{"id":3315,"date":"2020-10-01T06:17:31","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T06:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ic3.ca\/?p=3315"},"modified":"2022-01-03T15:59:57","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T15:59:57","slug":"how-to-improve-your-flat-lined-sales-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ic3.ca\/how-to-improve-your-flat-lined-sales-team\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Improve Your Flat-lined Sales Team"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<h4>How to Improve Your Flat-lined Sales Team<\/h4>\r\n<p>If you\u2019re like most brokers I talk to, generating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gallup.com\/workplace\/351323\/ways-ride-next-wave-economic-growth.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">organic growth<\/a> for your brokerage was at or close to the top of your list of strategic priorities for 2020.<\/p>\r\n<p>You concluded that personal lines new business is tough going, and you turned your attention to commercial lines as a real growth opportunity. You gathered your team of producers, shared your thoughts with them, set some growth goals, and kicked off the New Year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>And then COVID-19 happened.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Your well-crafted bonus plan, thorough sales training, and new sales support services seem to be falling flat in light of what\u2019s happening around the globe and in the market.<\/p>\r\n<p>Your sales team is flatlined.<\/p>\r\n<p>How can you tell? Common indicators include:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Book of business under $250,000 in commission<\/li>\r\n<li>Compensation, all in, north of $100,000<\/li>\r\n<li>New business commission last year less $50,000<\/li>\r\n<li>And they make comments like \u201cNo time to sell, boss, I\u2019m busy taking care of my clients! What\u2019s more important \u2013 my clients or chasing new business?\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>So now what do you do? How do you improve your sales team?<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Step 1 \u2013 Smoke out the impostors<\/strong><br \/>Let\u2019s go back to basics. What\u2019s the definition of \u201cproducer\u201d?<\/p>\r\n<p>To me, a producer is \u201cone who proactively seeks and secures new clients for the brokerage.\u201d So, my first question is \u2013 \u201cAre there any impostors on your producer team?\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>Look at the annual results for each producer, right back to their start with your brokerage. How did they build their book of business? With personal production or by accepting trade-down accounts from you and other producers? If your answer is the latter, then you\u2019re probably dealing with an impostor. A producer in name only. This person is really a servicer, not a producer. Which is okay, as long as they are prepared to accept the salary that goes with the servicer\u2019s job!<\/p>\r\n<p>The harsh reality? If they\u2019re not prepared to make a drastic change in their performance, then they\u2019ve got to go! Maybe not out of the brokerage, but certainly off the sales team.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Step 2 \u2013 Secure the journeymen<br \/><\/strong>What is a \u201cjourneyman?\u201d To me, a journeyman producer is one who:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Is technically very solid<\/li>\r\n<li>Handles large, complex accounts<\/li>\r\n<li>Has extremely high retention<\/li>\r\n<li>Has a book of business over $500,000 in commission<\/li>\r\n<li>Is a positive influence on the sales team<\/li>\r\n<li>Is a mentor to younger, less experienced producers<\/li>\r\n<li>Has total compensation of less than 25% of the commission income of his\/her book of business<\/li>\r\n<li>Writes $25,000 &#8211; 50,000 in new business each year through referrals<br \/>The journeyman is not a hunter, but they do provide value to the sales team. While they are not your sales team of the future, you want to assure them that their future is secure. To do this, you need to get their commitment to work with you to correct any of the attributes I\u2019ve listed above that may be offside.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><strong>Step 3 \u2013 Build your Sales Team of the Future<\/strong><br \/>If one of your producers did grow her book through personal <a href=\"https:\/\/ic3.ca\/has-your-rainmaker-left\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">production,<\/a> then let\u2019s cut her loose from her service trap and get her back to producing!<\/p>\r\n<p>These producers are the members of your sales team of the future!<\/p>\r\n<p>Training and financial incentives won\u2019t get them back to producing. You\u2019ve got to change the model. Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Step 4 \u2013 Perform a book of business diagnostic<\/strong><br \/>Examine the producer\u2019s book of business. What percentage of her total commission comes from:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>The top 5% of her accounts?<\/li>\r\n<li>The middle 15% of her accounts?<\/li>\r\n<li>The bottom 80% of her accounts?<\/li>\r\n<li>The bottom 25% of her accounts?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>Do this, and I think you\u2019ll be shocked! It\u2019s very common for me to discover that the bottom 25% of a producer\u2019s book generates less than 2% of their income. And the bottom 80% often represents less than 20% of their income.<\/p>\r\n<p>In plain truth, most producers, by writing two or three new accounts the size of the average of their top 5% would replace the entire income generated by the bottom 80%.<\/p>\r\n<p>Simple! Most producers I\u2019ve worked with get this done in less than nine months, sometimes as quickly as 90 days.<\/p>\r\n<p>But wait \u2013 there\u2019s a problem! The producer doesn\u2019t have time to go after those two or three big accounts!<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Step 5 \u2013 Create selling time<\/strong><br \/>You can create tons of selling time for your producers by creating a home for their bottom 80% accounts. We call it an independent business unit. How to do this is the subject for another article. Suffice it to say that it works, and it works really, really well.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Step 6 \u2013 Making the sale<\/strong><br \/>When you broach the idea with your producers of trading off their bottom 80%, expect resistance. But here\u2019s the deal \u2013 you guarantee their income after they trade off and while they\u2019re going out and selling those two or three top 5% accounts. Make the guarantee for two years, so the producer has absolutely nothing to lose.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Step 7 \u2013 Give the sales team a leader<\/strong><br \/>Now your team of producers is freed-up and ready to prepare for growth. They now need a sales leader.<br \/>Already have one in place? Great!<br \/>Don\u2019t have a sales leader, or only have a part-time sales leader? Every winning team needs a coach, so this is a key ingredient in achieving organic growth.<br \/>It\u2019s the sales leader\u2019s job to:<br \/>\u2022 Eliminate the impostors<br \/>\u2022 Secure the journeymen<br \/>\u2022 Build the sales team of the future<\/p>\r\n<p>So, there you go, congratulations! You have successfully resuscitated your previously flatlined sales team.<\/p>\r\n<p>Good luck!<\/p>\r\n<p>For more helpful tips to grow your business, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ic3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">follow us on LinkedIn<\/a>!<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to Improve Your Flat-lined Sales Team If you\u2019re like most brokers I talk to, generating organic growth for your brokerage was at or close to the top of your list of strategic priorities for 2020. You concluded that personal lines new business is tough going, and you turned your attention to commercial lines as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,90],"tags":[104],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Improve Your Flat-lined Sales Team - iC3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Covid-19 has impacted many businesses negatively. 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