Meeting customers’ needs and helping them achieve financial
security is everyone’s job at Allstate, but the people customers see most – the faces and voices of our company in the community –
are Allstate agencies and EFSs.

Allstate’s local presence is a long-standing strategic advantage, and it will be just as important in the future. But running an agency is harder than it used to be. Competition is keener, costs keep rising and the industry keeps changing.

We’ve made some changes too. In recent years, for example, almost all Allstate employee agencies have made the shift to independent contractors. Likewise, we asked our agencies to become educated on new products, new processes, new technology. To be competitive, all these changes were essential. But they still were wrenching.

So now, more than ever, our job at Allstate is to help make the work of our agencies easier, not harder. And to give them more ways to win.

One way we can help is by providing more opportunities to sell more products to more customers. Our expansion into financial services, for example, is broadening their revenue base.

We’ll also help by expanding local agency advertising and marketing programs in 2003. We’ll make more technology enhancements available, based upon guidelines and feedback from agencies themselves. And, by linking compensation to strategies that produce more profit for the agency and for the company, we’ll help motivate and encourage agencies to build their businesses.

We’re working in other ways, too. Because so many agencies are active as volunteer leaders in their communities, we’re increasing financial and other support for local community efforts.

All this represents progress. But we need to do much more. Nationally the trend is toward larger agencies with more support staff. So, for agencies, finding and training more employees, organizing businesses for greatest efficiencies, and financing growth initiatives all are issues we must help them address. By listening harder to them, and working harder with them, we’ll help create more opportunities for them.

Chairman’s Message
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