Sitkins Group Blog - Insurance Agency Tips & Words of Wisdom

What Kind of Agency Are You?

behaviors leadership strategies Mar 05, 2019

ON THE PODIUM OF AGENCIES, ARE YOU PLATINUM, GOLD OR SILVER?

Many names or labels have been attached to independent agencies throughout the years: Mom-and-Pop (a literal description of my parents’ business); Lifestyle (corporate and personal finances are commingled to support a comfortable lifestyle); Plateaued (working hard and doing okay, but clients are coming in the front door and going out the back, and every year looks about the same); Growth-Oriented (understanding how to retain customers at a high level while also maintaining an organic growth rate at two to three times the national average); Aggressive (it’s all about selling new accounts to the exclusion of taking care of the old ones); and many more than space permits.

In categorizing agencies, I basically believe there are three kinds: Platinum, Gold and Silver. I’d like to challenge you, as one of our readers, to think of your agency as described below and determine if you’re a Platinum, Gold or...

Six Ways to Improve Your Insurance Agency

behaviors commitments improvements leaders leadership strategies May 03, 2018

Top Leaders Adhere to Core Commitments

There are literally scores of strategies and behaviors that agencies can implement in their quest to achieve great results. However, I’ve found that the greatest results come from focusing on a few selected strategies. The opposite is also true: The more things you chase, the fewer things you catch!

Chasing too many strategies certainly doesn’t provide clarity and focus for your team. Too often what they’re chasing becomes the “flavor of the week,” prompting the staff to think, “Don’t worry, this too shall pass,” because they know you won’t stick with it.

During a private presentation to a group of agency principals recently, I was asked to identify the traits I see in the best agency leaders. Because it’s such an extensive list and because I believe that less is more, I narrowed it down to the Key Core Commitments of great agency leaders. In case you’re wondering, my definition...

The Wrong Way is Never the Right Way: Part Two

behaviors Dec 08, 2016

Typical wrong behaviors

Here are some of the things I’ve seen people do over the years that are absolutely wrong.

Focusing on Multiple Activities vs. Results. What you focus on, you will experience; so if you’re focused on the wrong things, your experience will yield the wrong results. What are you focusing on, and is it really what you want?

For example, are you focused on activities vs. results? Are you wasting time complaining? Do you spend way too much time staring at your cell phone or computer monitor vs. actually talking to people? Is your focus scattered in many different directions?

Researchers have discovered (and are proving) that multi-tasking is a myth and creates up to a 28% loss of productivity. Their studies show that the idea of being able to do many things (adequately) at once is a lie. You might be able to tackle several projects simultaneously, but it’s doubtful you’ll accomplish much of anything unless you address each task individually.

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The Wrong Way is Never the Right Way: Part One

behaviors Dec 01, 2016

Left to our own devices, most of us often end up doing the wrong things.

Otherwise, we’d all be super successful, healthy, happy and wise, right? These wrong things prevent us from getting optimum results, so why do we do them?

Perhaps it’s because we don’t have to do the right things. After all, the independent agency is a great business model that allows the wrong things to still generate pretty good results. During our training programs, I often ask: “How many of you are making more money than you thought you’d ever make?” And, “How many of you are making way more than your friends and siblings?” And finally, “How many are making more money than you’d make if you had a real job?”

Every time I ask that last question, everyone in the room always cracks up! People realize that in just about any other business, they wouldn’t have the opportunities they have now. The reality is that most of us would be fired if we...

What Kind of Agency Are You?

Six Ways to Improve Your Insurance Agency

Top Leaders Adhere to Core Commitments

The Wrong Way is Never the Right Way: Part Two

Typical wrong behaviors

The Wrong Way is Never the Right Way: Part One

Left to our own devices, most of us often end up doing the wrong things.

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