Agents First! - March 2015 by FYI Express

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“What You Don’t Know Can’t Help You!” … Eddie K. Emmett, Editor / Publisher

14 Baby Steps to Insurance Agency Greatness by John F. Carroll Baby steps.

In This Edition 14 BABY STEPS TO INSURANCE AGENCY GREATNESS ..................... 1 ST. PATRICK’S DAY CROSSWORD . 13 USING FACEBOOK'S ADS TO GENERATE LEADS ........................ 14 AN EXCELLENT STRATEGY: HIRE INCOMPETENT PRODUCERS .......... 16 THE

POWER OF INSURANCE PERIODICALS ................................ 22

If you’ve seen “What About Bob?” you know what I’m talking about. It might be just a movie, but I still think Dr. Leo Marvin was on to something. Baby steps are important for anyone trying to make a change, including insurance agents like you. I’ve seen a lot of agents attempt major improvements in their agency only to fall flat. You and your staff are creatures of habit and when new habits require too much change from current ones – it won’t last.

1) I Want To Do Annual Policy Reviews On Every Single Customer Every agent I know thinks annual policy reviews are great for their customers and business. I agree – It helps retention and cross-sales, boosts satisfaction, and helps you execute your role as a financial advisor. And I’m sure you’d love it if you could line up 5 in-person policy reviews every weekday. But if you’re not currently doing ANY policy reviews in your agency, you need to start small.

I give out a LOT of ideas to help agents be more successful, but I know a many agents fall short when they implement new procedures that are too ambitious from the get-go so I wanted give you some “baby steps” for some of the most common improvements I know agents want to make.

Baby Step: Perform one policy review per week over the phone.

Here are 14 “pie-in-the-sky” aspirations I hear from agents along with a recommended first step to get the ball rolling.

Make your conversations easy by writing down a list of 6- 9 questions to ask.

Yes, that’s right… start by just doing one a week and don’t even push for an in-person meeting. If you get it done on Monday then take a break until next week. Tips to make it easy:

Offer it as a “discount checkup” instead of a protection review because it sounds less “salesy” to the client. Continued on page 2

Agents First!

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March 2015

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And then tell your staff what’s going to happen for every single new referral your agency gets. This will force them to take referrals into greater consideration and they’ll be your accountability partner.

Baby Steps Continued from page 1 Call new customers on their 1 year anniversary so you can say, “it’s time for your annual policy review” and they won’t know this is a new thing for your agency.

Once you’ve done that, check out this article for more ideas to turn up the notch on your referral marketing.

3) I Want Customer Satisfaction To Be an 11 out of 10.

After a month, decide if it makes sense to bump up your frequency and/or change the process.

I know you’d love it if every one of your clients was happier than a pig in slop. Every client renewing policies over and over again, touting the virtues of your agency to everyone in town.

2) I Want Every Customer To Be a Walking Salesman For My Agency You’d love to have a booming referral marketing program that inspires thousands of your customers to hand out your cards everywhere they go.

Unfortunately a lot of agencies I know are somewhere between Comcast and Walmart on the customer satisfaction spectrum.

Everybody would love that. But you have to start somewhere.

Baby Step: Reduce the negative impact of your biggest customer service complaint this week.

Baby Step: Decide exactly what people will get when they refer your agency and exactly how you’ll get it to them. And then explain it all to your staff

I don’t care what you do or how you do it, but figure out some sort of process, workaround, talk path, or some other idea that reduces the negative effect of whatever your biggest customer service complaint is.

Let’s start by making it really easy. Here are a few ideas of what referring clients could get:

Even if the reduction is tiny. For example:

A phone call saying thanks

Customers don’t like to wait on hold? Get better hold music.

A gift card to a local store

Rates going up? Make a list of potential discounts / alternatives to ask every upset client about.

A handwritten thank you letter Some agency-branded giveaway like a water bottle or a t-shirt

Customers always lose their ID cards? Get some nice ID card holders and make it part of your process to educate each new client about the importance of storing their ID card in the glove box.

A staff photo signed by everyone in the agency. (that’s a joke, although it would probably be pretty cool) Agents First!

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Continued on page 4 March 2015

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It’s really hard to measure improvements in retention and that makes it frustrating if you don’t see results. So pay attention to the retention of just that segment and you should see measurable improvement.

Baby Steps Continued from page 2 I’m sure your biggest complaints are different, but you get the point – don’t try to eliminate the problem because you will fail, just make it suck a little bit less.

And read this article when you’re ready for more retention ideas to implement.

5) I Want to Build a Team of Master Salespeople

If you make a small improvement to your customer service issues like this every week in a year you’ll have a lot of improvement. Read this article for more ideas.

You want your agency staff to be Navy SEALS of insurance sales?

4) I want 100% Retention

Well… it ain’t going to happen overnight.

We all know the deal with the insurance business. If you can’t keep your current clients you won’t grow.

Baby Step: Role play sales conversations with each staff member for 20 minutes each week.

I talk with a lot of agents who will say stuff like, “What can I do to improve retention? I can’t stop everybody from shopping around and I won’t always have the best rate. I’m better off focusing elsewhere”

Even just practicing sales once a week will remind your staff that it’s an art and a science that can be refined and improved if you take the right approach.

Sound familiar?

Make it easy for them.

It’s true that you can’t stop everybody from shopping around, but you absolutely can control your renewal rate just like you control everything else.

The real value isn’t even in the lessons learned as much as it’s showing your staff member that sales ability is something you can improve if you work on it.

Baby Step: Identify the segment of customers most likely to leave and do something nice for them right before renewal

And here are some more tips about practicing sales with your staff.

6) I Want To Hire Full-Time Salespeople

Who is leaving your agency the most?

You’d like to have an agency where everyone specializes and your salespeople aren’t burdened by the mental toll and time it takes to service policies.

First year customers? Unmarried people?

Sounds great, but how can you do it without the budget for a new full-time salesperson?

Clients facing the biggest rate hikes? Figure out which type of customer is most likely to leave (look at your stats, not your intuition) and send them a card, an email, or pick up the phone and give them a call right before that renewal.

Agents First!

Baby Step: Turn your producers into full-time salespeople for two hour windows each day. Basically, give all your producers a window of time each day during which they are to FOCUS ON NOTHING BUT SALES. Page 4

Continued on page 6 March 2015

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More Information about Agents First! Membership at www.AgentsFirst.org

Baby Steps

8) I Want To Be a Social Media Marketing Wiz

Continued from page 4

It sure would be nice to have 1,000 Facebook fans who consistently comment on your posts and share them with friends.

Make sure everyone knows each other’s “sales time” and respects it by not interrupting with service questions or other distractions.

That’s not going to happen overnight.

It’s not effective to keep switching back between service and sales all day long. The more your producers can wear the two different hats at two different times the more effective they’ll be.

Baby Step: Follow 20 different local businesses and like, comment on, and share their posts. Before you start posting your own stuff on social media, follow some other local businesses and see what they’re saying. Develop some good Karma by “liking” their posts and pay attention to what works.

7) I Want to Be a Networking God You want to be the dude who walks into the Chamber of Commerce and people line up to shake your hand and introduce you to their connections.

Before long you’ll have a better idea of the kind of stuff people REALLY want to see on Facebook. And trust me; it’s NOT whatever your marketing person told you.

But instead, you haven’t gone to a networking event in 3 months and nobody at the local chamber knows your name.

9) I Want The Most Popular Insurance Blog on The Internet

Yes? Baby Step: Commit to one networking event per week. Even if you’re only there for 20 minutes.

You want an active agency blog with hundreds of regular readers making comments and sharing your articles with their friends and coming back for more.

When it comes to growing connections and trust with people, it’s all about frequency. Most of the business people who regularly attend networking events won’t really want to get to know you until they see you a lot and know you’re in it for the long haul.

That’s really not going to happen. Baby Step: Publish a blog post about another local business and then email the link to them. Wait… Aren’t I supposed to blog about insurance?

And forcing yourself out of the office once a week is a great start if you’ve been slacking off.

Not if you want anyone to read it. Continued on page 8

Agents First!

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March 2015

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You can try to take control of your time, but inevitably there will always be fires to put out and it’s easy to lose focus.

Baby Steps Continued from page 6

Baby Step: Spend the first 20 minutes of your day doing something proactive with no interruptions.

The bottom line is this: if nobody reads your blog, you’re not going to keep writing it. Start by writing something you KNOW will be read by at least a few people because it’s about them and let them promote it to their fans.

Forget about the emails, the phone calls, the obligations, and everything else that pulls you away from working on your business to working in it for 20 minutes. Tell your staff they need to wait.

10) I Want My Agency To Be The Awesomest Place Ever

You might find life goes on and you can stretch it even longer… to 25 minutes!

It’d be awesome if your agency had the fun-filled atmosphere of a carnival. Customers would love coming to pay their bills and your employees would be ecstatic to drive to work every morning.

12) I Want to Hold Inspiring Sales Meetings Every Week I think every agency should have a sales meeting once a week. A formal time to talk about product changes, sales techniques, new approaches, ideas, inspiration etc.

Unfortunately, you can’t snap your fingers and turn a morgue into a dance party. Baby Step: Pick one thing from this article and do it today.

But if you haven’t brought your team together for something like that since the Christmas party last year it’s hard to jump into a weekly sales meeting.

And then next week pick another one.

11) I Want to Be Organized With Every Minute of My Day

Baby Step: Once a month bring everyone together and ask everyone to share a sales tip.

Tired of putting out one fire after another? Wouldn’t it feel great to have a day at the agency where you could plan what you wanted to do and follow through? Agents First!

Continued on page 10

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March 2015

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Baby Steps Continued from page 8 Call it the “Monthly Tips Meeting” or something stupid like that so it has an air of formality. You’ll be surprised how much conversation will occur just from doing this and it’ll remind your staff members that they’re here to sell and they can always get better at it. Make sure you bring your own tip and be the first one to share it to set the right example. Read this if you need ideas

13) I Want to Cross-Sell Every Single Client Most agents agree that it’s easier to sell more insurance to someone who already buys from you than to a stranger. And every agent I know wants to cross-sell every client in the agency. Unfortunately, it’s a lot easier said than done!

Read this list of the most important ranking factors according to industry experts and try to understand everything it’s talking about before you seek information elsewhere or hire an SEO company.

Conclusion I hope you found a few baby steps in this article to take action on, but that’s not really why I wrote it. The more important takeaway is the simple concept of making positive and lasting change by taking the small manageable first steps. Aspirations are great because they provide direction, but if you don’t take that first step and have patience, you’ll never get anywhere. If you found an idea or two in this article, please click the Like button and/or share it with another agent you know who is having trouble making big changes in their agency.

Baby Step: Create an “Everything We Sell” sheet with a list of all the products you sell.

Hope this helps, John

Ask your producers to hang it on their desk and put a pile of them on the front desk for clients to see.

John F. Carroll is the founder and CEO of InsuranceSplash. For years, John has consulted insurance agencies with internet marketing and sales strategy and he is dedicated to making insurance marketing easy and effective for all insurance agents. If you're an agent, connect with John on LinkedIn, he wants to connect with you!

Ask your producers to show it to every client they meet with in person and especially new customers. And check out this article for more ideas on crossselling.

14) I Want to Rank #1 on Google for Every Insurance Term Yes it’s true that ranking high on Google is a pretty valuable thing for your business. If you ranked #1 you’d probably have all the leads you’d need.

http://www.insurancesplash.com/blog/baby-steps

But it’s not that easy. Not even close. And it’s not even a matter of just hiring the right company (unless you hire me) because if you don’t understand how Google works you’ll spend thousands of dollars on the wrong stuff.

www.AgentsFirst.org

Baby Step: Learn The Factors Google Uses to Rank Insurance Agencies. There’s a lot of misinformation about SEO and if you don’t have a good foundation of understanding you’re not going to have success. There is one source for local SEO information that is far more comprehensive and trusted than anything else I’ve seen out there.

Agents First!

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The Difference Between Doing and Managing

How would you know where you are going in your road trip if you didn’t even have a goal? Would you consider going on a driving vacation with no target planned? How would you know if you have reached your goal if you don’t even have one?

By Al Diamond of Agency Consulting, Inc.

Using this analogy, have you identified the New Business and Retention (commissions and customers) GOALS of the agency for the year? Suggesting that it is impossible to tell how many new clients you will write or how many will leave you and that your goal is to write “as much new commission and as many new customers as you can” is a ‘cop out.’ We know that you would never consider stopping writing new business simply because you reach your target. That certainly doesn’t imply that you shouldn’t HAVE a target, does it? A target, whether the goal of your vacation ‘road trip’ or the goal for new business and retention in your agency, defines your expectation and the position that would define “success” for you. In your vacation, the target is your destination. In your agency, the target is the level of combined New Business generation and Retention that would allow you the compensation and profit needed to support your personal needs and your business needs.

Most agents are “doers.” They sell insurance and interact with clients to keep them satisfied. Far fewer agents are “managers” who understand the ramifications of their actions and track their successes and failures to learn from the past, avoid pitfalls that block progress and repeat the steps that prove valuable in the achievement of their goals. How much do you know about your agency and about your book of business? Is it important to know specifically how much business your agency writes and how much is retained in each of the divisions of the agency (typically personal lines and commercial lines)? Most of us would say that these statistics are meaningful and important. But few of us actually know those statistics on a day-by-day basis. We think that because we think we can access that data, it is sufficient. But if you were to get into your car and drive – without direction and a plan, simply knowing that your destination was 1,000 miles away, what would happen? You could certainly say that you were motivated to reach your goal and you would spend the time and effort to accelerate the vehicle for the time needed to make the trip. But unless you actually stopped and referred to a map to determine where you had gone; unless you understood the need to re-fuel and refresh every so often, you would quickly become lost and run out of gas and energy before achieving your goal. A better plan is to pre-plan your route including pit stops for fuel and food. That way, you could monitor your results as you drove and make adjustments, as needed, to reach your goal refreshed and on time. Similarly, “managing” your agency differs from simply selling insurance whenever possible and processing customer requests and transactions. The critical issues in your agency are how much (commission dollars) and how many (customers and policies) are being written as new business as your trip (your year) progresses, how much commission and how many customers are being retained or lost during the process, and whether the results will allow you to reach your GOAL (the destination for the agency for the year).

One troubling situation we encounter with agents all over the country is their reluctance to Plan and monitor the plan because they work as hard as they can and they don’t want to find out that they are not achieving their goals for as long as possible. Not achieving goals depresses the agency owners. But they inherently know that they are not ‘making the numbers.’ The owners choose to blindly ‘accelerate’ and continue the trip rather than analyzing what is happening and making adjustments to increase the chances that they reach their goals for the year. No, it is NOT ‘comfortable’ to review the numbers and find them wanting. But if you don’t analyze your results vs. your expectations and goals on a regular basis during your ‘road trip’ you will a) eventually run out of gas at the least opportune moment, and b) never reach your goal in the time allotted for the trip. What do you need to do to avoid “empty” in your agency ‘road trip’ this year? 1. SET A PLAN WITH OBJECTIVES FOR THE CRITICAL ITEMS OF NEW BUSINESS COMMISSION AND CLIENTS AND RETENTION OF COMMISSION AND CLIENTS. This is similar to setting your destination in the ‘road trip’ each year. The components of the Agency Plan is the combination of NB and Retention just as the components of the road trip is following the map’s guidance and making sure you have enough fuel in yourself and in your vehicle to reach your goals. Continued on page 12

Agents First!

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The Difference Between Doing & Managing Continued from page 12 2. CREATE ACTION PLANS THAT YOUR EXPERIENCE TELLS YOU WOULD LIKELY ACHIEVE THE DESIRED RESULTS FOR NEW BUSINESS AND RETENTION. Every road trip is marked by way-points and expectation of average speed and time you will travel daily. In your agency, simply telling your staff to work harder is insufficient to assure that they reach the waypoints that define interim success on your annual journey. Action Plans define the “How To” of generating NB and retaining clients.

Will you be able to make a profit? Will you be able to pay yourself what you had planned? Will you need to ‘lighten the load’ or will you have to live on less income? The implication of asking and answering these questions defines whether you are just the driver or are managing your agency as well as motivating it forward. Reprinted from The PIPELINE, the national newsletter for agency principals. The PIPELINE is published by Agency Consulting Group, Inc., a leading consulting firm for independent agents in the U.S. for over 30 years. Call 800-779-2430, Visit www.agencyconsulting.com for information about the content of this article or PIPELINE subscription information.

3. BENCHMARK YOUR RESULTS ON A MONTHLY BASIS AND MONITOR THOSE RESULTS AGAINST THE PLAN TO SEE IF YOU ARE ACHIEVING EACH ACTION PLAN AND REACHING THE BENCHMARK POINTS ON YOUR ANNUAL ‘ROAD TRIP’ If you don’t look at how far you’ve gone until you either reach your destination or run out of gas you will likely not have a wonderful trip. Similarly, if you don’t look at the progress of your NB plan and your Retention plan until the end of the year, you give yourself no opportunity to make adjustments and you never know whether to pat yourself and your staff on the backs for a job well done or understand that you are not achieving your expectations. All you know on a day-by-day basis is that you are coming to work, answering the phone and doing what the customers expect of you. In other words, you are the agency’s “driver” but not its manager. 4. MAKE QUARTERLY ADJUSTMENTS TO YOUR ACTION PLANS AND TO YOUR GOALS TO ASSURE YOURSELF THAT YOU GIVE YOURSELF THE BEST CHANCE OF REACHING YOUR DESIRED ‘DESTINATION’ OR, IF YOU CAN PREDICT THAT YOU WON’T REACH THE DESIRED GOAL, AT LEAST CHANGE THE OBJECTIVE TO ONE THAT WILL BE ACHIEVED THROUGH YOUR CONTINUED EFFORTS BY THE END OF THE YEAR. If your goal is to get from New York to San Francisco but your progress monitoring indicates that you will only reach Kansas City by the end of the year, what good is leaving the goal at San Francisco? Either make the minor adjustment of increasing your speed (changing the Action Plans) to reach the desired goal or, if you have no other ideas for moving your agency faster, change your goal to Kansas City and identify what you will be able to do (with the revenue that you will eventually generate in total) once you get there.

Agents First!

Info at www.FYIExpress.com

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St. Patrickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day Crossword Solution on page 19 Across 1. The type of government Ireland has. 4. A multi-colored arc in the sky 7. The month of the year St. Patrick's Day occurs 10. Smooth, flattering talk; deceptive nonsense 11. Language of the ancient Irish people 12. An organized public procession on a festive occasion. 15. An herb having trifoliolate (three) leaves 16. A leprechaun might grant you three of these. 19. Any of several related languages of the Celts in Ireland and Scotland 21. A humorous verse; a county in Ireland 22. Stories that people believe to be true, even if they are not. Down 2. An imaginary good-natured spirit, who was supposed to perform services around the 2 3 house at night.

3. The primary religion of Ireland 4

5. The Emerald Isle

6. The capital and largest city of Ireland 6

7. The use of charms or spells to effect changes in nature

8. The Latin and poetic name for the island of Ireland

9. The chance happening fortunate or unfortunate events

11 12

12. Name of the patron saint of Ireland 13. A small, mischievous creature considered to have magical powers 14. An old name for a fairy; an elf

15 16 19

16. A desire or longing for a specific thing 17. The patron _ _ _ _ _ of Ireland

18. An ancient race of people whose descendants occupy Ireland 20. Another name for Ireland 21

Agents First!

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More Information about Agents First! Membership at www.AgentsFirst.org “Last night I posted on my local news page about the death of Leslie Gore, 60's chanteuse. My page has 5,800 or so fans. But I noticed that it was not getting a lot of activity. "So I randomly chose to 'boost' it for $20.So far, it has reached 15,160 people, gotten 210 likes and has 76 shares. With still $5.42 left on my $20. So this is one area where I might use it. Of course, it will be better once I have the post on that page which allows them to request a quote.” Using Facebook's Ads to Generate Leads In one of last month’s TechTips I wrote about why I think every agency should consider adding Facebook advertising to their marketing mix. As is often the case with Facebook, some things have changed. The Facebook team is putting a lot of time and energy into developing and enhancing their advertising platform. It is their main source of revenue. Multi-Product Ads

For those of you who would like more information on why your agency needs to add Facebook advertising to your marketing mix and how the platform actually works, I have created a three-video series explaining the details. There is no cost or obligation. I hope you will sign up. And be sure to let me know what you think. Click here for instant access to the free Facebook Advertising video series.

Facebook has added a new type of ad: the multiproduct ad. This new ad format allows you to display from three to five specific products or images within a single ad. Each product or image has its own description and a link that takes people to your landing page. It is currently only available within the news feed for both mobile and desktop. Mobile users can swipe to get more information about a specific product, while desktop users can move between images by clicking on the left or right arrows. This might be useful if you are promoting multiple types of insurance products that are commonly combined – auto plus home with additional discounts. Facebook Ads Keyword Search Tool As I mentioned several times, there are a large number of ways to target a specific audience. An interesting tool I discovered allows you to do a meta search of the various search term options using a specific targeted term(s). There is currently no cost for using this tool. I highly recommend taking a few minutes to view the how-to video to make sure you understand how to best maximize the information the tool provides.

AGENTS FIRST! Members may download Booklet at www.AgentsFirst.org

One Agent’s Experiment An agency on Long Island has been actively creating a Facebook presence. Their agency page has about 5,800 likes. Yet, they were seeing fewer engagements and fewer people were actually seeing their status updates. They decided to try something new and began experimenting with paying Facebook to “boost” their updates. The results? Agents First!

Eddie, I need to be more like you. You always have something positive to say. You remind me of the boy that came home from school and his dad asked him how he did on his algebra test. The boy said, “Dad, I’m afraid I flunked the algebra test”. His dad said, “Don’t say that, that’s negative, say something positive”. The boy said, “Dad, I’m positive I flunked the algebra test”. Eddie Hall Page 14

March 2015

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An Excellent Strategy: Hire Incompetent Producers

BOOK of BUSINESS ANNUAL EXPENSES

The strategy of hiring incompetent producers was recommended to me by a group of agency owners who thought my advice that no producer is better than a bad producer was: 1.

Just wrong

Too harsh

Short-sighted

Producer Commissions @ 40% CSR

Some people will argue I have taken their point too far, but that is impossible. Remember, their point was that poor producers, meaning unprofitable producers, still have enough value to justify keeping them. This means that even if the producers' sales have a -20% profit margin, which is common, they believe these sales have the same effective value as books of business with a 20% profit margin. An interesting facet of their point is that their strategy is quite relevant if the agency can grow fast enough and sell themselves quickly enough. More than one such flip has made an agency owner wealthy. The key is how long the producer is with the agency before the sale. Let's say that at the end of five years a producer has generated $150,000 commission. The profit on this book is (using industry standards for agencies with $1 - $2 million in revenue):

$60,000 $35,000

Benefits (incl taxes @ 18.5% of wages)

I have seen some consultants make the same case so I thought I should have an open mind and reconsider my position. Their point was that every commission dollar sold is worth (pick a multiple) 1.3 or 1.5 or 2.0 times. That makes every commission dollar a commodity. A commodity is defined as something of value but it is interchangeable. For example, one barrel of West Texas crude is priced the same as all other barrels of West Texas crude of the same grade. Therefore, from these agency owners' perspectives, one way to build value is to put as many commission dollars on the books as possible because the value is same regardless of whether the sales are personal lines or commercial. The value is the same regardless of whether the sales are profitable or unprofitable. The value is not affected by whether the accounts carry more or less E&O risk. ALL sales carry the same value in this perspective.

$150,000

Total Compensation

$17,575 $112,575

Selling Expense @3.82% of commissions

$5,730

Administrative Expense @ 20.02% of commissions

$30,030

TOTAL EXPENSES

$148,335

This excludes all administrative wages such as the bookkeeper, receptionist, claims, and so forth. It excludes ANY owner compensation. It understates the CSR compensation too because the average commercial CSR makes much more than $35,000. If we include these real additional expenses proportionately, this book likely is still losing money in the fifth year, anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000. Losses in the prior years were even greater as the book was built. Over five years then, the agency has likely lost between $75,000 and $150,000 net dollars. Using $75,000 and a one times multiple and an agency sale in year five, the agency still nets $75,000 (($150,000 times 1.0 times) - $75,000) = $75,000. But if the agency hangs on too long or the five-year loss is too great, this strategy fizzles. So to make this work financially, the agency owner has to have a firm and fast exit plan. Going back to the original strategy, is the strategy posed by this group of agents a false strategy? Why not hire quality producers initially? Then the agency gets profit and value simultaneously. Continued on page 17

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An Excellent Strategy Continued from page 16 Besides, who in their right mind would pay the same multiple for an unprofitable book versus a profitable book? Let's use an EBITDA example. If the profit is $25,000 and the EBITDA multiple is six, then the value is $150,000. What is the value of a book with a profit of $25,000 and six times?

Burand has more than 20 years' experience. He is a featured speaker across the continent at more than 180 conventions and educational programs. He has written for numerous industry publications including Insurance Journal, American Agent & Broker, and National Underwriter. He also publishes Burand's Insurance Agency Adviser for independent insurance agents. Sign up at http://www.burand-associates.com.

Why would someone pay the same multiple for a low profit book as a high profit book? For example, pay five for the former and seven for the latter. Maybe the thought is the books all average out. Why do they have to average out? If one focuses on quality producers that generate profit and value, then why should all the books not be valued at a seven times EBITDA, for example? A poor producer cannot take an entire book, even most of a book with them if fired. If they were so good, they would not be fired. So agency owners can alleviate the issue of whether unprofitable producers are necessary by eliminating them and then reassigning their books to staff or other producers at lower commission rates, which is common when books are transitioned between producers. This is a key secret to the success some serial acquirers have achieved. They completely understand that poor producers are completely unnecessary so when they buy, they fire and they keep the business but make it profitable. Even if 20% is lost, that is 20% losing money versus 80% making money. I truly feel for agency owners struggling to find quality producers. If it was easy, everyone would do it. Is hiring poor producers really the solution though? My experience, and I've seen the hard data, is that when agency owners properly prepare their agencies for finding quality producers, use the right interviewing tools and tests, and create a quality development/management plan, successful hire percentages quadruple. All the work, and it is a lot of work, is upfront before the hire and given all that agency owners already have to do, finding the time and energy for this key element is not so easy, but it is essential if the goal is to truly build profit and value.

www.AgentsFirst.org

Chris Burand is president and owner of Burand & Associates, LLC, a management consulting firm that has been specializing in the property/casualty insurance industry since 1992. Burand is recognized as a leading consultant for agency valuations, helping agents increase profits and reduce the cost of sales. His services include: agency valuations/due diligence, producer compensation plans, expert witness services, E&O carrier approved E&O procedure reviews, and agency operation enhancement reviews. He also provides the acclaimed Contingency Contract Analysis速 Service and has the largest database and knowledge of contingency contracts in the insurance industry. Agents First!

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Free Animated Video Software for AGENTS FIRST! Members Download Software & Tutorials at www.AgentsFirst.org Agents First!

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YOU HAVE MORE RESPONSIBILITY THAN THE JOB YOU WERE HIRED TO DO

It doesn’t matter if that employee is on the front line and supposed to have contact with the customer or the employee is behind the scenes and just happens to get a call, the customer is not only going to form an opinion of the company, but potentially the other employees of the company as well. A Third Responsibility While this might not be as applicable to every company, it’s still worth consideration. I’ve been fortunate to have attended a number of the Disney Institute programs. They have been practicing this concept since the first theme park was built, but with something extra. Walt Disney used to say that everyone had three jobs. You already know the first two. The third was to keep the park clean. In other words, just as it is everyone’s job to take care of the customer or guest, it is also everyone’s job to pick up any trash or clean up a mess they might spot. Or, at least arrange to have it done. The bottom line: Everyone must realize that they have more responsibility than just the job they were hired to do. Copyright ©MMXIV, Shep Hyken – www.Hyken.com

Shep Hyken, CSP, CPAE is a customer service expert, hall-of-fame speaker and New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. He works with organizations to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees. He is also the creator of The Customer Focus, a customer service training program that helps organizations develop a customer service culture and loyalty mindset. For more information Whether you realize it or not, everyone has at least two jobs or responsibilities at work. The first is to do the job that they were hired to do. The second is to take care of the customer. Simple concept, but let’s elaborate.

contact (314) 692-2200 or www.Hyken.com 1

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The Job They Were Hired to Do This is pretty obvious. If you were hired to be a salesperson, you sell. If you were hired to be an executive assistant, you assist. You might be in the manufacturing plant or the IT department. When you are hired, you know the roll you play in your company.

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Any time your customers interact with anyone from your company they form an impression. At that moment, the opinion that the customer has of your company may rest on that employee’s shoulders.

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Taking Care of the Customer When someone applies for a job in sales, customer service, or any other customer-facing job, they understand that their responsibility is to take care of the customer. But, what about the people who have little or no contact? They may be in the finance department or the warehouse. It is just as important for them to recognize their role in this important responsibility. They may happen to answer the phone, or a call may be accidentally routed to them. How they handle that customer interaction is important to maintaining consistency in the customer service and brand promise.

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Symbols and motor carrier coverage

If you have the knowledge to see the problem, you will also have the ability to discover the solution. Your Producer Online subscription from The Rough Notes Company, Inc. can help you find solutions to problems in your current customers’ insurance protection and to use that solution-finding-knowledge in soliciting and gaining new customers. The Producer Online IN ACTION is a monthly reminder of how you can turn the knowledge gained from The Producer Online into powerful sales opportunities.

The Insurance Services Office (ISO) commercial auto program uses symbols to provide coverage. The symbols vary by type of coverage form. The best symbol for an insured on a motor carrier coverage form is "61" because any auto as the form defines it is covered. However, the best symbol for the insurance company may be "67" because only those vehicles the coverage form specifically describes are covered. Symbol "47" in this court case was part of the now-obsolete ISO Truckers Form. The Motor Carrier Form which replaced the Truckers Form uses symbol "68" but with the same definition as the Truckers Form"47." Click here to review the PF&M analysis of the Motor Carrier Coverage Form Covered Auto Section.

Coverage while not working Krzysztof owned the tractor that he would use while working for SSTS. However, there would be times when he was not transporting goods for SSTS or another contracted company. While he acted as an agent for those transport firms, their policies provided coverage for him. However, he must have his own coverage for those times when he was not operating under their authority.

Good news – Krzysztof signed a contract to transport freight for SSTS! Bad news – Krzysztof had an accident that afternoon while driving his truck to an SSTS mandatory inspection.

Click here to review the PF&M article that describes CA 23 09-Motor Carriers-Insurance for Non-trucking Use that can be attached to the Business Auto Policy to provide only when Krzysztof would need it.

Krzysztof collided with a vehicle driven by Barbara as he drove his tractor trailer to be inspected by a mechanic as required by SSTS, with whom he had just contracted to haul freight. The contract was signed at 10:00 a.m. The accident occurred at 1:45 p.m. on the same day and before Krzysztof had transported any freight for SSTS. Occidental insured SSTS with a symbol 47 that applied to "those autos you hire, rent or borrow." Progressive insured Krzysztof subject to an endorsement that coverage did not apply while Krzysztof was acting as another organization's agent.

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Both carriers denied coverage. Click here to see who the courts decided would pay the $400,000 settlement.

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The power of insurance periodicals Make sure that these publications don’t just get put in a pile to read “when you have time” as this has the potential to deprive the staff of some great education and knowledge. Each of the agency staff will greatly benefit from this great material and when they grow, the agency grows. Oh, by the way, using the “tips” in these periodicals is going to help your agency sell more insurance!

Agents E&O Tips http://www.agentseotips.com/ When you stop and think about it, I trust that you would agree with me that the insurance industry is blessed with a tremendous number of quality insurance periodicals. I regularly subscribe to 6 or so (some digital, some hard copy) representing both the P&C and Benefits sides of our business. In any given issue, there is great material. In just the last two weeks, there have been articles regarding key issues that agencies need to be aware with HIPPA, the finer points of boat insurance, tools for account rounding, evolving insurance issues dealing with Lyft and Uber, social media pointers and a host of E&O tips (from a variety of solid E&O professionals). The point for bringing this up is that whether the agency staff is brand new or of veteran status, every agency should have a solid focus on ensuring that the staff is educated on those issues affecting their specific responsibilities and the industry as a whole. These periodicals (many of which are actually free) are a very effective means to accomplish some of this education.

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If you are not receiving these publications, now is a good time to start. As these publications are received by your office, do your best to peruse them promptly for articles that would be of benefit to your agency staff. While routing the publication through your agency is the easiest approach, at times, the periodicals may get “hung up” at a particular staff member’s desk. A better approach is to make copies for all applicable staff members – this will then enable them to retain a copy for their future use and as a resource.

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The content of these articles also makes for great subject matter at your next agency staff meeting. Bottom line – there are many excellent authors that are contributing to these publications. They offer great suggestions on a whole host of topics (E&O, coverages, workflow, evolving topics, etc.).

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Go to www.EandOQuote.com for more information