Page 197 - The UnCaptive Agent

170 THE UNCAPTIVE AGENT

businesses every three months since the beginning, and
I encourage you to do so, too.
What are the numbers you need to focus on every
day? Those include the number of prospects that came
into your marketing system, the number of proposals
that you issued, the number of sales made that day, the
amount of commission for those new sales, the number
of renewals, and the value of those renewals, both in
terms of dollars and as a percentage of your book of
business. Importantly, you need to know how much cash
is in the bank every day. You need to have a reasonable
idea of how much you owe that day.
You will find, as you manage and grow your business,
that there are other numbers that you want to know
each day or week, but those that I have listed are ones
that you need to build a dashboard for so that you can
understand them every business day of your life.
Some of the numbers and ratios that I think are
worth tracking monthly, and over time, are listed below,
along with why they are important.

Financial Ratios

1. Trust Ratio: This ratio tells you whether you
can pay insurance carriers on time from your
agency cash. If you are only involved with
direct bill policies, it may be a simple issue.
Still, most agencies do have some agency bill
policies, and maintaining at least a one hun-
dred percent ratio is a matter of state law. In
some states, you must maintain a separate bank
account. Regardless, you must demonstrate a
one hundred percent ratio at all times, and one
hundred ten percent is preferred. The ratio is