Five Star Professional assists professionals in effectively marketing themselves, and their award, to enhance their business results. Because the award is based on sound research methodology, and comes from an independent third party, it can be the cornerstone of an effective marketing program that positively differentiates the professional from their competition.

Research – evaluation/selection methodology summary

		We asked homeowners and readers of the area magazine, as well as mortgage and title companies to evaluate home/auto insurance professionals with whom they have had direct/personal experience.

		After the evaluations are received, the research company (QMI Research – an Affiliate Company of Crescendo) validates that each professional holds a current license and has no known history of disciplinary action.

		Then each professional receives a preliminary score based on the professional’s evaluations. The scoring algorithm takes into account the quality of each evaluation. The evaluation form asks the respondent to evaluate the professional on two categories of performance: overall satisfaction and whether they would highly recommend them to a friend.

		We then compile a list of the top scoring professionals – representing less than 7% of the professionals in the market who hold a current license – which we forward on to a Panel of Industry Experts for review. Each Panelist reviews a partial list of professionals and is asked to indicate which professionals they believe are undeserving of the Five Star award and to indicate professionals they believe are deserving, but are not on their partial list. Checks and balances are in place to avoid conflicts of interest; specifically, panelists remain anonymous, only receive a portion of the selected professional list, and cannot add or remove an professional by themselves.

		After a Panel of Industry Experts review, the list is finalized. Please remember the final list identifies precisely what the call for evaluations is designed to do … it identifies many of the “Five Star Professionals” in the market. The list is not intended to be exhaustive – in fact the verbiage we use in the editorial is as follows:

	Although this list will certainly be a useful tool for anyone buying or selling a home, it should not be considered exhaustive. Undoubtedly, there are many other excellent home/auto insurance professionals who, for one reason or another, are not on this year’s list.

The following research declarations are included in the section editorial:

As with any research or recognition program, it is important that we provide you the following declarations:

		The Five Star Home/Auto Insurance Professionals do not pay a fee to be included in the research or the final list of Five Star Home/Auto Insurance Professionals.

		The overall evaluation score of a home/auto insurance 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 home/auto insurance professional’s future performance.

		The inclusion of a home/auto insurance professional on the Five Star Home/Auto Insurance Professional list should not be construed as an endorsement of the home/auto insurance professional by Five Star Professional or the magazine.

Please remember that through this evaluation/selection methodology, it is possible:

		Some top producers may not make the list. It all depends on whether the respondents (their clients or the PIE) selected them and scored them highly. It is about overall satisfaction, not $ of sales.

		There are professionals who make the list that some fellow professionals don’t believe should have made the list. Our methodology is very rigorous, but there are always a few professionals who make the list that are questioned. Generally, we find that less than ¼ of 1% of the names on the list are questioned.