‘We have a good foundation, but we must continuously develop’

How Metropolitan started transforming its business pre-pandemic, and how it still managed to continue that transformation over the last few months.

BY JAPIE MOSTERT Head of Channel, Metropolitan

Sales are the life blood of any organisation. Simply put, there is no revenue without sales, and, without revenue, a business isn’t sustainable. The question that Metropolitan had to ask itself, in turning the business around and developing a new operational plan, was how to create an environment that was enabling for the salespeople. As Head of Channel, this was an area that I had focused on quite a bit and, as with other aspects of the business, the start of the journey was prompted by decisions made a few years ago.

While there was the process of defining who the right people were and getting them in, designing the best practices at adviser, branch manager, and regional manager level was also needed. We devised a Branch Manager Accelerator programme, where our branch managers developed a good understanding of best practices. In addition, it was all leader-led in that our own experts, not external facilitators, led the conversations on worksite marketing, client services, activations at worksites, etc.

A critical component of Metropolitan’s sales approach is the strong focus on worksites. This is where Metropolitan has an adviser, or even a service capability, on the premises of its business clients, where the employees of the business receive support and advice on financial matters. It was about ensuring that the channel, and the various sub-channels, clearly understood what was expected of them while providing the necessary support, which included a focus on worksite marketing.

Access to worksites is key to our success. It is an environment where the adviser can write more stop-order business (which ensures more stable premium income), has access to existing and new clients, and is able to build relationships. This is also why we make sure that we regularly add new worksites to serve.

The simple truth is that this stabilised our salesforce. Our advisers started earning more and there was lower staff churn, which is costly because you continuously need to bring in and train new people.

When we redesigned our process, we made a deliberate choice to reward our performers. If you play your part, you are better rewarded. If you underperform, you need to feel the pressure. We have a tiered system where there are different levels one can move up, as an adviser, as a branch manager and as a regional manager. Each person’s performance has a direct impact on personal and regional classification. The team determines its success, and that success is measured on a number of KPIs, such as volume and quality.

What is referred to as ‘daily cadence’ has gone a long way to turning things around. For a business that has a legacy as long as Metropolitan’s century of doing business, and over two million clients on its books, there was the risk of clients falling through the service cracks.

If I cannot check my business on a day-to-day basis, I cannot influence my business on a day-to-day basis. If you measure something once a month, you can only fix it once a month. Daily cadence is live data that enables the different layers of management to manage key measures, like productivity, stop-order ratios, product mix, quality of business, etc. It enables us to track progress, change behaviour and, where needed, remove barriers.

When COVID-19 hit, the belief in the strategy and operational plan was vindicated, despite the initial pressure from various quarters. The EXCO team recognised that this was part of a longer journey and not something that was expected to bear dividends in the short term. Obviously, the pandemic was new territory for everyone. No-one could have predicted that we would all be cooped up in our homes for a period of time.

We need to make sure we all get through this, and end up stronger than we were when we started

Managing through COVID-19 was difficult because we couldn’t see clients face-to-face but, for example, with advisers already entrenched at worksites, and strong relationships with clients, it was easier to contact clients. We did our calculations and, with the backing of the CEO, CFO and EXCO team, decided to continue to compensate our advisers based on their pre-pandemic performance. Our advisers were enabled to execute their duties but also had to play their part in the process to validate and justify according to adjusted targets. With all the work done prior to COVID-19 in terms of raising the profile of each layer of staff, it didn’t make sense to lose them in the short term. Your sales staff is a huge asset and, if you lose, say, 20% of them, it’s eventually going to cost you three to four times.

These are people who stood by Metropolitan as it was going through its transition, and it is only right that it is reciprocated. It is about showing that Together We Can is not just a marketing slogan but rather something tied to the essence of the business. It was a journey that everyone went through together, with all the little things done in different departments of the business adding up and ensuring that the business could find its way through the uncertainty of the global pandemic.

It hasn’t always been easy. In the early stages, there were huge drives to get masks out to staff, worksites and broader communities. The business pushed out sanitisers to all offices and since the drop in level from hard lockdown, the business operated a hybrid model, although there are some roles that, unfortunately, need people to be in the office.

Traditionally, when there was a death in the broader Metropolitan family, the branch and the region would be out in full force to provide support on the ground, which hasn’t been possible. Our Human Capital team has been providing guidance on how to manage it all. A digital memorial service is just one example that assisted staff to deal with the loss of a family member, friend or colleague.

All we can do is to try to understand and show that we care. We learn every day. We don’t have all the answers, even now. I do also feel it’s important to understand that we still have a business to run. We have shareholders, clients and staff to look after. We need to be sensitive; we need to make sure we all get through this, and end up stronger than we were when we started.

Is this sustainable? Yes, I think so. We have a good foundation, but we must continuously develop. We need to refresh, reimagine and keep moving forward. We are not at the finish line. There’s still much more to be done.