Magazine

By: Volume 111, No. 2

The number of small Best Practices agencies that report industry or product specialties has increased by 58% since 2010, and while larger agencies of all size categories have been dabbling in niches for decades, their niche revenues have also increased ov

Independent agents can expect modest increases in commercial lines pricing to continue in 2014. Rate hikes are expected to remain in the low- to mid-single digits at best—better news than a softening market.

It’s February and the open enrollment season has wrapped up—but that doesn’t mean you should stop communicating with your clients.

At face value, purchasing agency E&O coverage directly from one of your appointed carriers seems like a good deal. But serving your customers and defending your agency from E&O claims are two very separate things.

Many independent agency websites are leaving too many digital opportunities on the table, according to a recent survey co-sponsored by the Big “I” Agents Council for Technology and Strategic Insurance Software affiliate Agency Marketing Partners.

An energetic intern works the summer away at your independent agency. They help with social media, revamp your website and sit in on agency strategy sessions. By fall, they have received valuable career training and mentoring. And you receive…a lawsuit?

Although the shift of selling personal insurance online is clear, new battle lines are being drawn in the commercial lines space. Independent agents still consider it their territory—but is that changing?

After merging with like-minded strategic partner The Baldwin Resource Group, local agency The Partners Group went a step further in 2011 when it became a founding agency in Collaboration Centric Solutions.

After three decades in insurance, Scott West—a native Texan, agency owner and cattle rancher—feels strongly that insurance companies serving the independent channel should communicate their goals more effectively with the agency force.