HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU PAY YOUR PRODUCERS?: PART II by the IIABA Virtual Faculty Whats the average renewal commission that an owner should give his producers? Is there a differenc...

In 1976, 12 insurance executives spent a day trying to pinpoint the reasons for their success. Their large insurance agency had doubled in size over the last three years. The company's employees had worked hard to achieve a high rate of referrals and were aggressive in their roles as producers. But what factors led to their astonishing success? How did they attract a client? And most of all, what made each client buy and renew year after year?

HOW TO BE A HIGH-PERFORMING FIRM by Catherine Oak, CIC, AAI The more effectively you sell, market, and service, the more valuable your agency. ...

HOW TO HIRE A PRODUCER by Peggy Mika Agency principals must define positions when they set out to hire new producers. Are producers expected to bring in new business, service or round existing accou...

HOW TO REMAIN COMPETITIVE IN A CHANGING INDUSTRY by Sharon Cunningham Sharon Cunningham's consulting visits with agencies hav...

Complacency or self-deceit can undo much good, and it can kill potential.
Too often I speak to P/C agency principals who say that they're doing just fine, thank you, in Life production. They have no complaints, there's production, so why look any further or make changes?

IF PRODUCERS COULD PRODUCE By Chris Burand How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Or for agencies, how much production could a producer produce if a produc...

IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY TO INCREASE NEW SALES by Carol Hammes When setting your agency's production goals for the coming year, don't rely on help from the marketplace. In fact, it...

Dear Dave:

Our agency has hired a full-time Life producer to handle Personal Lines only. We believe we have enough accounts to justify that move. She tested well for personality and potential, but she is fairly new in the Life business. She is closing about one out of four presentations, which sounds fine for a relative beginner, since the closing average for all agents is about one out of three. But since she deals with many Mortgage policies and writes reducing Term policies at fairly low premiums, the bottom-line dollars are low. We need to create more cash flow. What can you suggest?

The sale of Life insurance to Personal Lines Property/Casualty customers has long been an issue with traditional independent insurance agents and brokers. There are very few agencies that haven’t tried, at one time or another, to develop a program to cross-sell Life, Health, or Disability to existing customers. Many agencies have even hired a “Life Person,” only to end up with a big expense and little income to show for the effort. This has only added to the frustration of the agency owners. So what’s the answer?