By Susan Toussaint, partner, Oceanus Partners

Perhaps one of the greatest frustrations shared by agency owners is when a new producer fails or existing producers underperform. The cost to an agency can be devastating, particularly when you consider the financial investment, the lost opportunities and potential damage to the brand.

So what do agency owners need to consider when pursuing and cultivating new producers? Let's look at three considerations that can make the difference between success and failure.

1. Demand a demonstration.

Hiring practices within many agencies are pretty similar. A friend of a friend, a son or daughter of a colleague or a relative, an athlete with a competitive nature–along with recent graduates who are polished and eager–comprise the typical hires for most agencies. Unfortunately, these characteristics don't always translate into a successful hire.

Early in my sales career I had the good fortune to go through a rigorous hiring process. I was pursuing a career in outside sales for a national interior landscaping company in Massachusetts. The process they used to hire me has formed my perception of how sales professionals should be hired.

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I went through the typical first steps of completing a personality assessment and meeting with human resources, followed by a brief meeting with the vice president of sales. This took two meetings, both of which were fairly informal. I was later invited back to meet again with the vice president. In that third meeting he shut his office door and gave me a sales scenario to role play. My assignment was to sell him baseball bats. He played the part of a business owner with an unspecified culture problem in his organization.

So with no preparation and already nervous, I went about creating an imaginary issue that I had discovered through imaginary research, linked it to his company's poor performance and explained how starting a company softball team would create a sense of camaraderie that was sorely missing, provide an avenue for friendly competition, improve morale company wide and ultimately resurrect his business.

I must have impressed him, because I was rewarded with a fourth meeting. I was interviewed by the sales team: all 12 of them, and all women. We went into the conference room and I was seated at the head of the table, flanked right and left by the sales team. They fired away, asking me questions about my background and professional history and had me role play some additional scenarios. At the time it felt like an inquisition, but I guess in the end they felt I could hold my own in a difficult situation and comfortably navigate a group of “buyers.”

There were two more meetings before I was finally hired.

I later learned that they adopted this process for three reasons:

They wanted to know if I could sell. Sales requires the ability to navigate some uncomfortable situations, keep your head when confronted with a curve ball and manage multiple stakeholders in the process.
They wanted to know if I would fit into their culture. Hiring a qualified individual is important; making sure that the person is a good fit for the organization is essential. One bad apple or lone wolf can disrupt years of work in creating a positive culture.
They wanted to reduce the likelihood of high turnover. Bringing on and training the right-fit person is an expensive proposition. Often an agency won't see the fruits of its labor for 18 to 24 months. If the hire fails or doesn't work out, tens of thousands of dollars have been wasted.

I'm happy to report that I had a wonderful 10-year career with this company before relocating to Florida. I've used role-playing when hiring sales people and find that those who can demonstrate their abilities on the spot are successful in adapting to the demands of a complex marketplace.

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2. Provide a process and a path.

So what happens after you've selected the right candidate? Typically they are given some accounts, spend time shadowing a senior member of the team and are given time to learn the ways of the agency and begin the process of creating their list and centers of influence. Perhaps they receive some training from an insurance company school or participate in some organizational training. Eventually they are on their own to win or lose at this game of sales.

The fatal flaws in this scenario are that it lacks a repeatable, coachable and measurable sales process and no path for achieving validation has been developed. And guess what: things don't work out.

One of the best investments an agency can make is to adopt a repeatable and consistent sales process linked to an effective implementation strategy. Along with providing structure for new talent, it ensures that prospects and clients enjoy a consistent experience when engaging with the agency. This approach not only strengthens the agency brand in the marketplace, but also serves as a compelling value proposition when recruiting new producers.

Sales professionals want two things: to be successful and to differentiate. When an agency can demonstrate an approach that helps them do both, everyone wins.

3. Cast off complacency.

One of our clients recently shared an outline of a compensation plan for new producers he was toying with using. It was different than most I've seen and I believe it will be effective in separating those that say they can from those who actually do.

Typically agencies tie salaries to a lagging indicator of success: future revenue. Instead, he tied salary to leading indicators of success: activities that generate first appointments.

He broke the salary up into three performance buckets, with each bucket accounting for a third of a new producer's salary during the first 6 months.

Bucket 1: Identify “X” number of prospects that are the right fit for the agency based on geography, industry and annual sales.
Bucket 2: Demonstrate and document consistent lead-nurturing activities such as phone calls, emails and leveraging centers of influence to generate “X” number of first appointments in the first six months.
Bucket 3: Contribute thought leadership such as articles, blog posts and white papers that can be used over and over again in lead-nurturing activities.

Essentially, this agency owner has specified what he is willing to pay for: activity that leads to first appointments and new business. The program is for a specific period of time, is measurable and is what a good salesperson needs to do in order to succeed. Incentives are aligned.

This approach will weed out complacency. Too often, a salary isn't tied to performance and is perceived as an expectation. Producers produce; they write new business and grow existing accounts. If they can't demonstrate the drive to do that early in their careers, more time and more money isn't likely going to solve the problem.

Although other things contribute to helping producers achieve success, these three fundamental considerations need to be in place. If you'd like to share your thoughts or the strategies your agency uses to help producers succeed, please share them at performance@oceanuspartners.com.

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