Hiring and Firing

I am trying to hold myself to that production each month..how many leads are you providing him so that he can hit 20k?
 
I have a producer that has generated 78k in personal lines home and auto premium in the first nine months. Including some base pay I'm in the whole 8k. Considering cutting him loose. I was thinking at least 300k in first year in sales.

Thoughts?

Hire Slow, FIRE FAST.

Once you fire this guy, you'll realize how you excused all the red flags from the first couple of weeks you brought the guy on, and how you should have done something WAY earlier.

Bottom line, if you feel the need to post this question to a bunch of anonymous Internet users, then... you probably already know what you have to do.
 
Hire Slow, FIRE FAST.

Once you fire this guy, you'll realize how you excused all the red flags from the first couple of weeks you brought the guy on, and how you should have done something WAY earlier.

Bottom line, if you feel the need to post this question to a bunch of anonymous Internet users, then... you probably already know what you have to do.

Rearden, you just verbalized my thoughts. He knows what to do he just doesn't want to do it. When I have ever had doubts about an employee it never turned around in their favor.
 
I am trying to hold myself to that production each month..how many leads are you providing him so that he can hit 20k?

Between myself and the other sales agent we are giving 20-30 leads. We do 0 marketing and get all our business from referral sources. Mortgage brokers and BNI. I and my main man are writing more business than we can sometimes handle from this and giving some away to him. There are so many more mtg brokers out there we can't service and I can't figure out why he is unable to form these relationships.

I know what I need to do. Just don't want to. I'm interviewing a few candidates over the next week or two and will make a decision by Sept 1st
 
I recently went to a sales seminar where a large Farmers agent spoke to us (im not with farmers) but regarding his hiring firing process he said his agency lets each person know that if they are not profitable to the agency after 6 months then they let them go, he mentioned that he gives them what they need to succeed has processes in place that allow them to purely focus on sales and nothing else.
 
I recently went to a sales seminar where a large Farmers agent spoke to us (im not with farmers) but regarding his hiring firing process he said his agency lets each person know that if they are not profitable to the agency after 6 months then they let them go, he mentioned that he gives them what they need to succeed has processes in place that allow them to purely focus on sales and nothing else.

Well said I like that they put a time limit of six months to become profitable if they have the right tools to six seed. The right processes in place to be successful.
 
IMO the Premium Amount seems low. I think you would be doing him a favor if you let him go.

Even if you helped him make adjustments the pressure would be on, that is not a succeeding environment for someone who is already struggling.
 
True. You throw out a "Hit this or you are gone" he will be looking and going ASAP.

This guy is no Hunter! He does not live to hunt!
 
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I think you need to consider what tools you are giving to him. Did you hire him and say go to it? Are you buying him leads? Are you encouraging him to buy leads? To hire a "new" agent and expect him to hit the ground running is faulty.

Does the guy have deep ties to the community? Is he working his personal network? Does he have the personality for one-on-one sales or is he better on the phones working leads?

On the expense side, I think you need to look at his compensation. Are you paying him too much? Is the base to high, should the 'at risk' amount or commissions be higher as a percentage to push personal performance.

If you have 9 months invested in someone you have also ask yourself.. is it cheaper to start over or cheaper to work with this person to get them to where they need to be. The next person might be worse.

My personal opinion is you should look at this compensation and modify to make more commission/sales based versus base. I would also look at what he is doing day to day... perhaps even shadow him for a period of time to make sure he is doing the right day-to-day activities... While make time time, having a productive agent is well worth it.

Michael.
 
I would also look at what he is doing day to day... perhaps even shadow him for a period of time to make sure he is doing the right day-to-day activities... While make time time, having a productive agent is well worth it.

I don't manage insurance agents but have been managing professionals for 20+ years, and this is good advice...or would have been six months ago

If someone is meeting goals, then they know what they're doing and I don't need to bird-dog them. If they're not, then either (a) they're not putting in the effort, or (b) they're not using that effort wisely. Asking someone to document their time and spot-checking quickly shows (a). It also gives you a chance to detect (b).

However, after nine months...

Hire Slow, FIRE FAST.

Once you fire this guy, you'll realize how you excused all the red flags from the first couple of weeks you brought the guy on, and how you should have done something WAY earlier.

Bottom line, if you feel the need to post this question to a bunch of anonymous Internet users, then... you probably already know what you have to do.

This is generally my experience as well. The long-term keepers are the guys you hire and they're fire-and-forget. I've had a few over the years where they needed a little course correction and they thrived, or where they came from an org with different expectations and realigning made a difference. But that was early on...after nine months, the guy knows he's not meeting expectations.

Do you want someone on your staff who knows they're not meeting expectations and apparently doesn't care? Doesn't sound like he's coming to you asking for help/guidance but is instead content to coast...
 
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