If you have read any of my past columns, you know that I feel producers are blessed. You also should know that I believe that not everyone who calls themselves a producer truly is a producer. According to my definition, a producer brings in new business to the agency. It is not the person who has the biggest book of business. A large book of business can be garnered in many ways—true hard work or sometimes by just hanging on and inheriting books as other producers leave. But producers earn their stripes every year based on the amount of new business they bring to the agency.
Read Fritz Koehler's previous column, "Break out of the box."
The producer profession offers us so much that we often take some of the simplest things for granted. But the aspect of our profession that provides us the most pleasure and satisfaction is the freedom it offers. What other profession allows you to escape an office environment at will, gives you the daily opportunity to explore other types of businesses, allows you to meet diverse and interesting people, and gives you the sense of truly being valuable to those people and businesses you choose as your clients.
Let’s explore our freedoms.
Freedom of schedule
Producers do not keep regular office hours. They can come and go as they please. Their only obligation is that when they are out of the office, they should be working as hard as when they are in it, and usually harder. They can be meeting with clients or prospects or attending networking events. These meetings may require overnight travel or long drives and could take place in offices, in restaurants, at sporting events, or on the golf course. But no matter how you slice it, producers have a freedom of schedule that other professions do not have.
Freedom of work ethic
Producers are judged on results. How much new business did they write for the agencies and how did that compare with their goals? Producers are not judged by how hard they work, but by how much they produce. I will grant you that top producers are truly driven; they do not coast. Typically, they are out for the win, and winning is what they love. Therefore, their work ethics are not driven by goals, but instead by their dreams of winning.
Freedom of income
How much money do you want to make? If you want to make more, just go do it. Now, I know it is not quite that simple. However, if a producer wants to make more money, all she or he has to do is get more appointments. Regardless of skill or knowledge, just by increasing their numbers they will make more money. Of course, there are better and more efficient ways to do this. But nonetheless, it can be done. Producers are not tied to a salary or arbitrary bonus.
Freedom to choose clients
Producers do not have to work with clients they do not like. They get to choose who they have in their book of business. In fact, if you meet a prospect and do not like them, you do not have to pursue it beyond the first appointment.
So let’s recap. Producers have the abilities to work when they want, where they want, as hard as they want, with whom they want and make as much money as they want. All they have to do is embrace and work toward the goals that are approved by the management team (hopefully they are smaller than your personal goals). If at any time they do not like the job, they can quit. Pretty sweet deal, huh?
However, as is always the case, with freedoms come responsibilities.
Responsibility No. 1
You owe the other people in your company their jobs. If you fail, the agency shrinks—and we know the vilest form of that shrinkage is layoffs. The account managers, account executives, marketing personnel and staff do not have the ability to go grow the agency. Make no mistake about it, they are key, but the producer is on the front lines. The internal staff cannot work on a prospect until you bring them in the door. They cannot service a client and cross sell until you close the business. And if you fail, and expenses have to be cut, they are usually the first personnel cuts that are made. You should be taking your job very seriously. Not only is your family depending on you, but so are the other families in the agency.
Responsibility No. 2
The first responsibility is no secret. All agency personnel know their jobs depend on you performing your job effectively. If you do not work hard at your job, they are watching the agency shrink. And what is worse, they are watching you doing nothing about it. Agency morale is your job. When you as a producer are in your office all of the time, the other people in the agency know one thing: you are not selling. Therefore, your portion of the responsibility for the agency growth is not being met. They may not complain about this, but be certain they notice.
Many years ago as a new producer I was enjoying tremendous success. I was out of the office almost all of the time and relying heavily on the internal staff to pick up details of what needed to be done on the prospects and clients I was bringing in. They were doing a great job and we were hitting on all cylinders. Another producer approached me and asked me how I got such cooperation from the staff. He said that when he approached them to do some of the same things for him that they were doing for me, he got constant pushback. I asked my support staff if this was true and, if so, why. They acknowledged it was true. The difference, they said, was that I was never there to do the stuff I needed them to do; I was always out on appointments. They would look at my calendar and realize that I needed them to help me or I could not keep up the activity that made them feel good. The other producer was always in his office or, if he wasn’t, they did not know where he was because his calendar was always empty. "Why do we need to help him?" they thought. "He has the time to do it himself."
Remember your final freedom
There are reasons why now is a difficult time to be a producer. It is a soft market, our client’s premium bases are down, and as a result, revenues are shrinking. The recession and market are taking their toll. However, you have the freedom to decide if you are going to be a part of the recession or not. Companies are changing insurance agencies daily; that part of the market is not static. The question is: Are they changing to you? You can decide if you are going to be a part of this market and recession or if you are going to be the producer that runs counter to what is going on. In this environment you will have to work harder, improve your skills and dedicate the time to improve your technical knowledge. If you are not willing to do these things, you will lose this final freedom and you will elect to become a prisoner of your circumstances rather than a true producer. And what is worse, others may have to pay the price for this decision.