Starting with your staff, on-the-job training, along with coursework, will probably play a central role in achieving the desired technical knowledge. Since it is fundamental to your organization to have competent, highly skilled staff, establishing a budget earmarked strictly for education is tremendously important and will be beneficial. The various agent associations are extremely active in this regard and offer many seminars, including some online that your staff can attend. These cover a wide range of topics and should be able to meet a specific need.

To ensure a keen focus on education, build into each employee's annual goals an objective focused on enhancing their technical competence. Determining the appropriate coursework should be a collaborative effort so the staff has “skin in the game.”

A changing landscape

Consider using agency staff meetings to provide education on technical issues. Each time you meet with the staff, review a technical issue. It could be a topic the staff is less than comfortable with or a question your customers frequently ask.

Often your staff may be looking for this technical knowledge for a specific class or line of business. The various exposure analysis checklists provide extensive technical and underwriting information on hundreds of different SIC classes of business. These checklists enhance the staff's knowledge and are more than just a tool to identify prospects' or clients' exposures. They will assist greatly in helping your producers/account executives become “experts” on the various classes of business and the exposures they present.

While it's been established that strengthening the technical knowledge of each internal staff member will provide a solid benefit, many agencies are enhancing this technical knowledge with sales skills to get the maximum benefit. Today, more than ever before, understanding the prospect, enhancing the relationship and practicing account development are especially critical to every agency's bottom line. To achieve these, developing a strong sales culture and sales excellence is imperative.

Kitty Ambers, CPIA, CIC, CISR, executive director of AIMS, a national marketing and sales skills training organization based in Richmond, Va., commented that, “Marrying technical proficiency with solid marketing and sales techniques will certainly produce a much greater result than encouraging one without the other. In addition, as more Baby Boomers prepare to retire, and as technology continues to advance, agencies face a changing landscape. These factors heighten the need for agencies to develop greater sales and account management expertise in new producers, as well as existing service professionals.”

Uncover the issues

Training on your agency software/systems, etc. is extremely important yet often overlooked. Documentation, or lack thereof, is an important determining factor of the direction in which E&O claims go. Agency management should be clear in expressing and documenting not only the expected use of the system, but also the timelines for when tasks will be performed. Issues such as the frequency of reviewing emails and accepted abbreviations should be included.

An aspect of staff education which can be enlightening and beneficial, is discussing with your staff, either individually or as a group, how they view their E&O exposure. This is a great way to uncover issues of concern within your agency. You should also consider having your staff attend an E&O seminar or webinar.

Many approaches

Positioning your agency as one that wants its customers to understand coverages and insurance-related terms will reap huge benefits. Obviously, the insurance industry has unique terminology. In addition, probably the last thing you want is to tell a customer their claim is not covered. It has been written that less than 25 percent of women's diamond rings are insured on a floater. Why is this so? Is it because customers believe they are getting complete coverage by insuring the ring as contents under their homeowners policy? Do they know that mysterious disappearance is not covered? When do you think it is best to tell them—before or after the claim?

When educating your client base, consider using electronic or printed newsletters, individually disseminated and/or housed on their website. An excellent starting point is to ask your staff what type of questions they receive from your customers. While this has E&O benefits, no doubt additional sales will also develop.

Feel confident

Through the solid education of your staff and customers, you will further solidify your agency's reputation in your community. Thus, the next time a customer calls and asks your staff a technical question, you can feel confident the information your staff provided was accurately communicated via strong communication skills. This can help mitigate instances of E&O claims against your agency.