While most of us need to be optimistic just to get out of bed in the morning, the skilled insurance salesman is working out how to 'back the hearse up to the sitting-room window' – metaphorically speaking. It's an important component of success – nice eh?

Business insurance training is as perennial as the grass, but the big question is always – why doesn't it seem to work? Certainly to judge by a recent Sovereign course I attended, there is no obvious reason. The course was excellently presented.

The main theme on display at a recent Asteron launch was claims. It was a 'back to the future' type of presentation.

AIA’s General Manager for New Zealand, Bernard McCrea declared as “Illogical” claims that policyholders may be put at risk of tax penalties by their stand on the tax treatment of Agreed Value disability income insurance.