Across this great land there is one major challenge that I consistently run into. Finding, hiring, and keeping great staff. Now I don’t mean a good staff, I mean a ridiculously amazing staff. The drama free, work horse, oozing with positivity, stay late and there early staff. It’s in every corner of America and in every business in America.
So where do good insurance people hide out? Bad news there is no secret club you are missing out on.
There are three major secrets to hiring top staff and I am about to reveal them to you!
Secret #1: You Have To Recruit 365 Days Per Year
I know, you hate recruiting. It takes time, effort, energy and you weed through 99 bad candidate resumes to get to 1 good one. However, you have to do it. First, your team sees you always recruiting they will work harder, remember everyone is replaceable. Second, top talent isn’t quick to leave for your snappy Craig’s list ad. Third, you need to be prepared when you have a top candidate in front of you, the bottom 10% of your team looks really replaceable.
Secret #2: You Need To Have a Culture of Awesome
When you walk into your agency, do you like what you see? Is the lobby nice and welcoming? Is the team well dressed? Do you have your agency branded? Or is it messy, the staff is stressed and really we could be at the DMV? You need to create a culture of awesome. Your agency needs goals and bonuses, they need to have coaching and mentoring, they need to be taught to love your customer. When you take a B player and put them in an A culture, they become an A. When you take a B player put them in a C culture they become a C. You need to relentlessly motivate, captivate and organize your team with customer centric processes and procedures.
Secret #3: Keep Them Challenged
Every 90 days, you need to sit down with each team member individually. This allows you to address any feedback items, coach the person and give them the opportunity to provide recommendations. So often we only meet with our people in a staff meeting or if they did something wrong. 90 day reviews decrease workplace frustration and increase productivity. Your top people will want feedback and it will keep them challenged.
Hiring rockstars isn’t that hard, its just time consuming but it’s well worth it when you see the outcome.
