Think TED Talks, where speakers have no more than 18 minutes to convey their message. Could you give an overall briefing about what, how and why you do what you do in 18 minutes or less?

• Email What does your electronic correspondence say about you and your agency? Do your emails look professional? Do you and your staff use a consistent format or is every greeting and signature different? What are you doing to ensure that the grammar and spelling are correct? Are you checking up on how your correspondence appears to your clients and carriers?
• Stationery I realize that most people aren’t using a lot of stationery these days (and I’m grateful that I’m not in that business). But when the occasion calls for a letter or some other “official” correspondence, does your stationery or corporate letterhead make a great first impression? Is it attractive and current or worn and dated? Does it look crisp and professional or did you design it yourself using a...

As I’m sure you are painfully aware, this is a presidential election year, which means the airwaves are flooded with political messages (increasingly malicious ones, at that). During one of the way too many broadcast commercials airing recently, I heard the legally required tagline, “My name is __ and I approved this message.” Recorded in the candidate’s voice, this phrase is meant to show that the candidate agrees with what the ad is saying, thereby discouraging false claims.

That got me thinking about the message independent agency owners and their producers are putting out to their “voting public.” Do owners really know what message is out there about their agency and, if so, would they approve it?

Shortly before sitting down to write this article, I was talking with an agency owner and his son (the heir apparent) about our new producer training program, ProducerFit. I began the conversation by asking them about their approach to the...