5 Strategies for Growing Your Insurance Agency

Owning and operating your own business is challenging, and running an insurance agency is no exception. Whatever type of insurance your agency specializes in, it is important to work to continuously grow your client base and profits. To stay competitive in the insurance world, businesses must find ways to outshine the competition and to provide one of a kind service. Here are five tips for growing your insurance agency into a successful and reputable business.

Growing your insurance agency

Get More Education

While becoming an insurance agent generally requires a minimum of a high school diploma and an insurance license, those who have the most success in the field pursue higher education.…

Continue reading

Delegation Skills – The Difference Between a Good Manager and a Great One

Of all the skills you’ll use as a manager, delegation is one of the most valuable. It’s also one of the most underused and underdeveloped management skills. Just 30 percent of managers claim to be able to delegate effectively – and of those 30 percent, only one-third have earned the praise of their subordinates regarding their delegation skills.

Delegating works

A Bachelor of Arts in Management can help you get your foot in the door career-wise, but if you aspire to be a truly great manager, polish your delegation skills while you study for your degree. Strong delegation skills help you make the most of your team’s resources.…

Continue reading

Are You Managing Your Manager?

Setting a Strategy for Good Management

There’s significant research to show that disgruntled employees don’t leave their company, they leave their manager. Great managers are worth their weight in gold, and can be difficult to find. If you don’t already have one, perhaps it’s time to consider establishing a new strategy for both managers and your approach to management? Pondering these six key areas should help.

Managing managers

1. Understand motivation

Managers need to understand what motivates each member of their team.

By doing this, they can begin to align their team members’ interests and careers with what the business can offer them.…

Continue reading

How to Explore Overseas Market: Learn from Illy and Estee Lauder

SMB CEOs… want some inspirations on how to explore overseas market? Check out this Singapore Sessions video, featuring a candid talk with Estee Lauder Companies’ Executive Chairman, William P. Lauder, and Illy’s CEO, Andrea Illy.

This session features on how Illy Coffee and Estee Lauder approach the challenges presented by the South East Asian market.

South East Asia is a market promising significant growth, but is surely challenging, especially for coffee and cosmetic products. Fortunately, there is not a single way to market to Asia, which mean that the market favors companies with innovative business model and sound strategy.…

Continue reading

How To Start Succession Planning

You’ve invested so much in building your business – time, money, effort and talent. Whatever type of transition you’re considering – whether it’s retirement, selling to a third party or handing the business down to a family member – succession planning is an important piece of the puzzle that can set your business up for success – or failure – in the future.

The first step is looking at your business and – based on your objectives – determining that you need to start succession planning. There’s a lot of elements to think about – your personal goals, the status of the business and how children or other family members will come into play, to name a few.…

Continue reading

5 Ways to Keep Your Employees Happy

5 Ways to Keep Your Employees Happy

True and successful team management involves more than just the time and effort you invest once you step into your office or workplace. Naturally, you need to keep your employees as happy and comfortable as possible. Most employees would rather choose a great work environment with high employee morale than a bigger paycheck. Let’s take a look at some ways you can do that.

Allow Them Free Will

Don’t give employees the illusion that their work and decisions are linear. Offer them a chance to influence a decision or two. A good example would be to provide an opportunity for them to choose their incentives and rewards for a job well done.…

Continue reading

Three HR Tips Every CEO Should Know

Three HR Tips Every CEO Should Know

Revisions in the I-9 Form

Anyone hired to work for any business in the United States on or after May 7th, 2013, is required to complete the revised I-9 form for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

The new I-9 form is nine pages in length and fortunately, a handbook for employers is available. Samples of the new form are in the handbook along with completion instructions.

Employers are responsible for making a physical examination of any and all documents presented to them to confirm identity and the applicant’s right to work in the United States. Many documents that were acceptable for employment and identity verification are no longer acceptable.…

Continue reading

3 Reasons Automated Hiring Will Rock Your World – And Your Bottom Line

A lot is at stake when small businesses make new hires. The costs associated with assessing candidates, onboarding, and training a new employee have a noteworthy bottom line impact, which is why it’s so crucial to hire the right person – the first time.

3 Reasons Automated Hiring Will Rock Your World - and Your Bottom Line

Automated pre-hire assessments have made the hiring process less complicated and more efficient for both human resources and applicants. By leveraging structured, job-relevant questionnaires, hiring managers drastically increase the likelihood of finding a top performer the first time.

In doing so, firms are able to make better use of their resources and minimize risk associated with making a bad hire.…

Continue reading

Build A Championship Team With Document Management

When you own a business, or hold an executive position within a startup, keeping up with your brand and all of its working parts can be a heavy responsibility. In fact, it’s much like being a head coach. Your business team requires training, nurturing, direction and encouragement to reach its fullest potential.

Build A Championship Team With Document Management

A good head coach knows how to surround himself with assistants, specialists and equipment that enhance the team’s performance. A good executive will do likewise for his business by utilizing technology to track data and minimize human interference.   For example, electronic content management (ECM) can help manage office operations, while raising employee skills and productivity; ultimately helping the business to perform at its best.…

Continue reading

Four Ways To Address The Changing Landscape Of Work

The business world is changing, and the mobile worker is at the forefront.   Mobile workers are not just those who travel across the country or world doing their jobs; they are also those who have the mobility to do their work in a variety of places within a building, across a campus, across an ocean or in the comfort of their home. Research has predicted that nearly 35 percent of the global workforce will be mobile in 2013.

Why the change? Technology is advancing rapidly, making it easier than ever for people to work outside of a traditional office setting. But while technology is changing, the human process of innovation has not.…

Continue reading