FINANCIAL SERVICES - 401(K) Dear (Customer Name): Does your company have a retirement plan for its employees? Do the employees feel it's an adequate plan? If you answered 'no' to either question...

SENDING THE WRONG MESSAGES: 18 WAYS TO BRAND A BUSINESS ... BADLY by John Graham In the West, cattle ranchers still brand cattle. Once the brand has been burned into the ...

Many agents tell me they're getting plenty of referrals and don't need to cold-call for new business. If you fall into this category, there's no need to read on. But if you want to grow beyond referral business, cold-call prospecting is a necessary means to that end. Yet there's a more effective (and honorable) way to do it than described above. It's all about your goal and your preparation for the call.

With e-mail we're limited to words. Another challenge is that we can never be certain that the person with whom we think we're corresponding is actually the person they say they are. Mike Manes shares a lesson he learned about poor customer service.

The major goal of any agency or brokerage can be expressed in just one word: survival.
The mounting failures involving seemingly strong, well-established businesses that have been around for 15 to 75 years are of great concern.
The time has come for agencies and brokerages to take immediate action in order to survive a protracted economic downturn that may extend for several more years in some sectors of business or regions of North America.

INDEPENDENT AGENCIES ON SLIPPERY SLOPES? by Victoria Sonshine Pasher There's no letup yet for the independent agency squeeze that's persisted throughout the 1990s. Facing numerous challenges, agen...

KEEPING ACCOUNTS You work for maximum efficiency. You spend a lot of effort on improving service and getting leads, and you streamline your time by discarding dead-end business, such as cancell...

FOR THE FUTURE-PRODUCER RECRUITING Producer recruitment should be a continuous process that provides the lifeblood for your agency. In th...

CSR PROFIT-SHARING INCENTIVES Here are suggestions for CSR incentives: For CSRs who remain with the agency for a full year, split 25% of the increase in the commission incom...

HOMEOWNERS RENEWAL Dear (Customer Name), THANK YOU FOR RENEWING YOUR HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE WITH (COMPANY NAME) By now you should have received your HOMEOWNERS POLICY. If you haven'...