The Monday Morning Podcast

Live streaming video is the pathway to building better relationships for insurance agents. It builds engagement with clients and prospects, and helps speed up achieving the 'know, like and trust' scenario.   The cost of entry for an insurance agent is no more than having a smart phone. There are numerous mobile apps that bring the live streaming functionality right into the palm of your hand. All you need is a topic or message and the right audience. Depending on what your goal is, social media is a great way to share it and invite people to join in.   With Periscope and Facebook Live, to name just a couple, live streaming video is the next technology that can advance your agency operations on multiple levels.

The first step in financial services cross-marketing with P/C agencies is not product and concept knowledge, but understanding the differences between property/casualty risk and human asset risk. This process leads to a Total Risk Analysis, a service-oriented marketing approach that increases your financial services revenues while solidifying your total book of business. The challenge is to take the long-standing and solid relationships that you have with your clients and deliver to them the financial service products you know they need. Introducing AgencyMaxx, a turn-key marketing system designed exclusively for P/C agencies. It consists of multiple modules, designed to generate consistent financial services sales without a high level of expertise or time commitments. It is customizable to work as a stand-alone tool or be used with highly trained certified AgencyMaxx agents, a program that has proven its success for over 35 years. Listen to see how it works.

In this fast moving presentation, Don Phin shares strategies he's learned from his deep dive into time management. Once you watch it you will want everyone at your company to do so as well. As Don reminds us 'the best time management technique... is the one you use!'

The founder of the Insurance Community Center (in 1977), Laurie Infantino explains some of the major changes in our industry over those years, using the descriptive words of 'Connecting', 'Sharing', 'Learning', and 'Growing'. She shows why and how ICC performs such a vital role with many agencies, especially in the 28 states where ICC courses (over 100 different subjects) are accepted for C.E. credits. The 'Professional Development Process' begins with assessing your staff's insurance knowledge, joining the ICC, then using ICC's help in the future training and development of your staff.

Join this Monday Morning webinar to learn how sales coach J. Sheldon Snodgrass helps insurance agency CSRs more comfortably and consistently tackle The Big Three skills of selling while you serve: Bridging from Task to Ask, Handling Objections, and Trial Closing. Plus understand how to get in and stay in the sweet-spot of continuous growth.

Today we are speaking with Bart Baker, author of 'The Breakthrough Insurance Agency'. Our topic is fine tuning your insurance agency. Bart believes we must continually fine tune ourselves and our business. Nothing is too small, from the way we answer the phone to the Niche Markets we go after. Bart says to go big, be small. In other words be an expert in one or two industries. Bart will show how to communicate with these businesses and individuals to maximize results... ... the end result being a unique advantage that others cannot duplicate. Break out of the box and get ready to do business by referral and position yourself as the expert.

Bruce goes to the basics of Artificial Intelligence... explaining not only what and why it is... but also drivers of change, emphasizing that every business is in the technology business, like it or not. He quotes the independent agency mantra of 'Why should I change what has made me a success so far?' Moore's Law, like it or not, says Bruce, will bring us more change in the next five years than we have seen in the last 25 years... and that acceleration will take off from there. He shows that steps in data comprehension, the various stages of AI, and the practicality of it will bring artificial intelligence within the reach of our industry, and what a huge difference maker it will be.

This is the first monthly 'Monitor' designed to help the growing number (over 100 already) of agencies wishing to show videos and specialty products (more than 700 specialty links from a special edition of the Rough Notes Insurance Marketplace) to their website visitors. All at no cost to the agency. You’ll see how ten agencies have are using different approaches to raise their website viewing numbers... then how to get visitors to look and listen to the videos telling about specialty coverages.   You’ll also see how you can reserve your 200,000 population territory for what will become a national sales and marketing organization for... just about everything insurance.

Would you believe that someone you once had to study in high school or college would impact how you motivate your insurance agency employees? If you watch and listen to Al Diamond explain Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs you will find that Abraham Maslow figured out how to make your employees achieve your agency goals over 70 years ago. Al adapts Maslow's Hierarchy to today's insurance agencies to achieve top results.

Do you have a plan to grow your agency through acquisition? Are you wondering how your colleagues are getting to the front of the line for potential acquisition opportunities? Kirsten Petras and Brian Henson of Oak Street Funding take a moment to explain some pointers that could make exploring and acquisition target smoother than those who are not prepared. Some things to do and some things not to do.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is a nonprofit highway safety research organization funded wholly by automobile insurance companies dedicated to reducing the losses - deaths, injuries and property damage - that result from crashes on our roads. The Institute's research encompasses all of the areas where interventions can make a difference including changing driver behavior, making vehicles safer and making roads safer. The affiliated Highway Loss Data Institute shares and supports this mission through scientific studies of insurance data representing the human and economic losses resulting from the ownership and operation of different types of vehicles and publishing insurance loss results by make and model.

Like no other sales coaching approach, Sheldon's 30 minute energy packed webinar zeros in on the biggest obstacle to a CSRs sales success and demolishes it with 7 simple words. Join us for a surprising glimpse into how Sheldon coaches CSRs across the country to improve their comfort, confidence and consistency with selling while they serve.

Industry expert and consultant Virginia Bates provides practical and very specific ways to fix a problem your agency probably has: how to get more legitimate revenue from each of your accounts. She also reminds us all the E&O security benefit of offering and selling additional needed coverage to each client. You will learn how to reshape your staff, how to make time for account rounding, and how that system of yours can become a sales machine.

In this fast moving program HR expert and attorney Don Phin shares at least 10 unique insights into the hiring process that will help you and your clients do a better job of hiring. You will learn how to attract applicants, create a referral program that works, ask unique interview questions and so much more! You will also get access to Don's Hiring Application for your use.

We all know that visuals are rapidly becoming more effective that 'just words'. Now George has taken one step further than simply using 'consumer-oriented' videos on our websites and in our other marketing activities. Because the new Monday Morning Markets system brings over 700 specialty coverages and programs to agencies (at NO COST TO AGENCIES) he reasons that agency staff (particularly producers) simply can't know everything about... everything. The MMM solution: Having SMP's (Specialty Markets Providers - GA's, wholesalers, program managers) create an educational video for each of their coverages. P.S. Welcome to the new Monday Morning Markets section of the MM email, below. There you can access a sample of how the new PSV works. And while you are there, don't forget to register for Thursday's introductory MMM webinar. Free. As is each agency territory, placement of the videos and more, on your website.

We all think we can handle the worst of times... but are we really prepared? The real live stories of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans... and now the huge floods in and and around Baton Rouge, Louisiana, have opened our eyes to the realization that most of us... particularly insurance agencies... are really NOT prepared  to cope with everything from protecting our families (and ourselves) to dealing with the literally hundreds of insurance details that accumulate from and by our insureds. Mike Manes, a veteran consultant, has been deeply involved in both of the Louisiana calamities... and shares with us a checklist of how to deal with the unthinkable. Hold on to this one, folks. You may need it sooner than you think.

The #1 skill is that will determine your success is not talent or experience. The #1 skill for success is the ability to effectively communicate AND connect with others. In this webinar, Brent Kelly will discuss the five practices you must implement to build better and bigger relationships with your prospects, clients, team members, and company partners.

We hear a lot about data breaches in the news when it happens to a big company. After all, who would pay attention if it was just a small organization that most of the country wouldn't recognize. Insurance company agency agreement wording for both Property Casualty agents and Group Health agents requires unequivocal compliance with all current state and federal privacy and data breach response laws. Agency Agreements tend to be one-sided and typically require that 'the agency hold the company harmless for any claim, demand, liability, dispute, damage, cost, expense or loss including reasonable attorney’s fees and cost of litigation arising as a direct result of the acts, errors & omissions and negligence of the Agent' as just one part of what is included. As professionals who look out for their clients, agents sometimes overlook compliance requirements for their own businesses. Learn more about what is required and what could happen if overlooked. This Monday Morning session will highlight some of the pitfalls and issues that place risk on the agency.

Agency management systems' user groups offer a growing list of services for their members, not the least of which are more in-depth educational activities.  Kitty Ambers, new CEO of NetVU (Vertafore users) brings together the many reasons that agencies need to take advantage of these benefits. One of the most valuable features of User Group membership is the ability to communicate with other agency personnel across North America, sharing ideas on how to better utilize the management systems.

In this webinar, InsurBanc's President and CEO David Tralka shares insight into the current M&A market. Dave discusses the key components of financially planning and preparing for succession, tools to maximize agency value and ways to access capital for growth. Whether you're a buyer or a seller, this information is essential to planning your next move.