AGENCY PRODUCER RECRUITING: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS by Sharon Cunningham Its a classic conundrum: As an agency grows in size, it becomes harder and harder for its producers ...

The cost of professional services continues to escalate, with partners in top CPA firms billing hourly rates of $400 or more, and partners in top law firms billing at rates even higher. Could a CPA or a lawyer really be worth that kind of money? How about an insurance agent? Kevin Stipe helps you to determine your effective hourly rate and its potential influence on your daily activities.

Help your top producers grow your agency & and their income!

Many of our clients find themselves the recipients of a decidedly mixed blessing. On one hand, they are successful because they employ many of the top producers in their community. On the other hand, since many of the community's top prospects already work in their agency, there's not much sales talent left to hire. They're ready, willing, and able to invest in future growth, but don't know quite how. If only they could find a way to replicate their top producers, their agency's market share would balloon.

ANNIVERSARY LETTER Dear (Customer Name), CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR FIRST ANNIVERSARY IN YOUR NEW HOME! As a new homeowner, I bet you've had your hands full this past year. Moving, organizing, deco...

If you're a principal in a privately held insurance agency, establish a value creation quota for each shareholder. Here's how: A month before your next planning retreat, provide each shareholders with a statement showing the value of his or her share of the agency's stock. If you don't have an appraisal, simply use your best estimate.

There may come a time when your agency's communications needs exceed the capabilities of in-house personnel. You want to concentrate on producing new business, developing products, and servicing clients. Who has the time and expertise to create newspaper or radio advertising-or perform the myriad public relations functions necessary to keep your agency in the public eye?

CSR JOB TITLES by the IIABA Virtual Faculty For eons (it seems), the persons who directly serviced clients in the agency have been referred to as Customer Service Representatives (...

EIGHT STEPS TO HIRING A PRODUCER by John Jaques Use this proven system to recruit, screen, and monitor star producers. Adding a new producer often results in failure for both the ag...

'I'M GOING GOLFING - PLEASE TAKE CARE OF THIS.' by Curtis Pearsall 'I'm going golfing - please take care of this.' 'Take care of what?' I was going to respond. It was too late; he was a...

It’s often difficult for an agency to hire an in-house PR specialist. And assigning PR responsibilities to an existing employee has its drawbacks. This document by Henry Stimpson examines the advantages and disadvantages to hiring an out-sourced PR consultant.