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... x No Thanks Loading.. Mentoring For Agency Growth 4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor , Mona Carpenter This content has not been rated yet. According to Webster's, a mentor is a loyal advisor entrusted with the care and education of a student .. a wise and trusted counselor. In my experience, a mentor without these qualities can't successfully lead a rookie. Whether an agency's mentoring program succeeds and produces financial rewards depends on how it's structured and managed. I'll address methods for setting up a successful mentoring program for agency growth, including: Mentor-rookie matching Training schedule Compensation options Program monitoring and management MENTOR-ROOKIE MATCHING It's key to put together two people who are compatible. Most mentor relationships last 18 to 24 months. If mentor and rookie don't work effectively together or don't like each other, the relationship most likely will fail. An important tool in forming this team to give both participants a personality test. The test should cover communication styles, preferred working styles, motivational needs, and work ethic. The test I like is called Personalysis. The Mentor Let's examine the qualities of a successful mentor. I recommend setting a minimum book size to qualify a producer to become a mentor. The mentor should be one of the top producers in the agency, not whoever has free time to work with a new salesperson. Only the best should be teaching! A mentor must make a long-term commitment, usually two or more years, to working with the rookie. This individual should have a real vested interest, not just in his or her personal financial gains, but in the agency's ...

...le 'deal'. Think back to your mentors. Think how you treasure the gifts of...

...s to do that. Set up coaches and mentors to help people learn and grow. A men...

... Seitlin, ' comments Stephen Jackman, president of the Seitlin Agency (Miami and Fort Lauderdale) . Our people are our strength, and we look for the most talented individuals. said Jackman. Rather than hiring retreads, we go outside the industry and then train them in P/C insurance. Seitlin is on its third generation of hiring P/C producers from outside the industry. The agency has hired five producers with banking and accounting backgrounds who are achieving exceptional results. Says Jackman, We look inside and outside the industry for high energy, creative individuals who can solve problems and thrive in an entrepreneurial environment. KEYS TO PRODUCER DEVELOPMENT All three presidents agree that before recruiting and developing producers from outside the industry, an agency must provide the new salespeople with exceptional levels of support, training, and mentoring. Kirk points out, we have above average service and support staff in account executive and customer service representative positions who work closely with the new producer to train them in our business. We've also developed a training program that's structured to meet the individual's needs and we assign each new producer a mentor. One of the unique aspects of our mentoring program, ' comments Jackman, is that we reward the mentor for their efforts and results by paying them 10% of new business revenue produced during this three-year period. During the last five years, Seitlin has enjoyed annual growth of 16%, and grew 26% during the last year. Stephen commented, We establish high goals and hire producers with the expectation that the individual will produce four times their draw in new revenues during the three-year validation period. ...

...tlin's program is that it rewards mentors by paying them 10% of new business ...

... prospect call to get a quote from most often? The CSR. Who's in the best position to sell peripheral coverages to existing clients? The CSR. Who is the least trained salesperson on staff? The CSR. So who's missing great account development opportunities by getting CSRs to sell? You, the agency owner! We pack our producers off to mega-sales seminars for days or weeks at a time. They learn the fine art of needs selling, spin selling, pain selling, opening statements, probing, overcoming obstacles, and surefire closing techniques. We also hold producers accountable for appointment setting, X-dates, quote ratios, hit ratios, and profitability. Good producers observe a situation or hear an objection and immediately select the proper technique from the bag of skills that they learned from seminars, mentoring personal sales experience, and by monitoring results. Why not teach CSRs the same skills? THE THREE T's We become impatient when we see obvious opportunities turn into lost business because the right sales technique was not used. It's time to step back and look at the CSR in a new light — as a professional who can balance technical expertise with organizational skills while servicing the customer's needs. Your CSRs are resolving dozens of serious customer issues every day. As an agency owner or producer, you might not see this because most CSRs consider it part of their day's work. CSRs who do a super job placating a customer with a claim or accounting problem might well have the potential to sell. You just have to give them the three T's: Training, tools, and time. What ...

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... x No Thanks Loading.. You Want To Be A Coach?5/22/2015 by Randy Schwantz This content has not been rated yet. Whether you're dealing with producers or athletes, helping players develop will win the game. In this cynical age, it's hard not to be suspicious of the establishment. When something goes wrong, it's easy to blame the government, your parents, or society — but a bit harder to find the flaws in yourself. The same is true for producers of all types. Whether young or old, polished or rough, successful or struggling, few people really take responsibility for their own development. That's why they need coaches. Coaching/Mentoring The purpose of a coach/mentor is to help producers take responsibility for their own development. There's a proverb: "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime." This philosophy holds true for coaching and mentoring. As a manager or principal, your goal is to help your producers learn methods to solve their own problems, take ownership of the solution, and stop waiting for the establishment (read: the agency) to fix it for them. This approach reduces producers' dependence on the sales manager and enables them to be much more proactive in achieving positive results. If your producers are in the middle of some activity, have a problem, and need an objective third party to help them think through their options, a good coaching session might last only two to five minutes. In another situation ...

... 4/30/2013 12:00:00 AM ATTRACTING AND RETAINING EMPLOYEES IN A COMPETITIVE WORLD by Sharon Cunningham To hire, and keep, quality workers, follow these guidelines. A consistent trend nationwide is the .. All Articles by CompleteMarkets Editor Comments (0 ) Maintaining Established Relationships With Carriers This content has not been rated yet. CompleteMarkets Editor 4/30/2013 12:00:00 AM This is not the time to be passive about company relationships. If you want to stay in business, you must develop and maintain strong company contacts. As you continue to court new markets, also devote time to enhance relations with your current carriers. Remember, decisive interaction with company personnel is a powerful tool in agency-company relations. All Articles by CompleteMarkets Editor Comments (0 ) Mentoring For Agency Growth This content has not been rated yet. CompleteMarkets Editor , Mona Carpenter 4/30/2013 12:00:00 AM MENTORING FOR AGENCY GROWTH by Mona Carpenter According to Webster's, a mentor is a loyal advisor entrusted with the care and education of a student .. a wise and trusted counselor. I.. All Articles by CompleteMarkets Editor Comments (0 ) Motivation: Getting Off The Treadmill This content has not been rated yet. Al Diamond , CompleteMarkets Editor 4/30/2013 12:00:00 AM MOTIVATION: GETTING OFF THE TREADMILL by Al Diamond Three agencies we visited had problems so similar that we decided to see just how many agents have the same experience, and the sa.. All Articles by Al Diamond Comments (0 ) Producer Management: By ...

... must be a capable and enthusiastic support staff to help the producer with the marketing and sales effort. Good technical back-up is particularly important if the salesperson has no  insurance sales experience. Service personnel who are already dealing with a backlog can't respond appropriately to the heavy flow of new business, and the producer will quickly become discouraged. The back office systems and procedures must be running smoothly before you bring a new producer into the mix. The second absolutely crucial ingredient is to make a conscious shift in emphasis from a service to a sales organization. All the principals and producers must renew their commitment to the sales process. This might mean that they'll have to participate in the sales center lead-generation program, writing some additional new business themselves. Or they'll have to volunteer to be a mentor for the new people, spending a substantial amount of time directing opportunities and assisting with the onsite sales activities of the fledgling salespeople. The entire agency compensation structure might need to be redesigned to reward all who help revitalize the sales effort. Most important, many if not all of the principals and employees might have to adjust their attitudes. You can't expect a new employee to concentrate on sales when the prevailing atmosphere is clearly directed toward maintaining a comfortable lifestyle for the incumbents. Everyone and everything in the agency must convey the importance of a high level of sales consciousness. Inactivity breeds more inactivity. The third step to take before hiring a new producer is to develop a program to hire the right kind of people for your agency. There are 30,000 independent agencies in the nation ...