By Brent M. Kelly

One of the most vital aspects of insurance agency growth is simply knowing what it is you want and then having the focus, consistency, and persistence to go get it.

One of my favorite resources that we use with our Sitkins Network members is the 80/20 analysis.

I am guessing that you are at least vaguely familiar with the 80/20 principle, commonly known as the Pareto principle, named after Italian Vilfredo Pareto, who discovered this principle when studying land ownership.   

The 80/20 principle is true in many areas in life and business such as:

·      20 percent of the roads produce 80 percent of the traffic jams

·      20 percent of drinkers consume 80 percent of beer

·      20 percent of students generate 80 percent of classroom discussions

·      20 percent of your clothes are worn 80 percent of the time

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TAKE THESE STEPS AND WATCH YOUR AGENCY GROW

Are you an effective leader? Turn around and see if everyone—or anyone—is following you. If no one is there, you have your answer: You’re not an effective leader!

Not surprisingly, the best leaders in our CEO programs are the ones who achieve the greatest results. They’re the ones who identify the behaviors and strategies that become non-optional within their agency. Further, they demand accountability. They agree on what they’re going to do, and then they hold themselves and their team members accountable. That’s a leader!

Having said that, I believe it’s time that agency owners and producers make true organic growth a non-optional result. The reality is that the average agency is only achieving around 3% to 4% organic growth. I hope that you (as one of our readers) and your agency find this statistic to be unacceptable. Personally, I think it’s too low. However, it’s...