SGL insurance services

MGT 401 Business Internship

Integrative Analysis Report:

SGL Insurance Services

Submitted By:

Cheng Li

San Diego State University

August 06, 2014

Instructor:

Michael L. Sloan

Integrative Analysis Report: SGL Insurance Services

Purpose

During my internship, I worked at SGL Insurance Services, an insurance services business that has been operational since 2006. They are a full service with personal, commercial, health, and life insurance brokerage that was established to serve the insurance needs of individuals and businesses throughout the state of California.

When I start my internship at SGL Insurance Services, I have several projects should be complete, such as The main project of my internship with SGL Insurance Services was to build relationships in trust, commitment, and communication, information the company needs from different clients, identify customer for the insurance requirements, and create an insurance contract, and development and improvement the insurance service qualities. To be part of the SGL Insurance Services should particularly using the internet, phone call, and good customer services to expand the company’s visibility in the market. The second project, to sale insurance to clients and help SGL insurance industry reduce costs, increase revenues, and improve the quality of their product or service, and take part in SGL insurance marketing how to increase revenue and make effective commercial advertisement. When I work at SGL Insurance Service, some my language skill, speak mandarin with Chinese our clients, can help me to get close and understand each other to quote the different insurance policies, filing paperwork, paying bills, and improving key customer communications in English and Chinese. It could increase my work effective.

For my Management 401 Business internship class, I created a several steps to finish my internship projects. In this report, I will describe my internship tasks and how I followed through with the project and gives supporting facts of my internship activities. Specific learning objectives are described in my Project Course Contract (See Appendix A). Second, I will describe some learning experience during the internship how influenced my future personal work careers. Third, I will discuss some classes learned, effective my learning experience, and support the SGL Insurance Service develop in the future. Finally, I will summarize my report and make some preconceptions of my future actions. My supervisor has also written an assessment of my performance. (See Appendix B)

Learning Experience Discussion

The begin purpose during my internship was to increase SGL Insurance Service’s competitive force, by several different project. First I began to learn how to work well at SGL Insurance Services, I have to know work area and business strategies function in the company. I begin to do some simple paper work, such as manage clients’ quotation information; I will become familiar with the SGL insurance service how effect clients’ life, collect information from customer reviews and comments. Also, SGL always offers client the best option quotes for every customer. I will help them collect information and make some phone call then make the final options for different customers requires. I began this project by researching existing insurance website and web hosts to help in our company collect usefully information to help us can easier to find out the best option suit our each client.

Research and compare different insurance services company

My first objective was to research and manage client insurance documents in order to learn about the types of insurance services offered by existing SGL Insurance Services, con currently, I researched the process of incorporating insurance business; finally, I have been help by supervisors, then my work back on trial. The final steps in the completion of this project were to construct the SGL Insurance Services competitive power advantage during the whole market.

The initial goal during my internship was to increase Five Star Banquet Hall’s visibility in the market, thereby increasing future hall bookings. I began this project by researching existing banquet hall websites and web hosts to assist in determining our own company’s website needs. I proceeded with drawing up a website draft as a guide to completing the website. The final steps in the completion of this project were to construct the company’s website and add the company to several internet directories. Concurrently, I researched the process of incorporating a business; lastly, I prepared and filed the necessary forms to incorporate the business.

Research and compare banquet hall websites

My first objective was to research and compare banquet hall websites in order to learn about the types of services offered by existing banquet halls, determine possible layouts for our website, compare pricing information and obtain ideas about the types of external links possible.

I listed my findings under each of the above categories as I browsed the internet looking at banquet hall websites; subsequently, I compiled a summary of those findings to assist in the creation of the company’s own website. Screen shots of the top five websites as well as an outline of my findings are included in Appendix C as evidence of completion of this activity.

Determine our company’s website needs and research web hosts

My second objective was to determine our company’s website needs and research web hosts to find the best match. Because of the extensive amount of information discovered during the website research described above, I shared the most pertinent information for the industry with the business owner. We discussed the benefits and drawbacks of including each category of information and agreed on several categories to include in the company website.

Researching web hosts began with learning about the different types of web hosting choices available, such as free, shared, reseller and various types of dedicated hosting services. We opted for a shared web host due to the lower cost, absence of pop-ups and longer uptime.

Selecting a shared web host proved to be the a challenging task due to the extremely competitive nature of the market and the similarities between the services offered. It was difficult to find objective reviews of web hosts. I encountered many “glowing” reviews and determined that they were more than likely posted by the web hosts themselves.

Ultimately, the decision was made by comparing objective data from several web hosts to get to the top five; then relying on advice from friends and family members regarding the ease of use of each web host interface and the web hosts’ customer service and support. We opted to use Blue Host as our shared web host based on the positive feedback received from current customers.

Using only the objective information mentioned above, I completed a table of the top five web hosts and their pertinent data. This table is included in my report in Appendix D as evidence of completion of this activity.

Website Draft

My third objective was to draw up a paper draft of the business’s home page and review it with the business owner to gain additional input before beginning the construction of Five Star Banquet Hall’s website.

I drew up a paper draft of the company’s ideal website using information obtained from our previous meeting and went over it again with the business owner to obtain his approval. We eventually hope to be able to incorporate all of the features and information presented in the web site draft. This website draft can be found as Appendix E in this report.

Add Five Star Banquet Hall to several internet directories

My fourth objective was to add the business to several internet directories in order to increase its exposure on the internet. I began researching for the best internet directories by searching for a banquet hall on the internet as a customer would do; that is, by typing ‘banquet hall’ in several search engines to see which directories came up. Next, I contacted a few of the current customers that were listed on the directories and inquired about the success of their using the particular internet directory listing. The final step was to add Five Star Banquet Hall to the top three internet directories based on the current customers’ feedback.

Screen shots of my internet searchings both prior to and after listing the business with these directories in Appendix F.

Website Completion

My fifth objective was to create Five Star Banquet Hall’s website. After selecting a web host and making a draft of the website, I had a good idea of what we wanted the website to include. However, what I found when I went into Blue Host was that I needed to either have the skills to use HTML, a computer programming code, or a website creation software, like Dreamweaver, in order to complete the website. I had neither of these two skills, so I began learning HTML. Shortly after beginning my self-instruction into this programming code, I learned that Microsoft Publisher, a program I found much easier to use, also has the capability of constructing websites. I immediately switched over to using Microsoft Publisher to build a basic website which included plenty of pictures. Several screenshots of the website are included in Appendix G as evidence of completion of this activity.

Review the process of incorporating a business

My sixth objective was to learn the process of incorporating the business. Originally, incorporating the business was not part of my internship; however, when the business owner’s CPA recommended he incorporate the business, he asked me to take on that task and I amended my internship contract to reflect this. I began by searching the internet for resources and came upon Nolo’s “How to Form Your Own California Corporation” book. This book came in handy throughout the process of incorporating the business into a C-Corporation.

After reading the book, I explained the impact and responsibilities associated with incorporating the business to the business owner to make sure he wanted to proceed. Next, we compared the benefits offered by incorporating into the different types of corporate entities. We decided to incorporate into a C-Corporation. My next step was to outline the steps necessary to complete the process.

Although this task was not complicated, it did offer many learning opportunities along the way. For example, the issuance of stock must follow the securities laws of California and the federal Securities Act. This act is intended to assure that companies fully disclose all relevant information to prospective buyers and can be quite expensive and complicated to follow. Luckily for us, our company qualified for the California limited offering exemption. Issuing stock by means of this exemption came with its own strict guidelines. For example, we could only issue shares to individuals purchasing them for their own account, could not announce the sale of shares in any way, could only issue shares for something of value, must file a notice of transaction form with the department of corporations within 15 days of first sale and must accurately disclose all material information.

I have included the outline of the required incorporation steps in my report as Appendix H as evidence of completion.

Prepare and file the proper forms to incorporate the business

My seventh and final objective was to prepare and file the required forms to incorporate the business. The business owner had already selected the name: Five Star Hall Incorporated so I reserved that business name at the State of California’s Office downtown. However, when I checked for the availability of the domain name www. fivestarhall.com, I found that it had already been registered to another party; as a result, we had to change the business name. After some consideration, the business owner agreed with the name: Five Star Banquet Hall Incorporated.

I began the process by filing the articles of incorporation with the state of California. This document specifies the name of the corporation, names and addresses of its directors and registered agent as well as the corporation’s capital stock structure. Our articles of incorporation were approved and returned to us the following week with the stamp of the Secretary of State’s office. The next step was to set up a corporate records book to hold the official documents of the corporation. This step was easily completed by purchasing a three ring binder to hold our documentation. That being done, I filled out the basic information on the corporation’s official bylaws and printed them out for adoption at our first meeting of the board of directors. I also printed out the fill-in-the-blank for our minutes of this same meeting. Unfortunately, this meeting has not been able to occur due to the fact that one of the directors is in another country and has not been able to travel to the United States.

I have already prepared the shareholder representation letters for Five Star Banquet Hall Incorporated to issue shares of stock. Under the California limited offering exemption, only six different types of shareholders may exist. This restriction is intended to protect the shareholders by limiting shareholders to groups of people that have a direct interest with the company at time of the stock issuance. For Five Star Banquet Hall Inc., the shareholders consisted of the business owner and his three children. All four of our shareholders fit into either the first or sixth category because they were directors, officers or relatives of a person that falls under one of the six categories. Appendix I includes several of the incorporation forms that have been filed or prepared during the incorporation process of Five Star Banquet Hall Inc.

Concept Integration and Application

4S Web Marketing Mix Method

Instead of focusing on the four P’s: product, place, price and promotion, this e-marketing method “is designed primarily for conventional, physical corporations planning to establish and internet presence” which makes it ideal for us to take into account while increasing the company’s internet presence (Constantinides, 2002).

4S web marketing mix method consists of four essential managerial parts. They are scope, site, synergy and system. These parts and their ingredients are discussed below:

1. Scope:

a. The scope identifies the strategy and objectives of the company’s web activities such as performing a market analysis to be familiar with your competitors, evaluating market potential, trends and forecasts. In addition, scope also looks at the profiles, motivation, and needs of potential customers. An internal analysis of the resources and processes as well as determining the strategic role of the web activities is also covered in scope.

2. Site:

a. Site refers to the actual website experience and whether it meets the company’s needs and is customer oriented. “The prime mission of the Web Site is to attract traffic, establish contact with the online target markets and brand the online organization” (Constantinides, 2002). In this section, companies must establish whether the website meets the customers’ expectations with regards to content, design, layout, aesthetics, web positioning and the classic 4Ps: product, price, place, promotion.

3. Synergy:

a. Synergy looks at how the web site itself is integrated into the company’s marketing strategy and organizational processes. In addition, during the synergy phase, management must assess how the website will integrate with third party networks, such as search engines and web directories.

4. System:

a. System evaluates a variety of technological factors such as software, hardware, communication protocols, content management, system service, site administration, hosting decisions, payment systems and performance analysis to assure the “secure, safe, cost-efficient and customer-friendly operations of the corporate web site. (Constantinides, 2002).

Scope under 4S Web Marketing Mix Method for me involved studying the customers’ needs and motivation by observing their interests/behaviors when they phoned in and visited the business. This provided me with information that I took into account when deciding on website content. In addition, I researched competitor’s websites to get an idea of their web marketing strategies.

Site entailed making sure that our website met our company’s needs and our customers’ expectations. I purposely chose a simple layout for our website to keep the customers focused on the information provided, instead of the presentation. In addition, the web site also included information that could differentiate us from our competitors. For example, we offer two all-inclusive packages for events; I thoroughly described what each of these two packages offers in our website.

For synergy, it is essential to realize that the company’s marketing strategy has changed as part of this project. Previously, marketing for this business exclusively consisted of paper advertising. Now, marketing includes the creation of a website as well as listings on web directories. All of these marketing avenues are integrated to make up the company’s marketing strategy.

Up until now, System has been covered mostly under the choice of web host that I made. I opted for a web host that was reasonably priced, yet well-known. Hopefully, this will offer us the benefit of more website uptime. So far, my experiences with our web host’s customer service and support departments confirm that I made the correct decision. My plan is to continue updating and improving our website as necessary to keep up with changes in the business.

Conclusions and Recommendations: I found this 4S Web Marketing Mix Method to be a good alternative to the 4P’s model for businesses that wish to expand their marketing to the internet. It covers the four major subsections related to marketing via a web site. Five Star Banquet Hall Inc. should continue to use this marketing model as a tool to assure that their web site is reliable, meets their customers’ needs, is easy to use, and contributes towards the earning of revenue by generating quality leads.

Deming Cycle (PDSA)

The Deming Cycle, Deming Wheel, or Continuous Improvement Spiral is named after W. Edwards Deming, a statistician who traveled to Japan after WWII to teach total quality methods. This method consists of a repetition of four simple, yet critical steps: plan, do, study and act.

1. Plan:

a. This first step involves preparing oneself for a change aimed at improvement. This preparation involves getting ready for unexpected outcomes along the way as well as anticipating and predicting possible results of the action.

2. Do:

a. In this step, we carefully implement the change that we prepared for in the first step discussed above.

3. Study:

a. This is a crucial step in this method in which we study the results obtained after implementing the change in the second step. We must ask ourselves what went wrong and what was learned from the process. According to Dartmouth’s College website of Quality Improvement Tools, we must use several measures to monitor the level of improvement.

4. Act:

a. In this final phase of the method, we take a close look at the implementation and results obtained as a result of the task performed and evaluate whether the change is worth continuing.

“Since the Deming Cycle focuses on continuous improvement, the improvements that result from the final plan inspire further improvements and a return to the plan stage-and the rest of the cycle” (Rusinko, 2005). This circular application of Deming’s cycle is designed to keep the organization on a path that will consistently result in higher quality. I will share my application of the Deming Cycle to one of my tasks for this project: researching internet directories in which to list the business.

In the Planning stage, I searched for banquet halls and closely examined the types of web listings for content, taking notes along the way. Then I focused my search on local banquet halls and narrowed my attention to the top five web directories. After that, I called several existing customers of these directories to get their feedback on their experience with their provider and the types of leads generated.

In the Do stage of the Deming Cycle, I reviewed the website content notes obtained from the previous step to come up with a draft of our directory listing. I personalized this information along with a summary of the services provided by Five Star Banquet Hall Inc. and published this listing on the top three internet directories.

The Study stage consisted of keeping track of how our prospective customers learned about us. This was done by asking how they learned about us when they phoned or visited the business. This stage helped verify that we did acquire more business after listing our business with three internet directories.

The shortest stage for this particular task was the Act stage. This stage consisted of reflecting back on listing the business with three internet directories and deciding if it was worth continuing. The answer in this case was yes because the benefits of the increased number of interested people learning about our services far outweighed the cost and time involved.

Conclusions and Recommendations: Based on my small application of the Deming Cycle for one of my projects, I can see why it has been found so useful in improving quality. My recommendation would be for Five Star Banquet Hall Inc. to adopt and continue to use the Deming Cycle to evaluate and improve their current processes.

Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication is the way that people communicate amongst themselves. It consists of the three basic methods: oral, written and nonverbal communication.

Oral communication is the main way of conveying ideas. The advantages associated with this means of communications are the ability to quickly convey a message and provide/obtain rapid feedback if the message is unclear. The major disadvantage of oral communications in an organization is that the message may need to filter down through several levels before reaching the intended audience. The more people that a message must pass through, the greater the level of distortion that will result.

Written communications include “any device that is transmitted via written words or symbols” (Robbins, 2005). The chief advantage of this type of communication is it is “tangible and verifiable” (Robbins, 2005). Should any questions arise regarding the message, it can easily be retrieved and verified. Another advantage of written communications is that, in general, people are more careful when writing something than they are when speaking. They think more thoroughly about the message and the tone they would like to convey; as a result, these messages “are more likely to be well thought out, logical, and clear” (Robbins, 2005). The disadvantages to written communications are that they are time consuming and they lack the “built-in feedback mechanism” that oral communications provides. (Robbins, 2005).

Nonverbal communication is the most difficult to discern because it includes many components that are associated with body movement. For example haptics, the study of touching and vocalics, the study of nonverbal cues of the voice are both included in nonverbal communication. “Body language adds to, and often complicates, verbal communication” (Robbins, 2005). From an early age, we are more inclined to trust nonverbal messages over oral messages when they conflict. To complicate matters even more, these nonverbal messages vary from culture to culture…so what may be an acceptable gesture in one country could be offensive in another.

Interpersonal communications played a large role in the success of my internship. Of the three types of communications, I used oral communications the most while I was on site at Five Star Banquet Hall Inc. Part of my responsibilities involved answering the phone and assisting walk-in customers; this, of course, was mostly done via oral communications.

Written communications were used occasionally with customers to provide them with quotes or additional information. Written communication was also used in completing both of my projects, particularly when compiling the necessary evidence of completion of the tasks associated with this internship. This integrative analysis report serves written communication of my internship experience during these last few months.

Nonverbal communication was in use anytime that I spoke to a person face-to-face, such as when assisting customers or talking with employees at the business. Our customers are ethnically-diverse; because of this, I paid special attention to maintaining nonverbal behavior that was neutral and inoffensive.

Conclusions and Recommendations: Most of us use interpersonal communications to get our messages across daily. My recommendation is for everyone at Five Star Banquet Hall Inc. to continue to focus on clear, objective communication with appropriate, reinforcing nonverbal communication. Reaching this level of communication may be difficult to achieve, yet I feel that it is something worth pursuing.

Personal Reflection

Book knowledge:

This internship presented me with an opportunity to apply some of my business school knowledge to a real-world situation, especially during my second project of incorporating the business.

I remembered learning about the different types of corporate entities and the benefits/drawbacks associated with them in my finance class. Knowing this was helpful when I went over the types of corporate entities in the book “How to Form Your Own California Corporation” with the business owner. Another significant piece of book knowledge that was useful was being familiar with the severity and consequences of “piercing the corporate veil” before I encountered that phrase in the book. I made sure to cover this information with the business owner thoroughly before continuing with the incorporation process.

Learning Experiences:

I had many learning experiences throughout my internship. My goal of increasing the company’s exposure on the internet resulted in a couple unforeseen challenges. I didn’t realize how “non user-friendly” creating a web site from scratch would be. I found that trying to learn HTML was interesting, yet time consuming so I opted for an easier-to-use program in the end.

Although I was vaguely familiar with the process of incorporation from when we owned our own business, I didn’t realize how much the incorporation process had changed. I discovered that the laws pertaining to the issuance of shares of stock were changed in 2005. These changes consisted of severely limiting who a shareholder can be in an effort to protect them from fraud.

Another learning experience occurred while I was working at Five Star Banquet Hall Inc. I became more aware of the intricacies in the customers’ needs and wants. It was interesting to learn what each particular customer found of high value for their special event. Some people paid special attention to the quality of the decorations used while others focused on the types of appetizers they would be served. This experience reinforced the fact that people are unique individuals with special needs.

My recommendations:

In my opinion, my first project of expanding the business marketing onto the internet was a wise decision; nowadays, many people refer to the internet for their research in almost any area. As a result, the phone book is being used less and less. The website that I created is very basic, but suitable for now. I recommend that the website be updated and expanded to include more information and specialized pictures in the future. One feature that I would especially like to see on the website is a 360-degree view of the establishment. Not all prospective customers are always able to drive down to visit our facility; having this feature on our website will allow them to get a much better look at our facility without them having to leave the comfort of their home or office.

On a different note, I also would recommend that the business owner hire an experienced person to assist him with the daily operations of the business. Having a highly-motivated individual in the office with the knowledge and experience in word programming, spreadsheet programs and sales experience would free him up to pursue other interests.

In order for the business owner to hire another employee, he would need to share some of the necessary information currently found only in his head. For example, we recently began offering wedding, Quinceañera and baptism invitations for sale yet a price list has not been created. As a result, we need to contact him for a price quote anytime a customer inquires about them. Not only is this an inefficient way to conduct business but it also affects the image of the business. How can the customer reasonably expect us to handle their special event when we can’t handle their invitation order?

Touching back on a learning experience described above, I will reiterate that the experience of working at Five Star Banquet Hall Inc. taught me the importance of treating people as the individuals that they are. Continuing to offer all-inclusive packages yet being flexible in customizing them to fit the customer’s needs will increase the likelihood that the customer will be satisfied. This is what I see as this business’s competitive edge and definitely something that should continue.

Conclusion

Having been out of the workforce for so long, I found participating in this internship exciting and mentally-stimulating. It was nice to be able to get out into the workforce and put my skills to use. Additionally, I had always wondered if hospitality or event planning was for me because it always sounded appealing. After working at a banquet hall, I know that it is something I could definitely do. I found it rewarding to be able to help people plan their special occasions and although I didn’t have the opportunity to plan an event from start to finish, I can imagine it could be a challenging experience.

Through my internship, I was able to contribute towards Five Star Banquet Hall Inc.’s future revenue increases by establishing its presence on the internet. Already, we have witnessed an increase in the number of prospective customers calling us. It has been a rewarding experience for me to know that my actions have had a direct impact on this business. In addition, by incorporating the business, it and its shareholders will benefit from a reduced personal liability, among other benefits.

Five Star Banquet Hall Inc. is a small family-owned business with the business owner working at the facility most days. It was enlightening to see his dedication to the business, which has made it so successful. Also, his entrepreneurial spirit was contagious. He accepts a much higher level of risk than I do. I never knew what to expect when I walked in the door: would he be inquiring into buying another business this day? This only added to the excitement of the experience. It was nice to see things from ‘the other side’ of business, the real side. Being in class prepares you in one way but it doesn’t quite do it justice.

References

Constantinides, E. (2002). The 4S Web-Marketing Mix model. Department of Technology and Management, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands. Retrieved April 21, 2007, from http://www.crm2day.com/library/EpVuyuklAAgsONnzLE.php

Robbins, S. (2005). Organizational Behavior. Eleventh Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Rusinko, Ca. (2005). Using Quality Management as a Bridge to Environmental Sustainability in Organizations. S.A.M. Advanced Management Journal, 70(4), 54- Retrieved April 21, 2007 from ProQuest electronic database, San Diego State University.