Why Procedures?

Did you ever wish you had a good written backup when a niche employee left? Several years ago one agency's entire staff quit. Agency principals tried to keep the business running, but no one knew how to do their employees' jobs. Each employee had a different title and was responsible for their own niche. At another agency three out of four employees in the Personal Lines department left at once. Again, there were no procedures in place to save the day.

If you merged with another agency, could the transition have been smoother? Recently I worked with two agencies that merged. Both had about 10 employees with 10 different ways of doing things. And they weren't used to working with one another. Tensions were a bit high!

Did you ever wish you were better prepared for the growth? Almost all agencies go through a growth period. One agency I spoke with plans to hire at least three more employees during the year but has no written procedures to prepare for their new challenges.

If you are now a bank agency, does bank management understand what you do? More and more banks are buying agencies and inheriting their experienced staffs. But bank officers and managers often have no idea how to run the operation. One bank asked its agency manager to put together a manual to explain basic insurance concepts.

Has your agency gone through a period of operating with two or three different systems in place? One agency had three principals with three management systems. Employees didn't know which one to use. The word 'consistency' didn't exist!

Prepare for the unexpected now and make your life a lot easier! Procedures are the foundation of every agency. Give your agency a strong foundation by doing the following:

• Secure a written backup for the niche employee
• Establish procedures to improve morale during a merger
• Save time on training
• Prepare for growth