Growing Your Company With Good Agents Ron Von Haden, CIC Executive Vice President Professional Insurance Agents of Wisconsin, Inc.
Do your homework ‣Understand your marketing territory. ‣Define the lines of business you want to grow. ‣Reasonable growth expectations. ‣Are we staffed to grow? ‣Are we committed to grow? ‣Independent agents/exclusive agents. ‣What type agent are we looking for? ‣Growth will not come without investment. ‣(time, energy, money).
‣Assemble your talking points in advance. ‣Is your agency contract an antique? ‣Look at the agency website. ‣Know who your competition would be. ‣What do we have to offer? ‣Is our commission schedule competitive? ‣Is our rate structure competitive? ‣What is our underwriting appetite? ‣Who will do company training? ‣Will the agency own the business (critical)?
Advantages/Disadvantages. Do we have exclusive agents now? Where do we find them? Will exclusive agents be classified as employees by the IRS? Who will train them for licensing? Who will do product training? Will they adjust claims? Who will “tutor” and monitor them? How do we pay them? Salary plus commission? Background checks/contracts/references?
Technical skills can easily be taught but sales skills are harder to teach. Need to know the competition, not just your company. Never teach sales based on price only! Classroom sales training or on-line? Look to associations for training. Use “mentors” to help new agents progress. Training never stops. Have reasonable sales expectations. Sales is a “roller coaster” profession.
Laws of “Agency” ‣A person (the agent) that is authorized to act on behalf of another (the principal) to create legal relations with a third party (the customer). Insurance policies are a legal contract. Binding authority. Ownership provisions. Sub-Agents. Merger/sale provisions. Non-compete provisions. Termination provisions. Agent expense responsibilities defined. Accepting premiums for the company. Paying premiums to the company. Commission schedule outside of agency contract. Profit sharing/contingent commission outside of agency contract. Agency or direct billing.
Communicate…Communicate…Communicate. Agency or company visits—make them effective and professional. Use of downloads to agency management systems. 24 hour claims contact. Annual agency review (more frequently for new agencies). Know your data (loss ratio/policy count/hit ratio/retention percentage/volume changes). Agents must know where the company is going if you expect them to help you get there. Review The Past Project The Future Build A Partnership