ADDING VALUE TO A FAMILY BUSINESS by Pegi Flahault A long time ago, agencies thrived by simply writing enough policies, attending enough meetings, making enough contacts, and re...

AGENCIES ARE GETTING HELP THESE DAYS! by Grace Bauer Every agency I talk to these days wants help. 'How can we be better?' 'How can we stay in touch with the client?' 'How can w...

AGENCY VALUE: NO SIMPLE ANSWERS by Al Diamond How much is your agency worth? That depends on a number of factors. Whats my agency worth? Were asked tha...

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,...

AVOID THESE COMMON ACCOUNTING MISTAKES by Chris Burand Some agents make a conscious decision to pay more in taxes in order to bu...

E&O ISSUES AND RECOMMENDATIONS by Grace Bauer We get so caught up in our daily crises and day-to-day workloads that we often don't have the time to take a good look at how our agency is ha...

Last week I was at a regional meeting where I met up with several producers from Texas. Having been a producer (a long time ago) and knowing how to swing a golf club, I fit right in. Being as committed to growth as I am, I ask the killer question that quickly exposes a problem. “John, what’s your growth goal for this year?”
He pauses and says “Um...around 65%.”
“Uh-huh. Where’s that from?” I asked.
“Well, I doubt I can do 80% and I didn’t want to sound like a loser and say 50 %, so I came up with 65%.”

REACTIVE AND PROACTIVE CSRs by Mary Beth Bolen Some people believe things happen to them, while others believe things happen because of them. Sometimes, people fluctuate between the two extremes...

'THE CONVERSATION': DOING IT RIGHT by Don Phin Should you let problem employees go - or grow? I cant tell you how many times clients have posed this scen...

TRANSACTIONAL FILING The use of transactional filing is not mandatory to the use of these procedures, but will provide efficiencies not found in the manual environment. When a procedure stipulates a ...