Removing Performance Barriers discusses common barriers that hold agencies back from achieving their full potential, such as not communicating expectations to producers, not tracking producer statistics, and not holding producers accountable. It provides examples of how to address these barriers, including setting clear new revenue goals for producers and implementing a self-enforcing compensation plan that adjusts commission splits based on meeting goals. Effective sales meetings are also key to growth, and should follow an agenda that includes skills training, reviewing opportunities, and strategizing to win new business. Agencies must understand what motivates prospects to change agents in order to focus on that emotional justification rather than just copying, quoting, and hoping.

1. Removing Performance Barriers
Performance barriers can hold back agencies from achieving their full potential. In this article
we will explore common barriers to growth performance and discuss what to do about them.
Not Communicating Expectations to Producers
Every producer, regardless of agency size, should take on a new business revenue
goal that he or she agrees to achieve in the coming year for the agency. This applies to:
(a) owner/producers; (b) non/owner producers who are long time producers; and
(c) producers who are new to the agency and still in some stage of the validation process.
Agencies that are not growing are dying! In order to achieve net growth, agencies need to
write more new revenue than what is needed to offset their typical 10 to 15% attrition. Their
producers need to accept goals that, in the aggregate, will achieve that net growth for the
agency. Each producer needs to take his or her goal seriously. The larger the agency the
more new revenue producers need to write to exceed what will be lost through the agency’s
account attrition.
Not Tracking Producer Statistics
Every producer should know his or her statistics, just like baseball players who know their
statistics and see them on the back of baseball cards. Producers need to keep track of their
statistics to set a personal baseline from which they can strive to improve. The agency owner
or sales manager needs to know the statistics to determine where coaching (or a “kick in the
butt”) is needed. Whether they track statistics in Excel, Salesforce or any other way, they
need to track the right things:
At a minimum, track each producer’s:
• New commission goal for the year and for year to date;
• New commission earned for the year and for year to date.
Preferably, also track key sales activities because, as these activities grow, so do sales.
Track number and potential revenue from:
• Opportunities identified that producers are trying to get a first appointment with;
• First appointments producers have had where the prospect has agreed to let
them gather information;
• Submissions producers are working on to create proposals;
• Proposals made;
• Sales versus goal year to date.
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Removing
Performance
Barriers
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Not Holding
Producers
Accountable
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Not Understanding
What Motivates
a Prospect to
Change Agents
January 2016
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2. Not Holding Producers Accountable
Too many agencies, especially smaller ones, do not hold producers accountable for their results. They build little
or no consequences into the way non-performance will impact the producers’ careers. As a result, many producers
spend insufficient time selling and achieve only a small percentage of their potential. Also as a result, the agency
owner has to sometimes decide between: (a) being the “bad guy” by firing the non-performer; or (b) keeping him
around and sending a message to others that poor performance has no consequences. Both are bad options.
If this has been a problem for your agency, one way to address it is through establishing a self-enforcing
compensation plan that has consequences for producers who don’t meet the agency’s minimum new revenue
goals. It is best to establish this kind of plan at the time of the producer’s hire when he or she is telling you how
much new business he plans to write. But, depending on your producer agreement, you may be able to change
the existing producers’ compensation plans going forward if appropriate notice is given. Always consult your
human resources advisor or an employment practices attorney before changing compensation plans.
Here is an example of how such a self-enforcing compensation plan might work in a small or mid-sized agency:
• The agency sets a minimum new commission goal for producers (hypothetically $35,000);
• The agency establishes an adjustable compensation plan for experienced producers:
o Producers all start at the current compensation split in place
• Hypothetically they receive
• 40% of new commissions
• 30% of renewal commissions
o At the end of year 1
• If they achieved at least the agency’s $35,000 minimum requirement for new
commissions, they continue the 40% new and 30% renewal split for year 2;
• If they achieved less than the $35,000 minimum requirement for new commissions
during year 1, then in year 2 their commission split percentage is reduced by 5
percentage points for renewals to 40% new and 25% renewal.
o At the end of year 2
• If the Producers again achieved at least the agency’s minimum $35,000 requirement
for new commissions they continue the 40% new and 30% renewal split for year 3;
• If they achieved less than the $35,000 minimum requirement for new commissions
again (less than $35,000 during year 1 and less than $35,000 during year 2), then in
year 3 their commission split percentage is reduced by another 5 percentage points
for renewals to 40% new and 20% renewal … and so on until they eventually improve
or resign.
• However, if the formerly non-performing producer achieves the minimum required
$35,000 in new commissions during year 2, his commission split for year 3 becomes
restored to the full split of 40% new and 30% renewal.
Holding Ineffective Sales Meetings
Few activities help or hinder producers from growing their revenue more than sales meetings. The sole purpose
of sales meetings should be to increase sales. To have effective sales meetings, do the following:
1. Always have sales meetings the same day of the week at the same time (i.e. 8:30 AM every Monday).
This creates predictability and eliminates producers saying they can’t attend because they booked
another meeting at that time. Attendance should be mandatory and only include producers. Even if you
have only one producer, there should be weekly sales meetings.
2. The meeting is not a complaint session. It is also not a carrier meeting (whether some carrier has a great
new program or not).
3. Limit the meeting to 1 hour. At the end of the hour stop and dismiss the group so they can get back to
work (making the dismissal time “sacred” enables the group to plan a productive day).
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3. 4. Always follow the same agenda
a. First 20 minutes – skill set training:
i. Repetition builds effective producers;
ii. Role play to help producers practice how to handle every situation that might present
itself in a sales call;
iii. Practice delivering a proposal and closing a sale;
iv. Practice asking the prospect intelligent questions to reveal potential problems in their
current program.
b. Second 20 minutes:
i. Ask specifically what is in each producer’s pipeline for the week (take control and make
it a quick report from each producer, a picture from 5,000 feet) -
1. Number of opportunities;
2. Potential revenue if each closes;
3. What stage of the sale process each is in;
4. Where the producer is, with regard to his or her revenue goal.
c. Last 20 minutes:
i. Put every new business opportunity on the board and discuss:
1. Who in the agency is good at this kind of opportunity;
2. Who is the decision maker in the prospect’s office (sometimes
someone in the agency will have met and prepared a quote for this
prospect in prior years and will know that he won’t move the account
because his agent is his best friend, etc.);
3. What should be the strategy to win the account?
Not Understanding What Motivates a Prospect to Change Agents
Too many agencies simply: (1) prospect; (2) copy; (3) quote; and (4) pray. Instead, they need to focus on how
they can get the prospect to fire his existing agent and hire them. That requires getting the prospect to not only
like and relate to them but to also feel emotionally justified in firing their existing agent. Most purchasing decisions
are based on emotions. After the fact, the buyer will justify the decision based on logic but emotion is what really
made the sale. Take the example of a person who goes to the car dealer to simply replace his family car with one
more reliable. Then emotions set in and he comes home with the luxury or high performance model because it
gives him a feeling of prestige or power. He will justify the decision by saying the new car is safer or will have
better resale value but emotions made the sale.
Emotions like betrayal, anger, fear and distrust cause people to change relationships whether they are business
or personal ones. Agents need to talk about the 80/20 rule and how 80% of agencies just copy and quote leaving
potential “mine fields” for their clients. Clients of such agents don’t know of these mine fields until they step on
one. The best agencies (like yours), on the other hand take the time to do the research that is needed to find and
eliminate the mine fields before their client steps on one. Then they ask intelligent questions related to the needs
of business owners like them and ask if they would be willing to fire their existing agent if you found such a mine
field and showed him/her the solution. Armed with that agreement, you can complete your analysis and check list
process and get back to the prospect with a compelling proposal.
If you aren’t achieving the results you want for your agency, it’s time to change what you are doing! Remember,
the 6 most costly words an agency owner can ever say are, “we’ve always done it that way.”
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