other industries have been superb, which you have most likely experienced in your own Branch. Meanwhile, we have continued our individual interviews throughout each week as well.

Underage Health
Our goal is for Underage Health to represent 50% of Branch production, while at the same time increasing our senior production. As it stands, Underage Health accounts for roughly a third of overall production, so 50% should be very achievable soon.

Several changes are in or are coming into effect to help us towards that goal. A new Partners program is rolling out, which features a superb new Underage Provider Network program and a new prescription network that includes Walgreen’s and Walmart (see full details pgs. 6-7). Our Underage customers will be able to continue to go to any hospital they wish and receive the benefits they have always enjoyed. However, if customers subscribe to the Provider Network program, they can save 20-45 percent on

provider services.

We will first roll out the Provider Network for new issues only; once that is successfully in place, we will then offer it to current customers. New Underage Marketing plans have been shared between all branches by the dozens. Best of all, the market timing for all of these improvements could not be better; so stay tuned — 2003 is going to be a very exciting and eventful year for UA’s Branch Office Division.

While these two areas have been the focus, additional focus has been applied to improvements in other product areas as well. For Life, the new Deposit Fund Rider (see Vision Nov. ‘02) has been introduced as an added benefit to the RT-85. This new rider is an excellent investment tool for our Life customers and will aid every Agent in the sale of additional RT-85 policies. In the Med-Supp arena, changes have been made to encourage sales on a better mix of plans, and changes in underwriting have been successfully adopted to reduce rate increases. Evidence of this has already been seen in nearly every state, and it will only get better as the effects of these quality controls continue to be realized over this year.

Last, but certainly not least, our new President’s Council was announced in December (see Vision Dec. ‘02). I am very impressed with this year’s Council, all of whom have really stepped up to the plate as UA’s leadership. The Council has agreed to take on a new mentoring role to help fellow Branch Managers and their teams excel, by sharing their own principles of success on a weekly basis. This Council truly embodies the spirit of United American, which is that we each take an active interest in one another’s success.

And that’s what we’re aiming for this year — unbridled, shining success. Our action plans are on the mark. Not only will great success be ours, but we will become better than we’ve ever been as a result of all of your effective implementation of these plans. In fact, UA’s future is so much brighter that we had all better be in the market for some darker shades and some stronger Hawaiian Tropic! A year of outstanding progress is what 2003 is all about, so be healthy, wealthy, wise and most importantly, be always active! We must count on each other this year, and, as we do, we’ll make UA the very best that our company can be.