Media room

March 16, 2005

Minneapolis Sales Office Earns Multiple Awards

Individuals and team honored by Assurant Employee Benefits

MINNEAPOLIS – Assurant Employee Benefits has honored the sales team and support staff of the Minneapolis Group Sales Office with multiple awards for performance in 2004. The four individual awards and one team award recognize outstanding sales performance achieved by providing creative employee benefit solutions to meet the unique needs of employers and brokers.

Awards earned by the team include:

• The Office of the Year Award. Assurant Employee Benefits presented two Office of the Year awards this year, based on sales volume categories.
• The President's Award – Pat Sir, the team's sales manager.
• The Senior Vice President's Award – Sir.
• True Group Sales Leaders – Sir and Senior Sales Executive Brian Dawood.

Winners of the Office of the Year Award are selected for excellence in premium production, managed underwriting, budgeting and customer satisfaction, and success in exceeding the office's annual goal.

“The Minneapolis sales office is among our top performers because our associates there have embraced, as a group, the partnership approach to employee benefits,” said Chris Calos, senior vice president for distribution. “Like all our top performers, they work hard to develop the expertise to serve as benefits consultants to help employers solve problems and explore new possibilities.”

The President's Award is the single most prestigious award that can be earned by a member of the sales organization. The winner demonstrates the highest level of professionalism and contribution to the company and generates the most expected profit from new sales for the company. This is Sir's seventh time to win the award in his 20-year tenure with the company.

The Senior Vice President's Award recognizes outstanding performance by sales representatives who submit the most true group or voluntary business premium. Sir submitted more than $6.1 million in true group new business premium.

Sir and Dawood earned True Group Sales Leader Awards, which are presented to sales representatives who achieved $3 million in sales or 150 percent of their sales goal. True Group products are sold to companies that provide them to employees as part of a compensation package.

Dawood submitted more than $3.2 million in true group sales.

“As the team awards indicate, there is a high-achievement culture in our office,” Sir said. “I am proud of the collective efforts of the entire team.”

Sir lives in Shorewood, Minn., and Dawood lives in Eagan, Minn.