BAD TIMES CAN LEAD TO GOOD SALES Life insurance products are necessities, of course, in good times or bad. In addition to selling annuities, there are two easy steps that Life producers can take in ...

INVEST ESOP DIVIDENDS INTO A 401(k) An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) allows workers to invest a percentage of income into their company. Most stocks produce quarterly dividends in t...

OWNERSHIP ISSUES AND COMPENSATION by Carol Hammes During the past several months we have been addressing methods for compensating agency staff, managers, and salespeople. How should...

If you offer a policy review, your agency must be prepared to handle responses. The first 10 seconds of a phone call may be crucial in forming the caller's impression of your professionalism. Depending on the agency's system for routing incoming calls, we advise that Life calls be handled by Life staff. In emergency situations, enough information should be obtained on the first call to enable the Life producer to reach the caller again, even if communications are difficult; don't lose the caller!

In the early 1990s a state insurance commissioner, in a Wall Street Journal front-page article, called insurance agents the 'buggy-whip makers' of the late 20th century. Several years later, you seem to be doing just fine, and in many cases, even better than investors in other areas. Kevin Stipe offers an overview of the insurance agency as an investment vehicle in this document.

WHOLE LIFE INSURANCE: MODULE V-F THE PRODUCT Whole Life insurance, also referred to as 'ordinary' Life, is the oldest form of permanent Life insurance protectio...

Insurance agents and brokers have good reason to feel slighted. Like being stuck outside the New Year's party without an invitation, agents have had many reasons for envy as investors in other sectors congratulated themselves for another incredible year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by a whopping 68% from 1996 to 1998, which was its strongest two-year performance since 1955. Even the insurance companies got invited to the party, with property and casualty insurers enjoying a 64% increase in value during the past two years.