Latest Agencies Headlines
All the headlines from our Agencies Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Massachusetts Agents Score Policy Ownership Victory
Aug 16 2010 // Massachusetts insurance agents scored a victory as the state’s governor signed a new law allowing them to keep their rights to clients’ expiring auto policies – a move sought by agents since the...
3 Keys to Establishing a Total Agency Growth Culture
Aug 16 2010 // Agency Leadership Must Assure that Sales Force Does Not Shoulder New Business Production Alone Why is agency growth important? Agents and brokers are faced with a continued economic downturn combined with sustained soft...
Smart Agents’ Growth
Aug 16 2010 // Grow or die has long been the accepted strategy for business. But look at the problems plaguing AIG or Toyota for instance, and one is left wondering why. In a new book, Smart Growth: Building an Enduring Business by...
Why Carriers’ Producer Bulletins Are Like Greyhound Buses
Aug 16 2010 // What Agents Should Expect in Bulletins from Their Companies Communications from carriers are crucial to an agency’s business. Through producer bulletins, carriers describe changes, policy updates, and other business...
Agency Marketing Must Move Online and Beyond
Aug 16 2010 // Insurance agents could be more effective with their marketing efforts by incorporating online tools into their advertising strategy. After all, online resources often are free – and they’re a good way to build...
How to Use Compensation to Boost Sales
Aug 16 2010 // Al Diamond is one of the country’s best known agency management consultants. His firm, the Agency Consulting Group, is based in Cherry Hill, N.J. He deals with agencies across the country on issues ranging from...
Year-over-Year, M&A Activity Sustains a Moderate Pace
Aug 16 2010 // Buyers and Sellers Remain Cautious Insurance brokerage deals in the second quarter of 2010 barely bested the number of deals during the second quarter of 2009 bringing year-over-year activity slightly ahead of last....
AZ Court Decision Could Increase Agent E&O Premiums
Aug 13 2010 // The Arizona Supreme Court is weighing in on the state’s uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage selection form — a decision that could dramatically increase insurance agency’s errors and omissions...
TV and Radio Advertising: Texas Agency Makes It Work
Aug 12 2010 // Is advertising on radio and television a cost-effective way to help expand an independent insurance agent’s book of business? It may not be for everybody, but Criss Sudduth says a one-two punch of broadcast ads have...
Illinois Accuses Insurance Agent, Agency of Scamming Investors
Aug 12 2010 // The Illinois Department of Insurance has revoked the license of an Illinois insurance agent for allegedly luring Illinois and California retirees into a pyramid scheme in which the agent misrepresented that the funds would...
Beacon Mutual Joins Big I’s Branding Campaign
Aug 12 2010 // Rhode Island-based workers’ compensation insurer Beacon Mutual has joined the “Trusted Choice” consumer branding program for independent insurance agents and brokers created by the Big I. Beacon, the...
BP Oil Spill Disaster Creates Some Opportunities
Aug 12 2010 // No matter which television channel or Web site you turn to, the Gulf oil spill has dominated the news. This is an environmental crisis that will affect the region’s economic capabilities and natural resources for...
E&S Wrap Up: Broker Mergers, Expansions and Start Ups
Aug 12 2010 // As goes the circle of life, so goes the wholesale insurance broker world. Not even the sixth year of a soft market cycle has deterred industry veterans from launching new wholesale businesses or creating larger ones. Many...
Insights Into Agency Cultures – Small Agencies In Small Towns
Aug 11 2010 // In my August 4 post “How Does Agency Culture Affect Best Practices?“ I discussed some issues that can exist in an agency’s culture. Before we can explore what your agency culture should look like, we need...
It’s an emotional sale
Aug 10 2010 // How can you be bored when you are selling a product that protects people’s lives, health and businesses? Our products protect people’s ability to make a living, provide for their families and pay for their...
Cruise Ships Traveling In Changing Legal, Security Climate
Aug 9 2010 // Crime on cruise ships is rare, considering 10 million North Americans sailed last year. But some crime victims believe that justice also is rare — due to overlapping investigative powers, difficulty obtaining...
Bostic Named President of Michigan Agents Group
Aug 9 2010 // LeRoy Bostic of Lewis & Thompson in Detroit has been named president of the Michigan Association of Insurance Agents (MAIA). He is the first African-American insurance agent to be named to this position, according to...
Massachusetts Agents Score Policy Ownership Victory
Aug 6 2010 // Massachusetts insurance agents scored a victory this week as the state’s governor signed a new law allowing them to keep their rights to clients’ expiring auto policies — a move sought by agents since the...
Former Ohio Insurance Agent Indicted on Theft Charges
Aug 6 2010 // Ohio Department of Insurance Director Mary Jo Hudson announced that Michael Cox of Powell, Ohio, has been indicted by a Franklin County grand jury on ten counts of felony theft. A department investigation revealed Cox had...
Cincinnati Financial Q2 2010 Income Up from Previous Year
Aug 5 2010 // Cincinnati Financial Corp. saw net income for the second quarter of 2010 rise to $27 million compared with a net loss of $19 million for the same period in 2009. Operating income for the quarter was $42 million compared...
