When asked, 99% of employers will give a former worker dates of employment. About one in three will say if the employee is...

LEARNING TO MANAGE E-MAIL by Steve Anderson Communicating with someone used to be easy. You could just pick up the phone and give them a call, or sit down and write a note. Fast forward a...

LISTENING TO CUSTOMERS by Troy Campbell To find out how the agency is perceived by customers requires continuous monitoring. Detailed perceptions can be obtained from a complaint log, a compli...

Over the years, we’ve stressed the benefits of having standard operating procedures (SOPs) for everything that a business does. As a reminder, here are nine reasons why SOPS make sense.

Recently, I came across an interesting column in a national marketing publication. The writer indicated that marketing programs don't perform well because of 'business marketers' dogmatic belief that 'selling is the only form of marketing I need to do.''
This is an amazing statement because our experience at Graham Communications is quite different. As we see it, the problem is failing to achieve the benefits of marketing because the emphasis is always on sell, sell, sell.

MARKETING ANALYSIS-BY A DREAMER by Michael Manes I'm a dreamer-I think in concepts and gag on concrete details. I see every problem as an opportunity. I'm bored with today...

MOTIVATION: GETTING OFF THE TREADMILL by Al Diamond Three agencies we visited had problems so similar that we decided to see just how many agents have the same experience, and the sa...

Remember, as salespeople we want to hear objections. When buyers send out these signals, they're giving you clues about their interest. Give the buyer a chance to make the decision based on the information you've provided. If you've done a good job throughout the sales process, the objections you hear should enable you to reconfirm your value to the buyer and close the sale.

OVERCOMING OBJECTIONS: MODULE IV-A Life insurance must be sold-it is seldom simply purchased because it's needed or mandatory, like Auto insurance often is. And any time you sell, you'...

PEOS: DO THEY HAVE YOU COMING, OR GOING? by Eric Moberg Is your agency equipped to handle the additional responsibilities of administering PEOs to your Commercial clients? This doc...