Offering business continuity planning services benefits you and your clients alike.
In theory, business continuity planning is a slow process. Ask a question and wait for the answer, ask the next question and wait again.

BUILD CUSTOMER CONFIDENCE AND LOYALTY FOR THE LONG TERM by Mary Beth Bolen Historically, it's been fairly easy to write and renew coverage on an account for one to three years, after which th...

Many readers have been asking me for scripts that cover the first phone call to a new referral prospect. Obviously, this first call will vary greatly for a number of reasons: The nature of your business, the circumstances of the referral, and whether or not your client introduced you in some way — just to name a few.

Independent Agency System carriers that rank high on the Gomez insurance Web site index probably congratulate themselves on their achievement - the result of hard work, creativity, and spending in the nine or ten-digit range. But what if these high-ranking carriers are scoring well in the wrong game?

Suppose Gomez and other Web ranking services have no idea what they’re talking about? What if they base their evaluation criteria on an implicit misunderstanding of the insurance business? What if "winning" means embracing a bankrupt business strategy?

CHECKLIST OF SERVICES Dear (Customer Name): SHARPEN YOUR PENCIL AND CHECK OUT THE COMPETITION . . . and we bet you'll find that it pays to comparison-shop when you're...

The cluster concept has been a popular one for doctors, dentists, realtors, and others for many years. Insurance agency clusters have been around for a few decades, but interest in them intensified during the hard market of the early 1980s. At that time, smaller agencies banded together to protect themselves against increasing carrier demands brought on by tighter market conditions.

CLUSTERS - ARE THEY RIGHT FOR YOU? by Val Jordan As an independent agent, you know that it's becoming increasingly difficult to find products and services. Carriers have incr...

COMBINING INSURANCE AND FINANCIAL SERVICES: REALITY CHECK by Carol Hammes After the Barnett decision in Florida and the subsequent passage of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financ...

Dear (Customer Name): You've purchased Life insurance for key employees because you know it could mean financial disaster for your company if you were to lose someone...

When communicating your message, don't let familiarity breed indifference...