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... entire full-service program would cost. Depending on the frequency, such full-service programs usually cost only $1 to $5 per client every year. Additional Benefits Ever the marketer, IMMS' Michy Greenberg points out, Even the stuffing, addressing, and mailing can be beneficial to an agency's community relations. We've found that virtually every city or county in the United States has a nonprofit group, shelter society, fundraising effort, or senior center that can provide the logistical support for newsletter mailings. In some cases, this is the only source of support for their organization. When using such services, an agency is truly helping the community and has a tremendous opportunity for positive public relations. Author's note: Attesting to Greenberg's comment, our company has very successfully used the members of the local high school band to perform mailing services. The students donate their time, and we donate their earnings' to the Band Booster Fund. Summing It All Up A newsletter is not a great treatise or novel, but it serves an extremely useful purpose for insurance agents. Customers are demanding more and more education about their insurance purchases because insurance has a tremendous impact on the quality of their lives-health care, automobiles, homes, and their ability to cope with disasters and deaths. Insurance consumers, commercial and personal alike, rely on their agent for guidance and security. They need and benefit from your product. A newsletter program establishes a one-to-one connection between customers and you, which results in more calls, more interest, more business, and greater profits. Can an agency afford not to have a newsletter ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. Musicians, Athletes and - Producers?10/5 /2018 by CompleteMarkets Editor , Chris Burand This content has not been rated yet. Here I sit, listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd's Second Helping. What an amazing band! Although Lynyrd Skynyrd is now a classic rock radio station staple, their first album was avant garde. They combined country music stories, southern culture, rock, and a polished arrangement — including a great horn section — and a New York City producer. Their songs were very well written. The musicianship was phenomenal and the arrangements were unique for the time. All this from a bunch of high school dropouts and miscreants! They, of course, had worked hard for many years leading up to that historic first album. Yet, what are the chances of any nine poorly educated guys, all in their teens and twenties, getting together and creating a classic album? Without a doubt, Lady Luck was smiling on these people, but there's much more to it. Hard work and extreme talent are definitely key ingredients. Many agencies depend entirely on good fortune. Even though these agencies' futures require finding good, solid producers, they never perform extensive searches (if they search at all) and provide no technical, sales, or marketing training. They have no program for finding good producers and no method for growing their agencies without hiring competent producers. As a result, these agencies fail to grow and continually waste money on poor producers. Because hiring and training practices are so poor, I'd estimate that eight out of ...

... food, sleep, clothes] safety [security from danger, deprivation] social [belonging, acceptance, kinship] ego [achievement, recognition, autonomy] self-actualization [fulfilling potential] Most agencies have provided employees with the opportunity to satisfy the first two levels of human need and maybe even the third. The agencies that have the most highly motivated staffs have figured out how to recognize and fulfill the ego and self-actualization needs of the majority of the employees. People act and react according to what they perceive to be in their own best interest. It may sound like a contradiction, but the best way to build a cohesive team is to meet each member's individual requirements for fulfillment. If they are not directing their energies toward meeting unfulfilled selfish' needs, they are much more prone to band together with others for the common good. In evaluating each of the employees, remember that it is the unfilled needs that are going to be the primary motivators. Salaries primarily help satisfy only the level one' needs for most people, although there are some employees who treat their level of compensation as a symbol of success. Money takes on increased significance for these people. But for most employees, it's the quest for the nonmonetary things that will really turn them on. They may be looking for the public and/or private recognition, opportunity for growth, power, more positive feedback, security, loyalty. More leisure time to spend with their family may be a major consideration. Or do they want to have a job in which they can use what they learned in school ...

... ? Because writing Commercial Auto is not overly complex, you might question what could go wrong. However, as with any line of business, knowledge of the product – as well of your customer's exposures – is essential. A great starting point is using an Exposure Analysis Checklist, which will help enhance your knowledge of the exposures of your specific type of risk and provide the important questions you need to ask, such as: Are any officers, partners or employees furnished an automobile for personal use? Are owned vehicles used for towing special equipment (air compressors, concrete mixers, etc.)? Are operations periodic or seasonal, resulting in the lay-up of any vehicles for 30 consecutive days or more? Are any automobiles equipped with cellular telephones, two-way radios, citizens band radios, or similar devices? How many automobiles are parked in one location overnight? Does the applicant lease/rent vehicles to others with operators? What is the maximum/average radius of operation? Is there a hired/non-owned exposure? The symbol on the policy indicates what vehicles the coverage includes. The applicable symbols (expressed in numbers), range from "1 " to "9 ," with symbol "1 " being the broadest. This provides coverage for any auto. Thus, if your customer were to lease a vehicle for a particular job, symbol "1 " would provide coverage. On the other hand, symbol "7 " is only for vehicles listed on the policy. There would not be coverage for leased or non-owned vehicles with this symbol. Consequently ...

... CE credits for all professions. Unfortunately I'm reasonably certain that neither story would be approved. They're separate, yet linked. These experiences are about innovations that have saved millions (if not billions) of dollars in productivity costs, but have probably never been studied at the Harvard Business School. These were lessons learned in fields with weeds, not in buildings with ivy-covered walls. &# 160 Lynn explained that when he first started in the timber industry, the companies would cut the timber, clear the land, and then replant new seedlings. The supervisor at each plant would stress the importance of lining the seedlings up in "perfect" rows so that the machine could cut them at harvest time. Lynn became curious because he knew that trees weren't cut with machines, but by men with band saws. One day he asked the supervisor about these new tree-harvesting machines. &# 160 The "boss" explained that, although these machines currently didn't exist, if we planted the trees right — in perfect rows — the machines would be invented some day because straight rows and a large supply of trees would facilitate their invention. This supervisor understood the future. I'd bet all I own that this guy had very little "schoolin'" (brain tissue), but I'm equally certain that he had great experience (scar tissue) . &# 160 Lynn then took us back to the future. He told another story — and he's a master storyteller — about a timber contractor riding through south Louisiana during the sugar cane harvest. He watched as giant tractors equipped with diagonal cutting ...

... Life insurance industry had a well-deserved reputation for being conservative and, let's admit it, dull! Not to mention profitable. Whether a mutual insurer formed for the benefit of its policyholders, or a stock company formed for the benefit of its shareholders, Life insurers prospered mightily from the post-WWII boom of 1946 until the end of the 1970s. The staple products of the industry were Whole Life, endowments, and Term insurance. These products generated 80% of the industry's premium revenue. The underlying investments of the Life insurance industry were in fixed-return securities. Securities were a primary source of long-term capital in the economy, which by 1990 accounted for almost $1.5 trillion invested in mortgages, corporate bonds, and U.S. bonds. Although interest rates could vary, they did so in a relatively narrow band until the stagnant inflation of the mid-1970s. Since the underlying policy reserve rate guarantees were a relatively conservative 3% or 4%, there was little critical stress on Life companies. As each year passed, dividends paid by the mutual carriers continued to grow, reflecting the profits and prosperity of a book' of business that was predominantly Whole Life. The Life industry also had a perfect franchise: Only a legal reserve Life insurance company' could manufacture the unique financial product called Life insurance. Typically you could only buy Life insurance through several distribution systems controlled largely by those manufacturers. So-called career agents' predominated, but a growing group of independent agents or brokers' began to emerge as product competition began to heat up in the 1970s. The combination of an emerging group of independent agents ...

... take business away. Yet, the vast majority of your customers, hopefully, stay with you-despite the advances of the competition. The primary reason for this retention is your relationship. So I maintain that anything you do to make them better helps strengthen the relationship, thus improving your retention factor. The most successful people I know do not fear their competition. They see it as a precious commodity that helps keep them on their toes and keep the overall market healthy. The auto industry is a perfect example. They all sell vehicles that will get you from point A to point B, and back. Take away some very minor changes and all the competitive lines from General Motors are pretty close, as are Ford and Chrysler. Yet, the past ten years have proven that if they band together in a common area such as a mall, they all do better. The competition and variety bring an abundance of customers that individually the various dealerships could never attract on their own. Likewise, the auto manufacturers have successfully promoted advertising associations among the dealers within specific geographic areas. Now, not only are they all selling the identical vehicles, purchased at identical pricing, but they are advertising as a group. More coverage, greater reach, better ads-they all benefit, despite the fact that they are ruthless competitors on any single deal' Think back to your mentors. Think how you treasure the gifts of knowledge, guidance and advice that they bestowed upon you. Now think in terms of your vendors. Have some of them been extremely forthcoming with knowledge, advice and guidance-even if it ...

... landed at 2:00 a.m., with a landing so rough that the oxygen masks dropped from their compartments and luggage fell from the overhead bins. A lawyer on board had already started to collect names for a class-action suit. Silvo de Bortoli, general manager of the Cancun Resort and a legend throughout the organization for his ability to delight clients, got word of the horrendous flight and immediately created an antidote. He took half the staff to the airport, where they laid out a table of snacks and drinks and set up a stereo system to play lively music. As the guests filed through the gate, they received a personal greeting, help with their bags, a sympathetic ear and a chauffeured ride to the resort. Waiting for them was a lavish banquet, complete with mariachi band and champagne. The staff had also rallied other guests to wait up and greet the newcomers, and the partying continued until dawn. Many guests said it was the most fun they had had since college. Now that's a recovery which, by the way, resulted in no lawsuits and clients who became raving fans! Now go and "Wow!" those clients again and again and create raving fans who will be your unpaid sales force! Lynn M. Thomas, JD is president of 21st Century Management Consulting, 32 Coyne Road, Waban, MA 02468, (781) 899-4210, E-mail [email protected] , Web site www.21stcenturymgmt.com . Login or Register (for FREE) to gain access to thousands of other great articles. Need more reasons to join? Need insurance for you ...

... that creativity helps in choosing the right words search engine lingo (pluses and minuses) to find what you're looking for. Now that I've provided a few tips, let's put your new knowledge to work. Here's a Web "scavenger hunt " to illustrate how to search for stuff on the Internet: How tall was President George Washington? What is the capital of Nigeria? Protoceratops was about the size of: elephant, horse, pig, or ostrich? Who is Shorty LeFeuw? On what date did president Abraham Lincoln die? What is the name of the largest asteroid in the Solar System? How tall (to the nearest 1,000 feet) is Mount Everest? In what year will Halley's Comet return? Bill Wilson is a "big, BIG fan" of what rock band? What's the secret of life? You'll note that these have nothing to do with insurance. That's for two reasons. First, I wanted to select things that most people are unlikely to know and would have to use a search engine to find. Second, these are the same questions I used with my Cub Scout den, so let's see how you do compared to six 10-year-olds! The goal of the CompleteMarkets editor is to bring valuable content to the CompleteMarkets members. Providing content to insurance professionals to enhance their sales process, increase revenue streams, understand their clients and provide value to their agency. 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? ...