American Agent & Broker

Balancing Act

There is an ancient insurance industry rule of thumb that states it costs 6 to 7 times more to acquire new business than retain on-board clients. Another old adage holds that the average agency's book of business will turn over every 7 to 10 years. Whether or not these are truths or truisms is debatable; some believe the original concept of value of retention versus acquisition came from a broad-based Harvard University business study that was not oriented in any way to insurance. and retain ...

Cloud Computing Evolves

As far as information technology goes, cloud computing is quickly becoming a sign of these times. In reality, cloud computing was "new wrapping paper around an old gift," as it was very similar to the application service providers and software as a service of the day. Many agents were familiar with both types of offerings and some, thanks to their agency management system vendors, might have actually been using cloud computing, at least in one aspect of their technology. The term "cloud compu...

Defund Fio Study

Imagine for a moment that Congress decides to create a brand-new federal office. Then at the same time, Congress decides it needs to conduct a study about whether it would be a good idea to vastly expand the scope of the new office that it just created. Last year when Congress created the Federal Insurance Office (FIO), it ordered a broad study of insurance regulation in the US -- but it assigned the task of conducting that study to the FIO that it had just created. The FIO is meant to serve ...

Don't Get Even, Get Ethical

Welcome again to March, when insurance agents traditionally join with The CPCU Society and many other fine insurance organizations by devoting this article to a topic pertaining to National Ethics Month. But what organizations can and must do is throw their best efforts into approaches and actions that are specifically designed to meet their industry's No. 1 ethical objective: build trust. Out of necessity, the products are often complex, their mathematics obtuse, and the purposes of their un...

Donuts and Liquor Bring Lesson

There is really a trouble with trying to mix two distinct pursuits: You may not be able to enjoy either of them. Loss control and selling insurance are closely aligned; in fact, the two go together hand-in-glove. Still, they are two different services, requiring different expertise and standards of care. The exaggerated point is that loss control expertise doesn't come as a free add-on with an insurance license, as the plethora of certification programs on loss control and risk management dem...

Fema to Tweet Disasters

Game Name

While most insurance agencies focus on marketing and branding its identity through social media and community service, the Insurance Office of America (IOA), Longwood, FL, also uses a different form of marketing through a partnership with professional sports teams. IOA developed an in-house department that specializes in professional sports teams. This unit has created a program that uses top-rated companies and enhanced client services to create an offering that meets the needs of its profes...

Get Ready for the Spring Thaw

Editor

Keep It Simple

When the author first started his agency, new business was a high priority. After some years in the business, he found he was losing clients much too often. Although acquiring new business is always important, he decided that retention had to move up to the top of his priority list. He found that doing both well involved changes in his office, CSRs and producers. Change was not easy, but once in place, worked very well. He found that sales was not marketing and marketing was not sales. His jo...

Market Directory

Medical Loss Ratio Issues Still Up for Grabs

Industry groups continue to press for a legislative fix of the health insurance reform law to save the commission-based compensation model for producers, even as many agents and brokers expect they will be moving to a client-paid fee model soon. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) ignited the compensation model issue in calling for the US Dept of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop calculations on the percentage of revenues that health insurers must commit to medical...

Moving Target

In the year since the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), as uncertainty has mounted over how the health insurance reform law will work and whether it eventually will even be the law of the land, producers are concluding they can only keep up team up or get out. At no other time in recent history have health insurance buyers relied more heavily on their agents and brokers for direction, as producers and their clients have been whip-sawed by developments with t...

Naic, Hhs Can Still Do Right by Agents

The failure of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to support the recommendation to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that agent compensation be removed from healthcare medical loss ratio calculations has been followed by reports of health insurers cutting producer compensation. Healthcare reform legislation passed by the Obama administration last year stipulates that for individual health insurance policies, 80% of premiums must be spent on medical care...

Nexgens Initiative

Reader Letters

Report: Iowa, Mass. Provide Best Healthcare to Children

Revisit Your Marketing Plan

Spring is a time to refresh and regenerate as the world reawakens after the long, drab months of winter. For a business this regeneration should focus on one thing in particular: marketing. Stagnation is deadly to a marketing campaign. Marketing should always move forward. Start with your Web site, the public face of your business. As the population changes, more of your customers will be people who are not only Internet-savvy, but are perfectly comfortable with shopping for insurance online....

Study Details High Cost of Snowstorms

Travel Forecast: Heating Up

Usps Reports $329m First-Quarter Loss

Winning Personalities

Some have said that good sales people are born with the ability to sell -- they have an innate ability to relate to others and to pitch for successful sales, and are capable of moving people in such a way that the results are much larger than the sales commission in itself. More than a commission, they have gained a fortune. By gaining this fortune, they have turned clients into advocates and partners in business. Numerous sales training resources are available, whether it's online, through t...

You Are the Champions

The notion of "the team" has long been used as an analogy for managers to encourage their employees. Another common thread in all discussions of good leadership is "integrity." In business, people often take the first meaning, referring to undivided loyalty or complete honesty. Although this is a noble goal worth pursuing, the author would like to explore the second definition and its relationship to champions. The state of being whole, entire or undiminished refers to oneness. The root term ...

You Can't Serve Two Masters

Insurance agents and brokers often are asked to change insurance policies to comply with the requirements of a lease or some other type of contract. The case that follows, Heaven & Earth Inc (H&E), et al v. Ross Nesbit Agencies Inc, D/B/A Paulet/Slater Inc (PSI), et al No. A10-1109, establishes the hazard when an agent or broker represents more than one party interested in the insurance policy. From its inception, H&E purchased insurance for Quest from PSI. In October 2004, Dana P...