From the Boardroom

FROM THE BOARDROOM

Hiring out these services has allowed my employees and myself more time to keep growing our agency.

MIKE ENDRES Director, PIA of Wisconsin

WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME TO HIRE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES?

After purchasing my Agency in 2017, I quickly realized one person can only wear so many hats. Being a smaller agency owner, I knew there would be challenges, but I also knew there would be opportunities to improve workflows. One of the first workflow changes I made as President was starting the transition to employees specializing in his or her specific line of business rather than trying to be an expert in all lines. We offer Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, Life, Health, Disability, and more, but not too often will our Account Executives cross over to other departments. This has really allowed our agency to deliver a higher level of service to our customers.

Being pleased with the transition in our Account Executives specializing, I asked myself why I was still having one of my employees completing a broad variety of job duties if our Account Executives are not? For example, she was completing the office accounting, claims management, CSR duties as well as IT. Although her work was much appreciated, it was not allowing her to give her full attention to our customers. I decided to hire out some of the services that made the most sense. Was there an added cost? Yes! Do I feel it was worth the added cost? Absolutely! It allowed our team to get back to what we do best: service!

The first service I outsourced was Accounting. I interviewed several firms and found the best fit for our needs. Leaning on these experts has relieved the stress of staying current on proper accounting practices, payroll and yearend tax planning. In addition to those services, our accountant comes in once a week for a few hours to take care of bills, reconcile our books and checks-in to give a report on where we are.

After using the “break and fix” method in relation to our IT services for years, the second service I outsourced was IT. We made the move to Managed IT a few years ago. We have noticed since being on managed services, things run much more smoothly. If an employee is having an issue and Management is not available, they have the autonomy to call our IT services at any time. Our team no longer has to research how to fix an IT issue, but can pick up the phone and get answers in minutes. Overall, managed IT has put more time in the employees’ hands, which again allows for more time for customer service.

I fully understand this model may not be the best practice for a very large agency or an agency with 1-2 people, but for our agency of 10, it has been extremely beneficial. Hiring out these services has allowed my employees and myself more time to keep growing our agency. What model works best for your agency? It could be time to think about what service would allow your agency to get back to doing what you do best!

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