Fine-tuning your agency "orchestra"

Rough Notes, Oct 1999 by Shumaker, Wanda

CSRs, producers, accounting personnel all have different roles. How do you get them to perform together?

The artistry of a symphonic orchestra has always filled me with awe. Listening to the cacophony of the initial warm-up session, however, makes it hard to imagine that so many assorted musicians and instruments could produce a harmonious auditory experience much richer than the notes of the individual instruments. Without the interaction of the woodwinds, strings, percussion and brass, the performance would be much less dynamic.

Being forever fond of metaphoric comparison, I was struck by how many of my automation training/consulting experiences were "symphonies in the rough." Finding the individual talent within an agency was never difficult. Each department typically exhibited skill and pride in its particular area of expertise. The challenge was in helping the agency identify the sour notes emanating from internal departmental discord and subsequently building a plan to fine-tune them.

A case history

A member of the accounting staff expressed genuine concern that the new computer system meant that she would be spending countless additional hours correcting the mistakes of "all those CSRs." General interaction with the CSR staff indicated that the CSRs felt that the accounting department deemed them incapable of correcting their own errors. The resulting interaction was one of mere tolerance, at best. During the same visit, the service staff expressed their opinions that procedural changes to enhance the automation experience were needed, but they were outwardly doubtful that "any of those producers" would do anything to promote the cause.

The sales staff didn't understand why they had to participate in the process at all. They openly resented a poorly communicated mandate that, to them, seemed to bring on more clerical responsibilities. Not surprisingly, the owner constantly complained that none of the past automation experiences was financially rewarding, either from increased profits or higher levels of staff productivity.

Every organization has its bouts with internal discord. It has been my experience that many agencies suffer from similar lines of division that can undermine any process. Is conflict natural? Of course it is, to a degree. And it's a way of life in any organization that relies on individuals with unique character traits to do a variety of tasks. Varying personality types are necessary in an agency so it can effectively fill the different positions that make it successful.

Don't forget the music

An orchestra may be comprised of the best talent available, but without the musicians' singular focus on the musical composition, no audience would listen to hours of discordant "warm up" music. Consider that the musical score for the automation process consists of the procedures that everyone in the agency understands and practices.

When developing automation workflow routines, be sure to transition one to another whenever possible. The cause of internal conflict is often a simple misunderstanding of another department's responsibilities and tasks as illustrated by the following example.

One topic that surfaced in a number of agencies was a specific complaint from the accounting department that centered on the improper amounts booked for premium finance credits. The accounting manager was convinced that the problem was insurmountable because the CSR was not concerned with accuracy. Knowing that this was likely not the real root of the problem, I decided to hold a "special billing situation" discussion, requiring both the accounting and the customer service staff to attend.

As I suspected, the difficulty was not the CSR's lackadaisical attitude. Rather, it was simply a matter of timing. The client signature on the finance agreement, as well as the down payment, often were delayed. This resulted in the first or even second installment being due, which would be deducted from the agency's disbursement by the finance company, causing the disparity in the original booked finance credit. When asked the reason for the timing problem, the CSR indicated that the producers rarely returned the form on time.

Soliciting comment from the producers, I learned that the decision to finance was often an "afterthought" in the process. By pooling ideas from the sales, service, and accounting staff, we were able to craft a workflow that everyone could live with. First, the sales/renewal workflow had to address the possibility of financing early in the process. Producers were given the timeline of a typical premium finance transaction, and guidelines were set up as to when the signature, form and down payment were required. It was included as part of their existing pre-renewal and new business fact-finding process, so timing was rarely a problem anymore.

Service staff members were expected to maintain follow-up once the producer received the form. If it became evident that, for whatever reason, the initial down payment would not be enough, a billing for the initial installment needed to be prepared for the producer to deliver to the client, along with a written memo of explanation. Accounting would be advised via e-mail of a client's being financed so they could identify such clients.