LOCAL ASSISTANCE

Providing local assistance to franchisees reflects Brooke's long held belief that face-to-face communication is more effective than telephone or e-mail communication. Brooke also believes franchisees benefit from discussions with local managers who know the franchisees' local circumstances. The people providing local assistance to franchisees include:

Regional Managers
Recognizing the importance of local assistance to franchisees, Brooke established a network of regional offices located in Kansas City , Denver , Dallas , Nashville and Sacramento . Regional offices are the first source of local assistance to franchisees. Regional managers supervise the activities of all area managers and maintain insurance company relationships for their regions.

Area Managers
Regional offices were originally charged with the direct responsibility of assisting all franchisees in their region. However, as the number of franchise locations grew, it became increasingly difficult for regional office personnel to travel to all franchise locations for regular visits. To stay close to their franchisees, regional offices began establishing area offices and area managers assumed direct responsibility for assisting franchisees.

Service Center Managers
In some areas, Brooke has established service center locations that allow franchisees to reduce expenses by sharing the services of customer service representatives and use of office space with other franchisees. A local service center manager coordinates the services provided to franchisees in a service center location.

Placement Center Managers
Brooke recently implemented an experimental program to provide service center type services on an "a la carte" basis to franchisees who are not located in the service center. In selected areas, franchisees may request assistance from customer service representatives in the underwriting , submission and quoting, or placement, of individual commercial policies. These activities are coordinated by a local placement center manager.