In addition to working in the business, more and more agency principals and managers are working on the business by focusing on technology and workflow improvements. The latest Future One agency survey confirms this trend ― 72% of the agents surveyed responded that core management issues for them are to make their internal operations more efficient and to use technology to conduct business with carriers more efficiently. Jeff Yates shows you how to improve agency workflows with technology.

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 ...

IMPROVING AGENCY MORALE: ARE YOUR EMPLOYEES TRULY HAPPY? by Grace Bauer Are your employees truly happy? If you answered 'yes,' think again! After working in various positions from secre...

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?

INDIVIDUAL PLANNING AND GOAL-SETTING MAKE CREDIBILITY, PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT PAY by Allen Karlin, Ph.D. Planning to succeed is a continuous process. It's not something done once for the n...

INDUSTRY IMAGE IMPROVEMENT PLAN by Mary Beth Bolen How to improve the industry? One day at a time, says the National Association of Insurance Women (NAIW), Tulsa, OK. To mark NAIW Week (...

INFLUENTIAL PERSONALITIES: HOW YOU INFLUENCE THOSE AROUND YOU by Steve Anderson The amount of influence you have refers to how well you are able to convince others to accept your point of...

Many people tend to credit the origin of infomercials to the old, late-night slicer/dicer and Pocket Fisherman commercials. Granted, some tacky infomercials have taken the slicer/dicer format, but the original infomercials began on a higher ground: religion.

Before you haul me off to a padded room, let's define "infomercial."An infomercial is an advertisement for a product or service that has been expanded with information, entertainment, or both to retain the attention of the audience.

INFORMATION NETWORKS: BUSINESS AS (UN)USUAL by Jack Fries The spread of information networks has already driven some fundamental changes in the way large companies do business. As those n...

For most of the world, remote work is new and difficult; an understanding that everyone is having to come to terms with. This includes insurance agents- which is why we assume you are here. In this article, we will review the many ways that the insurance market is being affected by the coronavirus pandemic of 2020.