Roughly defined, disintermediation means removal of the middle man. Do a linear projection based on historical forces and you'll conclude that the disintermediation of the agent from the Personal lines process is inevitable. After all, when Warren Buffet, Conning & Company, banks, large insurance companies, and others agree on something, they must be correct, right?

DO THESE TRENDS PERTAIN TO YOU? by Curtis Pearsall Do you know what makes your business vulnerable to an E&O claim? This document by Curtis Pearsall helps you see what might be right un...

DO YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMERS? by Emily Huling Well, of course you care about your customers! At least, you believe you do. How do you show it? If you're like most of the sales...

Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? There’s a general perception that agency value has been increasing during the past few years. Bill Schoeffler explains why this belief is partially true and partly the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

During the past few years, there have been some notable acquisitions of agencies that seemed to push the agency value envelope. In some cases, banks were making their platform acquisition and thus willing to pay top dollar to their first acquisition of a large, well-run firm. In other cases, publicly traded firms were able to exploit their high price-to-earnings ratio to offer a high price to the seller.

E&O: ARE YOU A GOOD AGENCY OR A GREAT ONE? by Curt Pearsall Obviously, determining whether youre a good agency or a great one is a matter of opinion. But whose opinion counts: those of ...

EMPLOYEE SHORTAGES by Chris Burand According to US Banks December 2000 Simply Business, the U.S. will have 151 million jobs, but only 141 million workers by 2006. Other forecasts...

ENCOURAGE A POSITIVE VIEW OF THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY by Mary Beth Bolen What are two 'facts' most customers 'know' about insurance? One, it costs too much. Two, if they make a claim, their po...

E-commerce is influencing the insurance industry in subtle ways. Instead of being a dramatic paradigm shift, it seems to...

EVERYONE WANTS A WINNER by Tom Barrett As sales and marketing professionals continue conversations about increasing productivity, decreasing expenses, and boosting sales, the same c...

The bar has been raised in order to qualify 'expert witnesses.' Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence** addresses the qualification of expert witnesses, as do procedural rules at the state level. This document by Roy Phillips and Thomas Veitch gives you the details.