Planning and Use of the Right Tools Can Help Agencies Grow
As operations manager at a small agency with 22 employees, I wear multiple hats. In my dealings with other agency employees from similar-sized operations, I know I’m not alone. Many of you operate the same way.
Among my responsibilities is equipping fellow team members to create a great customer experience. Having the right tools and the right plan enables me to provide training for our service and sales staff in several areas, including coverage knowledge, workflows, and customer service.
To help mitigate some of the day-to-day challenges that accompany managing a small agency, it is important to have a plan in place for the task at hand.
During the past several years, we’ve faced some challenges—in our agency and in the industry as a whole, including an aging workforce; a hardening market (particularly in commercial property/casualty); competition from other independent agents and direct writers; and the increased threat of insurtech.
As an established independent agency, we have the product knowledge, we have the markets, and we have the relationships, but sometimes combining those three things at the right time can be a challenge. I guess the real “trick” is juggling them all without dropping something.
Now I’m a strong proponent of the independent agency system. Our carrier relationships are extremely important, and we are contractual representatives of those carriers. At the same time, however, I believe our independence lets us do a better job for our clients by comparing available products. It also lets us find solutions for customers with some more unusual or hazardous risks. Instead of having an insurance company dictate to us what type of business we write, we make decisions based on our expertise and find the insurance companies that can best handle the type of business we write.
This added flexibility brings challenges, but I wouldn’t want it any other way and neither would our clients.
At times, it seems like my title should be orchestra conductor—or maybe cruise director—especially when I need to help new hires throughout the day in addition to my other responsibilities. It’s a balancing act that requires patience and an ability to prioritize.
The plan
To help mitigate some of the day-to-day challenges that accompany managing a small agency, it is important to have a plan in place for the task at hand. For example, we currently have three account managers and one assistant account manager who are actively working a desk, but they each require a different degree of training. If I’m not careful, I can spend my entire day just answering their questions. Instead, I plan ahead and make sure they have things they can do without my help, and then I schedule time to work with each of them.
Of course, an “emergency” can always happen, and these team members know they can reach out to me or one of our more experienced people, if needed. However, sticking to the plan keeps us all focused and moving forward.
That is just one example, and it’s a simple concept, but I know I must fight the temptation to just jump in and try to fix something without taking a few minutes to plan.
Read the full article on RoughNotes.com.