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... /2013 12:00:00 AM by CompleteMarkets Editor , Damond Benningfield This content has not been rated yet. Competing for prospective clients costs money, with high advertising and marketing expenses taking a big chunk out of commissions. But some agencies are reducing or eliminating competition by entering niche markets. Companies often pay higher commissions for niche-market programs, and because there are few competitors-and in some cases, none at all-there are few wasted sales calls. Niches are windows of opportunity. They often begin with a request for special coverages from ... retention rate is very high. Once you establish a relationship, it tends to be longer lasting than the standard business relationship. The ability to provide sufficient amounts of surety credit has traditionally been the major competitive factor among agents writing surety bonds. But that could change. Prices for surety bonds are no longer regulated and price-shopping may become an issue. But regardless of what happens in the surety market, Ward will still be writing other types of coverage. In my area, we have to be all things to all people, ' ... general agency. In fact, target marketed' programs, as he calls them, are so profitable the Everhart has abandoned more conventional lines of business. Two of his four niche programs-notary public bonds and used-car dealer bonds-are marketed solely within Texas . The others-personal watercraft (jet ski) insurance and hole-in-one coverage-are marketed outside the state as well. When Everhart started his agency on April's Fool's Day 1970, he handled standard fire and casualty lines and specialized in the trucking industry. But he quickly found that he was spending most of his time ...

...as traditionally been the major competitive factor among agents writing surety...about two-thirds of the hole-in-one insurance market in the , also sells promo...

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