Search CompleteMarkets

... x No Thanks Loading.. Apartment Owners - "We'Re The Local Specialists"4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor This content has not been rated yet. APARTMENT OWNERS - WE'RE THE LOCAL SPECIALISTS' Dear (Customer Name): YOU'VE GOT MORE TO WORRY ABOUT . . . than the average property owner - if you're not insured with (Your Agency Name) . We're the specialist in insuring apartment buildings. When you're insured with us, you know you're adequately protected. You need an insurance specialist who can adequately assess your property, taking into account the special features of the building and the improvements you've made. You need an expert who will assess your liability risks and tell you how to make sure you're insured in case someone sues you - a common occurrence for any number of apartment owners today. And you need to consult an authority on ways to manage your risk so that you can reduce your chance of having a loss in the first place. We can advise you on before-the-fact' protection, as well as insurance. We'll be calling you soon to set up a convenient appointment to review your coverage. We think you'll be pleasantly surprised at what we have to offer. Sincerely, (Your Name) Login or Register (for FREE) to gain access to thousands of other great articles. Need more reasons to join? Need insurance for you, your business or your family? Get quality appointments - Save yourself a whole lot of time & money when you use our directory of carriers, wholesalers and service providers. Negotiate lucrative contracts with carriers and wholesalers. ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. Apartment Owners - "How Many Hats Do You Wear?"3/25/2014 by CompleteMarkets Editor This content has not been rated yet. Dear (Customer Name): HOW MANY HATS DO YOU WEAR? Many apartment owners find themselves saddled with more work than they bargained for. Often they wear too many hats: that of a maintenance worker . . . a bill collector . . . building inspector . . . risk manager . . . the list goes on and on. Why not let the insurance experts wear one of your hats? At (Your Agency Name), our specialty is insuring apartment owners. We've got the knowledge and experience to assess your risks and provide the best insurance package for your needs. Our Apartment insurance experts will survey your property, your present policies, and your insurance history to devise the package that's right for you. You won't have to worry about the danger of gaps in coverage or expense of overlapping policies. It's a load off your mind to know you've got the experts working for you. Why not let us review your program? One of our specialists will give you a call in a few days to discuss a convenient appointment. Sincerely, (Your Name) Login or Register (for FREE) to gain access to thousands of other great articles. Need more reasons to join? Need insurance for you, your business or your family? Get quality appointments - Save yourself a whole lot of time & money when you use our directory of carriers, wholesalers and service providers. Negotiate lucrative ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. A Look At Value Added Selling As An Answer To Price Selling 4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor , Allen Karlin This content has not been rated yet. A LOOK AT VALUE ADDED SELLING AS AN ANSWER TO PRICE SELLING by Allen Karlin, Ph.D. Use these proven ways to stand out from the competition. One reality of today's business climate is that price is of critical importance when clients make a decision about where to buy their insurance. Rates and prices constantly are being examined by agents, risk managers, and prospects. Due to significant competitive and economic pressures, clients are looking to save money wherever they can. Agents must be aware of the concept of value-added selling: the need to set yourself apart from competitors so that prospects and existing clients view you as a business partner of the highest quality and integrity. Value-added selling can be defined as the entire package of goods and services that you, as an agent, bring to a prospect or client. The package extends beyond you, however. It also includes the agency and its reputation; the support it provides; the carriers you use, their products, and specific advantages those products offer; and the level of claims service provided. In short, there is a price associated with any insurance policy. And sometimes the cost of doing business may take a less expensive policy at the outset and make it the more expensive purchase in the long run. For example, a heavy-equipment manufacturer normally would require a high level of loss-control services. If he or she chooses the lowest-priced insurer ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. Renter's Insurance 4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor This content has not been rated yet. RENTER'S INSURANCE Dear (Customer Name): HAS YOUR APARTMENT EVER BEEN VIOLATED? If you've ever had your apartment broken into, it has. Criminal hands groping through your belongings, invading your privacy, stealing your possessions - are a violation. Luckily you weren't home and you are safe. But what about the rest? Now you must face the heartache of adding up the cost. What was stolen? What was it worth? At least you have insurance. Or do you? If you've always meant to buy Renter's insurance, but kept putting it off, this is a reminder. It wouldn't cost you very much to protect your valuables. We certainly hope your apartment will never be violated. Unfortunately, crime statistics show it is a distinct possibility. Don't wait until it happens. Return the enclosed card today. We will immediately send you a Renter's insurance quotation. Sincerely, Enclosure Login or Register (for FREE) to gain access to thousands of other great articles. Need more reasons to join? Need insurance for you, your business or your family? Get quality appointments - Save yourself a whole lot of time & money when you use our directory of carriers, wholesalers and service providers. Negotiate lucrative contracts with carriers and wholesalers. Net result. More revenue for your agency! Clients & Prospects will research you, your co-workers and your agency here. The most comprehensive online insurance industry reference library for - Personal Lines Professionals Commercial Lines Professionals ...

... strategies exist for owners of apartments who want to salvage their hard-earn...

... x No Thanks Loading.. World-Class Customer Service 4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor , Pamela Millard This content has not been rated yet. WORLD-CLASS CUSTOMER SERVICE &# 160 by Diane Herbert and Pamela Millard &# 160 What sets your agency apart? What do you do better than other agencies? What do you offer that they don't? Why should people buy insurance from you? Everyone in your agency should know intuitively what sets your agency apart from the competition. Diane Herbert and Pamela Millard help you to meet or exceed customer expectations. &# 160 &# 160 When we ask those questions in our consulting practice, the answer is invariably, "Service. We provide great service." When asked what that means, we often hear "We truly care about our clients." "We return phone calls the same day." Or, "A real live person always answers the phone." Although those things are important, we doubt that your clients consider them special. They are (or should be) given. &# 160 In our 20-plus years of consulting with hundreds of independent insurance agencies and talking with thousands of agency personnel, we can count on our fingers and toes the number of times that we've had people give us concrete, meaningful expressions of quality customer service — even when the agency is in fact providing truly exceptional service to their clients. &# 160 In a service-driven environment such as the Independent Agency System, the value of what you provide is determined entirely by the customer's perception. The customer decides what value is. As ...

... than their peers. Tomorrow, when they sell their firms, either internally or through sale to a third party, they will undoubtedly receive the highest price for their stock. What's the secret to their marketing success? It's simple. They have planned and streamlined their marketing time and efforts by emphasizing their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses. To do so, these strengths and weaknesses need to be identified. The first step in planning is self-assessment. If you don't know where you've been and how you got there, how can you possibly plan for the future? This article focuses on "Assessing Your Firm's Marketing Resources" -the first critical step in the process of planning your marketing strategy. We will explore how to assess your marketing strengths and weaknesses by looking at the characteristics that set you apart from the competition and identifying the classes of business and evaluating the tools that are available. We will also explain how to critique those who produce in your firm and identify compensation motivators. Marketing Defined What is marketing? It is the process of identifying customer needs within a geographical area, developing or offering products to meet those needs, and efficiently using the firm's resources to distribute your insurance products. There are two kinds of marketing in the insurance agent and broker distribution system: 1. Selling to your clients 2. Placement of accounts with your carriers Importance of Planning What is the importance of the marketing strategy plan? Your growth should be planned to: • &# 160Replace lost accounts • &# 160Attain the growth levels expected (and promised) • &# 160Make a profit • ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. Overcoming Obstacles To Agency Growth 4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor , Carol Hammes This content has not been rated yet. OVERCOMING OBSTACLES TO AGENCY GROWTH by Carol Hammes Deal with agency growth problems before they reach a crisis point. Unfortunately, this agency scenario is all too common. Enough new business is produced to keep the organization on a steady growth curve, and morale is good. Then, almost overnight, the bottom drops out. The system that was running so smoothly falls apart and the well-oiled team grinds to a cranky halt. Another agency has fallen victim to its own success. There are several common growth plateaus beyond which it's difficult for an insurance agency to expand. When an organization has outgrown one structure and is having difficulty evolving gradually into the next one, stagnation can easily set in. As the growth curve flattens out, it takes more (and perhaps a different kind of) management attention than had been necessary during the preceding couple of years to "jump-start" the agency and get it moving forward again. The fact that so many mergers and sales take place when one of these plateaus has been reached shows how hard it is for many agency owners to shift gears. The first step in solving the organizational problem is to identify it. One of the most common indications that your agency might be at one of these plateaus is a reduced level of productivity in the internal staff. The confusion and apathy of these employees spills over into the sales force, and the whole agency seems to be working at cross purposes. ...

... , company calls and visits, accounting issues. That's just the beginning of the list, which should be as complete as possible. After all, you need this extra time to increase sales. Delegate the Jobs Review your list one obstacle at a time, and write names beside each item you should delegate to another employee. Delegate one or two areas first. Wait two to three weeks, and then delegate other areas. Your trust in your employees will increase day by day, and extra time will free you up to sell. Meet With Your Employees After delegating parts of your job, meet with staff members on an individually to review questions and concerns. Start by meeting with them once a day. When it's obvious that they're handling your old responsibilities well, space these meetings further apart. Train Employees to Think Like You Review your employees' concerns at your daily meetings. Instead of answering their questions directly, ask them how they would handle the situation. If their answers resemble your solutions, let them proceed. If their answers aren't similar to yours, explain how you would handle the situation, giving them your reasons as you go. After performing this process for a couple of weeks, employees will be thinking like you and handling the tasks as you would. As they improve, you'll be able to space your meetings further apart. Document Procedures Documenting procedures is the final step toward increasing your peace of mind when you're away from the office. Involve all employees in writing and reviewing procedures to achieve consistency and increase efficiency. First, have each individual draft a ...

... the scanned forms. You can also create and remove fields. OmniForm has even more useful features. It uses optical character recognition (OCR) and logical form recognition (LCR) to convert a scanned document into an editable, electronic equivalent of the paper form. Where PaperPort merely creates fillable fields with blank spaces, OmniForm also creates a database and links fillable fields to the database. In addition to fillable text fields, the program lets you create yes/no check boxes. You can post the forms you create on a Web site, and with a little bit of programming, you can enable clients to fill out online forms that automatically fill a database and perform such tasks as creating certificates. Here's an example of how these features helped me once: One of our clients, an apartment management firm, called us in a panic, needing Flood insurance on 58 apartment units at one location. This meant that we needed to complete 58 Flood insurance applications. After scanning a hard copy of the flood app into our online folder, we filled out one form with the information that was common to all the units, easily duplicated it to make 58 copies, and then keyed in the information that was different about each unit. Because the program also does calculations, for each unit I just multiplied the coverage field by the rate field and put the total in the premium field. DOUBLING UP: DUAL MONITORS The University of Utah recently studied workers using two computer monitors on their desks and found a productivity gain of approximately 35%, as well as a 20% reduction in ...