(The following article is based on Ms. Bauer's presentation at the 2007 ASCnet TENCon Meeting, which was held in October in Orlando, Fla.)

Every agency needs sound procedures. Written and assembled in an electronic agency manual, thorough procedures can help an agency promote uniform processing, improve customer service, prevent E&O claims and maximize efficiency and productivity. In this article, I will discuss several procedures that can help managers stay on top of what's happening in their agencies, improve employee morale and boost profitability.

Yearly account reviews: Most agencies try to ensure that at least their large commercial accounts are reviewed annually. When performing the yearly account review, be sure to use a checklist that covers all aspects of the account. Get with your state agents association to obtain copies of checklists, which are available for personal-lines as well as commercial-lines accounts.It can be difficult to perform annual account reviews for all accounts. To select the ones most in need of a review, consider mailing a letter to each client 60 days prior to renewal. In the letter, focus on the most important coverage issues as well as on the major coverage changes your CSRs are receiving throughout the year for your territory. For commercial-lines accounts, customize the letter to the insured's specific type of business. List 10 to 15 questions concerning major coverage issues, then state, "If you answered 'yes' to any one of these questions, please contact us immediately. We can do a thorough review of your account to protect you in the event of a disaster." You want to sound pretty serious.If you do send out letters, do so per account, not per policy. Some agencies I've worked with opt to send letters at two- or three-year intervals rather than annually–especially for the small-commercial and personal-lines accounts.Yearly account reviews enable you to sell more insurance as well as better protect your clients. It's easier to sell additional coverage to an existing customer than to obtain a new account. Why look elsewhere? Get the CSRs selling. Finally, document that you've performed yearly account reviews.Audits: Make sure you're auditing everything you do. But before even thinking about an auditing system, develop procedures for every unit of the agency. These include accounting, commercial lines, personal lines and life-health-employee benefits (if applicable). Make sure all procedures are performed in a consistent manner. You should have procedures applicable to the issuance of binders, submission of applications, suspense, the handling of voice mail and e-mail, policy reviews and much more. There are about 70 commercial and personal-lines procedures in all. Don't even think about auditing the staff until those procedures are in place.An audit procedure for checking policies as they come in from insurance companies, for example, could include steps for checking its details against both the original information obtained from the client and against the information entered into the agency-management system. The information in the system should be checked by someone other than the person who entered it. That's auditing.As you develop each procedure for your agency procedures manual, designate one employee to audit it. I recommend involving account managers in the auditing. It lets them know the agency is relying on them and values their importance. As an alternative, you can have groups of employees monitor multiple procedures for one another. For instance, have your CSRs and account managers audit each other. Rotate the responsibility, however, so that each employee is not audited by the same person every month.I think the easiest way to reinforce compliance with procedures is through weekly audit meetings. In working with the staff day-after-day, you already know where some of the problems are. If a couple of employees are invoicing incorrectly, discuss the invoicing issue (without singling out the employees) in an audit meeting. If that doesn't resolve it, bring up the topic a second time in the group. If problems continue, meet individually with the non-complying employees and ask them why they're not following the agreed-upon procedures. Most likely they'll either bring up an idea to consider or just say, "Yes, I know. I need to work on that." Then follow up to ensure compliance.Audit through those weekly meetings and through random weekly checks. Make sure employees are informed these checks will be conducted. This will keep them on their toes.Backlog: Backlog is the mail, paperwork, phone calls, etc., a CSR or processor has on his or her desk. Most agencies don't keep track of the unfinished work on employees' desks. It's a good idea to do so, however, because in most cases you'll discover a problem you were unaware of.The ideal way to track backlog is electronically. Have documents scanned as the agency receives them. When you scan a piece of paper, it's actually ID'd with a customer name, the transaction and the date. The scanned documents are filed in employee folders in your computer system. Employees can look in those folders, then prioritize their workload. Management can view those folders at any time to see if there's a serious backlog.If CSRs or processors continually have a substantial backlog, check that work is being distributed evenly. Evaluate the transaction log. One CSR may be entering all activities, while another may not be.Nowadays more agencies are dealing with less paper, but remember that backlog consists of more than the paper coming in. It's also your suspense/activities/follow-ups as well as downloads, e-mails and phone messages. If the agency uses transactional filing, all phone calls, visits and internal notes need to be documented in the agency-management system.If you're not scanning, another way to track backlog is by using three backlog bins on employees' desks. The top bin is an "in" box. The second is a "one-day" box, which is actually labeled with exactly what you're going to do within a day; e.g., issue certificates, process invoices or return phone messages. The third box is "two-to-three days," for endorsements or whatever tasks you want done within that time frame.At 3 p.m., however, employees using this system have to stop whatever they are doing to ensure that whatever is in the "one-day" box is processed by 5 p.m. Then before they leave for the day or first thing the following morning, employees have to reshuffle all remaining tasks into the correct bins in preparation for the next day.If you've got a tremendous backlog, consider using quiet time (see below) to deal with it; or you can prioritize and work on backlog daily, processing the day's mail first, until you get caught up. Another option is to bring in someone from the outside to process the backlog. This person is usually a retiree or someone else who's worked before with the agency and is familiar with its system.Quiet time: CSRs are continuously interrupted by calling customers, producers and other employees, which detracts from their efficiency and often contributes to backlog. One way to help CSRs get caught up is to give them quiet time.I'm a strong advocate of quiet time, although not many agencies use it today. Some did in the past and concluded it didn't work. If you feel it's not working, change your approach, because properly implemented quiet time definitely works.Many agencies using quiet time allocate everyone the same one hour of time each day; e.g., 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Instead, consider allocating larger blocks of time less frequently. Maybe one person in commercial lines can have quiet time Monday and Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to noon. Another individual in the commercial lines could have quiet time Tuesday and Thursday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Three-hour blocks give employees a chance to get organized and work efficiently.Employees on quiet time should not have to take phone calls or deal with other interruptions. If you have people to cover for them, that's ideal. If not, take a message. If something is urgent, of course, be flexible enough to accept an interruption. Giving employees quiet time will increase morale, productivity and quality of work.In regard to producer interruptions, ask the agency principal if it would be possible for producers to ask CSRs and account managers all their questions just once a day. Many agency principals follow this procedure in their own interactions with the staff–and I really think it's wise for the producers to do so also.Expiration reports: I just wanted to make a brief comment about this topic. At several agencies, I've recently noticed that CSRs are printing expiration lists, which I thought was a thing of the past. If it were my business, I would definitely not want my CSRs and account managers to have the ability to print X-date lists for themselves or for producers. Those lists could go right out the agency's door. Yes, you should trust your employees, but I don't know if I'd trust them that much. Only one or two people within your office should have the ability to print those reports.Documenting the system: All transactions with clients should be documented in the agency-management system. These include phone calls and visits involving producers, CSRs or principals. All internal notes from such contacts should be archived. Even interactions that seem unimportant should be documented.To save time, producers can record meetings and conversations with clients and later have them transcribed and added to customer files in the agency-management system. At some agencies, producers still take notes on message pads, which are then scanned into the agency-management system or given to a CSR or account manager to enter.While the practice is still not widespread, producers at an increasing number of agencies are documenting the agency-management system themselves. At most agencies, however, producers instead send e-mail messages to CSRs, who then attach them to customer files in the agency-management system.Another option is to use a service like CopyTalk.com, which enables producers or others to call a phone number, dictate a message up to four-minutes long, and have it transcribed and returned the same day to the producer and others, including a CSR. The CSR could take care of any transaction requested in the message and then attach it to an activity in the agency-management system.Customer care: Given that the vast majority of contacts between agencies and their customers take place over the phone, agencies should have procedures for ensuring that those customers feel they are valued and are receiving plenty of personal attention. Here are a few suggestions for various agency employees.The receptionist: First impressions are vitally important, and your receptionist has a major influence on the first impression potential clients have of your agency. Make sure the receptionist finds out who is calling and addresses each customer by name. Make sure the receptionist gets back to each caller prior to connecting his or her call. This conveys that customer care is a priority in your agency.The claims person: The main reason anyone has insurance is to obtain help in the event of a claim. When an insured calls in with a claim, he or she is usually distraught, upset and feeling helpless. By properly handling claim calls, you can easily keep your customers for life. Give insureds a lot of TLC. Be there for them.Send an initial letter to insureds after obtaining all information from them, along with a copy of the claim form you send to the insurance company. Mention that you have forwarded the information to the insurance company, that the adjuster will be in touch within a day or so, and suggest they call at any time if they need help. Follow up with the insured in one week to make sure everything is OK–even if you just leave a message. This lets clients know you're thinking about them. Finally, follow up with the insured at least once more after the claim has been settled to schedule an account review.The CSR. Stress the importance of the personal touch to CSRs. If a caller has a lot of questions, CSRs should set up a time to answer all of them. The insured will feel pleased that 15 to 20 minutes have specifically been assigned for answering all of his or her questions.And I can't repeat it often enough: follow up, follow up, follow up. Make sure the insureds are satisfied. Ask them if they have any other questions before you end the call. And before hanging up, say: "Remember, I am here if you need me. Just call." That simple extra message lets insureds know your agency is there for them. Grace Bauer is the president of The Grace Bauer Group, a consulting practice for independent agents and brokers that specializes in the preparation of agency procedures manuals. She started her insurance career in 1981 as an executive secretary for a large independent insurance agency in Florida. Over the next nine years, she held various positions of increasing responsibility, including vice president of operations. She left the agency in 1990 to start her own business. She can be reached at [email protected] or at (800) 896-4226.