f you were managing a start-up band, would you depend solely on Lady Luck? Would you rely on Fortune dumping a great songwriter/arranger in your lap, great musicians who can actually get along, and a strong, powerful record company backing you? Would you just wait without searching for talent, obtaining signed contracts, securing studio time, or acquiring any backing? Of course not. Chris Burand wonders why so many agency principals take this approach to getting good producers.

Procrastination is the greatest labor-saving device ever invented. Agency owners look at various changes they can make in their agency and say, 'This is a great idea and I’ll implement it as soon as I can get around to it.' In this document, Jack Fries suggests that you eliminate the talk and resolve to take action in the New Year — and watch your profits grow.

Call it branding. Call it marketing. Call it whatever you want. But it has the singular objective of motivating the right customer to want to do business with a particular company or to buy a particular product or service. In this document, John Graham lays to rest some common misconceptions on the role of marketing.

ORGANIZING TO SUPPORT THE SALES EFFORT by Carol Hammes At some point, it becomes essential to step back from the situation and evaluate whether the organizational structure and job descr...

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES TO AGENCY GROWTH by Carol Hammes Deal with agency growth problems before they reach a crisis point. Unfortunately, this agency scenario is all too common. Enough new bu...

Though faced with the realities of dramatic economic change, the reconfiguration of the business landscape, and globalization, U.S. companies continue to go down the wrong path. Former U.S. Treasury Department official Michael Jacobs calls it "business myopia."

It may be argued that "enhancing shareholder value" drives the myopic vision of publicly-traded companies, but "shareholder demand" is perhaps more accurate. In privately held companies, myopic thinking results from a desire to increase market share or simply beat last month's figures.

It seems as if we all need a good, old-fashioned whack on the head to get our attention. This is a moment when businesses need to connect with the business end of a two-by-four.
Change is in the wind. If there's one lesson the last decade or so has taught us, it's that there's a new economy, and it's global, integrated, and interdependent.

Sample employment agreement between an agency and producer.

PRODUCER GROUPS: ARE THEY RIGHT FOR BANKS? by Valerie Jordan Are producer groups an effective way for banks to build their insurance sales? Although Valerie Jordan has written this art...

PRODUCER MANAGEMENT: BY THE NUMBERS by Al Diamond A proven method for giving your producers every opportunity to sell. Producers fail because of either a lack of sales ski...