When an agency owner hires a producer, one of the greatest responsibilities you take on is providing the tools, training, and ongoing coaching that give the producer the best possible chance of success. You owe it to the producer and to the clients with whom they will work.
I can’t even begin to tell you how often we talk to producers, at small independent agencies and national houses alike, who tell some version of the same story.
They are new to the agency, often new to the industry, and were hired as a producer. Whether they were aware of it before accepting the offer or not, they are surprised and frustrated to realize there is no sales training or coaching available to them. They are on their own to figure it out.
They’re shocked to learn that the agency won’t even provide financial support for them to find training on their own.
This lack of training has been around for decades. On their first day on the job, producers have historically been pointed to a desk, phone, and the Yellow Pages (some of you may need to Google that 😉) and told to start dialing.
This was never acceptable, but it didn’t seem as ridiculous when brokers weren’t expected to do much more than get quotes. But today, it has become dangerous for employers who rely on their advisors for guidance in an ever-growing number of areas.
Why agency owners skip sales training
Most agency owners and leaders survived the same scenario on their way up. They learned by trial and error and rationalize that if they figured it out, so too will their new hire.
The owners and leaders fail to appreciate that they have a level of grit that is rare. They should step back and realize that they and their peer group are wired in a way that allowed them to make it without training.
Training gives a producer without that natural grit a way to still succeed.I get that these owners and leaders may never have developed transferable sales skills to train new producers in this increasingly complex sales environment; that’s understandable. I can’t understand an owner who refuses to fund outside training to fill the most basic need of a new hire. This refusal turns that unfortunate gap into an inexcusable choice.
What consultative selling requires of a producer
Relationships still matter, and personality and grit used to break the tie when buyers were presented with competing spreadsheets of the same quotes; plenty of agencies were built that way.
Today’s buyers expect a producer to diagnose and address much broader business issues (alternative funding, compliance, communication strategy, technology solutions, and on and on). They expect and need an advisor who brings a consultative sales process to effectively diagnose what is working and what isn’t in their overall benefits strategy.
Doing so requires an advisor who has been trained to ask questions that go beyond pricing. They must dig deeper into the countless non-insurance challenges that affect the ROI of the benefits investment and the broader business itself.
With this new level of buyer expectations, producers must be trained on how to:
-
run a consistent sales process
-
address the varied interests of multiple decision-makers
-
demonstrate the greater value they bring to the table
These are skills that can be taught and transferred.
A sales framework that fits each producer’s style
Many owners reject the idea of a sales process on the claim that it is too rigid a constraint to place on producers. They’ll say, “They’re professionals and should be allowed to sell in whatever way is natural to them.”
Selling on instinct gets harder as buyers expect more from every conversation. Built the right way, a sales process gives producers a consistent framework they can make their own.
Our MORE System is a clear example. We train producers to have three consistent conversations:
-
An Executive Briefing where they explain the value of their consultative approach to the buyer
-
A Strategic Analysis where they interview the buyer to help both sides see what is working and isn’t working in their broader benefits approach
-
An Alignment Plan that lays out a detailed strategy for addressing any problems uncovered during the analysis
Every producer runs the same three conversations, and each still comes across as the unique professional they are. The structure also supports healthy accountability for doing their job. Without such a framework, producers are held to an undefined and unattainable standard.
Everyone wins with sales training
Anyone worth hiring is worth training.
Sure, there will be a cost to provide the training, but it pales in comparison to the costs of not providing it. Naming a few, those costs can be:
-
producers who fail or leave
-
sales opportunities that don’t close
-
brand damage in the market
There are no guarantees in sales, but training tips the odds of success in the producer’s favor. Regardless of their natural skills, quality training makes everyone better. It’s what allows the producer to grow the book of business they were hired to build. When a properly trained producer succeeds, so does the agency.
Some owners may worry that they’ll invest the time and money into training and the producer will leave. Maybe they will. But they are much more likely to stick with an agency that has invested in them and helped them grow professionally than they are with one that leaves them to their own devices.
Training is a universal need
Every producer, from your newest hire to your most experienced, benefits from having a consistent process to follow. If this doesn’t exist in your agency, it’s time to change that.
Start by writing down the process you would expect a new producer at your agency to follow and then build it into a formal sales process.
If that isn’t something you feel you can do successfully, hire someone you believe will help you and your producers sell more effectively to build it for you. Look for a program that pairs an initial course with resources, ongoing support, and a community of peers who support long-term success.
If this sounds like a healthy direction to move your agency, reach out to us. We’d love to explain how the MORE System and Goose, our peer network for agency leaders and producers, can help.
Frequently asked questions
Who is responsible for training new insurance producers?
The agency owner. Any employer that hires someone owes them the tools, training, and coaching that give them the best chance to succeed, and for a benefits agency that means sales training. An owner who can’t train producers personally can still meet that responsibility by funding an outside program or bringing in help to build a formal sales process.
Does a sales process make producers sound scripted?
A well-built sales process gives every producer the same set of conversations and leaves the delivery to them. In the MORE System, producers run an Executive Briefing, Strategic Analysis, and Alignment Plan, and each brings their own personality and curiosity to those conversations. The shared structure also gives owners a clear standard to coach to and hold producers accountable to.
What if I train producers and they leave?
Some will. A producer the agency has invested in and helped grow professionally has more reason to stay than one left to figure things out alone. A producer who stays without training also costs the agency in missed opportunities and slower growth, so the risk of training someone who leaves is the smaller of the two.
Content originally published by Q4intelligence
Photo by insta_photos