lsquo;DEDICATED AGENCY MANAGEMENT by Chris Burand Once your agency reaches a certain size, dedicated agency management is essential for continued success. Agencies ar...

10 BASIC PLANNING INITIATIVES THAT WILL ADD TO YOUR BOTTOM LINE by Ken Buehler The need for planning has never been greater. While planning focuses on profit...

What's your agency's standard for quality? It seems unrealistic to expect quality standards of 100% . . . after all, nobody's perfect. Wouldn't life be a lot easier and less stressful if everyone accepted a certain amount of predictable human frailty and built in a margin for error? It could even be called something impressive and positive sounding-'acceptable quality level,' for example.

'So dawn goes down today, nothing gold can stay.'
Robert Frost
'There are no more power elites.'
Manuel Castels in The Information Age
The painfully obvious implication of these quotes can be seen in the business world: IBM pulls its PCs out of retail venues because it no longer considers them profitable. The Wall Street Journal reported that in 1998, there were $301 billion in sales via the Internet, while the manufacturing sector did $350 billion in overall business. It took the Internet roughly 36 months to reach this figure; manufacturing needed 150 years.

A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR SMALL AGENCIES by Chris Burand Independent agencies, even small ones, definitely have a bright future. Offer better service related to a specific product or offe...

In this day of big business chicanery and consumer suspicion (not to mention big business suspicion of consumer chicanery), it might do a CSR good to brush up on ethical...

Getting your company’s message out to the buying public doesn’t have to be complex or expensive. Direct mail is perhaps the most targeted and cost-effective vehicle for communicating to an audience.

A NEW LOOK AT INSURANCE AGENCY VALUATION by Carol Hammes Its becoming increasingly important for agents to recognize that having a complete, professionally prepared appraisal won&...

A ONE-MINUTE MARKETING PLAN byPatricia Czech Whether you're planning a new Web site or your site is already up and running, here's some inside information you need t...

ACQUISITIONS: IS BIGGER REALLY BETTER? by Chris Burand Although, in general, growth is essential for agencies to retain markets and profitability, unrestrained growth via ac...