RECRUIT THE RIGHT PRODUCERS
At seminars and conventions, business spokespersons stress the need for high-caliber personnel and lament the difficulty of finding them. It could be said that recruiting the right people is one of the main components for survival of the Independent Agency System.
Direct writers seem to be more successful than agencies when recruiting producers. Direct writers:
- will often pre-contract the future employee, and require the candidate to develop up to 2,000 x-dates for future use before being hired.
- often test or profile prospective workers, send them to training school for six weeks the first year in the field, and teach them right from the beginning to sell multiple lines.
Trouble begins when agencies are in such a hurry to get young, enthusiastic new hires licensed and on the street trying to hustle that more often than not they fail. The failure isn't for a lack of trying on the new employee's part; it's because the proper time and research isn't taken during the hiring process. The time isn't taken to:
- hire properly. This includes pre-contract work, testing, and field testing.
- incorporate joint field work in which the sales manager takes the new hire into the field to make introductions and show him/her the ropes. Leading by example is a value many don't subscribe to.
- share the responsibility of product and sales training between agency and company.
- fund through new producer loans and subsidies money that can be used to pay for all of this.
Development of employees starts with capable, conscientious, educated, young adults who have a propensity for excellence. In this month's lead article, insurance consultant Dick Womack tells how the future of the Independent Agency System's next generation depends on the steps seasoned insurance professionals take now.