ESOPS WHERE IS YOUR COMPANY GOING? Dear (Customer Name): Do you have a perpetuation plan in place specifying what will happen to the company when you retire, or should something happen to...

ESTABLISHING A TELEMARKETING DEPARTMENT You need to make two more decisions once you have definitely decided to set up a telemarketing unit within your agency. The first is whether your ...

EVALUATING BANK OPPORTUNITIES by Carol Hammes Faced with shrinking profit margins from their traditional products and services, financial institutions have been searching for ways...

EVALUATING PRODUCERS by Catherine Oak The more effectively your agency evaluates and manages producers, the better for them and you. Whos responsible for sales managem...

FINANCIAL SERVICES - 401(K) Dear (Customer Name): You have been a valued customer at (Your Agency Name) for ( ) years. But did you know that in addition to offering a number of insurance products...

FINANCIAL-STATEMENT ANALYSIS by John Jaques This article provides an overview for evaluating the financial strengths and weaknesses of an independent insurance agency. The material provid...

FIND OUT WHY YOUR CUSTOMERS LEAVE by Jack Fries It costs about five times more to obtain a new customer than to retain an existing one. Though companies spend thousands of dollars to cr...

At least 30,000 attorneys in the U.S. claim that they're practicing employment law. Statistically speaking, what holds true for any profession is true for employment lawyers: Half are above average and half are below average. How do you distinguish one from the other? How can you find out which lawyers or firms are in the top 5%? Don Phin discusses the questions you should be asking.

FINDING AGENCY PERSONNEL by John Caswell 'Good help is hard to find.' That old adage has never seemed more true, given the increasing difficulty employers are experiencing when looking to fill an ...

Today, an insurance professional must be an information specialist. Access to information can be vital in all specialized areas of insurance. Every agency has numerous books, both those published professionally and those published as company manuals and promotional materials, which are reference tools enabling more effective decisions. But where are the materials when you need them? Ideally, in a library using a database program and an efficient cataloging system.