Internet Marketing

Become a world-class agency

Staff needs to be mentored, motivated, and educated

By Tim Sawyer

As I travel across the country speaking with independent insurance agencies, they all agree on the importance of developing a world-class sales culture. In theory, it makes sense. The problem is, what does that look like in the real world?

First, agents must be realistic about the potential of their existing staff to make the transition from a service centric culture to a sales centric culture. To borrow from Jim Collins' Good to Great, do you have the right people on the bus? Your people can be either your greatest asset or your greatest liability. Having the right people in place is critical to the success of your insurance agency.

If you do not have the right people on the bus, difficult decisions must be made. This is where most agents struggle. They can't imagine letting go of long-term employees, despite the fact that these people undermine every effort to transition the organization.

This dynamic is so pervasive that many agents have actually experimented with the idea of segregating new hires from existing employees to avoid the "negative impact" on new team members!

What does an idea like this say about the performance of the existing employees? Should this be an acceptable practice? Or should you make a change?

Next, agency principals must ask themselves: "Who within our organization is gifted enough and willing to take on the task of motivating and educating staff members?" It's one thing to say, "I need you to make more sales," and it's another thing to educate and motivate staff to do it.

And finally, who within your organization is tasked with improving the overall performance of your existing employees? Who, what, where, when, and why does this person spend time mentoring customer-facing personnel?

Is there someone in your agency who has the understanding and access to the resources to drive effective training programs? Or are you one of those agency principals who believes that "it is what it is." Many principals have actually accepted as fact that their agency never will be, and never can be, world class.

Believe!

If you are one of those people who don't think their agency can be great, I beg you to consider the following:

Imagine the conversation that existed between the first two people who discussed the possibility of capturing and training killer whales: "Hey Mike, see that black and white whale with the huge teeth? I say we catch a few of them, drag them back to California, breed them in captivity, and train them to jump through hoops. Come to think of it, I bet we can sell tickets for people to watch them and we can build a theme park around the whales."

Do you think the response was:

A: "Great idea! We can do anything, as long as we're willing to work hard and we actually believe."

Or was it B: "That will never work. We don't have a big enough net, we don't know what to feed them, and we could get killed trying to catch them."

If you answered A, you are on the right track, and anything will be possible for you and your agency, because you believe it can happen. Set goals within your agency, track them, measure them, and celebrate the victories with your team when they happen.

If you answered B, more than likely you will continue to stay on the same path that you are on right now and will not experience any large growth within your agency—or any growth for that matter.

The modern consumer has changed, and the customers no longer shop where they used to shop. The most successful agencies in the country are doing something radically different in this new economy.

This evolution of the customer needs to start a revolution within your agency—to adapt, grow, and learn how to engage and capture the modern consumer. Eight out of 10 people who search for their next policy begin that search online.

My question to you: Is 80% of your time, effort, and marketing dollars spent on capturing that customer? If not, what needs to change?

Getting stuck in the old ways of doing business, and in the way your fathers ran their businesses, guarantees a most certain slow death within your agency. My challenge to you is to take the high road. Adapt to the changing times; try out some new "best practices"; spend the time training your people, monitoring them, and measuring and tracking their results. You will be surprised at what you find, and maybe, just maybe, you and your team will emerge from this experience better and stronger than before.

The author

Tim Sawyer is president of Astonish Results, a digital marketing firm based in Rhode Island. He has trained hundreds of insurance professionals in every aspect of the business with a focus on leadership, digital marketing, and best sales practices.