Page 158 - The UnCaptive Agent

THREE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONSOF YOUR AGENCY AND HOW TO STAFF THEM 131

widely understood among professional management
types—those with business administration degrees,
MBA’s, and Fortune 500 management experience—that
capability or talent for a given skill doesn’t translate
to the ability to teach, coach, or manage it. The very
things that make you a successful salesperson work
to your disadvantage as a manager. Impatience, high
drive, and high connection with people and egotism
(wanting recognition for personal achievement) are all
hallmarks of successful salespeople but work to your
disadvantage in managing them. Great sales managers
are great teachers and coaches. They see capability—
which is often very different from their own—and
nurture it. They are focused on numbers and have the
patience to work with someone to bring them along.
They are willing to achieve their success through others
and don’t really like being the center of attention. With
extensive experience in working with nearly three hun-
dred agency principals (startups and existing agencies
that have joined my organization over the years), I can
only think of a handful of agency principals who were
effective sales managers. I encourage you to consider
this very carefully, especially in the days before you can
afford salaries for producers and a manager,

Taking Care of Business – The Service Function

The second function that you must provide for in any
insurance agency is the servicing of the accounts that
you have sold. Most agencies provide for this service
through a combination of client service agents (or client
service representatives) and insurance company service
centers.
The traditional role of the client service agent (CSA/
CSR) has been to provide for the service functions of