A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. This first step is to approach the managing and building of your agency with a business plan that does two things:
(1) Tells you where you are going; and (2) Shows you if what you are doing will get you where you want to be.
To ensure your chance of success in managing and growing your agency, it is important for you to properly equip yourself.
In addition to a positive, "can-do" attitude, the following skill sets will have to be developed or improved in order to grow:
1. Develop a business plan;
2. Break your business plan down into a daily/weekly plan; and
3. Become familiar with the same resources your agents will be expected to use.
Business plan
The first of these required skills is to develop a business plan. This plan will primarily center on recruiting new advisors because without agents to write business, you won't have an agency office to build.
Start with your Annual Overwrite Income Goal, then divide this number by your current/expected Overwrite Commission. This will give you the Net Annual Paid Business your agency will need to produce (see table A).
Now take this number and divide by your agency Taken Rate to determine the Net Annual Written business your agency will need to produce.
Then you need to divide this number by the number of weeks you plan to work for the year and take that total and divide by $2,000 (or whatever number is reasonable for your expectation) of written business per producing advisor each week in your hierarchy (Always round up the numbers to ensure hitting your goal).
Subtract the number of existing producing advisors you currently have and you will have the number of additional new producing agents you need in your hierarchy each week.
By recruiting each week, you don't have to depend on any one agent or group of agents to help you meet your numbers. You only have to depend on yourself to recruit and to write business. If you are writing a minimum of $7,500 each week and recruiting to your business plan numbers, that is how many agents you need in production. Then you will always know each week when you recruit where your agency stands in terms of meeting the written and issued business needed to accomplish your annual goal.
The key here, though, is hidden. Don't get caught in the trap a lot of new managers find themselves in. Three months out, they feel they are working "hard" but don't see the results they expected.
Upon examination, what we find is one of two things. They may have hired their next "star," -- the agent who came with headlines and promises to write $10,000 to $20,000 each week and became a 90-day wonder. That is, after 90 days, you wonder what happened to him or her. The managers stopped recruiting and spent all of their energy getting this "big hitter" off the ground and when he or she did not meet expectations, they had to start recruiting all over again.
Or they have done well at recruiting, but have not spent any time training. So they hired the "number" of agents their business plan showed they needed, but they overlook the cardinal rule: Listen to what your agents say, but only believe what they do. It does not matter how many you hire. It matters how many write business each week. This is where your weekly Sales Meeting and training come into play.
We will present some ideas and techniques on this in future issues. This is why we stress in your business plan that you count on doing one thing -- recruit each week. You don't know who the next superstar is going to be, but we know that if you have enough agents in the field writing business each week, you can be the Superstar Manager and will hit your numbers!
Track to mediocrity
Given the number of advisors you need in your hierarchy each week (and how many you currently have) how many will you need to recruit each week?
If one in four agents were in production at the end of 90 days and stay with your agency for one year, what would your numbers need to be each week?
How will these numbers change?
If you subtract weeks when you take vacation or holidays or weeks when you don't hire anyone, the number agents you will have to hire on the other weeks will increase.
So the smartest thing may be to recruit every week. The more agents you hire, the more excitement you create in your agency, which leads to more commitment and belief from new agents. Those that are growing will pull other agents up who may not have made it and those who won't make it will leave sooner.
Fast track to success
Using the recruiting plan in Table B, what would happen if you did a year's work in one quarter?
Contagion is an emotional state within an individual created by a rapidly moving influence of a group or crowd that is highly energized or motivated by an existing event. It can be the result of a culture you create in your agency.
What would happen to the excitement and energy in your office if you brought on eight or nine new agents a week?
Would the success of the producers generate a belief in others that they also could succeed?
Could you have less turnover because those who need additional support and belief would get it from the success culture in your office?
Sure some will fall off, but they wouldn't have stayed anyway over the year, would they?
You can do a year's work in 13 weeks, generate excitement and energy, and move the producers to action with weekly recognition. This will motivate those who may need to build their belief with the growth occurring in your office.
Yes, you would be tired and stretched; however, you won't find yourself going to bed bored. And the energy and growth created in an agency is also motivating to the manager. It is contagious!
Remember people don't catch logic, they catch excitement!
Agencies that grow are those who recruit each week, train new agents on one primary product, one ancillary product, one presentation and get them in production as soon as possible.
So take some thinking and planning time, meet with the person who hired or promoted you, and develop a realistic business plan. Make a plan that is:
1. Observable
2. Measurable
3. Believable
Here's wishing you all the success you are willing to work for.
Lloyd Lofton, CSA, LUTCF, is the vice president of sales for American Eagle Consultants, Inc, a National Marketing Organization. He began his life insurance career in 1977, has held various management and leadership positions with career and independent companies. He speaks at industry-related events and conducts training across the country. Mr. Lofton has hired thousands of agents and hundreds of managers over the years and can be reached at lloyd@aeci.us or through www.linkedin.com/in/lloydlofton.
