SELECTING INSURANCE COMPANIES Agents Responsibility for Company Insolvency by Carol Hammes Beware these warning signs of carrier financial instability. Financial stability is ...

Here's a letter I received recently:
Dear Dave:
I work for a $3.5 million P/C agency with about 60% Commercial and 40% Personal in premium volume. One in-house Life producer handles Commercial and Personal lines, sometimes with outside help. But she doesn't write any Disability policies at all; she considers Disability insurance a specialty that she doesn't want to sell. Should I try to talk her into it, pressure her into it, or just let it go? I don't want to add another full-time Life agent unless he/she would become profitable early on; it took two years for my present Life agent to reach profitability. What are my alternatives?

Situation: Our agency has several thousand personal lines insureds, and we have written mortgage reduction life insurance-reducing term-on many. But we're not writing much of anything else in personal lines Life or Health, partly because our life producer is uncomfortable with that market.
I know there's more to life than reducing term, but what can I as agency president-not a Life expert at all-do about developing more business from that potential? (Our commercial accounts are handled well by other life producers.)

SUCCESSFUL STRUCTURAL OPTIONS: MERGER, CLUSTER, OR ACQUISITION? by Catherine Oak and Bill Schoeffler The pros and cons of merging versus clustering. ...

It's easy to lose sight of the fact that agencies are in the service business. But consider that all agents sell the same product-insurance. Why do some agencies blossom while others wilt? Service and marketing are keys. Too often, getting new customers (through marketing) is emphasized at the expense of keeping customers (through service). You have to do a first-rate job at both to have first-rate growth and to control expenses

THAT PERSONAL TOUCH by Grace Bauer Are you still sending those personal thank-you notes to your insureds throughout the year? How about the initial claim letter expressing your concern an...

THE BENEFITS OF HAVING A LIFE BOOK A CASE HISTORY This is a true story. A P/C agency owner sold his agency to a buyer who was not interested in, nor equipped to handle, the Life business. (Too b...

THE CLUSTER OPTION: A SHORT SURVIVAL GUIDE by Catherine Oak and Bill Schoeffler Merger, acquisition, or clustering - that is the question. ...

THE POWER OF GOALS by Grace Bauer Do you feel that you're getting 100% out of each employee in the office? When t...

Whether you refer to them as trade secrets, books of business, or expirations, the major asset of an insurance age...