AGENCY-COMPANY RELATIONS: STAND BY ME by Brenda French What do your companies want and how can you give it to them? In working with your companies, the first quest...

Independent Agency System carriers that rank high on the Gomez insurance Web site index probably congratulate themselves on their achievement - the result of hard work, creativity, and spending in the nine or ten-digit range. But what if these high-ranking carriers are scoring well in the wrong game?

Suppose Gomez and other Web ranking services have no idea what they’re talking about? What if they base their evaluation criteria on an implicit misunderstanding of the insurance business? What if "winning" means embracing a bankrupt business strategy?

CYCLE-UP YOUR MARKETING by Nanci Evarts Check out these solutions to soft-market woes. Shifts in the marketplace are either heralded by agents and brokers with general e...

EXTERNAL GROWTH WITH SUCCESSFUL ACQUISITIONS by Carol Hammes Be prepared to do an acquisition before the opportunity presents itself. INTRODUCTION Most agencies will have the opportu...

GROW REVENUES OR SHRINK EXPENSES: HOW TO IMPROVE AGENCY PROFESSIONALISM by Elizabeth Miller Although weve seen many agencies enjoy tremendous profits over the years, Elizabeth Miller believ...

INSURANCE DISTRIBUTION TRENDS AND THE EFFECTS OF CHANGE It's remarkable that the insurance industry has experienced only evolutionary - not revolutionary - change in its structure, processes, s...

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...