I know that agency owners bleed at the loss of any clients. Producers also “bleed” if they are paid by commissions because the loss is reflected directly in their compensation.
Does the service staff “bleed”? Do they even care or acknowledge when the agency looses clients?
If the staff doesn’t acknowledge the down slope of the agency, there is a disconnect between how your employees are being compensated. Also, they view the loss of customers who make up the funds from which that compensation stems.
Please consider one of our two options. One might convert to our Incentive Compensation Programs (ICP) (call us at 800-779-2430 for more information or details for non-production employees). You also may consider providing a bonus fund that diminishes to zero if retention gets below your acceptable tolerance level.
Neither program changes employees pay to “commission” status, but both teach employees that continuity of clients with the agency is the true “BLOOD OF LIFE”. This is generally true for customer retention but not necessarily for the decreasing premiums and commissions that we are experiencing in the soft market. If we keep the customers, the soft market impact will change eventually. If the client takes the business elsewhere, we may not have the chance to recover the lost revenues.
The ICP is designed to convert all agency compensation based on increased productivity (of which retention is a key ingredient). Even if you’re not ready for a full ICP, if you provide a bonus pool that will be distributed if customer retention remains above a specific goal (i.e. 95%), then staff can measure the agency’s retention success every month and realize that every lost customer that is not regained brings them closer to losing their retention bonus for the year. Please call us for information and assistance in both the ICP or Retention Bonuses for this year.