RookieMistakes
New Member
- 6
Hello everyone!
First of all, thank you for your help in advance. I love this forum! It's the absolute best & everyone comes together so effortlessly. Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart!
Secondly, I apologize for how long this is. Please do not feel obligated to read the whole thing. My question is mostly at the bottom!
Well, to start off. Here's a back story before I dive in
I have been a local insurance agency CSR/producer since Sep 2021. I was originally hired as a CSR for a local farmers agent. That agent ended up getting terminated & sold her agency to a newly appointed person with little insurance experience. We didn't have to stay with the new agent of course, but I decided to because I was comfortable with my co workers & I didn't have anything against the new agent. I also had already been there for several months & to my understanding everything was going to stay the EXACT same.
Well, at the time, I think we have a great team! I was CSR mainly, but still brought in sales enough for additional bonuses. I made well over any other CSR made in my area as well. I had co workers who each had their own responsibilities. One main sales rep who missed A LOT of work, loved to travel, but when she was in she brought in 10-20,000 dollars in premium. Not as much as we were expected to bring in, but enough to where she was needed. My other co workers focused on retention. Though it lost the agency money, we retained a large portion of clients who otherwise would have cancelled & we would have gotten nothing. (This was right in the middle of the Texas State Revision). Additionally she would bring in 4-6,000 or premium. I would probably bring in another 10,000 of premium, even though I was just a CSR.
Anyways, soo we were a great team. No one was trying to get in each others way. We all handled our own & we got a long along very well. We all tried to help each other as much as possible. We are all still very close friends even now. So yes, that does mean they left. One by one, they started going on their own building businesses & doing well, (we all had something we enjoyed doing that could turn into a business at some point, so they focused on that)
I stayed.. one because I was too scared to focus on my credit repair business, even though I had my LLC & was marketing it on the side. I stayed as a CSR. Right before they both left; the main sales rep left first. That made a HUGE difference because our sales were low. Mostly just what I brought in & o top of customer service it was hard to make high numbers. Well we had several new sales reps that tried but just couldn't reach those numbers. People came & left. Next my other coworker left the one that did retention.
So it was just me for maybe 2 months on my own, during which I got very very lucky and sold PLENTY. Even I was surprised. Side note: Before the previous agent left she had a customer who was very dedicated to our office, mostly because he loved my service. When the old agent left he wanted to stay with me so we brought that over to our agency & he was like a $1M premium so it was a big customer for us. Well he came to my rescue during that time of me alone & brought in more business that I was reached 70,000 premium one of those months I was alone. (Still doing CSR & sales) I loooked good lol
Anyways we brought in more help.. the help wasn't helping.. the new reps were lost. I did all the training & showed them how to do pretty much everything! My boss was MIA almost every day & when she was there it didn't make a difference. I trained the best I could. (I was not a sales rep, my sales called in, I didn't cold call) I tried to express how important it was for them to be go-getters. Find their leads, push them, because THEY WERE PRIMARILY SALES. & IT WAS THEIR COMMISSION! The more sales the more money FOR THEM! Well, I tried & the girls learned & they did ok, but month after month it was like we just werent making strong sales… well now we are almost a year into the changes & we are still bringing in looowwww numbers. It's to the point we're EVERY sales meeting is just how bad we are doing.. KEEEP IN MIND I AM BRINGING IN 10-20k a month on average while doing the CSR while answering every question the new girls have while handling almost everything from claims to payments (both internal & commercial), customer complaints, marketers, EVERYTHING ok, exempt whatever the agent does like Payroll or whatever..
Okay, well, I'm at the point where I'm frustrated that our sales team isn't good, but it's not my responsibility because I'm NOT a manager or anything of that sort.. but maybe I'm expected to act like one? I think, I'm not sure!
At this point I am soo lost on what I should do, so this leads me to my question, my dilemma, my quarter life crises if you will..
Should I leave & start again at a different insurance company, should I try to focus on my business, OR SHOULD I PUT MY BIG GIRL PANTS ON & STEP UP AS A MANAGER & TRY TO FIX THE PROBLEM?
I'm pretty sure if I told my boss, I want to be the manager & I want the opportunity to manage the team to make them better ON MY OWN TERMS NOT MICROMANAGED (my previous employer invested micromanaging), she would let me! BUT my problem is i don't know how to manage properly. I don't know how to implement a system efficiently to where the employees would listen & not retaliate or make the work environment uncomfortable (again previous experience has me traumatized)
I have never had management training.
Keep in mind, I act as a manager now. I mean everyone goes to me for help. EVERYONE even my boss most of the time.
But I have never made it seem like I was above anyone, ever. I never said I was management so treat me as so, no never. It's always been that I'm helpful but we are all the same okay.
But, now it's just not good. The reps aren't selling & I feel like I'm failing EVEN THOUGH MY SALES ARE COMING IN & I'm STILL RUNNING THE WHOLE OFFICE. But still, I feel it in my heart that it's in me.
Soo, back to my question should I stay or should I go?! (If I stay, there will be trouble… jk)
Is it a good idea try try to take over ? How do I even do that, if so? Am I over thinking ? Am I making it seem more important than it really is? WHY AM I SO SCARED !!
First of all, thank you for your help in advance. I love this forum! It's the absolute best & everyone comes together so effortlessly. Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart!
Secondly, I apologize for how long this is. Please do not feel obligated to read the whole thing. My question is mostly at the bottom!
Well, to start off. Here's a back story before I dive in
I have been a local insurance agency CSR/producer since Sep 2021. I was originally hired as a CSR for a local farmers agent. That agent ended up getting terminated & sold her agency to a newly appointed person with little insurance experience. We didn't have to stay with the new agent of course, but I decided to because I was comfortable with my co workers & I didn't have anything against the new agent. I also had already been there for several months & to my understanding everything was going to stay the EXACT same.
Well, at the time, I think we have a great team! I was CSR mainly, but still brought in sales enough for additional bonuses. I made well over any other CSR made in my area as well. I had co workers who each had their own responsibilities. One main sales rep who missed A LOT of work, loved to travel, but when she was in she brought in 10-20,000 dollars in premium. Not as much as we were expected to bring in, but enough to where she was needed. My other co workers focused on retention. Though it lost the agency money, we retained a large portion of clients who otherwise would have cancelled & we would have gotten nothing. (This was right in the middle of the Texas State Revision). Additionally she would bring in 4-6,000 or premium. I would probably bring in another 10,000 of premium, even though I was just a CSR.
Anyways, soo we were a great team. No one was trying to get in each others way. We all handled our own & we got a long along very well. We all tried to help each other as much as possible. We are all still very close friends even now. So yes, that does mean they left. One by one, they started going on their own building businesses & doing well, (we all had something we enjoyed doing that could turn into a business at some point, so they focused on that)
I stayed.. one because I was too scared to focus on my credit repair business, even though I had my LLC & was marketing it on the side. I stayed as a CSR. Right before they both left; the main sales rep left first. That made a HUGE difference because our sales were low. Mostly just what I brought in & o top of customer service it was hard to make high numbers. Well we had several new sales reps that tried but just couldn't reach those numbers. People came & left. Next my other coworker left the one that did retention.
So it was just me for maybe 2 months on my own, during which I got very very lucky and sold PLENTY. Even I was surprised. Side note: Before the previous agent left she had a customer who was very dedicated to our office, mostly because he loved my service. When the old agent left he wanted to stay with me so we brought that over to our agency & he was like a $1M premium so it was a big customer for us. Well he came to my rescue during that time of me alone & brought in more business that I was reached 70,000 premium one of those months I was alone. (Still doing CSR & sales) I loooked good lol
Anyways we brought in more help.. the help wasn't helping.. the new reps were lost. I did all the training & showed them how to do pretty much everything! My boss was MIA almost every day & when she was there it didn't make a difference. I trained the best I could. (I was not a sales rep, my sales called in, I didn't cold call) I tried to express how important it was for them to be go-getters. Find their leads, push them, because THEY WERE PRIMARILY SALES. & IT WAS THEIR COMMISSION! The more sales the more money FOR THEM! Well, I tried & the girls learned & they did ok, but month after month it was like we just werent making strong sales… well now we are almost a year into the changes & we are still bringing in looowwww numbers. It's to the point we're EVERY sales meeting is just how bad we are doing.. KEEEP IN MIND I AM BRINGING IN 10-20k a month on average while doing the CSR while answering every question the new girls have while handling almost everything from claims to payments (both internal & commercial), customer complaints, marketers, EVERYTHING ok, exempt whatever the agent does like Payroll or whatever..
Okay, well, I'm at the point where I'm frustrated that our sales team isn't good, but it's not my responsibility because I'm NOT a manager or anything of that sort.. but maybe I'm expected to act like one? I think, I'm not sure!
At this point I am soo lost on what I should do, so this leads me to my question, my dilemma, my quarter life crises if you will..
Should I leave & start again at a different insurance company, should I try to focus on my business, OR SHOULD I PUT MY BIG GIRL PANTS ON & STEP UP AS A MANAGER & TRY TO FIX THE PROBLEM?
I'm pretty sure if I told my boss, I want to be the manager & I want the opportunity to manage the team to make them better ON MY OWN TERMS NOT MICROMANAGED (my previous employer invested micromanaging), she would let me! BUT my problem is i don't know how to manage properly. I don't know how to implement a system efficiently to where the employees would listen & not retaliate or make the work environment uncomfortable (again previous experience has me traumatized)
I have never had management training.
Keep in mind, I act as a manager now. I mean everyone goes to me for help. EVERYONE even my boss most of the time.
But I have never made it seem like I was above anyone, ever. I never said I was management so treat me as so, no never. It's always been that I'm helpful but we are all the same okay.
But, now it's just not good. The reps aren't selling & I feel like I'm failing EVEN THOUGH MY SALES ARE COMING IN & I'm STILL RUNNING THE WHOLE OFFICE. But still, I feel it in my heart that it's in me.
Soo, back to my question should I stay or should I go?! (If I stay, there will be trouble… jk)
Is it a good idea try try to take over ? How do I even do that, if so? Am I over thinking ? Am I making it seem more important than it really is? WHY AM I SO SCARED !!
