BANKS AND P/C INSURANCE AGENCIES REALITY CHECK PART I: DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE by Chris Burand Do bank stockholders benefit from acquisitions of P/C agencies? The answer? Yes,...

My office has advised our clients about the explosion in the EPL insurance market for some time now. The market is encouraging: More insureds are making EPL insurance part of their insurance portfolio. Consequently, the number of markets offering EPL insurance has expanded, doubling the number of new EPL policy forms and increasing insurance capacity.

IS EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP RIGHT FOR YOUR AGENCY? PART II by Carol Hammes Offering your employees the opportunity for agency ownership can help attract and retain quality people. Sooner or later,...

LIFE INSURANCE FOR P/C CUSTOMERS One agent had this question: 'One of our P/C insureds is carrying a $1 million Life policy, and he is paying about $50,000 a year in premium. Unfortunately, we didn'...

LIFE INSURANCE: AN AGENTS TUTORIAL by Richard Weber Compared with Homeowners or Auto, clients tend to have different expectations when it comes to their Life insurance. Will you ...

The Long-term Care (LTC) family of products includes coverages for nursing homes, adult day care, home health care, assisted living facilities, and other related benefits. LTC has unique qualities, and there are many variations among the carriers.
LTC isn't a new concept. The coverage has been around for decades, but only recently has it been widely discussed. With the new wave of interest in LTC, sales took off slowly, built up, and then leveled off. All of this activity adds up to this picture: A large number of LTC prospects have heard about the product but haven't yet bought it. Why not?

MARKETING WITH PEANUTS by Pamela Grieman Some agents spend a lot of money to include expensive gifts with their direct-mail packages. Not Da...

PRODUCER COMPENSATION Producer compensation plans among independent agencies vary tremendously. Pick up several compensation surveys and you'll observe variations that seem to confuse m...

PRODUCER COMPENSATION: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR by Pamela Millard In spite of the continuing soft market (the permanent soft market?) and the troubling economy, there are opportunities fo...

PUBLIC RELATIONS AND SELLING: HOW TO BE A MODEST SELF-PROMOTER by Rob Keane 'Articles, not advertisements.' This is the first rule I learned in journalism school. Eight years later, I made t...