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Report on Bhurban convention

State Life on

sound footing

BHURBAN: The unprecedented Rs 2 billion first-year premium target State Life has set for itself bears eloquent testimony to the revitalized Corporation's image and buoyant financial health. That this target will be achieved was evident in the upbeat mood of the participants of the State Life Convention'95 at Bhurban.

Inaugurating the two-day Convention of over 350 State Life members, Chairman M Zaheer Khan, congratulated the field force elements, (the majority of the conventioneers), who had won the privilege to be at Bhurban by winning in the participation competition. He told them that their presence signified not only achievement of their own personal targets, but also those of their corporation. Lauding the field force he said, that any organization would be proud to have such bold and hard workers who have proved their worth by becoming successful in a demanding profession like life insurance selling, where accepting and surmounting challenges is the secret of survival.

All the basic and fundamental steps taken, Zaheer Khan said, were aimed at removing the field force's problems, increasing their productivity and providing ever better and more efficient service to them and their policyholders. The creation of new regions and zones and institution of the meritorious promotion scheme have guaranteed significant results in a very short time. With scientific planning in their working methods they could, he told them, scale even higher business peaks. For this he asked for and they promised him 18 hours work everyday.

M Hafiz Malik, Executive Director (S&D), in his welcome address highlighted the gains made by State Life in 1994. The major structural changes wrought by M Zaheer Khan, he said, had within the short period of only 8 months resulted in collection of Rs 1.6 billion first-year premium in 1994. This was a massive 30 percent increase over the previous year's figure. 300,000 new policies were clear evidence of the new spirit of the corporation. He was positive that the 1995 Rs 2 billion FYP 75% renewal and 92% renewal targets would not only be met but surmounted.

The manifestations of the major changes were not limited to Pakistan and individual life insurance alone, but were evident in the sales figures of the international division and group insurance also. The international division had an 83% increase. They wrote 1468 new policies and collected Rs 32.87 million first year premium. Group insurance premium collection was, for the first time, more than Rs 1 billion, while more than Rs 390 million were paid out as claims. Special gains were also made by the real estate division too. Today State Life's real estate book value stands at Rs 3 billion plus, speaking volumes for the corporation's financial stability.

The steps that resulted in these figures were those taken to facilitate policyholders, their heirs and the field force, M Hafiz Malik told the convention participants. An effective advertising campaign and new literature, expressly designed to motivate future policyholders, has had an extremely beneficial effect and proved instrumental in recording 1994's phenomenal growth. He highly praised the professional approach and working of the S&D, A&SP and HRD departments of the corporation.

After the inaugural addresses, the Chairman presented gold medals to the top qualifiers, M A Majeed, Javed Iqbal Minhas, Mansoor A Shiraz, Sohail Rasul, Begum Narjis Taqi Shah, Mushtaq Ahmed, Siddiq Akbar, Shahid Rasul, Asif Nawaz Khan, Z U Ansari, Mansoor Dildar and Aslam Mulla.

For the State Life'95 conventioneers, Bhurban while being a welcome and well deserved change from their routines in Pakistan and abroad, was at the same time a place where their seniors gave them freely from their stores of hard earned experience. Tahawar Ali Khan, Regional Chief (Northern) told them about "customer services" and the central role it plays in the life insurance business. Policyholders and sales representatives are customers. If they are not provided proper customer service the whole corporation will feel the ill-effects. It is incumbent on all the different departments who support the front line workers and policyholders to provide them prompt; professional and efficient service. Claim examiners, underwriters, the training department and administrative support staff, by extending their best efforts to "customer service" could enhance the corporation's goodwill many time over.

Zafar Abbas Shah, Regional Chief South speaking on "quality recruitment", told the conventioneers that new blood is the life force of the life insurance business. He asked them to be selective so that the highest quality cadres are inducted.

Speech competitions were also held between area managers, sales managers and sales officers. The area managers gave their views on "How we will achieve the target of FYP of Rs 2 billion set by the Corporation". The next session was on "How to improve Customer Service for better Persistency and Renewal Premium", by the Sales Managers. "How to increase manpower and activity ratios" was the topic elaborated on by the Sales Officers. Coming from active competition winning, experienced and active members of the field force, these speech competitions were treasures of information and a refresher course for the listeners.

The State Life'95 Convention was notable as it was the first time that the participants included such big numbers of the field force. And it was also the first convention coming after the major and innovative structural changes in State Life. The spirits of the Conventioneers evidenced the efficacy of these changes.