Sales and marketing

Low interest rates and new capital from private equity firms are driving demand, as baby boomer owners look to sell.

Advisers are using these popular tech platforms to differentiate themselves from the competition and ease client workloads.

Low interest rates and new capital from private equity firms are driving demand, as baby boomer owners look to sell.

Clients and prospects desperately need professional benefits counsel. If you don’t provide it, your competitors surely will.

Doing the obvious – expressing appreciation to clients on a regular basis – may have a bigger impact than most advisers think, says Michael Sciortino

Engaging employees is a year-round process that requires constant improvement, says Daniel Freund.

For communication to be successful, it has to be the right message, delivered to the right audience, says Wendy Keneipp.

Advisers looking to maximize the impact of their client- and prospect-facing material should take these factors into account, says Selden Beattie’s Beverly Beattie.

The benefits market is undergoing a transformation and few operations seem fully prepared.

When advising the youngest generation in the workforce, brokers must focus on education and technology-driven tools to enhance understanding.

If the owner and the executives are the only folks working during a storm, wouldn’t those be ideal days to reach your intended target?

A brokerage’s most valuable asset is not prouducts, but the quality of its relationship with clients, says Bottom Line Solutions’ Nelson Griswold.

Marketing has changed and benefit advisers must learn the new rules, says Q4intelligence’s Wendy Keneipp.

It’s in a broker’s best interest to align their performance with employer expectations, says John Graham.

Whether just starting out, or expanding an existing marketing plan, Amy Evans says social media can be an engaging way to promote your agency.

The Affordable Care Act, new ways to fill the sales pipeline and Zenefits dominated EBA’s BeAdvised blog commentary this year. The top 10 most-read blogs of 2015 detail the growing number of ACA regulations and reporting requirements, explain why advisers don’t accurately understand the threat behind a tech-focused brokerage and highlight simple-yet-effective ways producers can increase existing client revenue and get prospects to open the door.

Bring many of the industry’ leading minds together with brokers and advisers from across the country who are eager to learn and share insights on the latest market trends and best practices, and you’ve got some of the year’s most thought-provoking conversations. For those who missed out, here are the highlights from EBA’s 2015 conferences.

Internship and mentoring programs are popular among some of the nation’s top advisory firms, but they also know it takes more than a cursory relationship with universities to recruit and retain talented producers. See how brokerages such as Arthur J. Gallagher, Lockton, Willis and USI Insurance Services are securing the loyalty of the nation’s up-and-coming elite advisers.

Commentary: To avoid turning employers off, focus on the “1%,” the essence of the client’s message, says John Graham.

Commentary: More than empty theories, columnist Nelson Griswold shares business-building and growth strategies that work.