be Cutting Edge - June 2019

June 12th, 2019

A Newsletter Committed to Independent Insurance Agents Success & Engagement

Agency Fees Information

The MIIAB often receives questions from members regarding the legality of assessing professional service fees in addition to premiums. Minnesota Statutes 60K.46 allows for the charging of fees for services rendered in conjunction with the solicitation, sale or servicing of insurance policies if the following conditions are met.

Prior to providing and charging for the services the fees must be disclosed in a written statement that explains the services being rendered and the amount of the fees. The written statement must also indicate that the fees are in addition to premiums and that the premiums included a commission you will receive.

Furthermore, all fees must be reasonable in relation to the services you provide. When assessing fees one should employ common sense to assure that the fee is “reasonable” to the service or services provided. It might be of a value to learn what other similar agencies charge for these services.

The law can be found on the state legislature’s website at:

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/60K.46

When hiring a new person into your organization, it’s very likely that you will review their resume, CV or professional profile and assess how their experience might apply to what your team needs. This is a very logical approach to assessing talent, however, when you look at how quickly the skills to perform each role are changing, only looking at past experience could leave you with a big skill gap. Hiring someone for their skills is a much safer, and longer-term bet, but it’s hard to change how you may have been looking at talent.

There are so many theories in leadership ranging from vision to self-awareness to service. The simplest way to develop your leadership skills is to have a work ethic mixed with a solid foundation of core values.

Inspirational leaders have commandments they work and live by. Commandments, or guidelines, lay the critical foundation for the development of leadership and business solutions.

All of you have your own commandments that you work and live by. These ten commandments will work as a guidebook to inspire your staff, increase workplace morale, and lay the foundation for a successful company.

The Industry 4.0 Advantage

By Daniel Burrus

When the word “industry” is used in conversation, the picture painted in most minds is a gritty shop floor and blue-collar individuals on an assembly line.

While this visceral image is still true to some degree, when you add the term “4.0” after the word “industry,” newfound interest perks in the minds of both white-collar and digital technology professionals. Simultaneously, fear looms in the hearts of those blue-collar workers accustomed to that initial visual of what industry means. They think instantly of job loss, robots, and artificial intelligence (A.I.) deleting them from the equation.