Six Biggest Challenges Faced by Insurance Producers Part II

This is the second part of a topic that I started earlier this week.  If you want to catch up you can read the first part here:

Six Biggest Challenges Face by Insurance Producers Part I

Thanks again for reading the first part.  Feel free to leave comments or reach out to me at sthompson@insurance-csg.com.  So without much further ado – here is the second part!

4.  Agency Focus is Entirely on New Business

There are some organizations out there that so value new business that they severely neglect taking care of their existing customers or can make the expectations on salesperson overwhelming.  Some companies have very aggressive goals that can only be met with significant year over year new business goals.  While there is nothing wrong with lofty goals it becomes harder and harder to keep the new business up while managing the existing clients.  This can result in missed sales goals or lower retention.

Solution:  This is a pretty tricky situation as you will more than likely have to change the organizational culture or create, convince your boss to lower your sales goals, or just sell more.  In my opinion changing the organizational culture is just about impossible so that leaves us with the other two.  My best suggestion is to set up a time to meet with you boss to talk about what you need to increase you sales while increasing your retention.  When you do this make sure you bring in your own solutions.  I’m aware of one agency that feels that the best way to grow a book is to limit your number of clients.  How this works is that you decide on a fixed number of clients that you want and then when you are maxed out drop the smallest account on your book when you write a new piece of business.  The account doesn’t need to  leave the agency it just isn’t in your book anymore.  In theory this helps you focus on the most profitable accounts and forces you to continually go after larger business.

5.  Changes in Compensation Structure

Sometimes companies change how they pay you.  It can happen for a variety of reason including new ownership, change in management or a reaction to the market.  Regardless, this always seems to upset people in the industry.  Right or wrong, it is a situation that can impact your sales, income and attitude.

Solution:  In this situation there is rarely anything that you can do to change what happened.  My suggestion is to look at the changes and consider the following:

• Does the change really affect you? – People are emotionally predictable and change is something that historically people are averse to.  Sometimes we confuse bad and different.
• If it does affect you are their positive consequences to go with the negative?  I’ve found that in many cases a consequence is paired with an opportunity.  Can you find one?
• What will you need to do to restore any lost income? Sometimes knowing what you have to do is half the battle.

6.  Changes in the Culture

In order to be successful sales organizations need to remain pretty stable.  Insurance organizations and sales people tend to follow the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mantra.  That said changes do happen and sometimes it can radically affect the culture of an organization.  Some of these things can be changes in ownership, changes in management or just changes in philosophy. 

Solution:  This one is a lot like changes in compensation.  There is little you can do to stop it.  Instead you probably need to embrace that the change is coming and see how you can impact it.  Change your focus away from the good that is going away to the bad that is going away.  What can you improve as an amendment to the changes?  The other suggestion is to talk to the management about the changes.  Don’t go in with complaints.  Focus the conversation on the reasons behind the change.  While it might not change how you feel immediately, understanding someone’s position can make you more open minded.

There you go!  My first article is in the books.  Please let me know what you think and feel free to add to the conversation in the comments section.  While my job is to help people make changes in their career I truly believe that someone’s first option is to try and repair their current situation.  If you try and it doesn’t work you will only be more confident about your next move.  So if these are problems you are experiencing see if any of my suggestions help you out.  If they don’t, I do know a good recruiter you can call.