THE HIGH COST OF EMPLOYEE TURNOVER by Don Phin Money has little to do with turnover. Most surveys have found that satisfied employees wont leave a job unless theyre offered a r...

Historically, a hard market is part of the cyclical nature of the insurance industry. At one time, these cycles occurred fairly consistently at about seven year intervals. However, the last significant hard market came in the mid-80s.

A hard market is characterized by increasing rates and/or reduced industry capacity, which leads to affordability and/or availability problems. In addition, both underwriting and claims adjusting usually become more stringent. In the current marketplace, these conditions are exacerbated by increased uncertainty about such loss exposures as terrorism, mold, etc., and by a reinsurance market significantly strained by the events of September 11.

ADVERTISING FOR HELP by Al Diamond INSURANCE Licensed P/C agent. Benefits Call Sonja at (856) 555-5555 (Cost $27.36 for Sunday insertion) How attractive is this advertisement? Would you be ...

ADVICE AS A VALUE-ADDED BENEFIT by Jack Burke Despite turbulence in today's health field, HMOs have made dramatic inroads into our national concept of medicine. Twenty years ago, most pe...

AGENCY MANAGEMENT: SEVEN BIG STRATEGIES by Pamela A. Millard and Diane M. Herbert Plan your agency around these seven key strategies, and the ups and downs of the market will be just an in...

AGENCY PERPETUATION: AGENTS MUST GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD by Brian Burke I would venture to say that 80% of the agencies represented by the readers of this column could reall...

AGENCY PRODUCTIVITY LEVELS CONTINUE TO IMPROVE by Carol Hammes Despite the ongoing soft market in Commercial lines, the average insurance agency continues to show improvement in productivity lev...

ALTERNATIVE RISK FINANCING: SIZE DOESNT MATTER Most medium-sized and smaller companies protect themselves against their property and liability exposures by purchasing Commercial insuranc...

ANNUITIES: MODULE V-G THE PRODUCT Annuities have been called 'upside-down Life insurance,' a phrase that refers to the fact that annuities are designed to pay out w...

ARE YOU A PRODUCER OR A CSR? by Grace Bauer There are plenty of producers out there who are really CSRs. Are you one of ...