CLUSTER TIPS by Chris Burand Cluster contracts among individual agencies or groups of agencies (not necessarily the major cluster-type agency organizations) are almost alw...

COMMONALITY BREEDS RELATIONSHIPS by Jack Burke We're more alike than we think. Relationships, whether face-to-face or cyber-distanced,...

CONNECTIONS: 'DO UNTO OTHERS ...' by Jack Burke Happy employees make for happy customers. You've heard that before, along with 'Your employees will treat your customers the same way the...

CONTINGENT BUSINESS INTERRUPTION Dear (Customer Name): You're in a business that depends heavily on ( ) in order for your revenues to continue. If you depend heavily on one company, you could be he...

DESIGN A WORD-OF-MOUTH MARKETING CAMPAIGN by Patricia Berry Many companies mistakenly believe that WOM is just s...

DOCUMENT YOUR ACCOUNTING PROCEDURES - Grace Bauer

EMPLOYEE SHORTAGES by Chris Burand According to US Banks December 2000 Simply Business, the U.S. will have 151 million jobs, but only 141 million workers by 2006. Other forecasts...

FIVE STEPS TO MARKET RESEARCH by Patricia Berry Patricia Berry offers five market research tactics that can help ...

Ever since independent agencies were invented, their owners have wondered how to find, motivate, and keep good producers. But according to one consultant, most principals still aren't getting a good deal.

'Across the United States, more employee producers are overpaid yet underproduce,' says Jeffrey Wodicka. Wodicka is president of a consulting firm called Directions Agency Management Resources Limited of Rockville, New York, as well as principal of The Greystone Agency, also of Rockville.

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...