In past issues, we've addressed the importance of processes, communication, client relationships and employee attitudes. But we haven't yet discussed how training fits into the need to make things better within your agency. Training always seems to be the last issue to get attention by agency management people, yet it really sets the foundation for the smooth functioning of all of the aspects we've presented in past columns. Some would say the topic is boring, but I say these areas on which you should focus training are the PITS:

Product Knowledge, 

Information Technology, 

Service to Clients.

Product Knowledge

One of the primary responsibilities of a client service representative is knowing the details of insurance coverage. Unfortunately today, many people working with clients possess and display only a superficial knowledge in this area, deferring to underwriters at insurance companies for answers. So how do we improve the CSR's product knowledge?  

Related: Read another article by Philip Lieberman “Enabling Enthusiasm.”

Be willing to pay for CE courses. But don't write a blank check; monitor what courses are being taken and at what level. There are many online opportunities for CE credit so it doesn't have to be expensive; but talk to your employee about the importance of the knowledge and why it ought not be just a time-wasting exercise to accumulate licensing CE credits.  

Supplement those CE courses with internal seminars. There are experienced people in your agency that can give a seminar, and it's a good opportunity for the manager or owner to connect with his or her staff in a different environment. Bringing everyone together can spark discussions about real-world problems and improve the agency-client relationship. 

Because there are different levels of know-how among the staff, be careful to group attendees according to their level so the material taught is meaningful. The goal is to bring everyone's knowledge up from wherever they were to wherever you need them to be. 

Encourage migration to increased learning opportunities, whether CISR, ARM or even CPCU designations. The more the better, because these designations are specifically geared to our businesses.  

Information Technology

To succeed in today's world, automation capabilities are a must. Vendors can be a primary source of training, but investment in additional training by local individuals should be accessed (finding such people is easy these days). If your agency is large enough to have a CIO or someone whose job it is to handle IT matters within the firm, have him/her run training sessions on an ongoing basis, building a foundation for increasing complexity over time.  

Related: Read the article “Measure Client Satisfaction” by Philip Lieberman.

You've heard the old adage that you need to “use it or lose it,” and nowhere is it more applicable than in automation. Have written procedures at everyone's desk for procedural referral when a task arises. Good training in this area will work wonders in creating employee enthusiasm (see the August 2012 AA&B column, “Enabling Enthusiasm”).

Service to Clients

This is perhaps the most important type of training because it has a bearing on all of those issues we have written about over the past couple of years: structured processes, effective communication, energizing client relationships and creating employee enthusiasm. It's a trickier area to focus on, because providing the right kind of service and communicating the right kind of attitudes is something that goes on every hour of every day.  

It's really a top-down training model. The agency principals, who presumably have a clear vision of what the agency is and what it stands for, must instill that vision in managers and producers. Whether it's done in weekly meetings, occasional retreats or in one-on-one discussions at lunch, it needs reinforcement. The daily demands of our business can be overwhelming and divert us from the underlying need to improve service to clients and how to go about it.  

Managers need to constantly deliver the vision to desk level employees, integrating those lessons with the daily tasks that must be performed. The trick is to constantly show CSRs how the overarching vision applies to the daily situations that arise—and it has to be done then and there. Waiting for a weekly meeting to provide the reinforcement won't work.  

Related: Read the article by Philip Lieberman “Energize Client Satisfaction.”

Some excerpts from a 2003 article based on the Walker Loyalty Report for Financial Services and Insurance are particularly relevant here: 

“One of the strongest drivers of loyalty is customer focus.  It's the No. 1 driver in all areas of the market. 

“In today's market, when customers have trouble differentiating the products {and services] of insurance [agencies], distinguishing good customer service is needed to create more 'truly loyal' customers. 

“It's not just low prices that count but the customer service provided that determines customer loyalty.”

What could be more essential in today's insurance agency world than creating loyal customers? And how much more important is it now than in 2003 (yes, almost 10 years ago), when this article was published?   

Perhaps the most important idea is that on-the-job training (OJT) is not a substitute for real training. Even today, with little more than a cursory orientation session, the new employee often is shown his or her desk and a stack of files to deal with. Although they may have a more experienced person to ask questions of, this “sink or swim” technique doesn't lay the necessary foundation for the future health of the agency. It's as old-fashioned as the price-fixed insurance environment that existed until the 1970s.   

That is not to say that OJT isn't important. It is, in fact, a vital part of the training experience for all new employees. But it has to supplement the kind of real training described throughout this article, not be the exclusive training technique. Just remember that training is really not the PITS, and focus on those components throughout the agency, in all departments, all the time.  The reward for doing so is a competent staff that inspires great customer satisfaction. What more could you ask for?