One way or the other, you pay for education 

Fortunately, there are many avenues open to independent agents for productive, economical education programs in sales, customer service, basic and advanced personal and commercial lines product training.

The industry offers many excellent options, including study leading to CIC and CPCU designations; national association and local chapter seminars, workshops and study programs; online self-study courses; and more.

What about on-the-job training within your agency?  

The key is cross-training. 

Requirements for cross-training success

 (1)  An organized program that you can repeat i.e., you don’t have to “reinvent the wheel” every time you hire a new CSR or administrative assistant or producer.

 (2)  Proper instruction materials and media.

 (3)  A competent, on-the-job trainer. 

Ability of trainer or coach is critical 

 He or she must be a “builder” who is a conscious competent.  What is a conscious competent?  Conscious competents are skilled individuals who know why they do what they do.  The unconscious competent may be a good performer, but lacks the ability to transfer knowledge to others.  In order for your agency to grow and for you to develop a solid delegation of duties chain, you must constantly strive for a high level of “conscious competency.”  

The OCRUSH Approach 

When I was director of education at Worcester Insurance, we used what we called the OCRUSH Approach for training new associates.  OCRUSH features a series of basic training sessions that provide the new employee with the big picture.

 OCRUSH begins with an Overview, moves to Coverages to Rating to Underwriting  to Sales to Handling.  Auto training?  Homeowner’s training? BOP training?  Customer service?  While product subjects may differ, the OCRUSH focus is always the same: “Can we repeat the series with consistency?”  “Is real learning taking place?”

 ---Frank J. Herberg, CPCU, Agency Development Coach