February Cover Story 
| Protect Your Profitability | Don’t let the recession kill your margins.
Keep your agency in the black by focusing on technology, marketing and expense control. |
Official accounts say the recession is over, but many independent agents would be hard-pressed to agree. Caught between the continued soft insurance market, an ailing economy and renewal audits that often require them to pay back part of the premiums they collected last year, many agency principals are fighting to keep profits part of their financial equations. But the battle doesn’t have to be all uphill. Agents maintaining or growing their margins, along with consultants who specialize in agency profitability, say there are numerous ways agencies of all sizes can grow, preserve or restore profitability.
Also in this issue:
Ace Insura
The Case of the Symbol Spat Insurance Views
The Art of Servant Selling
Chairman’s Voice
"Where You Reside" Could Bankrupt You
On the Hill
Political Stakes are High in 2010
On Branding
“More” is Not a Value Proposition
| Online Features Agency Management: Evaluate With Ease
There are as many variations to employee evaluations as there are compensation programs. However, there are some common ingredients in the most effective evaluation tools that are easily
duplicated.
Sales: I Want That Market
Many insurance companies distribute lists of their desired markets every year. They claim that they have competitive products and pricing to permit agents to sell to those markets, but those markets are suspiciously similar for most carriers. Why?
Customer Service: Seventeen Reasons to Use Postcards for Customer Contact
While Twitter and Facebook are getting a lot of attention, there are some old fashioned ways of relationship building and customer romancing that still work well, including phone calls, birthday and anniversary cards and postcards.
Technology: "Add This Event" to Your Web Site
Seminars, education forums and other events are an excellent way to market the services and value your agency provides. Creating an “add this event” link on your Web site is a simple way to help clients or prospects automatically update their Outlook calendars with event details. Coverages: Covering Loss Due to Credit Card Fraud
Your insured accepted an order via the internet for products that he sells. He verified that the credit card was valid through an outside service. It was not until several days later that the service advised him that the credit card was stolen. He shipped the product and is now without the product and lost the income. Is there any insurance product to cover this exposure?
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