Just when we think we've grasped what's happening in business, something changes to disrupt the precarious balance. It may occur in the economy, an industry, a region, a particular market, or technology that alters even the most flexible business plan.

Establishing a strategy, then staying with it, was possible for most businesses until the last decade. Planning a year or more in advance was relatively easy. Ups and downs would occur but with a high degree of predictability. Hitting sales and revenue targets was almost a natural outcome.

Despite fax, e-mail, and Web site marketing, direct mail remains one of the most effective methods for conveying your company’s message to prospective clients. John Graham provides tips for making your direct mail efforts as powerful as possible in this document.

401(K) PLAN Dear (Customer Name): 'The golden years' - that's how we'd all like to describe retirement, but very few actually can say retirement is golden. Americans are living longer and retiri...

But, this article is about the fundamentals of marketing and communications for an insurance agency (or any consumer facing business's marketing). In my opinion, if you can stick to nurturing these fundamentals regularly, then all the advanced and future enhancements will come naturally. It doesn't matter whether the role you play in the agency is Principal, Producer, CSR, Admin or any customer facing role, in more ways than one, these fundamentals should apply to you.

A BALANCED APPROACH TO MARKETING by Steve Anderson Just like you, each week I receive e-mails and read articles from different business and marketing experts. A common theme Ive no...

A MARKETING MINDSET CREATES CUSTOMERS by John Graham As the insurance organizations marketing meeting began, the president stated, We need more sales. This might see...

A NEW LOOK AT INSURANCE AGENCY VALUATION by Carol Hammes Its becoming increasingly important for agents to recognize that having a complete, professionally prepared appraisal won&...

'Call it whatever you like-re-engineering, restructuring, transformation, flattening, downsizing, rightsizing, a quest for global competitiveness- it's real, it's radical, and it's arriving every day at a company near you.' (Fortune April 5, 1993)

This article should challenge your thinking and management style and create new opportunities for you to build more Personal Lines sales. To improve your sales, your staff must change how they see themselves, develop their own reasons for doing what you want them to do, establish strategies to use the skills they already have, and adopt new ways of communicating.

A TAX BONANZA: S CORPORATIONS AND ESOPs by Robert Nein The 1997 Tax Relief Act has made possible the best of all worlds for insurance agencies. One could not hope for a better opportunity. There ha...