The international insurance market offers a variety of benefits to independent agents and brokers. It provides a perfect tool for solidifying your Commercial Lines accounts and insulating them from inroads being made by alphabet house brokers. International insurance operations also offer an entree to new product lines and markets that will expand your facilities abroad. For example, U.S. agents can introduce their expertise in such lines as Auto, Medical, Surety, and Workers' Compensation to third-world countries that are privatizing these coverages. Canadian brokers can expand their expertise in out-of-country private Medical insurance and, potentially, Workers' Compensation.

MARKETING CLUSTERS - A MEANS OF GROWTH AND SURVIVAL by Jack Fries The benefits, drawbacks, and formation of a marketing cluster. Clustering has been around for ...

MONITORING THE PLAN The monitoring process is almost as important as the actual plan. The agency's progress toward the plan's goals should be closely and carefully monitored. To make monitoring eas...

MONITORING THE PLAN The monitoring process is almost as important as the actual plan. The agency's progress toward the plan's goals should be closely and carefully monitored. T...

Nothing happens until somebody sells something. To make sales happen, IMMS.com Key Sales Consultant Randy Schwantz has created a comprehensive series of 43 Producer Success Lessons. Used singly or in combination, these powerful tools can help your producers build their skills - and grow their sales.

SECURE A COMPANY APPOINTMENT, PART I: ANALYZE THE NEED by Jack Fries This two-part article focuses on how to get the companies and markets your agency needs. Securing a com...

THE LOST ART OF BROKING by Rob Ekern Write quality, profitable business in soft and hard markets alike. I was speaking with a broker several weeks ago about the importance o...

THE PERFECT TEN: GOOD UNDERWRITING SUBMISSIONS GUARANTEE MORE SALES by Thomas Carpenter, CPCU The better your underwriting submissions, the better for you, your companies and your clie...

TRADE SHOWS CAN BE PROFITABLE TRADE SHOWS MORE PROFITABLE THAN AGENCIES MAY IMAGINE Many agency owners see trade shows as expensive and frivolous events that benefit the show's organizers more ...

Selling today is filled with contradictions. E-mail enhances our connectivity, but the number of E-mail messages is often so overwhelming that they go unanswered. Voice mail brings us together, but voice mailboxes are often clogged.