There's nothing better for business than a booming economy. Unfortunately, it often encourages faulty thinking and spawns erroneous ideas. When sales are strong and profits meet projections, we're quick to take the credit. When things go sour, external forces get the blame.
A good economy tends to mask distorted thinking and inappropriate ideas. For example, personal computer sales have been drifting downward, even while prices have been dropping. Manufacturers are petrified. Out of near desperation, they jack up power to a sizzling 500 MHz to try to capture customer attention. Just as this happens, free PCs appear. In the midst of all this, one company rediscovers itself. To IBM's credit, it figured out what business it's in: solutions.

12 LOW-BUDGET MARKETING IDEAS TO BOOST YOUR BUSINESS by Emily Huling Its nearing years end, or weeks end for that matter, and your people are looking just ...

Becoming accustomed to a growing economy is easy and dangerous. Although there are always pockets of problems, we forget that success is often more the result of a good economy than our business acumen. If everyone else is doing well, our major challenge becomes how to pull ahead of the pack. Unfortunately, many business people tend to get a bit lazy-and that's when we can get caught.
There are ways to become more successful, keep business booming, and give companies the opportunity to gain a competitive advantage. Here are 15 ways to develop an extra edge:

22 EFFECTIVE WAYS TO OUTMARKET THE COMPETITION by John Graham Outmarketing competitors is easy - if you do it right. This takes a combination of work and savvy, but the results ...

Out-marketing your competitors is easy if you do it right. It takes a combination of work and savvy, but the results can...

But, this article is about the fundamentals of marketing and communications for an insurance agency (or any consumer facing business's marketing). In my opinion, if you can stick to nurturing these fundamentals regularly, then all the advanced and future enhancements will come naturally. It doesn't matter whether the role you play in the agency is Principal, Producer, CSR, Admin or any customer facing role, in more ways than one, these fundamentals should apply to you.

A MARKETING MINDSET CREATES CUSTOMERS by John Graham As the insurance organizations marketing meeting began, the president stated, We need more sales. This might see...

AGENCY DEVELOPMENT: BIG SPENDERS VS. INVESTORS by Al Diamond Agents come in distinct varieties when it comes to spending money on agency development. Some agents are penny-pinchers, preferring ...

AVOID THE SIX ONLINE MARKETING MISTAKES MADE BY MOST AGENTS by Jack Fries These common errors can cripple your online marketing program. According to leading Internet consultant, Ross Jard...

BANKS AND INSURANCE: WHAT TO TELL A BANK PROSPECT by Fred Dent It never hurts to be prepared, particularl...