How Well Do Your Producers and CSRs Really Get Along?

To foster growth, property/casualty agency managers need to actively encourage their employees to achieve a desirable level of mutual trust and respect.

In some offices there is a professional chasm between job positions and departments. Its depth varies by agency, of course, but even a minor fissure can cause internal problems. Such issues distract from your core function: to help insureds protect their assets from insurable risks while simultaneously growing the business itself. And to properly grow, everyone needs to be fairly compensated and work together.

Here are eight potential avenues for building intra-office camaraderie.

Start Early. Have inexperienced producers work side-by-side with seasoned client service representatives (CSRs) for a reasonable time, to learn what really happens in a P/C agency – and to understand the vital functions that reps perform. If you bypass this once-in-a-career opportunity, new producers may ultimately treat CSRs as underlings instead of teammates, which doesn’t bode well for the future.

Internal Classes. Ask producers and CSRs to jointly conduct training classes for their fellow employees on timely topics of their choice. Let one producer and one CSR work together, as equal partners, on a “show and tell” that explains something of value while simultaneously promoting camaraderie. Two or three such sessions can easily fit into an agency’s lunch hour.

External Classes. Encourage CSRs and producers to take continuing education classes and earn professional designations together. Their joint attendance facilitates both knowledge and fellowship.

Carrier-Sponsored Events. Don’t limit attendance at company functions to just management and producers. Ask carriers to invite an agency CSR or two as well. Why? Because your front-line staffers are equally important to any successful agency-company relationship.

Company Evaluations. Just as carriers routinely evaluate your agency’s past performance and future potential, you should do the same with the carriers you represent. Invite CSRs and producers to speak up at agency-wide company evaluation meetings. The opinions of both inside and outside personnel are essential to seeing the entire picture.

Promotional Events. People-packed events such as fairs, flea markets, auto and home shows, business expos, etc., all have something in common. They are tangible venues for the promotion of your agency, as well as camaraderie. So, form multiple teams of producers and CSRs to run your agency’s booth wherever you exhibit.

Ride-Alongs. Encourage producers to occasionally invite CSRs to accompany them on outside client visits and property inspections as a team-building exercise. Reps enjoy getting out of the office and seeing the people and premises they insure, or hope to write, while producers get to show what they do while away from their desks.

Joint Prospecting. Some CSRs might like taking a brief break from their routine client service activities to help agency producers locate fresh target market leads from online and other sources. Team prospecting can also build goal-oriented relationships between reps and agents.

Everyone in your office doesn’t have to like each other. It’s nice if they do, but professional respect and a shared mission (success) is a viable substitute. Still, it’s counterproductive to pull busy people away from their primary job functions too often and for too long. So it’s in your best interests to keep team-building activities short in length but long in impact.