FIVE STEPS TO HIRING SUCCESS by Don Phin Many business owners struggle with the problem of hiring employees who care about the company. You can achieve this goal by following five ...

To embrace — and benefit from — change, follow these guidelines.
Unrelenting and increasingly rapid change demands that the insurance industry rapidly uncover new ways to evaluate and respond to its marketplace.
I’ve worked with many highly successful insurance companies and agencies, helping them achieve higher levels of profitability through more sales, customer and employee loyalty, and retention. However, in many of these organizations, management remained blind to the dire need to change, despite its apparent desire to achieve higher profits. Managers can’t see the compelling need to change from the ways that allowed the organization to be successful in the first place.

FORMALIZING THE PLAN A plan is only as good as its execution. It is essential that progress be monitored and adjusted and changes made when necessary. Which means that once you prepare the plan, you ...

HOW TO HIRE A GOOD PRODUCER by Brandie Hinen As Brandie Hinen illustrates in this document, hiring good people can be easy if you know what to look and listen for. ...

IMPLEMENT THE RIGHT PROCEDURES TO RAISE REVENUE by Grace Bauer Is your agency using step-by-step procedures to train its employees? Has it reviewed its procedures to make sure they save tim...

MAKE SURE INCENTIVES ARE JUST THAT Incentives are designed to motivate salespeople to increase andimprove production; however, you should exercise caution when implementing an incen...

MANAGING SAFETY FOR AN AGING WORKFORCE Nearly one of four people aged 64 to 75 remain in the workforce and the number will skyrocket as the Baby Boomers reach retirement age, but want t...

ORGANIZING TO SUPPORT THE SALES EFFORT by Carol Hammes At some point, it becomes essential to step back from the situation and evaluate whether the organizational structure and job descr...

In the 19th century, businesses had three communication options: The Pony Express, Western Union, and (rarely) the telephone. With the Pony Express, at best you had to wait days or weeks for a response — a lot like a producer trying to cold-call senior executives today.

With Western Union, telegrams had to convey their message in a limited number of words. Today a marketing letter might get through, but the executive has little time to read it and it doesn’t display your verbal communication skills.

Although the reasons to plan are as endless as the individual needs of each agency, there are a number of common factors. Jack Fries reviews the importance of planning to your agency's success.