Search CompleteMarkets

...if it’s right for you. School Counselors If you have a kid, their school ha...l healthcare, but only for certain counselors or therapists. Look them up and...

...w Pages under 'public relations counselors' or the business-services advertisi...

... by CompleteMarkets Editor This content has not been rated yet. PRINTING COMPANY IMPLEMENTS A LOW-COST EAP WORKING PARTNERS Rapid Bind, a trade binder in Portland, Oregon that deals only with printers, is described by its owner John Goche as a sliver of the printing business. During the company's 13-year history, its work force has grown to 35 employees. Late in 1985, Goche realized that severe drug problems had developed among his 21 employees. Several were suspected of using drugs on the job and during breaks. After the daily shifts, evidence of drug use could be found near the company parking area. The younger employees, new to the world of work, were drawn to this group, for whom the peer-pressure message was use' rather than don't use. Goche's efforts to find help led him to a counselor who agreed to talk to the crew. Thereafter, peer pressure started to work in reverse. But, the problem persisted. The need for intervention became fully apparent in July 1989 when a six-year term employee who was 25, married, and had a nine-month-old child committed suicide. The other employees were emotionally drained and simply could not produce a product. Again, a counselor was brought in to talk with employees, collectively and individually. With this help, It was amazing how quickly we healed, ' said Goche. Late in 1989, drug testing and employee assistance programs (EAPs) were subjects discussed at trade meetings Goche attended. Goche obtained further information from the Oregon Small Business Council and drafted his own statement. At a meeting sponsored by the Pacific Printing Industries (PPI) ...

... either your reactive or proactive efforts to serve their needs, that client's value diminishes for your agency. If you attempt to prospect your own client to mature their needs for insurance with you as the default insurance agent, you will certainly grow the lifetime earnings from that client. This brings us to our second point. All customers are not the same and should not be valued (or treated) similarly. A customer should be valued by you if he brings value to you. If you do not prospect your customers for all of their insurance needs, shame on you, but that still means that the client is worth $150 per year. If you prospect regularly, but the client does not react and places insurance coverage elsewhere, shame on them! They have passed up an excellent counselor that could protect their family and their assets throughout their life, but either way, the client is worth a minimal amount to your agency and cannot be logically treated as you would treat a $60,000 client. How much service can you afford to give a client? The best way to answer this is financially. Using Personal Lines as an example, compute the number of transactions generated in the department during a year. Those numbers are available to any agency using a standard agency management system (such as AMS, Applied, Ebix, etc) . Yes, I know that there are many transactions that do not hit' the computer, but the total transactions will be a factor of the computer transactions, even if they are actually double the number. Next take the ...

... you will be repeatedly taken advantage of in the future. In conclusion, life is too short, and no business is important enough to consume personal emotions. Business (even your own) is only a way of making a living to support the really important things in your life, health, and family. Emotions should be reserved for those critical issues in life. Business may be troublesome at times but should be generally a pleasant and satisfying way of earning a living, whether you are an agency owner, producer, or service employee. The only exception we have seen in this process is when a person's personal life is in such disarray that they carry their emotional distress into their workplace. This is extremely disruptive to both the personal and business life and should be treated by a qualified counselor. If the problem is an owner, someone must alert him to that fact and suggest outside counseling. If the problem is with an employee, the owner must make the suggestion but must also guard against becoming that counselor. An insurance agency owner is rarely qualified to provide personal counseling and opens himself to serious liability issues if he becomes personally involved in employees' outside problems. If the recommendation is not heeded and the disruptions continue to affect the employees' business life, termination must be considered. E. Al Diamond is president of Agency Consulting Group, Inc., 507 North Kings Hwy., C., Cherry Hill, NJ 08034. You can reach him at (856) 779-2430, (800) 779-2430, toll free,fax (856) 779-6224, e-mail ...

... by CompleteMarkets Editor This content has not been rated yet. PRINTING COMPANY IMPLEMENTS A LOW-COST EAP WORKING PARTNERS Rapid Bind, a trade binder in Portland, Oregon that deals only with printers, is described by its owner John Goche as a sliver of the printing business. During the company's 13-year history, its work force has grown to 35 employees. Late in 1985, Goche realized that severe drug problems had developed among his 21 employees. Several were suspected of using drugs on the job and during breaks. After the daily shifts, evidence of drug use could be found near the company parking area. The younger employees, new to the world of work, were drawn to this group, for whom the peer-pressure message was use' rather than don't use. Goche's efforts to find help led him to a counselor who agreed to talk to the crew. Thereafter, peer pressure started to work in reverse. But, the problem persisted. The need for intervention became fully apparent in July 1989 when a six-year term employee who was 25, married, and had a nine-month-old child committed suicide. The other employees were emotionally drained and simply could not produce a product. Again, a counselor was brought in to talk with employees, collectively and individually. With this help, It was amazing how quickly we healed, ' said Goche. Late in 1989, drug testing and employee assistance programs (EAPs) were subjects discussed at trade meetings Goche attended. Goche obtained further information from the Oregon Small Business Council and drafted his own statement. At a meeting sponsored by the Pacific Printing Industries (PPI) ...

... you undoubtedly have customers that will suffer, or at least witness, tragic accidents. How can you help them deal with this trauma? If it's you, a family member, or an employee who have experienced a dire event, how can you surmount the stressful reaction and resume a productive, happy life? TYPICAL RESPONSE TO STRESS People who witness a tragic accident have a wide variety of reactions. About 10 years ago, I saw one-and fell victim to the attitude that I did not need help. The following 90 days were a blur of mixed emotions. I had periodic flashbacks, wild emotional swings, nightmare-interrupted sleep, decreased productivity, anger, and depression. Now I'm keenly aware of the importance of critical-incident stress counseling and strongly recommend that anyone witnessing such an event contact a trained counselor as soon as possible after an incident (24 to 72 hours) . If the person experienced the trauma without actually witnessing it, there may be feelings of guilt and responsibility that also need to be dealt with. In Critical Incident Stress Debriefing, Mitchell and Everly write, Critical-incident stress debriefing accelerates the rate of normal recovery in normal people who are having normal reactions to abnormal events. If the event has happened to you or a co-worker, realize that it may have a ripple effect that will touch all your employees. Many companies have brought in a stress counselor to speak to their employees about the incident and some of the residual effects to expect. This counseling brings a great deal of comfort to the company and facilitates an internal support system that will see people through the crisis. You ...

... either your reactive or proactive efforts to serve their needs, that client's value diminishes for your agency. If you attempt to prospect your own client to mature their needs for insurance with you as the default insurance agent, you will certainly grow the lifetime earnings from that client. This brings us to our second point. All customers are not the same and should not be valued (or treated) similarly. A customer should be valued by you if he brings value to you. If you do not prospect your customers for all of their insurance needs, shame on you, but that still means that the client is worth $150 per year. If you prospect regularly, but the client does not react and places insurance coverage elsewhere, shame on them! They have passed up an excellent counselor that could protect their family and their assets throughout their life, but either way, the client is worth a minimal amount to your agency and cannot be logically treated as you would treat a $60,000 client. How much service can you afford to give a client? The best way to answer this is financially. Using Personal Lines as an example, compute the number of transactions generated in the department during a year. Those numbers are available to any agency using a standard agency management system (such as AMS, Applied, Ebix, etc) . Yes, I know that there are many transactions that do not hit' the computer, but the total transactions will be a factor of the computer transactions, even if they are actually double the number. Next take the ...

... their local bank branch or access their account any time online or by phone. The insurance industry must follow suit. This would give clients ease of access to their insurance products and will enhance agency and company profitability. In the insurance industry, downloads from carrier systems will continue to populate the agency management system with current data for its clients. Automated responses will alert agency staff to any changes and inquiries made by their clients to permit them to contact the client if needed. Although we're still some years away from client access to their companies and policies through the agency portal, the remote capabilities of the agency management system vendors and even the carrier Service Centers are steps in the right direction. Agency owners must concentrate their Strategic Plans on converting their agencies from processing shops to relationship managers and insurance counselors for their clients. If they concentrate on actions that will lower their running costs without losing control of their clients, they'll make the right decisions about the progress of automation within their agencies. CONCLUSION Remember, if you use the tides to your advantage, you become a proficient surfer. If you try to stand firm and fight the tide, you'll end up drowning. Learn the future direction of your agency automation system and of the industry and surf the wave to greater efficiency and greater profit. The industry is changing - and automation is one of the primary vehicles speeding this change. E. Al Diamond is president of Agency Consulting Group, Inc., 507 North Kings Hwy., C., Cherry Hill, NJ 08034. You can reach him at (856) 779-2430 ...

... why. By definition, these people are effective producers. Even though they may be satisfied in their present position for the moment, they may be ripe for prospecting in the future. This method is also a valuable way to find out who your best competitors are and how they're operating. Choose your centers of influence carefully to develop qualified leads from this source. In general, the quality of the referrer will determine the quality of recruits. Pick only the best sources: those who respect you and will be respected by those they refer. Students can be recruited from high schools as well as colleges. Every spring ask each agency employee to list five graduating high school seniors who they believe might make good producers. Select the top 10 from this group, with help from the school's guidance counselor. Invite these students to a dinner where you and your leading producers describe sales career opportunities with your agency. Let them know that you're looking for one or two producers to join the firm and that you have an internship program available if they are planning on college. This approach may provide some high-quality candidates and will help build your agency's image in the schools and the community. Let the placement offices of colleges in your area know that you're interested in both graduating seniors and alumni who may have been out of school for several years. Try to choose candidates with a B' average (those with higher grades tend to be product- rather than sales-oriented) who have proven their motivation by earning at least half of the money to put themselves through school. Free sales seminars in your ...