OTHER PAGE

The Unnatural Transition from Service to Sales

Transitioning service staff to sales positions is an up-hill battle at best. There have been many more failures than successes. However, there are some situations where this transition is appropriate and possible, although it will almost certainly be unnatural to the CSR. In this article, I'll give you the "Do's" and "Don'ts" in moving from service to sales.

It’s not a common occurrence – but we have seen it in some agencies -- a Customer Service Representative or Account Manager desires to move between service and sales. The reason that the transition between sales and service is not a common occurrence is that the personalities of a service oriented person and a sales oriented person are quite different. If a producer personality tried to be a CSR, (s)he would ‘care’ about the customers but would not be particularly good at the details of processing and follow-up that marks the strengths of the service personality. So a strong CSR would not be likely to be a strong salesperson.

Why do some service staffers move to sales?

1. The ‘Square Peg in a Round Hole’ – Many agencies still don’t test for personality qualifications for a job type. So it is possible that the ‘caring’ so prominent in a personality is really the sales strength of ‘empathy’. If an empathetic sales personality is placed in a service role, (s)he won’t be successful in the job although obviously ‘good with customers’. In this case the transition to sales is natural.

2. The need for money – While the agency cannot succeed without talented service staff, it is the sales staff that initially brings in the clients, thereby making them more valuable to the agency. If a service representative is faced with a need for more money, (s)he may want to move into sales as a possible way of achieving greater compensation.

3. Pressure from above – The Peter Principle – This is a serious disservice to the employee. The agent is so impressed by the synergy, empathy and strong relationships created by the CSR with the clients that he pressures the CSR into converting to sales under the (false) hope that the CSR will use those same skills to sell insurance to prospects. The Peter Principle is defined as promoting an employee to one level above his/her competency. Unfortunately, when the agent and employee both realize that the relationship skills do not automatically transfer into sales skills it may be too late to retain the employee in his/her prior role.

How to convert service staff to sales without the ‘shock’ of going from secure salary to commission

If it is determined that a salaried employee is to be converted to sales, the most difficult transition is that of role change vs. compensation.

Role Change
Can a staffer be responsible for both sales and a service load? That’s a rhetorical question because for 200 years independent agents began their careers selling insurance (since they had no customers), gradually increasing their service load as their customer base grew until they no longer had time to sell. Then they hired staff to handle the service to permit them to go back out to sell because they recognized their own strengths and weaknesses. Those who were better servicers than producers remained servicing their books of business. Those who were better producers than servicers (and were smart enough to do something about it) hired strong servicers and ‘hit the road’ to sell more insurance.

The fact of the matter is that one person cannot competently both service and sell to the degree that each task requires. The same thing applies to servicers who are being converted to sales.

The best transitions occur when the agency and the servicer both commit to the change and focus the time and efforts of the employee on the new tasks. This means replacing the service role with another employee and providing the training, mentoring and time needed by the employee to develop into a competent producer.

The problem with this level of commitment is that the former servicer probably needs every dollar of salary previously earned (and more) to support their lifestyle. Most employees simply cannot afford to go from salary to draw or commission, nor would they be willing to take that risk. However, transitional compensation programs exist that wean the employee off service-level salary to sales compensation (whether salary, draw or commission) over time as their successes on the new job increase.

Compensation Transition
Imagine a CSR earning $40,000 for managing a $500,000 revenue book of business. When that CSR moves to sales, (s)he can’t afford to take a pay cut while they learn the sales job. And the agency must continue to service the accounts with a full time service representative (part-time CSRs are a disservice to the clients who can’t reach them when they are not in the office and to the other service staff who must take up the slack in the part-timer’s absence).

The agency replaces the CSR and devotes his/her time to sales. The most successful transitions occur on a quarterly basis over a two-year period with one-eighth of compensation shifting from salary base to sales based in each quarter. The commission rate paid to the producer is lower than standard to allow the agency to be compensated for the salary that they are now ‘fronting’ to the employee while (s)he develops the necessary sales skills to generate sufficient sales to compensate them fairly. That lower commission level continues even after the two year period until the difference in commission recompenses the agency for the salary that they have ‘fronted’ during the new producer’s ‘breaking in’ period. The duration of the commission extension is typically as long as it took to wean the producer from service-level salary (two years). At the conclusion of the repayment period the producer’s commission rate accelerates to that normally paid to producers in the agency.

Many agencies are tempted to ‘give’ the new salesperson a book of business with responsibilities for renewals and commensurate renewal commissions. This is normally a mistake because it takes the producers focus off sales and the temptation to spend time ‘servicing’ the book of business instead of prospecting for new clients is strong.

Transitioning service staff to sales positions is an up-hill battle at best. There have been many more failures than successes.

The DON’Ts associated with this transition are:

1. Don’t move someone from sales to service without testing them (Omnia, Personality Dynamics, Caliper, etc. – they are all good at identifying the different personality types).

2. Don’t pressure someone to move if they are ‘security’ conscious.

3. A GREAT CSR does not necessarily make a GREAT producer.

4. Don’t make the employee take financial risks at the same time (s)he is trying to learn a new skill, sales. The pressure is so intense that you may ruin someone who would otherwise make a good producer.

5. Don’t permit the employee to split focus by giving him/her multiple tasks. If you want a salesperson, focus their efforts on pure sales.