HOW TO BUILD YOUR PERSONAL LINES BOOK, PART II by Peter Van Aartrijk Personal Lines competition continues to intensify, as more and more players enter the marketplace. However, independent a...

PERSONAL PRESENTATION

One of the things that can irritate an already upset person is your personal presentation. If they feel that your grooming and dress are unprofessional or inappropriate, they're more likely to hassle you. Some areas of personal presentation, if not seen to, might have a negative influence on an upset person. Check to make sure that your:

Hair is clean, brushed or combed, and well kept.
Clothing is pressed, neat, clean, and in good repair.
Breath is fresh.
Hands and fingernails are clean, with no chipped polish.
Face is shaved, or mustache/beard is neatly trimmed.
Makeup is applied neatly, moderately, and appropriately.
Stockings are run-free.

'We don't want to be all things to all people,' says one agency manager, 'so we want to identify a niche for Life insurance agents to master. Do you have any suggestions?'

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?

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?

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.

In light of the September 11 tragedy, a coverage review of all of your accounts is more vital than ever, for you and for your clients. In this...

This letter and questionnaire generated quite a response and helped one agency that sent it learn a lot about their image. The response rate to the letter was 13.23% --...

Dear (Customer Name), CUSTOMER SALUTATION GOES HERE THANK YOU! We appreciate your placing your HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE with (Company Name). We find that for convenience and service,...

In the next few years, you'll probably be devoting more time and resources to Life and Health insurance products - that is, if you're at all like the estimated 2,000 independent agents who participated in the "Future One Agency Universe Study."

The study shows that independent agents are increasingly aware of the need to be full-service insurance providers. Agents who have traditionally focused on Property/Casualty insurance see the need to expand more aggressively into Life and other types of insurance products. In fact, slightly more than half the agencies surveyed said that over the next three years, they'll devote a higher proportion of agency resources to Life and Health products.