EVALUATING PRODUCERS by Catherine Oak The more effectively your agency evaluates and manages producers, the better for them and you. Whos responsible for sales managem...

HOW TO KEEP YOUR SALES FROM RUNNING OUT OF GAS by John Graham Most of us have figured out that its smart to have a least a few gallons of gas in the tank at all times. Its n...

TELEMARKETING: ONE STEP TOWARD SALES EFFICIENCY by Phil Zinkewicz As the agency system strides to be competitive, some agencies find telemarketing pays off. The efficiency of the...

DEFEATING CUSTOMER LOYALTY by Jack Burke Its not the big things that will cost you customers. Quite frequently, its the small things that drive people into the arms of you...

FROM BUSINESS INSURANCE TO FAMILY INSURANCE by Preston Diamond Every Commercial account represents an opportunity to cross-sell Personal Lines to key employees. To help you get your sha...

SELECTING AND HITTING YOUR TARGET MARKETS by Thomas R. Chapman, CIC, CPCU Target marketing is a great technique for writing new business. But to implement it effectively, an agency must choo...

Are independent insurance agents on the verge of extinction? On the MisFortune 500 list of endangered occupations? You might think so after reading some of the press. For a different perspective, Kevin Stipe offers his observations of current and past trends and market conditions to prove that we’re not necessarily going the way of the dinosaur and the door-to-door encyclopedia salesman.

It's difficult for agency owners to succeed at management. When the same person is responsible for insurance issues and management, the latter will almost always suffer. In this document, Jack Fries reviews the essential requirements of a competent manager.

In 1976, 12 insurance executives spent a day trying to pinpoint the reasons for their success. Their large insurance agency had doubled in size over the last three years. The company's employees had worked hard to achieve a high rate of referrals and were aggressive in their roles as producers. But what factors led to their astonishing success? How did they attract a client? And most of all, what made each client buy and renew year after year?

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...