Historically, a hard market is part of the cyclical nature of the insurance industry. At one time, these cycles occurred fairly consistently at about seven year intervals. However, the last significant hard market came in the mid-80s.

A hard market is characterized by increasing rates and/or reduced industry capacity, which leads to affordability and/or availability problems. In addition, both underwriting and claims adjusting usually become more stringent. In the current marketplace, these conditions are exacerbated by increased uncertainty about such loss exposures as terrorism, mold, etc., and by a reinsurance market significantly strained by the events of September 11.

CONSULTATIVE BROKERS IN A CHANGING MARKET by Rob Ekern Those of us who entered the business more than 20 years ago have seen two or three market cycles. We had to weather at least one and...

CUSTOMER SERVICE: ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS by Jack Burke I recently attended a city council meeting in Hollister, Missouri, a sister city to Branson. I attended in order to support...

DEALING WITH THE PUBLIC Here's a real-life scenario from a CSR (KM) who felt she couldn't work with people effectively. After having worked in a large brokerage house in the same geographic a...

HOW A CONSULTATIVE BROKER PRODUCES YEAR-END REVENUE by Rob Ekern Traditionally, Labor Day marks the beginning of the renewal and new business process (or unfortunately, in some cases, T...

Service seems to be a catch-all word for whatever seems to be lacking in our agencies. Most of us have identified service areas as most important...

INTERNAL CREDIT POLICIES: CREATION AND IMPLEMENTATION by Mary Beth Bolen Let's face it-few people enjoy collecting funds for premiums. Collecting on past-due accounts is even less pleasant. W...

MANAGING AGENCY WORKFLOW: GETTING THINGS RIGHT THE FIRST TIME by Grace Bauer Getting things right the first time depends largely on developing a program to review and audit procedures on a...

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RETAINING LIFETIME CUSTOMERS by Brenda French At renewal time, customers have one question that they expect their broker to answer: 'What have you done for me lately?' If that question is...