Questions & Answers

Deadlock is to dealmakers what cliffhangers are to TV couch potatoes — frustrating yet compelling, as the impasse challenges each side’s negotiating maturity, skill, and acumen. This document by Patricia Berry offers 10 key methods for jump-starting a stalled exchange.

Referring to Wal-Mart's upcoming redesign of its Web site, one analyst said it will give retailing a "jolt" and another said it will "change Internet retailing." Evie Black Dykem, of Forrester Research, Inc., said, "It will be the shot heard round the retail world." When the world's largest retailer stakes its claim on the Internet, many predict that life will never again be the same. "The power to navigate the world at the click of a mouse is a force that is transforming our lives like none before," wrote the editors of Business Week. A few paragraphs later, they added, "Anyone with a computer is a citizen of the world-and a richer world at that."

Historically, a hard market is part of the cyclical nature of the insurance industry. At one time, these cycles occurred fairly consistently at about seven year intervals. However, the last significant hard market came in the mid-80s.

A hard market is characterized by increasing rates and/or reduced industry capacity, which leads to affordability and/or availability problems. In addition, both underwriting and claims adjusting usually become more stringent. In the current marketplace, these conditions are exacerbated by increased uncertainty about such loss exposures as terrorism, mold, etc., and by a reinsurance market significantly strained by the events of September 11.

Before you buy an agency, check out these tips. If you're planning to purchase an agency, these guidelines are essential...

How do you become an insurance agent? How do you get clients? Do you need to be educated in order to sell insurance? Do you need to know about Instagram Ads? These are all questions that many potential insurance agents have, but they shouldn’t stop them from getting into the industry. With the right attitude and some helpful advice, you can succeed as an insurance agent regardless of your experience or lack thereof. Here are six tips that will get you started on the path toward success as an insurance agent.

Are two salespeople better than one? Sometimes yes and sometimes no.

Well-planned, well-executed joint sales calls can impress customers, add additional value to the product or service you sell, close sales, and retain business. But when a joint call goes bad, the results can be disastrous.

This article is adapted from the new publication The Survival Guide for the Evolving Insurance Crisis and the video Are You Ready for Insurance Dot Com?, both written and produced by Edward Curry. The article appeared in Missouri Agent magazine and is reproduced by permission.

Information overload has serious implications. Failure to respond to a client or carrier request can be harmful from both an E&O and a client service perspective. Laura Nettles tells you how to manage your work intelligently when everyone is expecting an immediate response.

When it comes to our privacy, trust, and security in this modern age, we have come to have more of an inherent focus on how we can obtain more access, easier and more securely. When we want to learn about online privacy systems like VPN technology, we opt to find out more online , to educate ourselves. The way that we handle our insurance is no different. In fact, insurance is the latest industry to find itself infiltrated by the modern prowess that is blockchain technology. Decentralised in nature, blockchain is the pioneering force in the drive to a future that is more sectioned, more secure, and safer than ever before. Insurance is one of the last pieces of the puzzle in the pursuit of this ideal.

Why Is the Referral Process the Most Powerful Way to Sell?

Without question, selling through referrals is the most powerful way to build your practice; not to mention the most enjoyable. Producers who really love prospecting for business through cold calls are rare birds. My guess is that you're not one of them. In this age of voice mail, increased competition, and everyone being super busy, cold calling has become less effective.

Bob Kerrigan, one of the most successful agents alive, says, "The way of the world is to meet people through other people. And the referral is the warm way we get into their lives."