VU Resources

The title pretty much says it all. Are you a “many” agent focused on the price-based easy sell or are you among the few who understand that insurance requires a consultative approach?

Hurricanes and other communal disasters draw public adjusters to the affected areas like sharks to the smell of blood. One public adjuster likened the influx to a pack of wolves stalking prey. Be prepared to advise your clients on the best ways to deal with public adjusters.

Service centers make a lot of sense from a financial standpoint except it will take as many as five years for your clients to stop calling YOU and start calling the carrier service center. You will refer them to the Service Center and they will wonder why they need an agent if they are going…

Life is too short to deal with customers who are unpleasant, rude or just plain mean. These individuals add nothing to your day and ultimately lower the moral of the entire office. You probably have someone in mind as you are reading this. Be willing to fire a client.

Agents live and work in a wondrous world. Everyday offers opportunities, some taken, and some missed. But the most entertaining part of any agent’s day is their interactions with their clients. Without clients, you have no business; likewise, without clients we would have nothing to laugh about.

If something is HIGH QUALITY AND CHEAP it will inevitably take longer to accomplish. And if something can be delivered FAST AND CHEAP, it will likely not be the quality you desire. Since you can only have two of the three options, which would you chose?

Agents owe their clients a certain level of service, but what is that level? What should be the agent’s role? What standards of care are reasonable to properly assure an insurance client that he is properly protected? Agents are responsible for the safety of their clients’ assets. While it may not be their very lives…

Are insurance carriers required to honor an AOR? We have discussed this question a couple times, most recently with a Point/Counterpoint article. In this re-visitation a couple reader responses to this discussion are presented.

Your insureds are not insurance experts, nor should we expect them be. In fact, many don’t like to talk or think about insurance – much less read a “coverage-heavy” letter. However, there are times when agents are required to capture specific coverage facts in writing. When it becomes necessary to pen a coverage letter, remember…

Point/Counter Point: Can an insurance carrier and its agent hold a client hostage? Short of any statutory prohibition, the answer appears to be yes. Without a law to the contrary, the contractual agreement between an insurance carrier and its agent appears to allow for “special consideration” regarding the recognition and acceptance of an agent of…