It’s tough to motivate employees to consistently create the kinds of positive customer experiences that lead to customer loyalty. It’s like customer care; you can’t “mandate” motivation any more than you can “mandate” that frontline employees feel genuine care for your customers. And the challenge can never be fully resolved if managers don’t learn more…
Unjust rewards are the #1 issue of contention in the partnership disputes I’ve witnessed. In most situations, at least one partner believes his efforts are not being duly recognized (financially or otherwise) and/or the other partner is being grossly overcompensated for sub-par results. Either way, the build-up of resentment and frustration can crumble an agency.
Customer acquisition and retention, and high direct mail costs are pressing issues that independent insurance agents and brokers face today. In addition, new and existing players in the virtual and traditional worlds are continuing to intensify competition. However, by applying best practices and an integrated, end-to-end approach to mailstream management, you can help gain a…
Creating an environment where both customers and employees want to pledge their loyalty is a function of good planning as much as good intention. As companies compete for qualified personnel (like they compete for customers) we all need to get better at developing and keeping talented staff. Losing talented employees costs you money and often…
September 11. Some suffered direct hits, others catastrophic claims, still others market disruptions. While you may be fortunate enough to never be stricken with such massive “destruction and distress,” what other events might cause your agency “grave misfortune”: I/T failure? Burglary or vandalism? Professional liability? Fire? Loss of market? Do you have a plan? We…
I have seen a full range of hiring philosophies in insurance agencies. Some agency owners place great emphasis in various personality tests, especially when hiring producers. At the other end of the spectrum, I have seen agency owners that believe anyone can do the job if they just work hard enough. Hard work alone though,…
The great compromise involves working smarter rather than harder. Of course, twelve hours of working smarter is always going to pay more than ten hours of working smarter but many people that worked twelve hours per day did, and do, because they are not working smart. By working smarter, a lot of agents can generate…
NASCAR has experienced incredible growth these last five to ten years. The rapid growth of this sport though has many teams struggling, especially at the management level. Believe or not, this presents a very real parallel to insurance agency management in a growing agency.
Working with a group recently, I asked, “Tell me the qualities of the best bosses you’ve ever had.” Since we were all seasoned enough to have experienced a few bosses in our careers, the ideas began to flow. Then I asked a flipside question, “What are the some of the things you really dislike in…
So much about insurance agency management success has nothing to do with strategy. Success is more about execution than strategy. Success is about hard work. Success is about accountability at all levels. Success is about standing up and accounting for something. Are you asking what else can be done to attain success or are you…
