| Quote of the Month
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"Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge."
-Mark Twain
Source: www.quotationspage.com |
| Joke of the Month
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A producer was assigned to secure an important insured but failed in his mission. He faxed his CSR and asked her to break the news indirectly to his boss.
His note read: "Failed in securing insured, prepare the boss."
He received the following fax from his CSR: "The boss is prepared. Prepare yourself."
Source: www.funtoosh.com
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| News Flash: WIO: Experience - Who Needs It?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another day, another moment of blinding idiocy from the earth's unsubstantiated ruler of insurance. The latest display of intellectual destitution comes from WIO officials responding to the recent speech from Lloyds CEO that the impending qualified worker shortage will have a drastic impact on the insurance industry.
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Greatest Insurance Story Never Told: Products for Your Future!
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CGL aficionados everywhere can recite from memory the key clause in the policy definition of "mobile equipment": "Vehicles, whether self-propelled or not, maintained primarily to provide mobility to permanently mounted:
(1) Power cranes, shovels, loaders, diggers or drills; or
(2) Road construction or resurfacing equipment such as graders, scrapers or rollers;"
That is so yesterday.
See Your Future! |
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"Finding a Diamond Among the Coal!" Department
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Surely you've heard that many folks now refer to the World Wide Web as the "World Wide Waste." The amount of digital flotsam and jetsam arriving daily merely from ex-Nigerian officials with a need to move money out of the country is enough to clog up the mightiest mailbox filter!
We mean, how much fun is dealing with that? So here at IIF, where we are always about more fun, we decided-as a public service-to help. Each issue, we will find you a diamond from among the coal, a swan from among the geese, a pearl from among the swine-well, you get the idea. So feel free to reroute all your current e-mail bloat into that "automatically delete" file, while trusting us here at IIF headquarters to pass on anything truly worthy of our valued attention. And hey, it'll be fun!
This issue:
Tired of annoying "error" messages? After all, you're already ticked there's an error in the first place; why have it rubbed in your face with some unfriendly, cold "ha, ha, ha - look at the moron trying to gain access" message? For a look at the error message of the future, visit the following Web site:
Find the Diamonds!
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Feature: Don't Step on the Grass, Sam!
By Chris Amrhein, AAI
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Every human with a yard or garden endures the annual struggle to grow what you want and kill what you don't. Yet all too often it seems to happen in reverse. The very plants you despise positively flourish in adversity, while the tender growths you treat with such maternal care seem predestined to wither and die at the slightest lack of moisture or insect attack.
Have you ever considered that you fight the same battle in growing a healthy lawn as in growing a healthy insurance agency? The major difference is your weeds aren't a "what"; they're a "who." Consider the following parallels.
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Brand Tip:Real Time
By Peter van Aartrijk Jr., CIC
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Angelyn Treutel is a proud independent agent from Mississippi, Hurricane Katrina survivor, and one of the nicest people on the planet. She passed along to me notes from a speech by futurist David Smith at a recent industry conference.
Futurists have cool jobs. They look at stuff going on today that we often miss-mini-trends, if you will-and add them all up to predict big stuff. They also have some fun. For instance, they accurately can predict that kids will do the opposite of what their parents are doing. Like your car? You can bet your kids will buy something else. And their kids something else. Hence the fall-and rise again two generations later-of the station wagon.
What does Smith's talk have to do with insurance and with the venerable independent agency?
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| Book of the Month: Age of Speed by Vincente Poscente
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People hate to wait. Those who like it least? Your insureds.
No room for techno-phobes in the new agency, says the author. Slow turnaround on proposals? Forget it. Slow response to claims or requests? You are not long for this world. Technology is a tool, not a ticket to retirement, argues Poscente. Agencies who fail to embrace simplicities inherent in new agency technology, beware. Cutting edge agencies are raising the bar, and your insureds, if they haven't already, will soon notice. Does your agency feel the need for speed? Grab this tome, read it, pass it along to staff, and get ready to rock! Or be rocked-the choice is yours. |
| Product Deal - Oh, The Gifts You Will Buy!
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 It's Christmas, Ebeneezer!
Don't dot another "i", Bob Cratchit, until you peruse the plethora of potential present possibilities at the IIF Holiday Store!
Not sure what to buy that special insurance someone? May we suggest an IIF gift certificate?
Or does that insurance person on your list enjoy reading? Then he or she will love a copy of the latest - and appropriately titled - book from Chris Amrhein: "Yes, Virginia, There is Insurance!"
But you better hurry! You and we both know what will happen if that perfect IIF gift isn't under the tree on time. Click that link now!
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Picture of the Month
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Step 1: Wrecker versus car.
Step 2: Car wins! Car wins!
Remind anyone of this year's college football season?
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