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 ...

FINDING THE RIGHT CSR by William Vericker Where, and what, to look for hiring quality CSRs. When clients call, e-mail, or visit your agency, they count on someone to service their bus...

'We were all raised by mothers who told us we had one chance to make a first impression,' Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut once said. He added, 'And a first impression can last you awhile.' It’s all about first impressions making them and responding to them.

Paying attention to business is one of the major benefits of a recession. Ford figured it out. So did Starbucks by bringing back the founding CEO, closing nearly 1,000 marginal stores and most significantly introducing their own instant coffee. This could be a brilliant move. While proudly passing up their $4 cup of coffee, we take the instant stuff home and keep a little Starbucks in our lives.

FIVE KEYS TO DYNAMIC SALES MEETINGS by Randy Schwantz It's Thursday afternoon and you're already thinking about Monday morning's sales meeting. You say to yourself, 'What a drain! Thi...

FIVE KINDS OF CUSTOMERS DEMAND DIFFERENT TREATMENT There are only five types of customers in terms of the service they demand, according to Ketchem Advertising USA, an ad agency in Pittsburgh, ...

To embrace — and benefit from — change, follow these guidelines.
Unrelenting and increasingly rapid change demands that the insurance industry rapidly uncover new ways to evaluate and respond to its marketplace.
I’ve worked with many highly successful insurance companies and agencies, helping them achieve higher levels of profitability through more sales, customer and employee loyalty, and retention. However, in many of these organizations, management remained blind to the dire need to change, despite its apparent desire to achieve higher profits. Managers can’t see the compelling need to change from the ways that allowed the organization to be successful in the first place.

FOCUS ON CLIENT SERVICE by Carol Hammes It always seems as though theres good news and bad news in this industry. For agencies dealing with insurance company financial problems and th...

FOCUSING ON CLIENT OR PROSPECT NEEDS by Mary Beth Bolen There's a lot of talk about niche marketing or target marketing today. Many speakers feel that it's imperative to find a certain niche i...

FORMING RICHER CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS: THE CRM SOLUTION by Patricia Czech In the shallow end of the pool, the little tykes are splashing around with their water wings. You wade in waist h...