Producer Support

[RiskMan01]

Does anyone know if there is such a thing as "Best Practices" for producers? Our agncy is looking for ways to grow the top line, however our producers state that they are bogged down with the support processes and procedures. They also state that the CSRs or Account Managers should be able to take on some of the lower paying activities. I am sure many agencies struggle with this? Where does the producers role stop and where does the CSR/Account Manager begin? Also, do any of you out there have a dedicated marketing person for new and renewal business.

Thank you...

[pita3333]

Ahhh the age old stuggle!

This is a tough one ... as the producer feels that he/she does too much that is not "income" driven. While the Account Manager feels they do too much that the producer should do!

Solution is difficult...but starts at everyone realizing their role in the relationship.

If the producer is in "new production" move versus "renewal" mode there are different focus. First the easier one:

Renewal Mode: Producer has a well developed (cross sold) book and is really only maintaining the accounts while taking advantage of the occassional new opportunity. This producer should be able and willing to pick up some of the slack from the AM. Examples: Chasing missing info, chasing new locations etc. The need to view these activities as relationship builders and not meaningless activities. How often have we heard that the client seldom hears/sees the actual producer and mostly deals with their account manager? Usually it is only at renewal time that the producer is willingly involved.

If in New Production mode, then the producer really needs to be spending as much time developing leads and relationships that will lead to closing sales. Their activities should be focused on this goal. This is not to say they can turn in incomplete info to the account manager, but that they should be trained to take best advantage of their time with clients/prospects. IE: Have appliation and supplements open in front of them while visiting clients/prospects so that they do not miss any necessary info. Asking open ended questions of their clients/prospects (Tell me about your building/operation. Rather than "How long have you been in business?" "how old is the building?" etc) and then listening to the answers to figure out futher questions.

The end goal is for the entire team (producer, AM, AAM etc) to be successful. If any one of them is not...then the whole team is not. There should not be a "Producer vrs AM or AM vrs Producer" battle...cause again no one wins in that situation. Use of personality profiling to match team members should be used in combination with matching skills.

I won't even get into the income sharing and relationship buiding needed between the team members...but those are equally important issues to discuss.

[pita3333]

Ishould add...that the producer should be cautious to be courteous to the team that supports them. Be reasonable in setting deadlines (meaning be sure to schedule enough time to avoid creating a rush), be reasonable in how you give them info (be complete as possible).

Every once in a while take your team to lunch...get small gift on important occasions (wedding anniversaries, birthdays, date they joined the company or your team), if you see them having a rough day..provide some sort of relief (lunch? even just a nice comment will often help-just be sincere). If they are a parent with younger kids, move gift cards are great - "here is a little something, take the kids to see the new Disney Movie this weekend". When you go away to a conference or marketing event, bring back something for them. Does not have to be extravagant, just a lil something to show them you appreciate them.

Be sure to mention their efforts to clients and agency management/owners.

You would be amazed how much good will these types of things will do...again you just have to be sincere.

You just have to remember that they are the foundation that supports you. You can be a great sales closer, but if you do not have the equally great service behind that sales...you are not a success.

I remember having just this type of a producer before. He was loved and appreciated by everyone in the agency...and he was successful!

[gregcw]

One point that I think is critical is that they should opperate together, as a TEAM. If the producers takes some servicing information like address changes they should forward that on immediately to the CSR/Account Manager for processing. Any more, much greater time spent is in processing the transaction than in collecting the information.

They should also keep an ear open for hints leading to additional information or discuss other aspects of the account i.e W/C or Business Auto if the inquiry is on G/L. Ask for other lines of business i.e. Personal Lines or Life & Health and follow up on them or refer them to a Personal Lines Producer or Life & Health Producer if that is the agencies format.

If the agency has a procedure of following up on this type of service, the follow-up should be done by the CSR over their signature. This will encourage the insured to contact the CSR for this type of transaction and still keep the producer in contact with the insured at times other than renewal.

While the Producer may be income driver RENEWAL income is also INCOME. Also, as pita3333 said, showing appreciation to the CSR is a worthwhile activity.

[tflood]

Step #1 is to seperate sales and service.
Producers unique abilities are not in support processes and procedures. They are rain makers who want to be "in the game" not the water boys. Producers are also normally "quick starts" and support and procedures folks are normally fact finders and follow thrus. Having a quick start producer "do" follow thru "stuff" will only create internal tension to the producer.
I suggest you start with finding out who and what you have on your team. Do you have quick starts, implementors, follow-thru's or fact finders and who is working with who. If you have a bunch of quick starts, you'll have tons of ideas, but nothing will get done. Then build a unique ability team to support the producers profile as well as the other team members.
You may find out you'll need to bench some on your team. Good luck,
Contact Kolbe, and run kolbe profile on your team members. You need to know what you have before you make changes. www.kolbe.com

[Rainmaker]

Such a great question and such great comments! You are not alone - this is the 'eternal' problem faced by many, so first I would like to congratulate you for asking the question.

There are many factors to consider:

1) what is your marketspace? small market? mid-market? large market?
2) what is the composition of your producers? have they hit 'threshold'? what is the mix of developmentals vs journeymen vs veterans?
3) are you doing this to overcome stasis points in book sizes or are you doing this to move up-market?
4) remember that when you make a major organization transformation (such as this) that you MAY lose up to 30% of your people! (and if that involves producers you'll lose 30%-70% of the revs for the books those departing producers held + morale issues + + +!
5) consider forming up a 'pursuit team' that is voluntary and will embrace a new workflow/servicing/new business re-structuring - thus avoiding any 'departures' that will result in topline loss
6) is this a producer (who sells and is the technical expert) + clerk model? is this the 'stewardship model' where the producer 'hunts' for business and then becomes essentially a project manager for a back end team led by a technically proficient AE who in turn is back up on day to day servicing issues by 'clerks' or better yet, SAM's or AM's or AAM's? Or is this the transition you are thinking about?
7) Okay I really don't know enough about you, your agency, your people, what you are doing now or trying to accomplish so all I can really say is that OVERALL, you may need to look to constructing a 'critical path' of how an account is serviced, define roles, build supporting tool kits, and either train up your AM's to AE's or hire an AE so that your producers are confident that their account is being handled at the tactical level commensurate with that which they could do themselves. Without that confidence, they will always 'grip onto' their accounts at the day to day level like 'white on rice' and never get out to the field as they should.

This one is tricky. Be CAREFUL. I have done this several times in my career and can share some observations/what to avoid/what to consider items with you if you wish to discuss.

Good luck.

Look before you leap.

The leap is worth it.....trust me.

- David

destrada@rainmakeradvisory.com
www.rainmakeradvisory.com

[FFA]

When the producer generates enough revenue to pay support staff is when you have the producer hire his/her own support. The producer lays out the guidlines as to expectations for the $$ your going to pay which is of course tied to the revenue they bring in.

[InsEthics]

The IIABA publishes Best Practices information where you can find information on agency size, staff models, revenue oer employee, productivity, etc. Look on iiaba.net if you have not already. There is likely a fee for that publication...not sure about that.