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The Building Blocks of Agency Development

AuthorHouse

Contents

IA. Objectives....................................................................4IB. What You Do to Achieve Objectives.............................................7NOTES—CHAPTER I.............................................................38IIA. Recruiting...................................................................39IIB. Retention: Developing and Keeping New Agents.................................51IIC. Problem Solving..............................................................70IID. Motivation...................................................................84NOTES—CHAPTER II............................................................100IIIA. Differences between Management and Leadership...............................107IIIB. Leadership Styles...........................................................116IIIC. A Leader's Top-Priority Responsibilities....................................123IIID. How to Fulfill Top-Priority Leadership Responsibilities.....................130IIIE. A Leader's Requisite Qualities..............................................133NOTES—CHAPTER III...........................................................157INDEX.............................................................................161

Chapter One

What's the main purpose of agency management? Now that you've been promoted to be an Agency Leader (AL=Unit Manager, Sales Manager, Agency Supervisor) in your insurance company, your boss expects you, and so do you, to succeed in your new position. Your enthusiasm abounds because you were promoted rather quickly. You want to know a lot of things in order to succeed faster; however, since you're a cautious person, you've been thinking hard but still aren't sure where to begin and what you should focus on to ensure your success as you promised your company. Although you're very confident, sometimes you wonder if you've promised management too far beyond your ability. You realize that you need to learn a great deal more to acquire new knowledge and skills. So, where should you start?

Don't worry! There are 3 things you need to determine and focus on:

• Objectives,

• Activities to achieve your objectives, and

• Methods to carry out your activities in order to achieve your objectives

Like taking a trip, you need to know where you want to go, what to prepare, and how to get there. This first chapter will help you explore your objectives—what your company wants you to get done, how much pay you want for your work, and how far you want to move upward in your company.

STOP HERE!

Write down in the space provided on the next page, or on a separate sheet of paper, what you believe are the main objectives of what you do in your position of AL.

In my opinion the main objectives of what I do as an AL are:

1. _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________

2. _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________

3. _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________

4. _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________

5. _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________

IA. OBJECTIVES

The main objective of business is to grow profit over time. Your job as an AL is to:

* Grow staff

* Grow revenue, and

* Grow profit

IA1. Staff Growth

You're supposed to increase the number of your active (selling) agents every quarter. It doesn't matter how many producers you have; it only matters how many of them sell. The number of agents on your sales staff is only a body count. The number of your active agents indicates how successful you are as an AL. It's better to have a lower body count and a higher ratio of active agents. But, the important thing you need to bear in mind is the increase of this ratio as well as the absolute number. You should decide on a ratio higher than the company's average but not unrealistic. The ratio alone isn't a good indicator of success. A 66% active ratio looks good on paper but it doesn't reflect your talent and skill when your staff has only three or four agents. The same ratio is excellent when the number of your sales staff is 15 or 20 and keeps increasing. To achieve consistent growth, you'll need to recruit to increase the body count, develop new salespeople into active agents, and manage to retain the majority of them over time. So, within your responsibility for staff growth, you're responsible for recruiting, development, and supervision.

* You should discuss with your leadership team, and decide on a common goal. You should meet with your team to guide the discussion and group decision but avoid imposing your ideas on them or unilaterally deciding regardless of what the team thinks. If you don't completely agree with them, you'll need to convince them of the reasons and benefits of your position and persuade them to change their minds. Since you're the leader, you can rather easily dictate and impose your will on the team but success isn't certain when you lack the ardent support of the majority.

IA2. Revenue Growth

Your agents' premiums must grow over time. As the years go on, operation expenses increase due inflation and the ever rising cost of doing business. If they maintain the same level of premiums, your company's revenue will decrease in value, and so will their income, and yours! When your agents do the right things and do them right, and have consistent and sufficient activity in prospecting and selling, they'll naturally sell more and bring in more premiums. Exceptions do exist when you have the same number of selling agents but your premiums increase. This is due to either larger cases are sold or more cases sold per active agent. In the first scenario, luck can be a factor. However, in order to sell large cases on a continual basis your agents must upgrade their markets, which isn't an easy thing to do. Agents rarely reach out of their comfort zones and venture into new territories. The second scenario doesn't happen often either. For the same agents to sell more cases per week or month, a change of market is necessary. Again, unless you as a manager actively promote and help your agents develop new markets, the number of sales per agent and their case size remain rather consistent over time if your management capability remains at the same level. You need to get out of your own comfort zone and bring your agents with you on this uncomfortable trip to help them sell more and bigger to increase revenues for themselves, for you, and for your company.

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