We all have this perfect vision in our head of what our agency should look like. How the phone is answered, how our team account rounds, and how beautifully and magically everything happens. It’s like a beautiful ballet while we are at the golf course. This may be more of a fantasy, like Happy Gilmore’s happy place, than reality. You will never get here without our incredibly clear expectations set with job descriptions.
Many agencies exist without any clear accurate updated job descriptions. Yet, many owners get frustrated when their team misses the mark. We can no longer provide a sloppy job description when someone is hired and let that hold the test of time. We need clearly written expectations, set on paper with a job description.
In any small business things change rapidly. I get it. You can always add one clause in, it’s called the “whatever it takes” clause. You can be more professional and add other duties as necessary but let’s get bold. Whatever it takes. If someone in your office sees that and get’s worried, I’d be worried about having them on my team. Insurance changes, whatever it takes is the attitude we need to stress in this business.
Your job descriptions should have a few key components:
- Mission of the position: Why does this position exist? It needs to read like a very motivational and inspirational message.
- Desired Outcomes of the Role: This isn’t a bullet point to do list. This instead sets goals and targets. Here is an example for an account manager (as you can see now at review time you are holding people accountable to targets, not just the fact they show up on time):
- Average retention on the book of business is over 93%, this is based on the number of policies up for renewal in a given month vs. the number of cancelled policies that were processed that month. The average of any 90 day period should be greater than 93%.
- Proactively reaching out to clients
- Conducting ongoing account reviews
- Working with clients on their policies
- Effective account rounding
- Generating referrals for personal lines and other departments
- Educating the clients about the benefits of having YOUR AGENCY Insurance as their agency
- Proactively calling cancelled business to try to win them back immediately
- Average retention on the book of business is over 93%, this is based on the number of policies up for renewal in a given month vs. the number of cancelled policies that were processed that month. The average of any 90 day period should be greater than 93%.
- Disclaimer: I always add a disclaimer to all of my job descriptions. Which reads as follows: One of the principles of YOUR AGENCY Insurance is to raise your hand if you need help. If there is a week you are struggling to complete your outcomes please raise your hand so we can help you prioritize. Also, since you are in sales, the more you work the more you earn. Plan accordingly! We have a “whatever it takes” mindset here. While this is an overview of your role in the agency, there are times where everyone needs to do whatever it takes to satisfy the customer and grow the business.
- Lastly Critical Competencies: I like these to be core attributes you want the team member to display in their role. In addition, if you have agency values these, they should be added. Remember your job description should turn into their review form pretty easily. Here are some examples:
Critical Competencies
| Efficiency | Able to produce significant output with minimal wasted effort. |
| Honesty/Integrity | Does not cut corners unethically. Earns trust and maintains confidences. Does what is right, not just what is easy. |
| Organized & Planning | Plans, organizes and schedules in a productive manner. Focuses on key priorities. |
| Aggressiveness | Moves quickly and takes a forceful stand without being abrasive. |
| Follow-Through | Lives up to verbal and written agreements, regardless of personal costs. |
| Intelligence | Learns quickly. Demonstrates ability to quickly and proficiently understand and absorb new information. |
| Persistence | Demonstrates tenacity and willingness to go the distance to get something done. |
| Proactivity | Acts without being told what to do. Brings new ideas to the company. |
| Flexibility/Adaptability | Adjusts quickly to changing priorities and conditions. Copes effectively with complexity and change. |
| Calm Under Pressure | Maintains stable performance when under heavy pressure or stress. |
| Enthusiasm | Exhibits passion and excitement over work. Has a can-do attitude. |
| Work Ethic | Possesses a strong willingness to work hard and sometimes long hours to get the job done. Has a track record of working hard. |
| High standards | Expects personal performance and team performance to be nothing short of the best. |
| Openness to Criticism and Ideas | Often solicits feedback and reacts calmly to criticism or negative feedback. |
| Listening Skills | Lets others speak and seeks to understand their viewpoints. |
| Communication | Speaks and writes clearly and articulately without being overly verbose or talkative. Maintains this standard in all forms of written communication, including emails. |
| Teamwork | Reaches out to peers and cooperates with supervisors to establish an overall collaborative working relationship. |
| Persuasion | Able to convince others to pursue a course of action. |
- Feedback: it is critical the team knows exactly how and when they will get feedback. We always recommend 90 day check in meetings and a formal annual review. We can’t give feedback on the fly. It’s important for the team member and the manager to have a great feedback loop
Last but not least, your job descriptions need to be reviewed with the employee at their 90 check- in meetings. You need to be a broken record about your expectations. Also, annually you need to update their job descriptions. Insurance changes too quickly to leave a job description stagnant.
