​​AGENCY / CARRIER RELATIONSHIPS
  • The anatomy of a producer agreement
  • It is extraordinarily important for parties to an agreement to review and comprehend its terms. Read More
  • 10 ways to secure private data. Insurers and agents can be held liable for the loss of protected information....Read more 
  • Maximizing an Agency’s Profit Sharing through Sound Underwriting Practices
  • How to Increase Your Commissions 50%
EMPLOYEE TIPS
Employees are your greatest expense, but they are also your most valuable asset. The loss of great or even just a "good" employee has a tremendous effect on the agency. How do you manage employees according to their style while giving them a sense of place and accomplishment? Follow these rules of management success.
  • How to Hire Employees: A Step-by-Step Guide for Insurance Agencies
  • ​11 Requirements for Management Success
  • 7 steps to hiring great employees ... Read more ... ​
  • 7 Questions Every Small Business That Hires Employees Will Have to Answer
  • Paying Staff as 1099 Compensation May Eventually Cost You More
  • The Funniest Excuses People Used to Get Out of Work. ​ These are almost too ridiculous to be real—but they are. Find out more »
  • 6 ways to improve producer recruitment success rates.  A new Reagan study shows that only 56% of producer hires are successful. Here are six tips to beat the odds....Read more
  • ​5 ways to reduce employee theft.  If your employees think you are keeping an eye on them, they are less likely to take things that don’t belong to them. …Read more
  • How Much Does an Employee Cost you?  When you think about adding a new employee to your payroll, determine what the actual financial cost of doing so means to your business. This includes the dollars and cents over and above the basic wage or salary you agree to pay. There’s a rule of thumb that the cost is typically 1.25 to 1.4 times the salary, depending on certain variables.
  • Top 10 Things You Should Never Do At Work
  • Does the IRS consider your Agency Staff to be Employees or Independent Contractors?
  • Bad Attitude: Cynical Employees Earn Less Than Others.  Holding cynical beliefs about others may have a negative effect on one's income, according to research ... Read more 
  • Finding the 'sweet spot' in attracting millennials to insurance careers.  Insurance isn't "sexy," but it could be to younger professionals, if we position it properly....Read more
  • 12 tips to improve producer performance.  You are your own profit center and need to position your thinking from that regard. Selling and growing is your primary responsibility within the agency—period....Read more
  • 12 tips for improving producer performance.  Your goals and vision for the future are the best tools for future success....Read more
  • Ten things you should never tell your employer
  • 10 ways to Increase your Agency’s Profit Sharing Bonus
  • How to Inadvertently Uninspire Your Employees ... Read more
  • How an Employee's Absence Can Bring Your Team Together
  • Missing a key player? Turn that into a positive. Read more ...
  • The 4 types of bad bosses.  Bad bosses are inherent in every industry but how do you identify them and how do you cope? ... Read more
  • Welcome Back: Why rehiring former employees can make good business sense Read more ...
  • Want to Keep Good Employees? Say 'Thank You' With Words Not Dollars.  A recent survey of U.S. employees reveals that employers can be doing more than increasing salaries and providing...Read more
  • 5 tips to increase sales among new producers
  • Getting started in the insurance business is difficult, at best. Follow these guidelines to have a better chance of closing the sale Read more
  • Survey finds illegal job interview questions tripping up employers.  One in five employers has unknowingly asked an illegal interview question, and at least one in three are unsure about the legality of certain interview questions ... Read more
  • Selling is not telling: 4 tips to offer better insurance solutions
  • Insurance is a relationship business. How do you forge and maintain relationships with your customers and prospects?...Read more
  • Do you know the Lifetime Value of a customer?
  • Use jargon with your prospect; lose the sale
  • For many of us, knowledge and specialized lingo are powerful ... in costing us business. …Read more
  • 11 ways to attract and keep young talent
  • The insurance industry is way behind the curve on talent acquisition, but don't let the magnitude of the problem overwhelm you. Small steps can get your agency moving in the right direction....Read more
  • 10 sales behaviors that prospects hate
  • Here's a list of things you might be doing that are repelling prospects.…Read more
  • Customer engagement: the next battlefield. Customer relationships are delicate. Loyalty is enormously valuable once you've earned it. Satisfied customers tell nine people how happy they are. Dissatisfied customers tell 22 people — a case of bad news traveling faster. …Read more
  • The 4 most common business fraud schemes
    Employee theft costs businesses an estimated hundreds of billions of dollars each year.     Read more ...
​Some people are never free from troubles, mainly because they keep their minds attuned to worry. The mind attracts what it dwells on.
Worry serves no useful purpose and can have a serious adverse effect upon your mental as well as your physical health. Charles Mayo, who with his brother William founded the famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said, “I have never known a man who died from overwork, but many who died from doubt.” Because worry is directed at some vague, uncertain threat, it is difficult to deal with it logically. The best way to get rid of your worries is to take positive action to eliminate their source. When you develop a plan for dealing constructively with problems and get to work implementing your plan, you will no longer be troubled by worries. Negative thoughts always yield the right of way to a determined person in pursuit of a positive plan of action.
​Take possession of your own mind, and you may soon make life pay off on your terms.
Your mind is unquestionably your most valuable possession. You may lose every material thing you own, but knowledge can never be taken from you. With it, you can earn a new fortune, build a new home, and buy anything you truly desire. No one else can control your thoughts; even the cruelest tyrant cannot force you to think about something you refuse to accept. When you make a deliberate decision to take control of your mind and feed it positive, constructive thoughts, you are on your way to taking control of your life. The thoughts you allow to dominate your mind will determine what you will get from life.

INSURANCE AGENCY ACQUISITION CONTRACTS: IMPORTANT PROVISIONS TO INCLUDE FOR BUYERS AND SELLERS

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Predicting the Partnership Break-up

IN THIS TRAINING YOU'LL LEARN:

GETTING IN
  • How to make your dream insurance agency become a reality.
  • How to start an insurance agency
  • Which Legal Entity is Best for your Insurance Agency?
  • 5 Types of Business Ownership (+Pros and Cons of Each)
  • Tax-Related Questions Answered
  • Study Shows that Independent Agencies are Thriving
  • Tips to Acquire an Independent Insurance Agency
  • Should Captive Agents Consider Making the Move to the Independent Side?
  • Independent insurance agents have an edge in the digital market
  • Announcing the Acquisition of an Insurance Agency, Tips for Buyers & Sellers
  • ​Why the Marketplace Demanded Insurance Agency Networks
  • ​A History of Agency Aggregators, Clusters and Networks 
  • Will Your Non-Compete Agreement Hold Up in Court? 
  • To build a great practice, build a great personal brand.
  • The Power of Agency Networks to your Bottom Line 
  • Newly Acquired Agency: Clients Don’t Know You
  • How to create a Marketing Plan
  • 100 Best Sales Ideas: All 10 modules in one place
  • How to get Robbed by Your Bookkeeper​
  • The 4 components of finding a niche for your insurance agency
    If you can tie these four components together, you will be well on your way to becoming an industry leader in a niche you love, understand and provides long-term opportunity. 
  • Agency Book of Business Statistics for Buyers and Sellers
  • Smaller Management System May Have Huge Advantages for Your Agency
  • Why Independent Agencies Won't Lose Significant Market Share to Non-Agency Corporations 

STAYING IN
  • The Show Starts When The Phone Rings
  • How to create a successful insurance sales direct mailer
  • Creating the best direct mail piece requires blending together great content and an aesthetically pleasing design. …Read more
  • The No. 1 reason most people buy insurance from you
  • Why do your clients select you as their insurance agent, especially since there are countless agents to choose from both locally and online? …Read more
  • Existing Client Marketing: The Smart Investment
  • Advertising your agency online? Here are some tips
  • Depending on what kind of insurance services you offer, the best meeting point between you and your potential clients may be online. 
  • 22 tips for insurance agents & brokers on maintaining a good reputation
  • 6 tips for handling difficult customers
  • Evolving Agency Management Systems Apps helps Bring Efficiency in the Field ​
  • 6 useful YouTube channels for agents
  • ​Digital destiny: What your agency needs to do right now to become more competitive. If your agency isn't defining its marketing strategy and discussing upgrades to its digital management system, it's likely you're behind the curve. Here's how to catch up. ...Read more
  • The personal lines market is changing fast; here's the good news for agents. Is it harder than ever for personal lines agents to live on what they catch? Or does it just look that way? Read more
  • Better selling: 10 tips, from prospecting to closing. 10 solid ideas on how to sell better, from finding new business, to presenting to clients, to saving deals about to go sideways....Read more
  • 5 steps to develop and strengthen the customer experience. It is time to become more accessible, more responsive and more personal with customers. Here's how to do that....Read more
  • What the New Federal Licensing Law Means to Insurance Agencies

GETTING BIGGER
  • Using a Broker of Record Letter to Grow Your Agency
  • Why Niche Agencies Have a Huge Competitive Edge
  • Acquisition Tax Strategies for Insurance Agency Buyers and Sellers
  • 10 sales behaviors that prospects hate. Here's a list of things you might be doing that are repelling prospects.…Read more
  • Are you a marketer or an insurance agent? What’s more important to the success of your insurance business: being a great marketer or a knowledgeable insurance agent? …Read more
  • 12 Reasons Agents should continue to prospect
  • 11 ways for insurance agents & brokers to win new business
  • 10 ways to be more productive
  • As the insurance industry encounters competition from smart startups and tech giants, productivity is becoming increasingly key to success. Read more
  • Sealing the Deal with e-Signatures: How Insurance Agencies can Improve Efficiency
  • A Quality Book of Business returns Higher Revenues per Hour and a Higher Agency Valuation
  • How to reach & retain more customers ... Read More
  • 5 important things millennials should know about insurance. To best market insurance to millennials, it's important to address the questions they have as well as educate them on what they might not know....Read more
  • Increasing Insurance Premiums Affect Retention, Here Is What You Can Do
GETTING OUT
  • ​HOW THE CAPITAL GAINS TAX APPLIES WHEN SELLING YOUR INSURANCE AGENCY
  • When Using a Business Broker to Sell Your Insurance Agency, Always Choose a Specialist
  • Agency Valuations & The State Of The Agency M&A Marketplace
  • The Impact of Agency Culture in the Sale of An Agency
  • Does it Matter what Type of Business Broker you use to sell your Insurance Agency?
  • Why It’s Critical to Have Expert Representation in an Agency Buy/Sell Transaction
  • Maximizing the Use of Automation Simplifies the Sale of an Agency
  • How Brokers Add Value When Selling Insurance Agencies
  • Tax Implications of Selling an Insurance Agency in 2021 & Beyond
  • Why an Agency Valuation is Important to both your Business and Personal Financial Planning
  • 3 ways to turbocharge the sale of your insurance business
  • Insurance Agency Valuations on the Rise
    Modern technology provides a variety of tools that make contact with clients easier than ever before. Are you making the most of them?​
I LOVE JUNK MAIL!
As I’ve said before, I am an enthusiastic advocate of Direct Marketing for most businesses, small or large, because Direct Marketing consistently delivers the best results for every dollar spent.
But how do you recognize, use and possibly transform other strategies into Direct Marketing strategies? Well, Direct Marketing can include:
  • Media Advertising that asks for a direct response, such as the ad being a coupon that’s to be cut out and sent in, or brought in, or a phone number to call with a code somehow attached to identify the source of the call. Direct response advertising is 99% measurable.
  • Direct Mail that asks for a direct response, like (a) coupons sent through the mail to be redeemed at stores or dealers or by mail, (b) a letter announcing a sale with an invitation that must be used for admission to the store after hours, (c) a letter with a card enclosed good for two-for-one dinner special at a local restaurant or (d) a mail piece that asked the recipient to call to request a certain free booklet.
  • Radio or TV commercials that ask for a direct response, asking the customer to call in or write in or come in and mention the station's call letters in order to get a discount or free gift. Any advertising media can be converted to direct response type advertising and can be results-measured.
  • Telemarketing that asks for a direct response, such as an appointment for a salesperson, an actual purchase right there on the phone or inviting the person to come into the place of business either by appointment or with a certain assigned code, entitling the customer to discount gifts.
  • Personal Selling. (a quick story) My home doorbell rang. I answered the door. There was a young guy in a clean, neatly pressed gas station uniform (yes, this was a while ago). He handed me a vinyl wallet with a cardboard insert filled with little coupons; one for a free front end alignment, one for free lube and oil with filter purchase, a free battery recharge, $30 in gas discounts, and so on. He quickly delivered a pitch, ultimately offering me the $240 coupon book for $25. I bought instantly, partly because it was a great deal and partly because I appreciated the technique in the initiative. I asked around during the next few days and found that my brother, another person in my office and a neighbor had all bought two. I suspect that the salesperson keeps most, maybe even all of the money. The gas station acquires the new customers. It is a brilliant, direct marketing idea that many different businesses could use.
Of all these direct marketing methods. I'm most partial to Direct Mail.
I like direct mail for many different reasons, including:
  1. There's lots of options regarding format and cost.
  2. You get things directly into the hands of the prospect.
  3. At least for a brief moment, you have the person's undivided attention.
  4. It provides completely measurable results.
  5. It can be combined with other marketing methods
  6. You can learn to do your own copy and graphic work.
And to get your mind working, there are several different ways you can use direct mail too, including acquiring new customers, as a pre-approach prior to a call or to communicate with existing customers.
I suggest you immediately begin opening and reading all of your so-called ‘junk mail’ and building swipe files for each of the categories of uses I've mentioned. Keep the pieces that strike you as interesting and effective.
I love junk mail! Thousands of companies are spending millions of dollars to educate me about solving marketing techniques that I can adapt to my businesses. The big companies that do a lot of direct mail marketing are very sophisticated in their methods. They employ the very best writers and consultant people who often command anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000, just to write a sales letter. These guys are sharp. You can learn from the results of their work and monitoring of all sorts of variables to get the best results. These companies, test, test, test, and test some more.
So your junk mail brings you the end results of collaboration between the brightest direct marketing minds and the costliest marketing research in the country. How dare you throw it in a waste basket!
I can promise you this: it doesn't matter whether you are a salesperson, a small business owner or a corporate executive. It doesn't matter whether you sell to businesses or consumers. If you'll thoroughly study and consider the information and ideas in Direct Marketing and take appropriate follow up actions to switch the emphasis of your marketing into methods that bring direct response and are results measurable, you will improve the profit of your business.

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