Let's talk about your sales support teams. Are they trulyserving clients, engaging prospects, creating revenue, and helpingto grow the business—or are they glorified data processors?

Data: A Menial Task

The insurance industry is data intensive, andthat means a lot of data to be input and processed. Most agenciesdump this work on existing CSRs and AEs because they are there.

Producers generally think in “ones.” They focus on a client orprospect until they achieve agreement. Then they hand over whateverpaperwork was accumulated for the staff to clean up and process, sothe producer can move to the next renewal or new prospect.Unfortunately, the staff can't think in “ones;” they're forced intoextreme multitasking, which has been proven to be inefficient,unproductive, costly and a breeding ground for E&O errors.

Move the data processing elsewhere. There are numerouspossibilities, from outsourcing the work to hiring specificprocessing people at a reasonable wage in relation to the work.

Improve Service

Although producers have a viable relationship with the clients,the true and deep relationship is actually owned by the servicingstaff. They're the ones who have the regular contact andinteraction with clients.

Free up your back-office staffing to serve, nurture and managethe client relationship with these six ways:

1. Rethink the mindset. Lose the “drop box, gofer, dumping ground”attitude about your support staff. They aren't your cleanup team;they're your partners in success. Treat them as such.

2. Shine the spotlight on your team. Integrate them into personalrelationships with your clients and extol their virtues to thoseclients.

3. Reevamp support staffers' job descriptions and performanceevaluations to reflect their new responsibilities.

4. Share the riches. As your ROI increases, spread some of theincreased profits among the support staff. Producers arecompensated for the revenue they bring into an agency, but withoutsupport, that revenue will decrease.

5. Conduct formal and informal educational meetings to help thestaff restructure their efforts to this higher value work.

6. Require your producers to allocate time and effort to bringsupport staffers on client visits.

Business Growth

There is a direct correlation between the movement of processingand improved service to the growth of an agency. When the backoffice is swamped, producers innately limit the scope of theirprospecting. The attitude is that they shouldn't waste their timeon the big-fish prospects because they know the staffing doesn'thave the bandwidth to provide the necessary service.

Increasing the capability and responsibility of the support teamcan overcome this self-defeating mindset. Successful agencies buildtheir back offices with room for growth, instead of micro-managingstaff to service the existing book.

Change is always difficult, but these changes can position youragency for a very successful future with a motivated andenthusiastic attitude among your entire employee base.