Globalization and technology have affected every industry, including insurance. This has moved ACORD to participate in organizations and program...

CRM: THE 80/20 RULE by Patricia Czech Have you heard about the 80/20 rule of customer relationship management (CRM)? Many vendors and consultants are using this rule as a popular sales p...

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

DONT MAKE PROMISES TO CLIENTS THAT YOU CANT KEEP! by Maribeth Kusmeski Did you ever make a big promise you cant keep? Often, theres a disconnect separating wha...

In addition to working in the business, more and more agency principals and managers are working on the business by focusing on technology and workflow improvements. The latest Future One agency survey confirms this trend ― 72% of the agents surveyed responded that core management issues for them are to make their internal operations more efficient and to use technology to conduct business with carriers more efficiently. Jeff Yates shows you how to improve agency workflows with technology.

KEEP THE HUMAN TOUCH IN CUSTOMER SERVICE by Jack Fries For better or worse, electronic commerce is changing the relationship between consumers and vendors. It's often for the worse in cu...

In the next few years, you'll probably be devoting more time and resources to Life and Health insurance products - that is, if you're at all like the estimated 2,000 independent agents who participated in the "Future One Agency Universe Study."

The study shows that independent agents are increasingly aware of the need to be full-service insurance providers. Agents who have traditionally focused on Property/Casualty insurance see the need to expand more aggressively into Life and other types of insurance products. In fact, slightly more than half the agencies surveyed said that over the next three years, they'll devote a higher proportion of agency resources to Life and Health products.

SAMPLE GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE [Company Name] wishes to provide a comfortable, productive, legal and ethical work environment. To this end, the company wants you to bring any grievances you have about th...

TECHNOLOGY AND THE AGENCY: A PRIMER by Ken Buehler Recently I met with an agency that had a state-of-the-art computer system. The system did everything, and then some! ACORD certificates, bind...

THE CONCEPT OF SHARING IN MENTORING AND MARKETING by Jack Burke When writing an article for IMMS subscribers, I often feel like I'm preaching to the choir. ...