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... x No Thanks Loading.. Banks And Insurance: Bridging The Culture Gap 4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor , Fred Dent This content has not been rated yet. If you don't acclimate yourself to the idiosyncrasies of banking culture, you might find yourself pulling your hair out as you try to work with a bank. This document by Fred Dent provides a comprehensive list of contrasts between banks and insurance agencies. The cultural differences between banks and insurance agencies are significant. They're the real issues that you'll have to manage if you're considering a relationship with a bank. A frank discussion of these differences will improve your chances of success. It might cost you some time and money, but the pain will be less in the long run. Banks aren't sales driven. They engage in a sophisticated form of risk management by making small risk' loans. Most bank boards are very slow to change. You might find their processes difficult to understand, particularly when compared with the workings of an insurance agency. Bank leadership doesn't understand how insurance agency owners and operators are compensated. They're astonished when they find out that many agency principals make more than $100,000 annually — more than many bank presidents. They also fail to recognize that agency commissions of 10% -15% are for smaller amounts. Bankers often work on a spread of 5% -7%, so they see the higher percentages of agencies as a real opportunity. It takes a while to understand that banking institution loans are usually for much higher amounts than insurance premiums. Banks undergo significant regulatory overview. ...

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... "Get over here now before I count to three. One, Two, Three … " Ambiguity. &# 160 Our world had structure. Parameters were clearly defined, with expectations that we would honor them. There was oversight of the process; we were held accountable, and the consequences were real and applied. It was tough, but we respected our parents and the process. &# 160 Effective organizational leadership is similar. It's about leading in the creation of an environment (parameters) for an organization and establishing a process (expectations, oversight, accountability, and consequences) in which every member of the organization can contribute to the shared vision and achieve the mission. &# 160 This is a process of defining a current reality, establishing a future ideal, bridging these two points, and motivating, organizing, and energizing the followers to cross the bridge: No ifs, ands, or buts. &# 160 The current reality involves who you are as an organization and as individual members of this organization. The future ideal concerns the vision and the objectives/results that the individuals and the organization want and need to achieve. The bridge is who you need to be as an organization and as individual members of this organization. &# 160 CURRENT REALITY &# 160 As an organization, what's your history, your present, and your culture? Are you entrepreneurial or bureaucratic? Do you make things happen or do you "sit on" what has already happened? Do you search for excellence or seek to sustain mediocrity (the status quo ...

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... . Companies can help their spokesperson anticipate every possible question, prepare a response to each, and if time permits, role-play a mock Q&A session. These steps will help you prepare the spokesperson: 1. Determine the communications goal for the interview. A spokesperson who stands in front of reporters without a clue about what the company wants to communicate is analogous to a victim before a firing squad without hope of reprieve. Your spokesperson should control the flow of information from your company to the outside world via the media — but that control will vanish quickly unless you've set a clear goal. In general, this goal should communicate both concern and a strong determination to discover the cause of the situation. Because of the wide variety of questions the spokesperson will receive, they might need to bridge' back to key points. Bridging will allow the spokesperson to transition from a reporter's question to the desired response. For example: I can't confirm that at this time, but what I can confirm is…(back to a key point) . What people need to know is that…(back to a key point) . To put that into perspective, we need to talk about…(back to a key point) . It's important not to forget that…(back to a key point) . 2. Develop a spokesperson's mantra. The spokesperson might face a question or questions to which they either don't know the answer or don't feel comfortable answering. A rehearsed answer — a mantra — will get your spokesperson through these rough ...

... as a local business-not a cog in a giant, impersonal financial services conglomerate. Although you market the products of large companies, you make local decisions, belong to local organizations, and contribute to the local economy. WHY LIFE? Despite all of the above, many (perhaps most) P/C agents aren't taking advantage of the potential profits that marketing Life and related products entail. Some agents may feel that they don't have the time to do a professional job in this area. They may believe that they lack the technical knowledge to market Life insurance. Or they may see selling Life insurance as something foreign to their way of doing business-they may be convinced that the gap between P/C coverage (a demand product) and Life insurance (a non-demand product) can never be bridged. We're convinced that it can be-because hundreds of P/C agencies are bridging that gap. So can you. This Guide will help you you develop, manage, and build a Life department as an ongoing (and growing) source of bottom-line profit for your agency. You don't have to be a CLU or a specialist in Life to create a quality Life operation. You do have to make a commitment in time, effort, and money and stick with it. HOW TO USE THE LIFE GUIDE MODULES This Guide probably looks like a lot of material to digest. We suggest you attack it, and attack the formation of your Life insurance operation, by taking these steps: 1. Determine who in your operation will be directly involved in establishing and/or running the Life ...

... managers to create and maintain processes — to inventory the excess. Count what we have. Control the status quo! Managers say, If it ain't broke, don't fix it! ' Let's not reinvent the wheel. We've always done it this way. Managers are about efficiency — doing things right' (Peter Drucker) . Management is about how: in what manner or way' (Webster's 9th New Collegiate Dictionary) . Leadership is about why: for what cause, reason, or purpose' (Webster's 9th New Collegiate Dictionary) . In times of conflict, competition, war, discovery, pioneering, and conquest, we need leaders to nurture people and create systems. Leaders identify current reality and define a future ideal. They then mobilize, organize, and energize their followers to build a bridge between these two points and to cross that bridge. Leaders believe, We have nothing to fear but fear itself. The buck stops here. I have a dream. If you start to take Vienna, take Vienna. Let's roll. Leaders are about effectiveness — doing the right things' (Peter Drucker) . Today there's much ambiguity about the role of leadership. Many people positioned as leaders are actually serving in a management role. Most of these people have what it takes to lead. Unfortunately, they've been kidnapped by the status quo, the comfort zone, the urgent, or the organization to accept the safer' role of management. In my opinion the role and responsibilities of a leader are easy to define, but hard to create. The leader is: A Dream Catcher: the leader must ...

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...d stop the car. Do not park under bridges or overpasses or overhead wires. Sta...our vehicle. Do not attempt to cross bridges or overpasses that may have been ...

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