brokerage firm employee who advises and handles orders for clients and has the legal powers of an agent. Every account executive must pass certain tests and be registered with the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) before soliciting orders from customers. Also called registered representative.

Insurance: person who finds the best insurance deal for a client and then sells the policy to the client.
Real estate: person who represents the seller and gets a commission when the property is sold.
Securities: person who acts as an intermediary between a buyer and seller, usually charging a commission. A broker who specializes in stocks, bonds, commodities, or options acts as agent and must be registered with the exchange where the securities are traded. Hence the term registered representative. See also account executive; dealer; discount broker.

representative, usually a bank or trust company, designated by a corporation to make legal transfers of stocks and bonds and, in some cases, to distribute dividends. In this event the agent keeps the current stock-transfer books, ledger, and payment lists. Transfer agent and registrar duties may be performed by the same agent.

independent service organization that contracts with advertisers (firms or individuals attempting to find customers for their products and services) to manage their advertising. Historically, advertising agency services are of a creative nature, but the agency concept has expanded to include research services and media planning and buying. Agencies are typically classified by the type of business they handle (e.g., financial, industrial, or consumer packaged goods) or the range of services they offer (e.g., creative, media, or full service).

Compensation for services is derived from three different sources: (1) 15% commissions from the media on the rate charged for media space or time; (2) fees charged for services (usually noncommissionable, such as a market survey); however, situations will occur when the price-value relationship between media placement and creative services is out of balance (e.g., when a client uses the same broadcast commercial for a long period of time, incurring no creative costs, but incurring millions of dollars in broadcast billing), and agencies will be compensated by the substitution of a fee system in place of the 15% commission; and (3) percentage charges on materials and services used in the preparation of advertisements; in this area, clients are charged cost plus 17.65%

The structure of a typical full-service advertising agency is shown in the table below. In smaller agencies, many of these jobs will be combined or filled by freelancers. Additionally, some smaller agencies will hire outside companies to supply the services that are provided by entire departments in the larger agency.

business that sells periodical subscriptions to the public in return for a commission from the publisher, which is expressed in terms of a percentage of the subscription selling price. There are various types of subscription agents, who earn commissions ranging from 100% to 5% of the selling price, depending upon how badly the publisher needs them and the subscriptions they bring in. Most subscription agents handle more than one publication. Publishers employ subscription agents because the publishers may not have the financial resources to sell as many subscriptions as agents can or as quickly as agents can or because a publisher may not want to spend money up front to sell subscriptions.

business that makes and/or receives telemarketing calls for another organization or individual. Telephone agents frequently specialize in either incoming or outbound calls and in either consumer or business products and services. Telephone agencies are usually paid on a commission basis as some percentage (usually 15%) of the gross or net revenue generated, or they may be paid a fee based on the number of calls, contacts, or completed calls made. Agencies paid on a net basis usually take responsibility for collecting payments from the buyers. A telephone agent will generally work with its clients to develop a script to be followed by each caller that fulfills the objectives of, and represents the style of, each client.

subscription agentthat sells magazines door-to-door. There are two types of cash field agents. "Crew team" agents (so named because they utilize teenage salespeople transported in groups from town to town) are the least desirable type, with a reputation for deceiving and abusing the teenagers hired to sell magazines. Some crew team agents have also been accused of collecting payments for subscription orders that are never passed on to the publisher. The other type of cash field agent is a "mom and pop" operation that sells only in the local community and often successfully renews subscriptions for individuals, libraries, and reception rooms in the same community, year after year.

Because of the small volume they sell, cash field agents generally pass on their orders to a larger agent, such as a direct-mail agency, which deals directly with the publisher. The large agents take a 10% commission in addition to the cash field agent's commission. Cash field agencies usually sell subscriptions at the basic rate, unlike most other types of agencies, who sell at discounted rates.

Since cash field agents offer publishers only a small volume of orders at some risk of lost revenue and subscriber goodwill, most publishers will authorize only a few, if any, cash field agents to represent them. In any case, cash field agents are a very minor subscription order source.

subscription agent that sells subscriptions through the mail. Most direct-mail agencies use sweepstakes promotions offering high-value prizes, and can mail in larger quantities than any one publisher could afford. Promotion packages used by direct-mail agencies usually include stamp sheets showing all of the magazines they sell and the price of each. The commission taken by agencies usually ranges from 75% to 95% of the selling price, and they typically offer the lowest price available from each publisher to the general public.

Publishers often use special renewal promotion offers and packages to renew subscriptions sold by direct-mail agencies because these subscribers tend to be very price sensitive. Sweepstake promotions are especially effective in renewing sweepstake-sold subscriptions. Direct-mail agents tend to be the largest and most reputable subscription agencies.

subscription agency that sells magazine subscriptions, via a catalog, to libraries, schools, and institutions. Catalog agents usually offer a relatively high remit rate of 50 to 70% of the basic rate. These subscriptions also renew at a very high rate; once a library begins receiving a magazine, it usually continues to do so indefinitely. As a result, catalog agencies are a highly profitable subscription source.

subscription agent payment agreement whereby the subscriber is billed in installments as the subscription is serviced, and periodic payments are made by the agent to the publisher over the same time period; abbreviated PDS. PDS agents generally sell several magazines as a package, with long terms of three to five years'duration. The average order can be as much as $300 to $400. Cancellations of PDS-sold orders are relatively high and renewal rates are low, since every bill is an opportunity to cancel and the sale is frequently made with a high-pressure telephone sales pitch.

subscription agent payment agreement whereby the publisher is paid in full by the agent when the subscription order is submitted to the publisher, and the subscriber is required to pay the agent in full when ordering. Most subscription agents are PIA agents.