Five Star Professional contracts a third party research firm, QMI Research, to conduct the Five Star Business Insurance and Benefits Professional research methodology using objective market research methods. For the purposes of this research, business insurance and benefits professionals include those individuals involved in the negotiating and establishing of employee and company benefits. The research objective is to develop a list of business insurance and benefits professionals in a given market who score highest in overall satisfaction, based on an objective market research methodology that takes into account client evaluations (C) in nine categories, with adjustments to reflect regulatory compliance reviews (R^adj), and Panel of Industry Experts reviews (PIE^adj). The foregoing can be expressed as:

Overall Score = C – Radj +/– PIEadj

QMI Research administers a survey, by phone, to over 10,000 small businesses in a market area. For the purposes of this research, a small business is defined as a business that employs 10-250 employees. Each respondent is asked to evaluate only business insurance and benefits professionals whom they have worked with and evaluate them based upon nine criteria: customer service, integrity, knowledge and experience, employer communication, employee communication, offers a variety of options, quality of recommendations, post-sale-service, and overall satisfaction. Each respondent may evaluate up to three business insurance and benefits professionals.

After the evaluation surveys are received, each business insurance and benefits professional is given a Client Score. Both favorable and unfavorable evaluations are incorporated.

Each business insurance and benefits professional is reviewed for regulatory/disciplinary action as reported by state regulatory agencies and given a Regulatory Adjustment Score. In order to be named a Five Star Business Insurance and Benefits Professional, an individual must be licensed with the state and be in good standing.

QMI Research then prepares a preliminary list of results for review by a company-selected Panel of Industry Experts, professional and trade-association officers and others directly involved in the employee benefits industry. A Panel of Industry Experts reviews each business insurance and benefits professional appearing on the preliminary list. As part of their review and evaluation, panelists are able to recommend additional business insurance and benefits professionals for inclusion and to recommend business insurance and benefits professionals for removal from the preliminary list (based on objective criteria). Checks and balances are in place to avoid conflicts of interest; specifically, panelists remain anonymous, only receive a portion of the preliminary list and, in most cases, cannot add or remove a business insurance and benefits professional by themselves.

After reviewed by a Panel of Industry Experts, QMI Research determines each business insurance and benefits professional’s Overall Score. The Overall Score is calculated using the following formula:

Overall Score = C – Radj +/– PIEadj

Where:

C = Client Score, an objective measure of client responses

Radj = Regulatory Adjustment, an objective measure of regulatory history

BRPadj = Panel of Industry Experts Adjustment, an objective analysis of comments received from a panel of local experts.

The final list is set by sorting the business insurance and benefits professionals by their Overall Score in descending order. The Cutoff Score is determined to be the point where the number of Overall Scores that exceed the Cutoff Score is equal to or less than 7% of the market’s business insurance and benefits professional population. Those business insurance and benefits professionals with an Overall Score equal to or greater than the Cutoff Score are included on the qualifying Five Star Business Insurance and Benefits Professional list.

QMI Research then sends a notification letter with business contact confirmation form submission information to the qualifying Five Star Business Insurance and Benefits Professionals. Within the confirmation form, the business insurance and benefits professional is asked to certify that their license has never been suspended or revoked by a regulating authority. Business Insurance and Benefits Professionals that are unable or unwilling to verify contact information or to provide the required certifications are excluded from the final list. Business Insurance and Benefits Professionals are required to submit their completed business contact confirmation form online to be listed.

Once the list is finalized, the partnering business publication will publish an article, prepared by Five Star Professional, which describes the evaluation process and presents the resulting list of Five Star Business Insurance and Benefits Professionals. The Program is not administered in the same market more often than once each year.

Business insurance and benefits professionals do not pay a fee to be included in the evaluation process or to be named as a Five Star Business Insurance and Benefits Professional. In connection with publication of the article, business insurance and benefits professionals may elect to pay a fee to include a photo and certain profile information in the “profiles” section that accompanies the article. For additional fees, Five Star Professional will (i) provide reprints of the section article and (ii) provide the business insurance and benefits professional with strategies for further publicizing being named as a Five Star Business Insurance and Benefits Professional. A business insurance and benefits professional’s purchase of a profile, reprints or company services does not influence Five Star Professional's determination whether or not to include or exclude a particular business insurance and benefits professional from a later list of Five Star Business Insurance and Benefits Professionals.

Please remember the final list identifies precisely what the evaluation process is designed to do:

		it identifies those business insurance and benefits professional who scored highest in overall satisfaction, of those business insurance and benefits professionals evaluated;

		based on extensive surveying of small businesses on nine client satisfaction criteria;

		based on a review of regulatory history;

		and review of the list by a Panel of Industry Experts.

Research Declarations:

The list is not intended to be exhaustive – in fact the section article within the magazine will state:

	“Although this list will certainly be a useful tool for anyone looking for a business insurance and benefits professional, it should not be considered exhaustive. Undoubtedly, there are many other excellent business insurance and benefits professionals who, for one reason or another, are not on this year’s list.”

The following additional declarations are included in the section article:

		The Five Star Business Insurance and Benefits Professionals do not pay a fee to be included in the research or the final list of Five Star Business Insurance and Benefits Professionals.

		The overall evaluation score of a business insurance and benefits professional reflects an average of all respondents and may not be representative of any one client’s experience.

		The Five Star Award is not indicative of the business insurance and benefits professional’s future performance.

		The inclusion of a business insurance and benefits professional on the Five Star Business Insurance and Benefits Professional list should not be construed as an endorsement of the professional by Five Star Professional or the partnering business publication.