Need More Time’

Here are eight main ways for insurance professionals to save time in the hectic world today:

Handle paper only once
One of the biggest “time killers” is how paper is mishandled. Someone a while back came up with a system for handling each piece of paper.

There are only five options to handling each piece of paper when received. Decide to:

If possible, go paperless! And … get rid of the clutter. Start fresh and get rid of the old paper when there is time.

It is okay to create a filing and a reading bin, but then file it regularly on a given day or days and set some reading time, or the stack will grow and grow.

Improve the hit ratio
Don’t practice quote. Track the quote to write ratio. The closer the ratio is to 1.0 the better. We don’t need the practice, nor do our underwriters.

With the hard market it is easy to get used to sending proposals to every market that may remotely be interested in writing the account, simply to block the market from other agents. This can also hurt the relationship with underwriters, as agents swamp them with paper on accounts they don’t intend to write with them. Before sending the proposal in, it is best to first call them up to see if the risk is something that they may be interested in writing.

Schedule time for new business
Most salespersons don’t have much time to write new business today with the pressures on them—renewals from underwriters on placement issues, additional information gathering, etc. Agents continue to get squeezed for the time they need to properly service the existing business. Unless new business is scheduled each day, at set times, producers with existing books will not take the time to prospect and handle new accounts. New business is the lifeblood of the agency.

Streamline the renewal process
Management needs to make sure that renewals are handled in a timely manner. With many markets non-renewing property, professional and some workers’ comp coverages, renewing accounts today with new markets, if any, or with E&S markets, takes a lot of extra time.

Producers should meet with the CSRs that work with them to go over the list of renewals (at least 90-120 days in advance). They should delegate as much of the renewal process work as possible, so the salespersons can concentrate on visiting the renewals, cross-selling and writing new business. In some agencies, the lead CSRs or account executives actually do most of the renewal information gathering and deliver the renewals for the producers. If the account needs to be remarketed, they also complete the new applications and get direction from the producer on where to market it, but do the marketing for the producer.

Staff stratification
Whenever possible, all persons in the agency should delegate to the least costly, QUALIFIED employee to handle the work. With automation, however, most servicers are doing it all themselves, including claims. But certain projects can be batched up, such as faxing, which can be handled by a clerical person. Also, consider outsourcing work, such as certificates for example, which can now be handled online.

Plan your day
Set up a daily or weekly calendar that is open on the desk (use ACT! or some other marketing and calendar tracking software product). Plan when to make calls and appointments and what to do in between times. Filing and reading time also needs to be scheduled, or it just piles up.

If seeing a client far from the office, schedule another client or prospect in the area to limit the number of days of travelling. If more than one client is seen schedule the visits in common geographic order not to travel out of the way. Try not to let new prospects or even existing clients, change the scheduled day. It can cause a lot of problems, if one continually changes what needs to get done to handle the last minute requests. Take control of daily schedules, whenever possible.

Get up earlier to allow time for you
If you are one of those people that never get to the gym, or have time to read, think or meditate, you need to make sure it is scheduled every day. The best thing for the body and the mind, is to get to bed earlier, (like several hours before midnight) whenever possible. Then you should be able to get up earlier to do the things for you to get your day off to the right start. You will be refreshed and feel like you are ready to tackle the office, when you feel healthy and rested. Eat right and you will also feel better.

Continue to learn & grow
Take the time for personal growth. Read books that enrich one’s life, such as motivational tapes, biographies, history, etc. Try books on tape, especially for driving time. Take advantage of open time to open the mind.

Subscribe to a service that summarizes current books. Services such as Executive Book Summaries boil a current business management book down to four pages. This allows one to get the key thought of two books per month in 30 minutes.

Take a non-insurance seminar each year that will enhance life, not just coverage knowledge. Many firms hold such seminars in resort locations so that the personal growth is not just painless but a pleasure.

Summary
These tips for managing one’s time can really make a difference in life. Try it and see how life can be enhanced and made much more enjoyable. Don’t worry about the past. Start now to design the future.

Bill Schoeffler and Catherine Oak are partners in the international consulting firm Oak & Associates based in Northern California. For more information, call (707) 935-6565, e-mail catoak@sonic.net, or visit www.oakandassociates.com/catoak/.