DISABILITY INCOME Dear (Customer Name), WHAT IF YOUR INCOME STOPPED TOMORROW? How long could you get by without any income? If you're like most of us, the answer would be: Not for very ...

EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS by Troy Campbell The day of the annual performance review is the one you most look forward to during your work life. (Ha!) Systems for evaluating performance have b...

Whether children or adults, people will live up to others' expectations of them. What are your employee evaluations telling your employees? How are these appraisals affecting their performance? In this document, Don Phin examines how employees react to performance evaluations, personally and professionally.

EXTRA EXPENSE KEEP YOUR BUSINESS DOORS OPEN Dear (Customer Name): Try to imagine posting this notice on your fire-damaged building: 'Sorry about the fire. It will take approximate...

FINANCIAL RATINGS DON'T TELL ALL by Chris Burand In the past year, it hasn't been unusual to see reports of companies that have had their debt ratings lowered, although their ...

Through the years I have seen Life policy applications and agents' reports with erroneous information. You probably have, too. I don't mean judgment calls with room for honest disagreement; I mean downright wrong information. One of the most common untruths may be the statement that a new policy will not replace an existing policy, when in fact it will. The agent may save the trouble of bothering with replacement forms, but he or she also may be buying a big problem.

GEM SCAM RECYCLED: AN OLD FRAUD RETURNS by Joel Volker Recycling isn't always a good thing. Here's an example of a form of recycling we hoped we'd never see again: An American broker recently con...

GEORGE, THE ETERNAL OPTIMIST by Chris Burand This object lesson shows how NOT to grow your agency. A few years ago, an agency principal let...

IF I IGNORE IT, IT WILL GO AWAY by Pegi Flahault A young agent, the son of an agency owner, once said the problem with most agency principals is that theyre salespeople, and salespeople ha...

INTERNET SALES: VALUE TRUMPS PRICE by Steve Anderson I regularly read and follow a number of blogs written by people outside the insurance industry. Seth Godin is one of those people. He ...