Mike called. As soon as I heard his voice, I knew that, like Austin Powers, he had his mojo back. Mike was on fire with enthusiasm,...

AGENTS: COMPANY MARKETS AREN'T ALWAYS GOING TO COME TO YOU! by Andrew Barile One of the most important responsibilities of agents to themselves and their agencies is to maintain posit...

BUYING A BOOK OF BUSINESS by Richard Bergsund During the past nine years our executive search firm has been involved in a substantial number of assignments to find superior performers for internatio...

CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG? by Al Diamond Conflict Resolution in Insurance Agencies You tell your clients and your carriers that your agency staff is not just professional and expert in the...

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?

CHARACTERISTICS OF STRONG AGENCY/CARRIER RELATIONSHIPS by John Jaques The compilation of agency/carrier relationship characteristics presented in this article is based on observatio...

CLUSTER TIPS by Chris Burand Cluster contracts among individual agencies or groups of agencies (not necessarily the major cluster-type agency organizations) are almost alw...

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.

COMMERCIAL LINES MARKETING PROGRAM by Al Diamond This documentcovers issues as diverse as agency budgeting, how to post an effective classified advertisement, and marketing carr...

COMMISSION-REDUCTION STRATEGIES by Ken Buehler Commission reductions have been in practice for a number of years and, given the current expense reduction needs of carriers, there are no r...