AGENCY OWNERSHIP CHANGES CALL FOR EXTRA CUSTOMER TLC by Emily Huling During times of transition, customers have special needs. Emily Huling warns that without proper new customer handlin...

Dear Dave:

Our agency has hired a full-time Life producer to handle Personal Lines only. We believe we have enough accounts to justify that move. She tested well for personality and potential, but she is fairly new in the Life business. She is closing about one out of four presentations, which sounds fine for a relative beginner, since the closing average for all agents is about one out of three. But since she deals with many Mortgage policies and writes reducing Term policies at fairly low premiums, the bottom-line dollars are low. We need to create more cash flow. What can you suggest?

According to an old axiom, keeping an existing customer is much more profitable than spending money going after new prospects. While that's generally valid in any business, it seems especially true in P/C agencies, particularly when management recognizes dozens of related financial services that can flow through a P/C book of business.

USING AUTOMATION SYSTEMS TO MEASURE CSR PERFORMANCE by Karen Flaherty Your agency management system offers a number of tools for evaluating CSRs. Many agencies are using their aut...