Tools & Strategies for Business Excellence

Are You Living Up to Your 

Full Sales Potential?

Ineffective management has undoubtedly wasted more time, effort and money in the independent agency system than anything else.  Agency after agency has suffered through the agonizing experience of recruiting one individual after another who looked good, tested well, and appeared to "have what it takes" to be a great producer, only to find out that for some reason or other they just didn't work out.

Even if you have hired the right producer and provided a solid training program to follow, and you have developed a producer compensation program designed to motivate and retain the successful producers, your efforts may be in vain unless the sales process is managed.

Who is your Sales Manager?

In the old days, it was “Here’s your desk; here’s a phone book; now go out and sell.” That didn’t work then, and it won’t work now.  Effective sales management is needed to successfully recruit, hire, train, motivate, manage, monitor, direct, assist and support producers--all the ingredients needed to become a dynamic sales and business development organization.

In most agencies, sales management is not a full-time job.  The function is often performed by an agency owner or by a successful producer.  Unfortunately, top producers often make poor sales managers because they lack patience and the coaching skills necessary.  And agency owners, along with personal production, often have business management priorities that leave little time for supervising and coaching new producers. 

Whether full time or part time, someone should be dedicated to and accountable for managing the sales process, including managing non-owner producers.  Make sure you have the right person in the agency as your Sales Manager. 

Sales Management Perspective

Sales management includes the typical managerial functions of organizing, planning, leading and monitoring.  As importantly, sales management is directing the agency’s marketing strategy. 

Organizationally, the sales manager is responsible for the performance of the sales personnel.  When sales managers think of themselves only as managers of sales and not as managers of salespeople, they fail to understand their role as sales managers. In order to direct the sales function, the agency sales manager must define what is expected.  Especially for the new producer, clearly defined goals and directions are critical.  Without these there can be no measurement of the producer's success.  Keeping track of producer activities provides control for the sales manager and motivation for the new producer. A good way to ensure that every producer is making his or her contribution to the overall well being of the agency is to think of producers as profit centers.  

 Sales Planning

A big part of the sales manager’s job is helping the producer set personal goals and the action plans to achieve them.  Personal production plans should be simple.  If the plan is too complicated, it will not be used. The plan must also track with the agreed upon job description and validation schedule.  It must also support the overall agency goals and objectives.  The successful sales manager will guide the producer toward the types of businesses and customers the agency is targeting and ensure that there is a persistent, consistent approach to developing and retaining business.

 Frequently,  the agency sales plan is a top down process.  “Here is the agency's sales goal.  Your share is this.”  Unfortunately, agencies who follow this approach to sales planning seldom meet their goals.  Ideally, the sales planning process should be a bottom up affair, with use individual producer plans as the building blocks for the agency’s tactical sales plan.  This will help ensure the agency's goals are the producer's goals.   

The planning process needs to be  based on a sound understanding of of the existing book of business and current marketplace and trends.  It should  include a critical look at the strengths and weaknesses of the producer, the agency, and the competition. As importantly, there should be a clear understanding of what needs to be done to reach the goals.  We've included tools to help you execute producer based sales planning as well as  goal development worksheets.    

Sales isn’t a department–it’s an attitude!  

The most profitable and successful agencies are highly focused on new business sales. In the face of increasing competition, alternative distribution systems and new legislation, the agency must have a genuine sales focus built into its culture.  Business development should be part of every individual’s job description.  This is the ultimate in sales planning and sales management.

 Transformation Advisors, Inc. can help you build an effective, sales-focused organization.  Contact us for more information.