IMAGINING A MARKETING MANAGER'S CONVERSATION by Knight Berman How a company makes decisions and executes them has long been a puzzle to agents. Sometimes, the decisions seem to ref...

IMPROVED CORRESPONDENCE IMPROVES YOUR IMAGE There's nothing worse than receiving a business letter that contains errors, poor grammar, trite expressions, and the like. Even one typo is enough ...

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?

INSURANCE COMPANIES: WILL THE REAL COMPETITORS PLEASE STAND UP? by Chris Burand Chris Burand tells why companies need to know their competition inside and outside their agency plant...

INSURANCE DISTRIBUTION TRENDS AND THE EFFECTS OF CHANGE It's remarkable that the insurance industry has experienced only evolutionary - not revolutionary - change in its structure, processes, s...

INTERNAL CREDIT POLICIES: CREATION AND IMPLEMENTATION by Mary Beth Bolen Let's face it-few people enjoy collecting funds for premiums. Collecting on past-due accounts is even less pleasant. W...

IS CUSTOMER LOYALTY DEAD? by JoAnna Brandi When an agency meets some or all of our expectations we usually say that we're satisfied. When an agency goes a few steps further ...

IS YOUR AGENCY SENDING THE RIGHT SIGNALS? by Emily Huling When was the last time you viewed your agency, either by phone or in person, as if you had never done business before? If you're...

IS YOUR BUSINESS DELIVERING OUTSTANDING SERVICE? by Emily Huling Most agencies want it, but few are successful at achieving it: consistent delivery of outstanding customer service. Organi...

'JUDGE JUDY' RULES ON BANKS, INSURANCE- AND A CONSUMER PERSPECTIVE by Mike Manes Commentator: As we await the arrival of our hypothetical Judge Judy, let's set the stage for today's ...