We all know the value that cross-selling brings to agencies. According to industry statistics, profit margins on the second sale are two to three times higher than the first and retention is 60% higher. Yet the average independent agency’s number of policies per customer hasn’t changed in 20 years. How can such a vital, well-publicized goal remain so elusive for so long? It’s as if we all know how to become millionaires but ignore the facts. The truth is that cross-selling is a complex process that can fail for a number of reasons.

Though faced with the realities of dramatic economic change, the reconfiguration of the business landscape, and globalization, U.S. companies continue to go down the wrong path. Former U.S. Treasury Department official Michael Jacobs calls it "business myopia."

It may be argued that "enhancing shareholder value" drives the myopic vision of publicly-traded companies, but "shareholder demand" is perhaps more accurate. In privately held companies, myopic thinking results from a desire to increase market share or simply beat last month's figures.

After an automated sales center is up and running, it's up to producers to act on the qualified leads that the sales center coordinator, assistant, and support staff have worked on.

Prospecting is an old term; replace it with "business development."

Business development requires a positive attitude, confidence, and discipline. The business development mind-set can be picked up by anyone who has a desire to step to the front line and just do what must be done. Commit to a business development plan of action, then organize and follow through.

The international insurance market offers a variety of benefits to independent agents and brokers. It provides a perfect tool for solidifying your Commercial Lines accounts and insulating them from inroads being made by alphabet house brokers. International insurance operations also offer an entree to new product lines and markets that will expand your facilities abroad. For example, U.S. agents can introduce their expertise in such lines as Auto, Medical, Surety, and Workers' Compensation to third-world countries that are privatizing these coverages. Canadian brokers can expand their expertise in out-of-country private Medical insurance and, potentially, Workers' Compensation.

TELEMARKETER'S SKILLS

You might look toward four basic types of people when you're searching for prospective telemarketers:

Your own administrative or service employees
Professional salespeople
Experienced telemarketers
New employees who express an interest in telemarketing, but have little or no sales background

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.

Many people tend to credit the origin of infomercials to the old, late-night slicer/dicer and Pocket Fisherman commercials. Granted, some tacky infomercials have taken the slicer/dicer format, but the original infomercials began on a higher ground: religion.

Before you haul me off to a padded room, let's define "infomercial."An infomercial is an advertisement for a product or service that has been expanded with information, entertainment, or both to retain the attention of the audience.

Dear Dave:

Our agency has hired a full-time Life producer to handle Personal Lines only. We believe we have enough accounts to justify that move. She tested well for personality and potential, but she is fairly new in the Life business. She is closing about one out of four presentations, which sounds fine for a relative beginner, since the closing average for all agents is about one out of three. But since she deals with many Mortgage policies and writes reducing Term policies at fairly low premiums, the bottom-line dollars are low. We need to create more cash flow. What can you suggest?

In Canada, they call them "expiry dates." In the U.S., they are called "expiration dates."

No matter what name they are given-"renewal dates," "anniversary dates," or any other name-one point is abundantly clear: People are more willing to change their agent or broker at renewal time than at any other time of year.

That is the way it has been in the past, particularly in Personal Lines, and surely that is the way it is going to be in the future.

If you’re a Microsoft Office user who touch-types, you might prefer the keyboard to the mouse for entering commands. However, chances are you wind up using the mouse, because Windows and Office keyboard shortcuts are difficult to remember, and trying to find them is like searching for hidden goodies in a treasure hunt. Once found, though, shortcuts can be invaluable time-savers.

This isn’t a list of every shortcut in Windows and Office. We’ve concentrated on the most helpful and won’t delve into the shortcuts you probably know already, such as those that copy (Ctrl-C), cut (Ctrl-X), or paste (Ctrl-V) objects.