hiring producers? try looking outside....hiring producers? try looking outside. counterpoint may...

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HIRING PRODUCERS? TRY LOOKING

OUTSIDE.

Let’s explore effective recruiting strategies for filtering through the job-seeker pool. Your best producer candidates could be employed today in a different type of business all together. Page 2

Employee LEVERAGE

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How Do You Keep Your DEAL ALIVE?

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Wait. See. PARTNER

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The Importance of a DEFINED

SALES PROCESSPage 8

How Can We Make Insurance SEXY?

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MARSHBERRYlearn. improve. realize.

800.426.2774 MarshBerry.com

Securities offered through MarshBerry Capital, Inc., Member FINRA and SIPC, and an affiliate of Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. 28601 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 400, Woodmere, Ohio 44122 (440.354.3230).

Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. is honored to be the investment banking firm that brokered the transactions that brought these 24 agencies and one networking organization together to form Alera Group1, as funded by Genstar Capital.

HAS ACQUIRED A&B Insurance and

Financial, Inc., AB Capital Group, LLC, Insurance

Exchange, LLC, & Smart Choice Health Plans, LLC

dba Florida Health Team, LLC

HAS ACQUIRED C.M. Smith

Agency, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Coury Health Services, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Hampson

Mowrer Agency, Inc. dba Hampson

Mowrer Kreitz Agency

HAS ACQUIRED K.B. Group

Services, Inc. dba Group

Services, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Shirazi Benefits,

LLC

HAS ACQUIRED American Insurance

Administrators, Inc. dba AIA

Benefits Resource Group

HAS ACQUIRED Centennial Group

Benefits and Insurance

Services, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Forum

Benefits, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED HP Planning, LLC (dba CBP and/or Creative Benefit

Planning)

HAS ACQUIRED

Pentra, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Shirazi-Miller Benefits, LLC

HAS ACQUIRED Benefit Advisors

Network, LLCdba BAN

HAS ACQUIRED Beacon Retiree Benefits Group,

LLC

HAS ACQUIRED

MFG Retirement Systems, Inc. dba

PWA Insurance Services

HAS ACQUIRED TRUEBenefits,

LLC

HAS ACQUIRED

Benico, Ltd.

HAS ACQUIRED INGROUP

Associates, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Robert G. Relph Agency, Inc. (dba

Relph Benefit Advisors) & Flexible

Benefits System, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Virtus Benefits,

LLC

HAS ACQUIRED

Brown & Noyes, LLC dba Ardent Solutions

HAS ACQUIRED Corporate Plans, Inc. dba CPI-HR

HAS ACQUIRED GCG Financial,

Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED J.A. Counter &

Associates, Inc.

HAS ACQUIRED Silberstein

Insurance Group, LLC

1 Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. was financial advisor to the participating selling organizations. These organizations were acquired by Alera Group effective December 30, 2016.

1CounterPoint May 2017

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORSERIC HALLINAN, Vice President

ALBERT LLOYD, Executive Vice President

TOMMY MCDONALD, Vice President

ZACK PITTMAN, Consultant, Sales Performance

JORDAN VICTOR, Data Analyst

CURT VONDRASEK, Vice President

JIM WOCHELE, Unit Manager, Sales Performance

COUNTERPOINT EDITORIAL BOARDMEGAN BOSMA, Senior Vice President

LAUREN BYERS, Vice President, Marketing

ALISON WOLF, Director, Research

SOURCES & DISCLAIMERS+PHP: Perspectives for High Performance ++2017 MarshBerry Organic Growth Study

ABOUT COUNTERPOINTCounterPoint is the proprietary publication of MarshBerry. The magazine offers eleven editions annually and is published for independent insurance agents and brokers, national brokers, private equity firms, banks & credit unions, insurance carriers and specialty distributors.

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How Will You Achieve Your Growth Goals?According to MarshBerry’s 2017 Organic Growth Study (“2017 Study”), over 40% of High Growth Agencies identified hiring new producers as the most important strategy for achieving their Organic Growth goals, yet identifying and attracting top talent remains the biggest challenge facing agencies today. The 2017 Study results continue to show that reinvesting in the next generation of agency leadership should be an ongoing process, not simply a one-time hiring event.

When breaking down producer age dispersion, Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc.’s (“MarshBerry”) proprietary financial management benchmarking system, Perspectives for High Performance (PHP), identifies over 50% of producers at Average Growth Agencies are over the age of 50. At the same time, few of these firms have an active talent acquisition strategy to replace these producers who may soon be transitioning in to retirement and in turn, lack the strategy required to replace the new business production generated by these individuals.

The 2017 Study identifies new business prospecting and closing efficiency as the second most important strategy for achieving growth goals, gaining over 15% of High Growth Agencies and 25% of Average Agency responses. Identifying and hiring talent is one thing — successfully onboarding and developing them is another.

Bringing on a new hire to an agency that lacks a true sales culture and defined sales process is a recipe for failure. A sales culture should reward new business production, and provide a “stick” for missing minimum goal requirements. A defined sales process should be implemented across the board as a strategic approach to winning new business by design, rather than applying the “Copy, Quote, & Pray” method and hoping for results to follow.

To hit your Organic Growth goals in 2017, and beyond, it’s crucial to execute on finding and developing the next generation of producers and future leaders. While this may seem like a tall task, the future of your agency depends on it.

In this edition, we’ll provide a comprehensive overview on talent acquisition strategies and techniques to institutionalize your sales process to drive organic growth. n“Average” is the average of all agencies in the database while High Growth Agencies are defined as the top 25% of the “Average” based on reported organic growth (MarshBerry Proprietary Database).

CORRECTIONIn the April 2017 edition of CounterPoint, in discussing key ratios for your business, we incorrectly stated that there was a 26.5% EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation & Amortization) for the Best 26.5% of agencies. They should be the Best 25% of agencies.

by Curt Vondrasek, Vice President, Management Consulting630.315.9031 | [email protected]

HIRING PRODUCERS? TRY LOOKING OUTSIDE.

Your best producer candidates could be employed today in a different type of business all together. Here are three effective recruiting

strategies for filtering through the job-seeker pool and finding people who can drive

organic growth at your agency.

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2 May 2017 CounterPoint

HIRING PRODUCERS? TRY LOOKING OUTSIDE.


Here are three strategies to help you narrow your search for a high-performing producer so you can find candidates with winning characteristics to succeed in this evolving industry.

1 Who Do You Know? Networking is, by far, the most effective method of recruiting producer candidates. Your connection to a candidate serves as the ultimate pre-qualifier. Because one human resources person, or sales manager, or agency owner, can’t possibly do all the networking, firms should put an employee referral program in place. This motivates everyone on your team to be a recruiter, considering who they know that fits the culture at your agency.

When companies hire people who are referred to them by existing employees, there is increased accountability. The agency can trust that the candidate meets

Wanted: Someone who’s personable, driven and goal-oriented. Must work well under pressure and be willing to take risks. Helps to have a “hunter” mentality — comfortable cold-calling prospects, and building relationships from scratch. Qualities should include self-discipline, persistence, resilience and grit.

The job description here includes characteristics of a successful producer in the insurance industry. But notice, the words “insurance experience” are missing, and that’s not by mistake.

In a job market with low unemployment, meaning fewer job seekers, and an overall lack of knowledge about opportunities in the insurance industry, finding experienced producers is not as easy as in the past.

Add to this the reality that quality producers who leave a firm to start a new job must abandon a book of business and start from scratch. They can’t take business with them because of non-compete agreements. So, the lure of beginning a new position is simply not all that appealing. The reality is, producers who want to up and leave their current positions probably aren’t excelling — and are those the salespersons you want to hire?

What can agencies do to hire peak-performing producers, which are critical for a firm’s organic growth? How can you find that candidate with a hunter mentality, the natural people-person who has the gumption to keep going?

Look OutsideRather than limit yourself to a pool of existing producer candidates — the real “producing” ones settled in at firms and likely not looking for a job — branch out and look beyond the insurance industry. Focus on recruiting for the characteristics that we know top producers posses.

Now the question is, “How?” Where do you begin tapping talent in the overwhelming pool of LinkedIn members and thousands who search for jobs on sites like Indeed?

RATHER THAN LIMIT YOURSELF TO A POOL OF EXISTING PRODUCER CANDIDATES — BRANCH OUT. LOOK BEYOND THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY.

According to the 2017 MarshBerry Market & Financial Study, the top five qualities in a producer that agencies seek are:

1 Work ethic & professionalism2 Communication skills3 Interpersonal skills4 Sales experiences5 Industry knowledge

The first four traits you can find in someone from outside of the industry, and you can train the last.

HOW PEOPLE GET JOBS

Sources: CareerSherpa.net; The Adler Group

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EMPLOYEE LEVERAGEEmployee Leverage is a key concept to consider and evaluate to ensure you are maximizing the production of your entire staff. Three key metrics to measure employee leverage are Revenue per Employee, Total Payroll per Employee, and Employee Marginal Profitability.

Revenue per employee is simply your agency’s net revenue divided by total personnel. Total Payroll per employee is obtained by dividing your agency’s total payroll by total personnel. Lastly, Employee Marginal Profitability is the difference between the two, Revenue per Employee minus Total Payroll per Employee.

We gathered the above metrics from MarshBerry’s proprietary financial management system, PHP (Perspectives for High Performance) for the twelve months ended 12/31/16. We segmented the firms to reflect the Best 25% based on their organic growth. Agencies with the Best 25% of organic growth were compared to the remainder of the group, who achieved 11.5% and 0.7% organic growth, respectively. Firms with higher organic growth incurred 5.6% higher Total Payroll per Employee. These firms, however, achieved 7.7% greater Revenue per Employee and a 10.2% increase in Employee Marginal Profitability!

To ensure your agency is properly leveraging employees, pay attention to these three metrics and how each one is impacted by the others. Your agency has the most direct power in changing payroll. If you reward your employees properly for their hard work and successes, they will be motivated to continue their hard work in the future. Newly hired employees will then take notice of this as well. This will set-up your agency to have a growth oriented work environment that compensates its employees for their success.

So the question is, would you be willing to increase compensation to achieve higher productivity and profitability? n

OF THE MONTH


standards because of his or her connection with a team member. The candidate goes into the interview process with knowledge of the agency, its culture and the type of people who work and thrive there. Retention rates reflect this.

2 Place Enticing Job Ads Job seekers in the market who are not currently engaged in the insurance industry probably don’t realize the type of opportunities a producer position offers. There are misconceptions about the industry — and a lack of knowledge about how agencies run, their culture, who they serve and how they work. There are plenty of job hunters out there that would see the word “insurance producer” and figure that’s a door-to-door sales gig. Clearly, that is not the case. But when you have a few seconds to capture the attention of a job seeker via advertising, a headline that says, “Hiring Insurance Sales Associate” isn’t going to cut it.


EMPLOYEE LEVERAGE+

Avoid putting insurance salesperson in the job title. Instead, opt for titles like, “Outside B2B Sales Rep.” At MarshBerry, we have tracked a higher open rate, and higher application rate, when these terms are used as the subject of the job ad vs. using the word “insurance” in the title.

Also, include a base salary in the job advertisement. Another misperception is that insurance salespeople work on 100% commission. Many people will only apply for jobs when a base salary is included.

Finally, place your job ad with a respected job site. Sites like Indeed, which get more than 200 million unique visitors per month from over 60 countries, get more job traffic than their top three competitors combined.

3 Passive Recruiting When considering a candidate, look for successful sales experience and scan outside the insurance industry. Can the candidate set appointments and close the sale? Look for producer candidates that have the motivation, the desire, the tenacity and will to win. Consider active and passive candidates.

Active candidates are the ones that reach out to you, who are actively looking for a new opportunity. Passive candidates are the ones who you reach out to, who may not be looking for a new opportunity. Of the producers hired or placed successfully by MarshBerry in the 2015-2016 time period, 52% were passive candidates, 38% were active candidates and 10% were referrals.

High Growth agencies confirm the wisdom of hiring producers from outside the industry. In MarshBerry’s 2017 Organic Growth Study, almost half (48%) of High Growth Producers had non-industry sales positions compared to just over a third (35%) in Average agencies. The “sweet spot” of number of years’ sales experience reported by our respondents was two years.

SO, HOW DO YOU FIND PEOPLE WHO AREN’T LOOKING FOR JOBS?First, you must create a thorough profile of the candidate you want. Go back to those key qualities of successful producers. What type of person will succeed at your organization? (Remember, you can train them on insurance.) Next, conduct a search using key words to narrow down the pool of individuals to those possessing the qualities you want. For example, a LinkedIn search might include the terms sales, cold calling, lead generation, award-winner — and more. You select the words and key phrases based on the characteristics you feel are important for the position.

Continued on Page 12

AVERAGE PERCENTAGE OF

NEW PRODUCERS THAT COME FROM NON-INDUSTRY SALES POSITIONS++

OG: Organic Growth


In a seemingly killer process, how do you

Keep Your Deal Alive?by Eric Hallinan, Vice President 949.234.9652 | [email protected]

A signed Letter of Intent (LOI) only means that you have the potential to close a deal and make some money selling your agency. The deal is not done until agreements have been signed and the funds have cleared the bank. All the events leading up to a signed LOI are positive, hopeful, exciting; they are about developing relationships, building bridges, and exploring interesting opportunities.

After you have a signed LOI, the process to closing can seem like the exact opposite. Digging into due diligence, working through legal documents, negotiating with producers, and dealing with staff, clients, and carriers, are all part of a process that can feel somewhat destructive and may fill everyone with doubt and uncertainty. The process can be invasive, uncomfortable, and apparently focused on digging up skeletons and negotiating what happens only if things go bad.

So, what can you do? n Hire an Advisor. While agency owners may be quite skilled in selling insurance, that skill does not necessarily

translate to selling their business. A Merger & Acquisition advisor who specializes in the insurance industry can bring the right set of experience and mindset to the process to help balance solving problems, maximizing results without alienating the other side, offering creative solutions, and continuing to help build relationships.

n Clean Up Your Data. Good financial records, well documented production information by producer and client, organized contracts and legal records, and other good organization processes can help give you a leg up in the due diligence process and provide confidence in the quality of not only the data but also your financial controls and general record keeping.

n Check Your Emotions. There is no doubt that selling a business is an emotional process. Many agency owners have spent a career building and developing their agency, investing a lot of time, effort, energy into it. It is like a child, or a spouse to them. We believe it’s important to have a team of advisors that respect this and help you through this challenge. Open and constant communication is key.

n Be Flexible, Open-Minded, and Creative. Each insurance agency is unique and brings a different set of people, arrangements, products, services, and other circumstances that need to be well-understood and methodically analyzed within the structure of the deal. Each party should approach each deal with an open mind, a flexible attitude, and a propensity for creative problem solving to help ensure the right result while building bridges between parties and developing good quality relationships.

Above all, focus on good communication. This is not a situation where “no news is good news” — in fact, no news often means bad news. Clear and consistent dialogue helps build trust, and this can be the lifeline your deal needs to survive. n

“TRUST IS THE GLUE OF LIFE. IT’S THE MOST ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT IN EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION. IT’S THE FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLE THAT HOLDS ALL RELATIONSHIPS.” —Stephen Covey

Securities offered through MarshBerry Capital, Inc., Member FINRA and SIPC, and an affiliate of Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. 28601 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 400, Woodmere, OH 44122 • 440.392.3230. DEA

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Running an insurance brokerage can be complicated.

As a business owner, your instinct is to be the first-mover—that entrepreneurial spirit and competitive streak is part of why you’re successful. (The other part has to do with your hard-driving personality and work ethic.) As an owner, you are the early adopter, the trailblazer. When you have a vision, you want to make it happen.

But this inclination to “be first” can work against you sometimes. That’s specifically true with technology. Rather than diving in headfirst and potentially investing millions into a system, product or platform, stop and consider if there’s a better solution. We refer to this as Wait, See, Partner — or WSP.

This WSP philosophy can be tough for business owners to adopt because it requires not responding immediately to market forces, and that’s the opposite of what owners are wired to do. But it may also be the wisest strategic decision.

In some ways, WSP goes back to the old “reinventing the wheel” adage. If others are spending the money to create it, why not see who does it best and partner with the winner?

We know, waiting can feel like you’re being complacent. (You are not.) Watching what others are developing when you are standing on the sidelines can seem like you’re not responding to market dynamics like you’re known to do. (Trust us, in our experience it’s O.K. to just “see.”) And if you’ve always been a solo rider, partnering might not have crossed your mind as the winning solution. But it certainly can be.

Before you act, WSP. Conduct a thorough reality check by asking these three questions.

1 Do we need this?There’s want and need. Is this technology or system integral for you to continue doing business? Are there others doing it? Could you continue working as you are today and be successful while you wait?

2 Can we afford this?What are the hard and soft costs associated with the endeavor (e.g. staff investments, salaries, benefits, subcontractors/software engineers, etc.). And there are immeasurable soft costs such as hours spent in

meetings, plus the time your team is thinking about this initiative rather than focusing on the core business. Take the time to conduct a realistic cost-benefit analysis.

3 Does this align with our strategy?Revisit your strategic plan (do you have a strategic plan?). What are your goals and objectives, short- and long-term? How will you achieve these goals? Is this technology, product or system integral to your success? Or, are you being distracted by what’s out there in the market and whether it will forward your mission? If the technology or product would, in fact, improve your operations, is it necessary that you be the creator?

Wait. See. Partner. As they say, the waiting is the hardest. But we believe the reward of not investing your time and resources in a technology that you might acquire for a fraction of the cost off-the-shelf is worth it. Not to mention, partnering with a “winner” can help strengthen your position because you’ll be operating with the same systems/technology rather than working against theirs with your own creation.

The WSP gut check forces us to take a candid look at our businesses, and to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses. What is truly your competitive edge? Is it the way you offer personalized customer service, or a technology platform? Is it the relationships you build with clients, or a system? What matters to your success? When spending time considering these questions honestly, the adrenaline rush to be a first-mover on a certain technology or product tends to slow down. We gain a clear perspective that allows us to make more calculated decisions that will help deliver a positive return on investment to the business rather than jumping to develop “the latest.”

So, we encourage you to wait, see and partner. You don’t have to be the first to be the best. n

Need help identifying a strategic planning process for these types of decisions? Call us. Our team can help you put together a strategic plan which will guide your organization into the future.

Securities offered through MarshBerry Capital, Inc., Member FINRA and SIPC, and an affiliate of Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. 28601 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 400, Woodmere, OH 44122 • 440.392.3230.

Wait. See. Partner.You don’t have to be the first to be one of the best.by Albert Lloyd, Executive Vice President 440.392.6562 | [email protected]


The Importance of a Defined Sales Process by Jim Wochele, Unit Manager, Sales Performance 440.392.6559 | [email protected]

Through our extensive travels to agencies across the country and having spent more than 1,300 hours in 2016 alone coaching producers and executives, it’s becoming clear the importance of having a clearly defined sales process.

FIFTY-EIGHT PERCENT OF HIGH GROWTH AGENCIES HAVE A CLEARLY DEFINED SALES PROCESS, VERSUS 50% OF AVERAGE AGENCIES. Eight percent might not sound like a lot, but ironically, that’s the difference in new business production between High Growth Agencies and Average Agencies. According to MarshBerry’s proprietary financial management system, Perspectives for High Performance (PHP), High Growth Agencies produced 20.1% new business as a percentage of prior year’s commissions & fees, compared to 12.7% for Average Agencies).

High Growth Agencies are winning by design. It’s embedded into their culture and resonates outward to their clients, prospects and their community. This leads to a question you may be thinking now: “how can my agency embrace a defined sales process so we can be high growth?”

Here are some Pros and Cons of implementing a clearly defined sales process, along with the Do’s and Don’ts when implementing the sales process:

The Prosn More predictable sales. Better forecasting.

n Easier to identify producers’ strengths and weaknesses. Trends and coachable moments emerge.

n Path to success for new producers.

n Team members can hunt on larger accounts.

n Prospects have a consistent sales experience from your agency.

n Value creation for your customers and prospects.

n Producers are forced to better qualify accounts.

n Common language agency-wide, creating a better understanding on opportunities.

n Process enforcement can force you to make difficult decisions on underperformers. FOR

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DOES YOUR AGENCY HAVE A

CLEARLY DEFINED SALES PROCESS?++

Trailing Twelve Months 12/31/16

PIN Up AwardThis award recognizes the agency with the largest increase in PIN since joining the MarshBerry networks.

The Spring 2017 PIN Up award winner was The Starr Group (Greenfield, WI) with a 79% increase in PIN since joining APPEX in 2000.

PEER EXCHANGE NETWORK NEWSCongratulations to our2017 Pinnacle and PIN Up Winners!Both accomplishments are awarded in relation to an organization’s Performance Indicator Number (PIN), a MarshBerry proprietary calculation that summarizes a firm’s financial and operational performance.


The Consn You need a sales leader and sales manager to properly

implement (they can be the same person, but you need both roles).

n Full adaption is difficult and takes time.

n Confusion when your prospects have multiple buyers and buying processes.

n The right pipeline management software, and consultant, can be costly to implement.

The Do’sn Establish expectations for tracking, implementation,

training, coaching and adaption.

n Incorporate sales process milestones into your pipeline management system.

n Provide regular training sessions on the sales process.

n Coach ALL your producers 1-on-1.

n Have a process playbook that serves as a “cheat sheet” for all to reference.

n Conduct regular pipeline reviews for each producer.

n Keep it simple.

n Build your sales process from your ideal customers’ viewpoint.

The Don’tsn Forget collaboration. Get alignment on change from your

top producers first.

n Allow producers to pick and choose when they use the sales process.

n Throw money at a solution hoping that it gets fixed. Do your research on solutions! Establish goals, develop milestones, implement, document, train and coach.

n Expect producers to fully understand the sales process after the first training session.

n Don’t accept mediocrity.

At this point, the choice is yours. You should have a clearly defined sales process, and now have an idea of how to go about implementing one. If you already have a sales process, take a closer look and consider how your agency is adopting it to drive revenue. n

Pinnacle AwardThe Pinnacle Award is an honor that acknowledges the agency with the highest PIN, excluding agencies who have won within the last five years.

We are pleased to congratulate Barker Phillips Jackson (Springfield, MO) on winning the Pinnacle award for the first time in the agency’s APPEX tenure!


by Tommy McDonald, Vice President440.392.6700 | [email protected]

Forbes recently published an article on tips to make an “ugly” business sexy. I doubt our industry will ever be described as “sexy,” but a little makeover can’t hurt.

I doubt anyone would put “insurance agent” on a list of sexy jobs. Remember Ned Ryerson from “Groundhog Day.” Or more recently, Ed Helms, who stars in “Cedar Rapids” as Tim Lippe, the lowly insurance guy who secretly hates his life. Or just the general overall lack of understanding on what the insurance, employee benefits consulting and risk management industry actually does and the complexity and importance of the product.

INSURANCE DISTRIBUTION IS A VICTIM OF THE WORDS “INSURANCE” AND “AGENT.”What’s ironic is that the perception of our industry couldn’t be more wrong. In our opinion, this is a great industry and should be more marketable to top professionals, younger talent entering the workforce and ultimately be seen as an attractive career.

Many of our clients offer uncapped income for sales performance, residual commissions, competitive pay for service and support people, career pathing, and work in an industry where their role for a client, when it matters most, matters the most. What’s not sexy about that?

With complex products, worldwide demand, a great opportunity to build wealth and a work life balance, insurance distribution may be the sexist industry that no one knows about.

Why is this industry so misunderstood? Well for starters, many firms have not focused any effort on trying to fix the problem at the local level. Many firms have been ok with the status quo and, for the most part, have not dedicated the intentionality needed to change the plaid suit IN

DU

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SHow Can We Make Insurance Sexy?

brand that surrounds this industry. But, with an expected talent supply issue and younger people using Google as the benchmark for “what’s an attractive company to work for” we feel it’s time to spend the time and money on “insurance sexiness.”

Here are a few tips on how we believe you can try and make our industry better looking:

1 Niche It’s hard to be impressive when you are a generalist.

Take a step back and look at your company. What if you ran a list of all of your customers and only focused on selling and servicing three industries. How much more effective could your sales team be in targeted prospecting? How much more effective would your staff be in understanding the risk associated with those industries? How much more focused would your hiring efforts be? How much more expertise could you bring to your customers?

2 Establish a Competitive Advantage This industry is full of copy cats and poorly executed client retention plans.

How do you establish a product, process or service that NO OTHER FIRM in the industry can provide? How much time do you actually spend on this? Think about your most important customers and spend a day every quarter brainstorming about what they need that no one is providing them, insurance related or not.

3 Don’t be Afraid to Disrupt In this industry, something as simple as having well-used, well established technology can be enough to disrupt the status quo.

I can’t compare our clients to retailers or manufacturing or construction businesses, but my gut tells me that few firms are really willing to take disruptive risk. What are you doing that is completely different than the broker down the street?

4 TIM GUNN TIME? When is the last time you completely made over your office space and connected it to a corporate rebranding initiative?

We believe the look, feel, layout, color scheme, and design of your office and brand should be on your list of priorities as you look to acquire talent.n

CONGRATULATIONS to the following organizations

that were recently represented by MarshBerry in their transaction:

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7

Hub International LimitedHAS ACQUIRED

Denali Alaskan Insurance, LLC from Denali Federal Credit Union1

u Ryan Specialty Group, LLC

HAS ACQUIREDInterstate Insurance Management, Inc.1

u

BroadStreet Partners, Inc.HAS ACQUIRED

A Privately-Held Insurance Agency in Florida1

u

Hilb Group, LLC2

HAS ACQUIREDConsolidated Marketing Group, Inc.

dba Charlotte Insurance

M A R C H 2 0 1 7

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.HAS ACQUIRED

Farallone Pacific Insurance Services, LLC 1 u


BCI Group, Inc.1 u


Heritage Corporate Benefits, LLC1 u


Leavitt Insurance Services of Southern California, Inc.1

u

Baldwin Risk PartnersHAS ACQUIRED

Bradenton Insurance, LLC1

u

Ryan Specialty Group, LLCHAS ACQUIRED

Trident Marine Managers Inc.1

Securities offered through MarshBerry Capital, Inc., Member FINRA and SIPC, and an affiliate of Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. 28601 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 400, Woodmere, OH 44122 • 440.392.3230.

1MarshBerry represented the Seller in this transaction.2MarshBerry represented the Buyer in this transaction.

in Partnership with Insurance JournalMarshBerry and Insurance Journal have joined forces to bring a series of online technical training courses designed specifically to provide new producers in the Property & Casualty insurance industry the knowledge they need to develop a foundation for success.

This 15-hour, 8-week program is authored and instructed by Christopher J. Boggs, CPCU, ARM, ALCM, one of the top insurance educators in the country. In addition to the 8-week program, subscribers also have access to the entire catalog of courses and live webinars.

For more information, and to view a current training curriculum, visit: www.MarshBerry.com/training-portal

Property & Casualty Insurance Training for New Producers


HIRING PRODUCERS? TRY LOOKING OUTSIDE.Continued from Page 5

Ultimately, these searches on a site such as LinkedIn can narrow down the vast social media universe to the few hundred or so candidates that use those key words in their profiles. From there, you must craft a powerful message that is brief, straightforward and as personal as possible, given the fact that you don’t actually know the candidate and this person is not looking for job.

There is a science and art in narrowing the pool and creating a compelling message — one with an honest, concise power of suggestion that will plant that “what if” idea into a person’s mind. What if I pursued this opportunity? What if I were working someplace else? What if this job is actually a good match for me?

Remember, the person who is receiving the message is a total stranger. They did not ask to be contacted, and they are probably not looking for a job. Your role is essentially the salesperson, cold-calling and introducing the individual to your agency and its opportunities. What we find is that by identifying prime candidates and presenting an effective message, these passive candidates become “active.” They are not settled into insurance producer positions where they’d have to part with a book of business, and they have the qualities you’re looking for in a driven, high-performing producer. When passive recruiting is executed with expertise, the results are positive for agencies.

Hiring in the New Economy The No. 1 challenge agencies face today based on MarshBerry’s 2017 Organic Growth Study is growing the top line, and this happens through commission growth. Lack of producers is a critical issue at many firms, with 27% of respondents noting that a deficit in this role is the most concerning obstacle.

Meanwhile, when agencies hire the wrong person to fill a producer position, they put their growth in greater risk. With organic growth critical to the vitality and future of agencies, producers hold the key to a firms’ success. And, those producers who are “hunters” challenge others on the team to up their game. High-performing salespeople create a contagious energy and can reinvigorate the culture. That momentum, drive—it ignites producers who, perhaps, were becoming complacent or lagging in performance.

SO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO CULTIVATE A GROWTH ENVIRONMENT?First, you should put an employee referral program in place, and post a job ad online at Indeed. Consider passive recruiting. Ask yourself: Do you have the capacity and knowledge to do execute it effectively? Many small- and medium-sized firms do not, which is why they rely on experienced recruiters for this important role. Because more than half of candidates MarshBerry hired last year came through passive recruiting, we know it is a highly effective means of mining talent from outside of the industry who have high-performing producer characteristics.

Whatever you do, think outside of the typical hiring box when recruiting your next producer. Look beyond the industry — focus on the qualities that drive success. And remember, those candidates do more than fill one position; they can re-boot the sales culture at your agency. n

2016 DealsA

MARSHBERRY

EVERYONE ELSE

Merger & Acquisition Transactions in Insurance Brokerage 1999-2016Ranked by Total Number of Deals

1999-2016 Completed Transactions

Completed transactions in the United States as reported by S&P Global Market Intelligence, February 1, 2017

MOST ACTIVE: ADVISOR RANKINGS

• 602B total Merger & Acquisition (M&A) transactions advised on since 1999, representing 28% of total advised deal flow as tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

• $4.1B in advised transaction value since 2012C

• 325 M&A transactions since 1995 with the 100 largest brokers of U.S. business as identified by Business Insurance, and over 205 Bank-Related Insurance M&A transactions since 1997

• Completed more than 275 diagnostic and confirmatory due diligence projects over the last thirteen years

Securities offered through MarshBerry Capital, Inc., Member FINRA and SIPC, and an affiliate of Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. 28601 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 400, Woodmere, Ohio 44122 (440.354.3230).

A Completed transactions in the United States for 2016 as reported by S&P Global Market Intelligence, February 1, 2017.

B These totals include certain transactions completed by Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc. professionals while employed at another firm, whereby substantially all of the assets were acquired by Marsh, Berry & Company, Inc.

C Based upon maximum possible purchase price; MarshBerry advised deals through 12/31/16.

CHALK IT UP TO MARSHBERRY.

#1 M&A RANKING BY S&P GLOBAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE

602B

70

800.426.2774 • www.MarshBerry.com

This data displays a snapshot at a particular point in time of the number of deals as reported by S&P Global Market Intelligence. It has not been updated to reflect subsequent changes, if any.

MARSHBERRYlearn. improve. realize.

28601 Chagrin Blvd., Ste. 400 Woodmere, OH 44122

www.MarshBerry.com

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Mark your calendars!MAY 2017 2017 MarshBerry 3605.09 • New Orleans, Harrah’s New Orleans5.11 • New York, Convene at 237 Park Avenue5.23 • Chicago, Swissotel Chicago5.25 • Las Vegas, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

JUNE 20176.15-16 • SalesPro-Producer Performance Workshop,

Cleveland, OH6.15-16 • Organic Growth Leadership Seminar,

Cleveland, OH

SEPTEMBER 20179.11-13 • BANK/TASC Summit, Atlanta, GA

OC TOBER 201710.5-6 • SalesPro-Producer Performance Workshop,

Cleveland, OH10.16-17 • The Art & Science of Mentoring Producers,

Scottsdale, AZ

NOVEMBER 201711.8-9 • 11th Annual Insurance Brokerage Summit,

Washington D.C.

MARSHBERRY28601 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 400, Woodmere, Ohio 44122

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