Latest Sales Headlines
All the headlines from our Sales Topic Page, ordered by recency.
The Motorists Insurance Group Restructures Business Model, Management Team
Jan 17 2014 // Motorists Insurance Group President and CEO David L. Kaufman announced a new functional structure for the Columbus, Ohio-based group’s 10 property/casualty insurance, life insurance and insurance brokerage...
The Importance Of Sales Meetings
Jan 15 2014 // Your Sales iQ Nothing, not one thing happens in this economy until a sale is made. No raw materials are ordered, not one engine starts, and no services are performed until an order has been placed. Strong sales are the...
The Profit Compression
Jan 13 2014 // The bad news is independent agency profits are and will continue to be compressed. The good news is that for independent agencies willing to abandon the traditional model, great opportunity exists. Profits will stay...
The Agency Producer Activity Gap and How to Close It: Survey
Dec 11 2013 // Agency producers are not spending enough of their time on the sales-related activities that they and their managers think they ideally should. Instead they are spending more time than they think they should on...
Allstate Picks ING to Sell Fixed Annuities to Its Home, Auto Customers
Dec 9 2013 // ING U.S. Inc. will begin selling fixed annuities through Allstate Corp. agencies as the largest publicly traded U.S. auto and home insurer ceases to offer its own brand of the retirement products. The deal gives ING U.S....
Direct Interested Sales Leads to the Right Agency Employee
Nov 18 2013 // Sales leads arrive at today’s property/casualty agencies from a variety of digital and traditional sources. The former includes social media, websites, blogs, emails, etc. The latter features direct mail,...
Hard Work Is Not the Only Key to Producer Success
Oct 21 2013 // Insurance sales success can be like a game of tennis. Many summers ago I fell in love with the game of tennis. For the next six years, I played every day possible. One of my limitations was that living in Colorado, winter...
Allstate Plans to Hire New Agents in Penn., Conn., Maine, R.I., N.H.
Sep 30 2013 // Allstate Insurance Company announced last week that the company is planning to hire new insurance agents in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. The insurer would hire approximately 455 new...
Maine Officials Warn Consumers About Scammers Using Health Reform Law
Sep 26 2013 // Maine’s Insurance Superintendent Eric Cioppa and Gov. Paul R. LePage are warning the public about scams related to the federal health reform law (ACA). Officials say various schemes have been reported throughout the...
MetLife: Lack of Car, Home Insurance Sales ‘Ridiculous’
Sep 26 2013 // MetLife Inc., the largest U.S. life insurer, is pushing agents to sell more car and residential coverage after the head of the company’s main retail business said they’ve been missing an opportunity to...
Quickest Way to Raise Agents’ Ire
Sep 9 2013 // What is the quickest way a consultant can raise the ire of agents everywhere? Write an article stating producers have a responsibility to produce. What is the next best way to raise agents’ ire? Write an article that...
How to Develop a Sales and Marketing Plan
Sep 9 2013 // Every year a firm should develop a new sales and marketing plan. This is an essential element of strategic planning. Many carriers want to meet with the agency owners to set the game plans for the coming year and it is...
101 Sales & Marketing Ideas for Agencies
Aug 19 2013 // Insurance Journal has listened to readers, spoken with experts, combed through columns and articles and even searched outside insurance circles to find the best sales and marketing tips for independent agencies today. Here...
E&O Insights: Producers Play a Significant Role in E&O
Aug 19 2013 // When reviewing errors and omissions (E&O) statistics, it is often alleged that producers cause the issue in more than half of these claims. However, because a producer is alleged to have made the “error or...
Want to Make More Money in the Insurance Business? Specialize.
Aug 16 2013 // Insurance producers who specialize in an industry or insurance product line make more money than those who don’t. Likewise, agencies that encourage their producers to specialize bring in more revenue than those...
Want to Make More Money in the Insurance Business? Specialize.
Aug 5 2013 // Insurance producers who specialize in an industry or insurance product line make more money than those who don’t. Likewise, agencies that encourage their producers to specialize bring in more revenue than those...
People Pleasers as Agency Owners: On the Periphery of Extinction?
Aug 5 2013 // The insurance agency distribution system model was built around 1900 and is still amazingly similar to agencies of 100 years ago, albeit the monitors and lack of filing cabinets do create a different ambiance. This model...
Set Production-Driven Goals For Personal Lines CSRs
Jul 22 2013 // Running a successful independent agency is a multi-faceted job. It’s a difficult balancing act that demands creating a constant flow of new business, while keeping insureds, employees and carriers reasonably happy....
Effort versus Success
Jul 1 2013 // I wrote two columns in the summer of 2012 that elicited more online comments and emails than any article, out of the hundreds, that I’ve written. One column’s subject was that producers are paid to produce. If...
Grow Your Independent Agency by Activating ‘Hit Teams’
Jun 17 2013 // In many independent agencies, production is left to lone wolves who professionally prowl among neighborhoods, businesses, and the Internet. These offices encourage their producers to work alone in pursuit of fresh sales,...
