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... Newsletters Employees Articles Blog Photos Group Connections Reviews IMMS Library Immerse yourself in our stacks. Take some time and browse through our library. We have thousands of articles, checklists, tip sheets, sales letters, and more! Communications Marketing Customer Service Planning Finance/Accounting Risk Management Human Resources Selling Legal and E&O Technology Life/Financial Services Glossaries Management Resources & Links Categories Popular Recent All Back Staffing & Productivity: How Do You Measure Up?4/30/2013 10:43:12 PM by CompleteMarkets Editor , Judith Newman This content has not been rated yet. STAFFING & PRODUCTIVITY: HOW DO YOU MEASURE UP? by Judith Newman Is your agency overstaffed – or understaffed? How would you describe your agency's performance: High, average, or low? Are you ... , you must generate a high level of productivity. Next, you must ensure that productivity remains high. In other words, you must see to it that people do their jobs with the skills and commitment needed to produce the best possible results with the lowest feasible outlay of money, time, and other resources. Here are the statistics for Personal Lines departments in three agencies with whom we have consulted. Note the similarities and differences. Performance Agency Description High Average Low Annual Commission Income $600,000 $600,000 $600,000 Number of Service Employees 5 7 8 Number of Hours in Work Day 7.5 7.5 7.5 Transactions Per Emp./Year 3,000 2,143 1,875 Number of Accounts in Dept. 3,659 5,042 6,742 ...

...n seem hard. In our 20 years of consulting in the insurance industry, we’ve se...

Staffing & Productivity: How Do You Measure Up?
STAFFING & PRODUCTIVITY: HOW DO YOU MEASURE ...wman is the president of Phaze II Consulting, Inc. (Ft. Myers, FL), a management consulting firm for the insurance industry....

...res issues, company information, staffing changes, work in progress, and it re...available for in-house training or consulting. For contact information on facu...

... With the amount and speed of change occurring and the significant pressure on profit margins, the financial manager is having to do much more than ever in the past. In the past, financial managers tracked the agency's overall performance. Today, operating performance is needed on every profit center, department, book of business, and producer. Decisions are made every day on marketing strategies, producer compensation, staffing, and so on. Consequently, detailed and accurate information is required on every aspect of the operation. With the pressure on profit margins, an agency must effectively manage revenues and expenses. As a result, the financial manager is not just tracking receivables, investment income, and expenses, but is also finding ways to negotiate better agreements with carriers, financial institutions, and other providers. ... these questions, many of your Best Practices competitors can. If your responses are no' or I'm not sure, ' maybe you need an audit of the financial management function of your agency, some additional training for your financial manager, or the services of an outside CFO to complement their efforts. Angela Bemiss is a senior vice president and principal of Reagan & Associates, an independent Atlanta-based management consulting firm working with insurance agents, brokers, and companies. Before joining Reagan & Associates, she served as chief financial officer for two of the most successful regional brokerage firms in the country. Reagan & Associates developed and annually produces the Best Practices Study' in conjunction with the Independent Insurance Agents of America. They also provide a wide range of services, including financial management audits and outside CFO ...

... development of working relationships to ensure productivity and security among the founders and partners. &# 160 3. MARKETING PLAN. Reaching your markets is critical. Your plan could be (1 ) distributed through a national restaurant association, (2 ) endorsed by the association as we approach clients accessed by the association's mailing list, (3 ) based on a systematic marketing campaign, and (4 ) staffed (internal and production) by people who are experienced in the restaurant business. &# 160 4. CARRIER CONTRACT AGREEMENT. Focus on finding carriers that demonstrate commitment, financial integrity, market stability, communication skills, and coverage flexibility. &# 160 5. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE. With operational and automation plans in mind, consider determining the organizational structure of the agency. &# 160 6 ... value? &# 160 3. MARKETING PLAN. An agency marketing plan should be revisited, tweaked, or seriously revised at least every six months. Continued monitoring is often planned but seldom carried out. If that's your agency's case, is your sales program less successful than it could be? &# 160 4. CARRIER CONTROL AND AGREEMENT. These agreements should be reviewed at each renewal. Consultants and national agents' associations will be happy to review them for you to be sure the deal is fair and in line with other carriers' contracts. Do the contracts reflect, for example, hold harmless provisions that relate intelligently to new ways of doing business-for example, interactive interface and download? &# 160 5. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE. Is your agency's organization current with technology? For example ...

...the $500,000 revenue level, when staffing beyond family members occurs. The tr...ten don't get what you pay for when staffing service positions. Sometimes the ...

...ts? It’s also likely that agency staffing patterns will change. Staff changes ...

...fied and acquired.   10. STAFFING. Factors important would include: (1...accommodate carriers?   10. STAFFING. As your agency evolves into a ma...

... ago is more like 15% to 25% today. The main reason why most agencies are less profitable today is that premiums have decreased, together with the associated commissions earned. At the same time, the costs of running an agency have gone up. HIRING Don't hire new people until you must. We often see agencies overstaffing. Sometimes, this is deliberate; the owners are staffing for growth or have found a great employee that they don't want to pass up. Other times the overstaffing is something that the owners aren't not aware of. It's essential to review industry standards for performance. The benchmark should be the amount of commissions and accounts handled by firms that write similar sized accounts. Analyze the workload by desk as well, not just overall volumes for the department. ... association. CONCLUSION Because growth is difficult today and profit margins are much lower, owners and managers need to be more astute in finding ways to improve the bottom line. Work smarter, not harder by concentrating on the guidelines in this article — and you'll enjoy lower costs and higher profits. Bill Schoeffler, CIC, and Catherine Oak, CIC, CRM, AAI are partners in the consulting firm, Oak & Associates, based in Northern California. The firm specializes in financial and management consulting for independent insurance agencies, including valuations, mergers acquisitions, clusters, sales and marketing planning as well as perpetuation planning. They can be reached at (707) 936-6565 or by e-mail at [email protected] . Login or Register (for FREE) to gain access to thousands ...