CULTIVATE RELATIONSHIPS TO CULTIVATE SALES by Maribeth Kusmeski Cultivating relationships proactively is often an afterthought. Were just too busy trying to get through the workloa...

CUSTOMER SERVICE: THE WOW! FACTOR by Shep Hyken The Wow! factor boils down to one thing: Exceeding the expectations of the customer. It goes beyond great customer service. In ...

Many in business have elevated the process of marketing to an almost magical, mystical level, either to help them maintain control, or because they don’t understand the process. In this article, John Graham examines six basic principles that will make marketing work.

DEVELOPING A MARKETING PLAN (IN A DISTRESSED AGENCY) by Ken Buehler It is an uphill battle for a distressed agency to get back on track and sustain any level of growth if it f...

DIVIDE SALES DUTIES INTO MARKETING AND SELLING Some CSRs have trouble marketing because they confuse it with selling. The whole concept of persuading a customer to sign an application for a policy ca...

DO ADVERTISING AND MARKETING WORK? by Al Diamond It never ceases to amaze me. Even though the Independent Agency System is totally sales driven, too many agents do an abysmal job in ma...

DOES YOUR WEB SITE HAVE PEOPLE SAYING lsquo;WOW!? by Maribeth Kusmeski These seven questions can help you evaluate the WOW! factor on your Web site: Does your sit...

While driving down Boston’s Massachusetts Avenue one Saturday afternoon, it dawned on me that every bus stop shelter along this popular main artery sported advertising signage for Apple’s iPad 2. Assuming that many bus riders were not target customers for a product selling between $500 and nearly $900, the two of us in the car thought that spending advertising dollars at bus stops seemed like a waste of money.

DON'T FAIL TO ADDRESS CUSTOMERS' WANTS AND NEEDS Your customers and prospects do not care about you and what you want or need. Does that sound harsh? It may, but it's also true! Your ...

DON'T LOSE YOUR WAY WHEN NAVIGATING CUSTOMER CURRENTS by Al Diamond Recently, the people at Motorola, the electronics giant, announced that they had 'lost their way.' This innovative c...