(NON-WEB) SITE PLANNING: OFFICE LAYOUT by Virginia Bates 'Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.' -- Will Rogers Many agency princi...

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.

CLUSTERS - ARE THEY RIGHT FOR YOU? by Val Jordan As an independent agent, you know that it's becoming increasingly difficult to find products and services. Carriers have incr...

Rarely will you get something for nothing. But how do you know if you’re getting what you should out of your marketing program? This document by John Graham provides you with the guidelines to properly evaluate your marketing efforts.
Getting something for nothing seems to be a universal human desire that extends into the business arena. For example, company owners and managers often ask, 'What should we expect to get out of our marketing program? How will our dollar investment translate into increased sales?

EMPLOYMENT LAW: CLEARING THE MINEFIELDS by Donald Phin The way I look at it, most of today's employment lawyers (like most other professionals) do a poor job of working on their business...

If you're thinking about what will be happening on the business scene in the future, the first step is to clear your mind of several popular misconceptions. More than ever, it will be dangerous to harbor-let alone act upon-erroneous ideas which can lead a business down the wrong road.

Six reasons why mergers and acquisitions fail.

Few business transactions pack the high-stakes potential of a merger or acquisition. Done well, the deal can help an agency attain new levels of prosperity. Done poorly, it can be crippling.

MERGERS: WHAT TO CONSIDER by Charles S. Watson, CPCU, CLU Last fall when we wrote the article about strategies for the '90s, we predicted that there would be an increase in merger activity al...

It seems as if we all need a good, old-fashioned whack on the head to get our attention. This is a moment when businesses need to connect with the business end of a two-by-four.
Change is in the wind. If there's one lesson the last decade or so has taught us, it's that there's a new economy, and it's global, integrated, and interdependent.

PRODUCER GROUPS: ARE THEY RIGHT FOR BANKS? by Valerie Jordan Are producer groups an effective way for banks to build their insurance sales? Although Valerie Jordan has written this art...