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... for the homeowner. What is the second homeowner to do? Does your personal homeowner's insurance cover these damages? Should you go through your rental websites such as Airbnb or VRBO? These issues can cause a lot of stress for landlords. Many times second homeowners may live far away or even in a different state. Welcome to the what if's of managing a home through the online vacation rental marketplace. When renting out a cabin, you do have insurance options.So many families buy second homes in ski towns like Big Bear Lake, California with the hope of renting them out. Popular online vacation rental companies like Airbnb can make the rental process easy. It may sound like a simple way to produce some extra income. When purchasing that ski cabin amidst the pines of the San Bernardino Mountains many homeowners don't think about what kind of insurance do you need for your short-term rental property? Many second homeowners may not even be aware that companies like Airbnb and HomeAway offer their own insurance policies. Airbnb's Host Protection is here to help I decided to rent out my home through Airbnb a few years back. After months of successfully profiting off of my vacant second home, I had no idea what to do when a guest purposely damaged my home. Should I use my personal homeowner's insurance? Should I contact Airbnb and open a claim? My mountain retreat under the tall Jeffrey Pines near Big Bear Lake was my serene cabin to escape to. I decided to rent it out to skiers and travelers for some extra income one ski season. After my renter moved out, I discovered ...

... for these companies. One survey discovered that although customers were quite satisfied with our client's services, they had minimal needs; no amount of marketing could generate additional sales from these customers. A second survey revealed a high level of customer satisfaction, together with a rapidly aging customer base, many of whom had been with the insurance agency since it opened its doors. The research dramatized the need to replace this customer segment with new, younger clients. Without this objective data, the agency might not have made a serious commitment to attract new customers. The third survey uncovered low customer satisfaction due to past problems at the business. Although a core of loyal customers remained, many were dissatisfied and wouldn't use the services of this company again. Reversing this attitude would be like climbing a very steep mountain with no mountain gear. It would be far more cost effective to allocate marketing dollars for changing the company's reputation and attracting new customers. Without this research, the client would have continued down a dead-end path. There are many approaches to research that offer insightful and timely input to help management make informed decisions. Qualitative research such as focus groups, telephone interviews, Web, and open-ended surveys help identify the more subtle aspects of the client's product and service, while quantitative research such as closed-end surveys and e-surveys give hard figures and percentages, but can miss the nuances of open-ended questions. In most cases, a combination of qualitative and quantitative research produces the best results. STEPS TO SUCCESS To guide your marketing research process, follow these steps: 1. Define your objectives. A clear ...

... for these companies. One survey discovered that although customers were quite satisfied with our client's services, they had minimal needs; no amount of marketing could generate additional sales from these customers. A second survey revealed a high level of customer satisfaction, together with a rapidly aging customer base, many of whom had been with the insurance agency since it opened its doors. The research dramatized the need to replace this customer segment with new, younger clients. Without this objective data, the agency might not have made a serious commitment to attract new customers. The third survey uncovered low customer satisfaction due to past problems at the business. Although a core of loyal customers remained, many were dissatisfied and wouldn't use the services of this company again. Reversing this attitude would be like climbing a very steep mountain with no mountain gear. It would be far more cost effective to allocate marketing dollars for changing the company's reputation and attracting new customers. Without this research, the client would have continued down a dead-end path. There are many approaches to research that offer insightful and timely input to help management make informed decisions. Qualitative research such as focus groups, telephone interviews, Web, and open-ended surveys help identify the more subtle aspects of the client's product and service, while quantitative research such as closed-end surveys and e-surveys give hard figures and percentages, but can miss the nuances of open-ended questions. In most cases, a combination of qualitative and quantitative research produces the best results. STEPS TO SUCCESS To guide your marketing research process, follow these steps: 1. Define your objectives. A clear ...

... CompleteMarkets Editor , david goodwin This content has not been rated yet. Through the years I have seen Life policy applications and agents' reports with erroneous information. You probably have, too. I don't mean judgment calls with room for honest disagreement; I mean downright wrong information. One of the most common untruths may be the statement that a new policy will not replace an existing policy, when in fact it will. The agent may save the trouble of bothering with replacement forms, but he or she also may be buying a big problem. Here's an example: A businessman bought a Life policy for $250,000 and a second policy less than a year later. The application for the second policy contained some misrepresentations: (1 ) It indicated that the applicant (an avid mountain climber) had not climbed within the last three years. (2 ) It stated that the new insurance was not intended to be a replacement policy. (3 ) It stated that the preexisting policy was for $40,000 in benefits, rather than for $250,000. When the second policy arrived, the insured discontinued paying premiums on the first. Within a year, he died in a mountain- climbing accident. The second insurer denied the Life claim on the grounds of the misrepresentations in the application. The decedent's widow sued the insurer, and a Washington district court ruled in her favor. The insurer appealed. The higher court found that the insurer could raise a misrepresentation defense. The appellate court noted that when the Life insurance policy was issued to the decedent ...

... With computers you have the capability of writing and tying-in your specialty letters and direct mail letters, as well as following up on your single-line clients. If you're buying a system that doesn't have this word processing capability, it is already obsolete. With our word processor, we do direct mail, mass marketing with personal letters-sending a similar or repetitive letter to the same accounts every so often. You can keep track of business lists, homeowners lists, auto owners, boxholders, and so on with a computer. BE YOURSELF When advertising your agency, one of the most difficult rules to follow is to be yourself. Don't try to be something different. You must determine within your agency who and what you are and what your staff is. For example, we happen to live in a mountain area, so we bill ourselves as mountain people. We think that's important because that's the kind of folks we deal with. If you're very involved in one type of business, then you should look at yourself in that vein and promote yourself in that vein. When you relate to those people, make it clear that you are people who know that particular business. My favorite sales story is about the two shoe companies that decided to expand into Africa. Both sent salespeople. The first salesperson arrived and wired home: Send money for return ticket. No one hear wears shoes. The second salesperson wired home: We hit a bonanza, no one here wears shoes. Both said exactly the same thing, both had exactly the opposite viewpoints. And both probably did what was in the best ...

... Harvard Business School, Mark McCormick states, "What gets measured gets done." All personnel have to be managed properly to insure the success of the plan. This means regularly reporting on their stewardship. Have they done what was supposed to be done, when and how it was to be done? SET ACCOUNTABILITY Make every employee accountable for their time and assignments. I've used the phrase many times: Non-Optional Activities. The tasks assigned are not optional. The employee must complete the assignments properly. The person either does what's required or they don't. There's no middle ground. In these competitive times, it's too difficult to make a profit if staff members can't accomplish or refuse to do tasks assigned to them. Without accountability, there is anarchy. Remember that Moses came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments, not the Ten Suggestions. MONITOR RESULTS Sometimes marketing plans will work exactly as designed; and sometimes they need some "tweaking." You might try one marketing method and find it to be less than profitable. If that happens, don't give up — try another method. Continue to do what's successful and eliminate those projects that show few or no positive results. Good luck on creating and implementing your Marketing and Sales plans! Be persistent in your pursuit of your goals and success and profits will follow. ACTION PLAN Task Responsible Party Start Date Completion Date 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Jack Fries can be reached at Fries & Fries Consulting, P. O. Box 66, Alexandria, KY 41001, phone (859) ...

... head straight for the door! Get out because this is a self-serving, self-satisfied and ego-driven company that's more interested in looking in the mirror than in helping customers. "When are the slow selling times?" This question will catch the SM off guard and get you a straight answer. "Well, May and June are never very good and we just write off November and December." Now you know a lot more than just the company's "slow times." You've learned that the down periods are a "tradition." Everyone accepts the fact that sales during one-third of the year are lousy. Evidently, the company hasn't thought seriously of implementing a marketing program to overcome the problem. Here's the point: When sales are down in the valley, you'll have to scale the mountain without a rope other than the one wrapped around your neck. "Could I go with you on a sales call?" Asking this question will turn the SM into putty in your hands. Once you're in the customer's office, you're ready to go to work — without saying a word. Your goal is to listen for the "90-10 test:" The customer should be doing 90% of the talking. If the SM's mouth is open most of the time, the company is probably a pure product-pushing sales organization with little regard for the customer's needs. If this happens, don't go any further. Bail out! "What is it that gives you a market advantage?" Now you're probing. Once again, the sales manager will be impressed because the question separates you ...

... delayed any longer. Kindly process it without further delay. The letter didn't work. Each side-carrier vs. employer-became adamant. The carrier demanded payroll records, and the president refused to display them. When the agent spoke to the carrier's claims handler, the conversation went like this: Agent: Strictly speaking, of course, you have the right to go to payroll records, but understand the client's view. Three years ago, you changed your computer software and totally messed up his records, costing the accounting and personnel staffs a lot of time and grief. He wanted to drop you-after all, you provide Life-only and you have lots of competitors-but I advised him to stick it out with you. He was loyal to you. You have ample verification that A.B. was full-time. Why make a mountain out of a molehill? ' Company: Well, as we told him in our letter, we are . . . Agent (interrupting): What letter? I never received a copy of a letter from you. Company: Of course not. We never send copies of correspondence to agents because we deal directly with the insureds. In these matters, it's as if you don't exist. No need to get you involved. [THE FIRST TRAVESTY] Agent (seething): I am to get copies of all correspondence. Now let me speak to your senior claims officer. Agent to claims officer: How dare you adopt a policy of keeping agents in the dark, just when they are needed most, at claim time or even worse, when there's a problem with a ...

... Harvard Business School, Mark McCormick states, "What gets measured gets done." All personnel have to be managed properly to insure the success of the plan. This means regularly reporting on their stewardship. Have they done what was supposed to be done, when and how it was to be done? SET ACCOUNTABILITY Make every employee accountable for their time and assignments. I've used the phrase many times: Non-Optional Activities. The tasks assigned are not optional. The employee must complete the assignments properly. The person either does what's required or they don't. There's no middle ground. In these competitive times, it's too difficult to make a profit if staff members can't accomplish or refuse to do tasks assigned to them. Without accountability, there is anarchy. Remember that Moses came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments, not the Ten Suggestions. MONITOR RESULTS Sometimes marketing plans will work exactly as designed; and sometimes they need some "tweaking." You might try one marketing method and find it to be less than profitable. If that happens, don't give up — try another method. Continue to do what's successful and eliminate those projects that show few or no positive results. Good luck on creating and implementing your Marketing and Sales plans! Be persistent in your pursuit of your goals and success and profits will follow. ACTION PLAN Task Responsible Party Start Date Completion Date 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Jack Fries can be reached at Fries & Fries Consulting, P. O. Box 66, Alexandria, KY 41001, phone (859) ...

... principals, producers, and the long-term anti-system employees. What can you do about it? Agency principals who actually think they operate the agency can be taught to be system-literate or to depend on someone who is for all transactions. Outside producers present another problem. Those who produce business must, of necessity, gather data. The integrity of that data has never been highly dependable. It is sometimes even void of any known body of insurance fact- but there's a solution. The producer must be equipped with appropriate forms that are native of the system. (In our opinion, any use of nonstandard forms, such as cocktail napkins, would be a breach of the system and therefore not system-friendly.) With the employees who have been with the agency since the original tablets came down the mountain, you're in for a special treat. Anti-system staff personnel will either have to adapt or leave! How do you find out if the system is working? You must audit the resultant transactional flow of the previously mentioned nine components. It must be done as a separate audit system, and should be effected by someone who can objectively examine paper or media trail. In other words, don't let the people audit their own trails. Many agencies use Personal or Commercial lines managers for this important function. A manager can thus learn the strengths and weaknesses of the personnel they're supervising and find training opportunities. The audit format should reflect agency policy concerning how each of the nine functional components is supposed to work. For example, if it is the agency's policy to offer Commercial Umbrellas to each ...