Insurance Journal » Sales

How to Grow Your Agency by Asking and Answering the Right Questions

Alan L. Shulman — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 16:40:33 +0000

One of the “secrets” to building an agency, or any business for that matter, is to ask introspective questions and to answer them thoughtfully. For an operation that sells contractual promises, written by others, these queries cover a lot of …

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GEICO To Hire 300 New Associates In Arizona

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 17:32:21 +0000

The private passenger auto insurer GEICO is kicking off 2013 with plans to hire 300 new associates at the company’s regional office in Tucson, Ariz. The hires will include associates to fill new positions, and to make up for attrition. …

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8 Lessons to Learn from the Upcoming Presidential Election

Alan L. Shulman — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:37:47 +0000

The 2012 presidential election is coming up quickly and the media is outputting endless stories, videos, tweets and more about it. Pay attention to the ads and the action to pick up some interesting lessons you can apply to your …

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What Makes a Marginal Producer?

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:50:48 +0000

Salespeople, broadly speaking, fall into three categories. There are those elusive few, typically the 20 percent of the firm’s salespeople, who are highly productive, who sell most of what is sold. These individuals have precisely what it takes to sell …

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Finding Superior Production Talent

David Connolly — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 20:22:50 +0000

Finding Superior Production Talent By David Connolly President iQ Consulting An excerpt from an interview with a successful agency owner DC: Historically, what has consistently been the biggest challenge you face as an agency owner? Owner: “In our infancy we were …

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UK Insurer Aviva Culls Units in Turnaround Drive

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 09:59:23 +0000

Aviva, the UK’s No.2 insurer, plans to sell or close more than a quarter of its businesses in a shake-up aimed at regaining the support of investors irked by the group’s flagging share price. The company, whose weak stock market …

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8 Things Independent Agents Can Learn From Sam Walton

Alan L. Shulman — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 13:35:34 +0000

Wal-Mart and independent agencies seemingly have little in common. Not so. There are many helpful ideas to cull from Mr. Walton’s amazing odyssey from one store to the largest retailer in the world — as revealed in his autobiography, “Sam …

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The Language of Sales

Bill Schoeffler and Catherine Oak — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:15:08 +0000

Much of life is a sales process. At some point in every relationship we are, in effect, negotiating, selling and buying ideas. Communication is not an exact science. When we communicate, we use our words, in our own style to …

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Willis Review Sees Better Times Ahead for Aviation Industry

Tue, 01 May 2012 09:52:25 +0000

The airline and aviation manufacturing insurance markets turned a profit in 2011 “following one of the safest years in recent times in terms of numbers of losses and passenger fatalities,” according to a review from Willis Aerospace, a unit of …

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Swiss Re Team Favored to Acquire Groupama’s Brokerage Unit – Sources

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:52:24 +0000

Swiss Re and its private equity partners Apax and PAI are in pole position to acquire Groupama’s GAN Eurocourtage [brokerage] unit for about €600 million ($793.2 million), people familiar with the situation said. The Swiss reinsurance group teamed up with the private …

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Q1 Insurance-linked Securities at Record $1.49 Billion: Aon Benfield Study

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:48:07 +0000

Aon Benfield Securities, the investment banking division of global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor Aon Benfield, has issued its latest report on the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, which reviews the key trends witnessed during the first quarter of 2012. The”Insurance-Linked …

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Thailand’s Thanachart Bank Ready to Sell Insurance Ops Say Souces

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:44:54 +0000

Thailand’s Thanachart Bank Pcl, backed by Canada’s Bank of Nova Scotia, is preparing to sell its insurance operations in a deal could fetch about $500 million, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. The sale would likely include a …

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World Economy Counts the Cost of Euro Zone Dithering

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:02:58 +0000

From credit bottlenecks in Eastern Europe to slower growth in China, delays in tackling the euro zone’s debt crisis are causing ever-greater economic and financial damage well beyond the borders of the 17-nation bloc. As politicians dither over how to …

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Un-commoditizing Insurance

David Connolly — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 22:26:32 +0000

What makes you better or different than your competition? Ask every agent that question and you’ll get the same answer. I’m not kidding. Don’t believe it? I’ve worked with hundreds of agencies & brokers in North America. The first question …

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The Truth About The Competition

David Connolly — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 01:53:58 +0000

Say what you will about the competition- Just don’t say anything bad. The cardinal rule about not bad mouthing the competition is both virtuous, and professional. Knocking the competition usually backfires, and creates a negative impression on the person throwing …

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ING to Push Ahead with Insurance IPOs, Divestments

Thu, 05 May 2011 10:32:57 +0000

Dutch financial services group ING said on Thursday it was on track to list its U.S., European and Asian insurance units and to divest other businesses to repay state aid. ING, which received €10 billion [$14.8832 billion] of state …

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Series: Natural laws as they apply to sales

David Connolly — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The natural laws which rule our universe are explained through physics, mathematics, chemistry, and other disciplines. These include Einstein’s theory of relativity, Kepler’s laws on planetary motion, and Newton’s and laws on gravitation. There is another group of natural laws …

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Newer Web Sites Gaining Online Auto Insurance Market Share

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:10:40 +0000

Newer auto insurance and aggregator sites are attracting an increasing share of the online auto insurance market that has been dominated by GEICO and Progressive, according to a new report. In the fourth quarter of 2010, these additional sites accounted …

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Liberty Mutual Adds Commercial Lines Service Centers for Agents

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Liberty Mutual Agency Markets said that its agents can now use one of two commercial lines service centers to help with a range of services for policyholders. The centers – located in Ohio and Washington — will work with roughly …

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Got Innovation? Submit Your Idea to the Entrepreneurial Insurance Awards

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Innovators get ready. MarketScout has begun its first-ever search for the most creative new product, underwriting application, or tool that helps distribute insurance in a more innovative fashion. With support from Microsoft and The National Alliance for Insurance Education and …

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Pareto’s Principal and book growth

David Connolly — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Pareto’s Principal and book growth Vilfredo Pareto Business management thinker Joseph M. Juran suggested the 80/20 principle and named it after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% …

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RLA Insurance Intermediaries Opens Boston Headquarters

Thu, 06 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000

RLA Insurance Intermediaries has opened its corporate headquarters at 50 Federal St. in Boston. The firm provides market intelligence to retail insurance agents and brokers. The company says the opening will enable it to market its services throughout the regional, …

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Six Texas Cities to Receive Smoke Alarms

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Firefighters in six Texas cities will be installing smoke alarms into the homes of low income and elderly residents thanks to this year’s “We’re Out to Alarm Texas” smoke alarm campaign. The program now in its fifth year has saved …

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Oregon Tightens Regulation on Financial Advisors’ Sales Tactics

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Oregon officials have filed proposed rules to better protect Oregon seniors and other investors from misleading sales tactics. The rules prohibit those who sell financial and insurance products from marketing themselves by claiming they are a “specialist,” “adviser,” or similar …

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New York Agents Plead Case for “Common Sense” Disclosure Rules

Kenneth J. St. Onge — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Independent agent groups in New York State pleaded with regulators during a meeting yesterday to take a more “common sense” approach to proposed rules requiring agents to tell clients how they get paid. The meetings, which took place in Manhattan, …

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Insurance Exclusion Applies to Liquidator, Nebraska Court Rules

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

A regulatory exclusion in a directors and officers liability insurance policy applies to an insurance regulator acting as liquidator, according to the Nebraska Supreme Court. The ruling is believed to be the first by any state Supreme Court upholding a …

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