Why Insurance Producers Fail…

Because my firm specializes in insurance brokerage recruiting in the Mid-Atlantic region, I get a lot of calls from insurance brokerage hiring authorities asking me, “Why are my insurance producers failing?”

The answers may surprise you…

I have fielded this question so many times this year that I now feel obliged to pass along my findings to my hiring authority colleagues and others. It is interesting just how similar the executive search business is to the insurance brokerage business.

It turns out that many of the same reasons why insurance sales producers are not producing new business are nearly the same reasons why my own recruiters are sometimes not successful.

I will address the primary two reasons below:

It’s a Numbers Game: It’s amazing just how many sales managers have not figured out the activity metrics of their own sales organization. For sure, each organization is going to be a little different, but across my client base, it’s pretty much the same process:

• Segment your market and identify/develop your industry niche,
• Get a list of those companies (Zoom Info is a great source) and identify the decision-maker,
• Make the calls, send emails, publish newsletters, and use social media,
• Tap into your network and COIs,
• Establish a virtual connection and make and introductory presentation,
• Schedule a separate sales presentation meeting,
• Close the deal

Fine tune your activity metrics and benchmarks every six months.

A typical insurance sales metric: 1) 100 targeted calls/emails = 25 virtual/personal presentations = 12 sales meetings/pitches = three deals using a 4:1 closing ratio. Repeat the same process 3 – 5 times over the next 90 days.

Obviously, these metrics change based on the size and nature of the clients being pursued.

So why doesn’t every sales producer do this?

Because many times there are no communicated benchmarks and/or metrics to measure activity against. There is no real accountability.

Ultimately, there is no ownership in the process and results.

If benchmarks and metrics are not measured on a regular basis and enforced, they do not exist. It’s just human nature.

Every sales organization has to determine their own metrics and benchmarks.

Once this is done and effectively communicated to the producers AND measured each week or month in a group setting, your sales producers will either perform or realize they need help.

Post it on your online platform, so everyone can see how their prospecting activity and closing ratios fared against their peers. Believe me, nobody wants to be last.

For new hires, within 90 days you will know the posers from the producers.

Keeping unproductive producers around too long is one of the costliest mistakes you will ever make.

It’s amazing how similar our sales models really are because I sit down with my recruiters at the beginning of each quarter and remind them of how many outgoing calls they will have to make to prospective candidates to make $xxxx for the year.

After twenty years of doing this myself, I know the numbers.

And at the end of the year, we tally up the activity data from our CRM platform and, sure enough, the sales commissions they generate from placements is within a margin of error of +/- 5%. Amazing.

As such, they look forward to doing their prospecting every day – because they know the metrics. They know how much they will make based on how much effort they put in.

Simple stuff, but highly motivating.

Do you know your metrics?

If you don’t have the metrics for a particular commercial lines or employee benefits segment, just call me and I will give them to you.

I have the averages.

Ability to Connect: Throughout the years, my best entry level placements have been young teachers and journalists/reporters. Why is this so? Because they can CONNECT with people.

They have advanced active listening skills. Listening and clarifying is in their DNA.

I was just telling someone this morning over breakfast about a well-known insurance brokerage client that invited me down to their headquarters office for some consultations on compensation structure.

Afterwards, I was invited to their company function where some of their insurance top insurance producers were present. I was asked to interact with some of them and guess who the #1 nationwide producer was.

I was astonished to find out that the #1 producer was a non-descript individual sitting off in the corner of the crowded bar area at a table having a quiet one-on-one conversation with someone.

I introduced myself and ended up having a 30-minute conversation with him about a wide range of topics from family to sports to books to music to travel.

This slightly pudgy and horn-rimmed individual could really connect. And he listened to what I had to say.

By the time I left the table I really felt like I had made a new friend. He could CONNECT.

His first job out of college…a high school history teacher.

Tough to measure on a personality profile or in a resume. But when you feel it, you know it.

Look for it in your next candidate. Funny thing was that I asked him about his activity metrics and he knew his closing ratio to the decimal point.

Are your producers talking or are they connecting?

Your thoughts and feedback are important to us and greatly appreciated!