E&O INSURANCE seems to be resisting the general softening-market trend. Prices for E&O coverage have increased significantly. A bigger problem for agencies is reduced underwriting tolerance for claims; carriers are less forgiving than they have been.

A RECENT U.S. Department of Labor report puts the national unemployment rate at 5.4% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Economy at a Glance, Sept. 24, 2004). This is considerably higher than the unemployment rate between 1998 and 2000, and yet agency

TWO DIFFERENT values are important to the owner of an expensive antique. If it is passed on as an inheritance, the IRS wants to know the fair market value; an insurance company, however, might want to know the item's replacement value. A slum

IN A RECENT class, I was contrasting insurance carrier stability with insolvency, pointing out that carriers can be quite unstable while being far from insolvent. Someone asked why any of this matters to agents, given the existence of state guaranty

Recently, a number of articles have appeared in the press concerning lawsuits brought against brokers, alleging a conflict of interest when they accept fees from their clients as well as contingency bonuses from insurance companies. While the nature

INSURANCE agencies face two significant challenges today: developing successful producers and establishing strong management/ leadership. These challenges are hurdles that successful agencies must clear. Perhaps leaping over them would be easier if

MILLIONS of copies of management books have been sold in the last two decades, making some business authors second only to rock stars and cover girls as celebrities. People have spent billions on these books. Most buyers probably have actually read

Is benchmarking important? Well, yes and no. Benchmarking is useful for identifying possible weaknesses in an agency and for comparing it with a group of other agencies. Using benchmarks for other purposes, however, can cause problems. For example,