Practice management

Craig Davidson says brokerages and small business owners should not be down about failure.

Nelson Griswold on how under health reform a carrier will not determine how much a broker is worth.

John Lamb on helping employees that have reached the tipping point on health care spending.

It may be a while before we face the holiday season again, but since sooner is always better than later, now is the time to address what has come to be known as "the Christmas bonus." Every year someone calls me the Grinch because I'm the guy who points out the ineffectiveness of the holiday bonus. Employee benefit advisers, brokers and consultants need to recognize there exists more creative vehicles that can serve as incentive programs to drive and maintain growth, as well as recruit and retain key talent.

When you think of client diversity, what comes to mind? Do you believe being a generalist is the appropriate course for your future?

As an employee benefits adviser with a major share of your business in health insurance, it is easy to focus on all the challenges in front of you. How can you turn lemons into lemonade? Live an attitude of gratitude and try to remember challenges bring opportunities and no matter how bad you think you have it, someone else usually has it worse.

Business owners are counting on increased referrals for a significant portion of their development plans. How successful those efforts will be is determined in large part by how well strategic plans are written. Read on for some key elements to address.

Today’s business world is global, and providing insurance mandated by the government for contractors with employees at oversea military bases can present a great opportunity for a broker, says EBA Blogger Sam Fleet.

Guest blogger Linda K. Riddell shows how an eye for detail and some simple calculations could prove to be a life-saver for employees that are overusing/abusing narcotic painkillers. As always, share your thoughts in the comments.

As you look back on 2012, EBA Blogger Andy Torelli says now is the best time to develop a realistic business plan for 2013 and provides the real things to look back on.

The complexities of technology needs in insurance exchanges by bswift

Pick the right partners or risk losing everything

The effect of a graying workforce on succession planning for brokerages.

A day in the life of Susan Rider, account executive, Indianapolis.

Nelson Griswold on a broker’s only plan for health care reform survival.

Craig Davidson on the importance of maintaining a winning attitude.

Mel Schlesinger on the imperative of marketing with new media tools

There are right ways and wrong ways to go about ending a business relationship

EBA Contributor Barry Cohn is being kept busy with questions about MLR reimbursements, with clients wondering what to do or asking how much they would be receiving.

Finding opportunities in CDHPs, exchanges and a new business model by EBA Advisory Board Member Mark Gaunya