PIA Connection Online

Turning high potential hires into successful producers

Independent insurance agencies have been talking about the producer shortage for years. Where do you find good people? How do you attract younger professionals to insurance? How do you compete for talent? Those are important questions. But the hardest thing happens after the hire: how do you turn someone with potential into a successful producer?

The challenge has become more complicated as the producer’s job has changed. Today’s producers must understand a complex and rapidly changing insurance marketplace, cultivate referral sources, communicate across multiple channels, prospect consistently, and understand coverage to advise clients on risks they may not even know they have. And they need to do all of that while producing results.

“I think the job got heavier,” said Michael Cruz, owner of Foresight Insurance. “It’s a lot harder to be a producer today with managing multiple relationships, the technology, and the ways underwriting appetites change. There’s a lot more pressure across the board.”

That means agencies need to think differently about producer development. It isn’t simply a matter of teaching someone the products, giving them a sales goal and waiting to see whether they can build a book. Development needs to be intentional and it starts with being clear about what the agency is trying to develop.

The best producers ultimately become more than salespeople. They become trusted advisers who know how to ask the right questions, understand a client’s business or personal risks, explain coverage, build relationships and earn the confidence that keeps clients with an agency over time.

That distinction is important. “Insurance is never won on price alone,” says Rich Savino, Vice President, Specialty Markets, Trucordia. “People want someone who has their back.”

For agencies trying to develop the next generation of producers, that changes the assignment. The objective isn’t simply to teach someone how to sell insurance. It’s to develop the knowledge, judgment, discipline, and relationship skills that make clients want to buy insurance from them and keep turning to them for advice.

A License Is the Starting Line

Developing producers who can open and grow relationships requires agencies to think differently about training. “The expectations of new producers have changed considerably,” explains Bethany George, Senior Training Consultant, Liberty Mutual Insurance. “The traditional approach to onboarding was relatively straightforward: give new producers the books, have them learn the policies, get them through the licensing exam and let them learn the rest as they went. That’s no longer enough,” she says.

The learning curve during a producer’s first 12 to 18 months can be steep. Product and carrier knowledge remain important, but agencies also need people who are adaptable, resilient and able to manage multiple responsibilities. “You might be servicing, you might be selling, you might be prospecting, you might be marketing,” George says. “We ask so much more of the people sitting in these roles.”

Research and industry training efforts increasingly reflect that reality. Producer development today has to combine technical insurance knowledge with sales ability, relationship skills, and practical experience. Knowing coverage without being able to uncover needs, communicate value, and build relationships isn’t enough.

The abundance of easily accessible information about insurance makes the distinction particularly important. “Whether it’s Google or AI, it can be a shortcut. It can help, but we can’t count on that,” says Erik Leeming, founder, Professional Insurance Foundation.

Licensing exams provide a foundation, but producers, particularly those moving directly into commercial insurance, still have significant technical knowledge to develop. “If you’re in a position of placing business… if you’re not reading those policies, what they currently have and what they’re getting next, you are putting a potential E&O issue out there for your agency,” Leeming explains.

Training Should Look Like the Job

Producer development should never be sink-or-swim. People generally don’t learn a complex job simply by reading about it or completing online courses. “You can’t just put producers in front of books or tablets or online courses and expect them to just take in that information and be able to do it,” George says.

New producers need instruction, but they also need opportunities to watch someone do the work, try it themselves, ask questions, and receive feedback. “I know one organization that puts groups of new employees through a multiweek learning experience that includes getting into the field with risk-control professionals and visiting actual clients. The participants go through the experience together, creating both practical application and a shared learning experience,” explains Leeming.

Development can’t end when onboarding does. Insurance isn’t static: policies change, carrier appetites change, and risks change. The skills that make someone successful also evolve. Agencies that succeed create a culture of consistent learning in which employees are comfortable asking questions, as well as developing technical knowledge, and skills, such as resilience, adaptability, and goal setting, according to George.

This can be an issue even with experienced hires such as someone coming from a captive agency or shifting from personal to commercial lines as well. It’s important that agencies recognize that even long-term insurance producers need development plans.

Build the Process Before You Hire

For Jason Kilgo, founder of KilGO Insurance, one lesson is straightforward: create the process before you need it. The agencies he admires most aren’t figuring out how to interview someone when an opening appears or deciding what onboarding should include after the new employee walks through the door.

“They’ve got their process dialed in,” Kilgo says. “When the situation comes up to hire, they’re not just scrambling to try to do something.” The recruiting process is established, the interview process is defined, and there’s a clear plan for onboarding and expectations.

It’s also important to consider from the employee’s perspective. “New producers should look for an agency that can clearly explain how they will be trained and where the job can lead,” said Leeming. “An agency that simply says find your clients, start dialing for dollars and you’ll learn along the way is a recipe for disaster.”

Kilgo has also developed levels within positions so employees can visualize progress rather than feeling they have simply landed in a job they will perform indefinitely. “There’s a path. They can see what it takes to get from here to the next level,” he says. “And it includes a variety of factors: money, title, pride and recognition.”

That matters in an industry competing for talented people who may not initially understand how many career paths insurance offers. It may matter even more to smaller and midsized independent agencies. Larger employers often have recognizable titles, formal development programs and obvious organizational ladders. Independent agencies may offer tremendous career opportunities, but they have to make those opportunities visible. “Structure isn’t administrative work that can continually be pushed aside,” explained Kilgo. “It’s not optional.”

The same discipline applies to finding talent. Cruz says agencies are already behind if they wait until they have an empty desk to start recruiting. “By the time you need somebody, it’s too late to find somebody,” he said. Recruiting should be continuous, almost an extension of agency marketing.

There’s an often-overlooked connection between an agency’s marketplace reputation and its employer brand. People who see an agency as energetic, successful and values-driven may decide they want to be part of it. Kilgo has seen that happen based on the brand his agency has built. Employees have come from clients, former clients, referral partners and referrals from existing employees.

That doesn’t mean everyone who is interested should be hired. Kilgo has turned down candidates who came highly recommended but weren’t the right cultural fit. Developing successful producers begins by being deliberate about who you bring into the organization in the first place.

Make Mentoring and Ongoing Development Intentional

Remote and hybrid work have expanded the pool of talent available to agencies. But they have also changed the way newer employees learn. “My agency uses a learning management system to provide a structured curriculum and checkpoints that allow managers to assess whether people are retaining what they are learning. I also draw heavily on carrier training programs to supplement what the agency provides,” says Cruz.

But even a strong virtual program has limitations. “Learning often clicks when a new producer is physically alongside an experienced colleague, watching someone complete a task or listening to a real client call,” according to Cruz. “In addition to virtual learning, you have to create opportunities for shadowing and coaching to really take that producer to the next level,” he says.

It’s also important to select mentors carefully. Being good at insurance doesn’t automatically make someone good at teaching insurance. Kilgo encourages agency owners to identify team members who are willing to coach, answer questions and let someone learn alongside them. Assigning a new producer to shadow a high performer who has no interest in developing another person creates frustration for both of them.

Mentoring also doesn’t have to mean assigning every new producer a single, formal mentor. Some of the most valuable learning happens in the middle of real work: an experienced producer explaining how to approach a difficult renewal, an account manager spotting a coverage issue or an underwriter explaining why a risk was declined and what could make it more attractive. Agencies can create more of those learning moments by giving newer producers access to different people and perspectives, both inside and outside the agency.

Measure What Happens Before the Sale

Ultimately, producers have to make sales. But measuring only written premium tells an agency what happened. It doesn’t necessarily reveal why. Cruz focuses heavily on activity, because sales are a lagging indicator. He looks at calls, emails, networking, visits with centers of influence, pipeline movement and follow-up. “I say to the sales team: you can’t always control the outcome, but you can control the activity,” he says.

Early in a producer’s development, these metrics give managers something useful to coach. A producer can sit down with a manager and discuss: What did I plan to do? What did I actually do? Where is my pipeline moving? Where is it getting stuck? What can I change?  Things like being too slow to make contact, or issues that surface after the presentation, or weak follow-up can all be identified and corrected.

Data makes coaching specific. Kilgo built a shared command center that allows his team to see key performance metrics and monitor their own progress. “The numbers speak for themselves,” he explains. Visibility has changed behavior. Rather than performance information sitting primarily with management, employees know where they stand and where their teammates stand.

But recognition is also needed to accompany the measurement. When one of Kilgo’s employees, who was a foodie, had an exceptional week, he took the producer and his wife to a favorite restaurant.

George says agencies should broaden the definition of things that should be acknowledged. “Recognize the top producer, but also celebrate improvement, including someone who mastered something new, embraced a new technology, or hit a progress milestone,” she says. “You don’t always have to be at the top. Sometimes it’s important to highlight those who made the biggest strides.”

That recognition can also make accountability more effective. When employees know managers notice effort and improvement, conversations about what isn’t working become part of coaching rather than simply criticism.

Give Them Somewhere to Go

Producer development shouldn’t end when someone becomes productive. Agencies need people with the right mindset, but they also need to create an environment in which those people can continue to learn and grow. “You cannot just put somebody in a role and keep them making calls and selling,” Kilgo says. “You’ve got to show them your vision of the career path for them.”

That path doesn’t necessarily have to be a traditional climb from one title to the next. Insurance careers rarely develop that neatly. A producer may develop expertise in an industry, become a specialist in complex risks, take on larger clients, move into leadership or ownership or discover an entirely different direction within the business.

That ability to see beyond the transaction is what Savino believes producers develop with experience. The more they understand what clients are actually trying to protect, the more the conversation shifts from price to advice, and from making a sale to building a relationship.

Agencies can create more of those possibilities by giving people exposure beyond their immediate jobs. Let a newer producer sit in on a difficult renewal. Bring them into a meeting with an underwriter. Let them watch an experienced producer handle a complicated client conversation. Connect them with people inside and outside the agency who approach the business differently.

Showing producers a path also means giving them opportunities to test themselves along the way. Invite them into a more complex account. Let them sit in on a client strategy meeting. Give them responsibility for a project. Introduce them to carrier and industry leaders. Mentoring helps people get better at the job; exposure gives them the chance to demonstrate what else they may be capable of.

Those interactions matter because much of what makes someone good at insurance is difficult to teach in a course. It is learned in the middle of the work: why an underwriter reacted a certain way,  how an experienced producer spotted an exposure, what question changed a client conversation, or how someone handled a mistake and kept the relationship intact.

And mentoring doesn’t always require a formal program or even one designated mentor. A producer can learn technical knowledge from one person, client skills from another and career perspective from someone else entirely.

For agencies, the opportunity is to make sure those connections aren’t left entirely to chance. The payoff isn’t simply a better-trained producer. It’s someone who is continually building judgment, relationships and a deeper understanding of the business and can begin doing the same for the people coming up behind them.

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THE PRODUCER PLAYBOOK

Turning promising hires into successful producers

Hire before you have an opening. Recruiting should be continuous. By the time you need somebody, it’s often too late to find somebody.

Train beyond the license. Licensing is the foundation, not the finish line. Producers need technical coverage knowledge, sales and relationship skills, and an understanding of how to apply what they know in real client situations.

Let them learn by doing. Courses have a role, but so do shadowing, listening to calls, working alongside experienced colleagues and getting immediate feedback.

Choose mentors who actually want to mentor. Your best producer isn’t necessarily your best teacher. Pair newer employees with people who have the knowledge, patience and interest to develop someone else.

Measure the behaviors that lead to results. Don’t look only at premium written. Track calls, follow-ups, networking, referrals and pipeline activity. You can’t control the sales, but you can control the activity.

Make performance visible. Shared metrics can create accountability. Identify where producers are struggling and give managers something concrete to coach.

Recognize progress, not just the winner. Celebrate top performers, but also recognize improvement, new skills and meaningful strides.

Teach them to move beyond price. The biggest lesson for new producers: the goal isn’t simply to close a sale, but to open a relationship.

Show them where the job can lead. Give producers a visible career path. People are more likely to invest in getting better when they can see what getting better can lead to.