BANKS AND P/C INSURANCE AGENCIES REALITY CHECK PART I: DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE by Chris Burand Do bank stockholders benefit from acquisitions of P/C agencies? The answer? Yes,...

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR by Chris Burand Many agency owners lament their staffs lack of a work ethic. Agency owners typically judge their employees work ethic against t...

BUILDING YOUR CAPITAL by Brian Burke Everything seemed to get better around here when we stopped worrying so much about taxes, Agency CEO Are you trying to build a...

Stephen Covey wrote a seminal book on how to run your life and your business, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. It’s a must read to fully understand the concepts of this article. Once you've read the book read it again at least once every quarter until you've absorbed these ideas into your psyche and are living those seven habits. One of the seminal habits is “Begin with the end in Mind”. However, an even more important principle of life and business is always do what’s right for the end user.

CARRIERS PUT THE SQUEEZE ON AGENTS by Edward Curry If you're an agency owner wondering why your carriers are making it so difficult to do business with them, you're not alone. While...

CASH BONUSES AND EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION by Chris Burand Would you be surprised to learn that not everyone is motivated by money? When it comes to offering employees an inc...

CHANGE IS A CERTAINTY by Al Diamond Attempting to maintain the same old business practices in a changing environment is as futile as trying to sit stationary in a rising tide. As ind...

The cluster concept has been a popular one for doctors, dentists, realtors, and others for many years. Insurance agency clusters have been around for a few decades, but interest in them intensified during the hard market of the early 1980s. At that time, smaller agencies banded together to protect themselves against increasing carrier demands brought on by tighter market conditions.

Now that you’ve decided on the markets to pursue and your marketing approach, it’s time to initiate the plan. In this final article of a three-part series Jack Fries discusses the steps you’ll take to implement a successful marketing and sales strategy.

COMMUNICATE WITH EMPLOYEES! by Al Diamond Treat your employees like customers - not children! Most agency principals have owned one or two agencies and have been ...