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People

Mar 8 2010 // Steve Peeters, who most recently was president and chief operating officer of Jacksonville, Fla.-based Zurich Insurance Services, joined The Main Street America Group as vice president, commercial lines product. Peeters...

State of Challenge: How Florida’s Surplus Lines Agents Are Faring

Mar 7 2010 // Interview with FSLA President Bruce Bowers Weak Economy, Insureds Going Bare, Hungry Admitted Markets and Citizens’ Low Rates Test Agents Hurricane Andrew, for all of the grief it delivered, gave wholesale broker...

The Importance of Scorekeeping

Mar 3 2010 // Most sales teams when confronted with sagging results, realize how essential sales culture is to ones ultimate success. However, defining exactly what is meant by a term as broad and indistinct as “sales...

Leadership and Sales Culture in Insurance Agencies

Mar 2 2010 // Leadership is lightning in a bottle. There are as many definitions for it as there are leaders. Any rules that could be agreed upon as to what constitutes leadership could be quickly contradicted by an example of an...

50 Things Young Agents Like LEAST

Feb 21 2010 // The exclusive 2010 Insurance Journal Young Agents Survey asked independent agents 40 years old and younger what they like least about being an independent agent. Here’s what some of the 631 agents who responded had...

Age and Wisdom

Feb 7 2010 // Top 100 Agency Profile Agency Name: Marshall and Sterling Enterprises Inc. Headquarters: Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Year Founded: 1864 Additional Locations: 17 2008 Total Premium Volume: $342 million Property/Casualty: $289...

Why Carriers Invest in Education

Jan 24 2010 // Carriers Say Benefits in Producer Sales Education Well Worth the Investment For years, many insurance companies prided themselves on running successful producer training programs for the independent agents who represented...

West Virginia Court Sides with Insurer on Antitrust Claim by Cancelled Agent

Jan 10 2010 // An insurance company has won a victory over one of its former West Virginia agents who claimed the insurer violated state antitrust law when it cancelled his contracts to sell its life and property/casualty products. The...

Insurance Agents Move to Beat of Rock ‘n Roll Marketing

Dec 22 2009 // How Adam DeGraide, a rock ‘n roll bass player and band promoter who founded Astonish Results, plans to transport independent insurance agents into marketing cyberspace with his own digital elixir. Will agents drink...

The Seven Universal Rules of Sales and Marketing

Dec 21 2009 // In today’s economic climate, it’s difficult to find consistency. Business is changing at a rapid rate in every industry, and insurance is no different. As everything from the internet to the classic bear and...

Agents’ New Lobbying Agenda

Dec 6 2009 // The 2,074-page health care bill includes a range of items that some say could be time bombs in waiting for some agencies – or new opportunities. Until this year, health care was a minor blip on the radar of insurance...

West Virginia Court Sides with Insurer on Antitrust Claim by Cancelled Agent

Dec 4 2009 // An insurance company has won a victory over one of its former West Virginia agents who claimed the insurer violated state antitrust law when it cancelled his contracts to sell its life and property/casualty insurance...

Health Care Reform Dominates Trade Group’s Lobbying Agenda

Nov 20 2009 // Until this year, health care was a minor blip on the radar of insurance agents’ policy efforts in D.C. But with a major reform bill imminent, key trade groups are devoting nearly all of their time to try and tweak...

Nov 16 2009 // In the insurance world, forces of nature are rarely celebrated. Events such as hurricanes, fires, tornadoes and floods can confound the most exacting calculations, drain profit and sink insurers. But then there is Adam...

The Face of Freakin’ Agency Marketing

Nov 15 2009 // Kool Prophet Promises Astonishing Results We come on down on a mission Your footloose town won’t even know you’re gone Our flying boombox was built to take you Up to teh stars wehre your groove belongs —No...

Oklahoma Lawmakers Eye Business Tax Breaks Amid Budget Shortfall

Nov 10 2009 // Oklahoma gives away billions of dollars in tax revenue through hundreds of exemptions, credits and deductions that some lawmakers say the state may no longer be able to afford as it slips deeper into a revenue...

California Commissioner Warns Seniors About Agents

Oct 23 2009 // California’s Insurance Commissioner is worried that crooked health insurance agents may target seniors during open enrollment for Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Program. Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner...

People

Oct 19 2009 // The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of New Jersey (IIABNJ) has elected new leadership. Terry M. Ryan of Hanson & Ryan in Totowa will serve as the new chairman of the association. Ronald Gansfuss of Gansfuss...

Sales Lead Management

Sep 29 2009 // Leads360’s Lead Distribution and Sales Lead Management Software is trusted by thousands of internet lead buyers and recommended by top lead providers including AgentInsider®, InsureMe.com, Insurance Quote...

Newest Florida Carrier, Prepared Insurance, Targets ‘Older’ Homes

Sep 23 2009 // Florida has given the go-ahead to a new homeowners insurance company that plans to focus on what it says is the underserved market of homes built before 2002. Prepared Insurance Co., headquartered in Tampa, intends to use...