Transcript excerpt from a Sitkins Training session (YouTube) featuring Roger Sitkins and Ben discussing coaching practices for insurance agencies. Key themes: using structured agendas for meetings, coaching producers to rehearse and review agendas, the ‘red zone’ vs ‘green zone’ concept for producers’ time management, and prioritizing urgent vs important tasks. The speaker endorses Sitkins training as central to agency success.
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All right, Ben, let's go to you and then take a pull out of this one. Number one, having my producers review the agenda with me now, low risk practice, the agenda that they're going to present. Right. Whether it be a first appointment, I have an agenda for every single meeting I'm on because I tell people if I don't have an agenda, I'll talk too much and we'll get off subject and I'll talk about golf and I'll talk about my kids. Here's my agenda. I'm going to stick to this. So that we're having. Reviewing that with your young producers because their agenda really is what they're going to say. So whether it's their first meeting, highlighting what their differentiation, their point of differentiation is making sure that that's what you're reviewing, not just saying, okay, let's rehearse this, but review that agenda because that's going to set the expectations for the next meeting and whether or not they get a next meeting. Right. And the other part I want to make sure I said was, you know, I got a text message from Chad earlier and from Mary Jo saying, whatever you do, don't stop doing sickens. And the reason why is I'm in at the same time they're in it. So what are my meetings? My meetings are what they're doing. They're running the meetings from profit. Right. So I'm saying, okay, tell me what you learned, just like you're saying to us right now, and how we're going to apply it this week. And yes, selfishly, it's, I'm less. I have to prepare less. But number two, it's reaffirming that they're taking something from this class and they're applying it. So I'll tell you, this is my third time in pro fit or coach to coach. It's my fourth time with profit. And it takes two times to really get what you need to get out of it because you are drinking from the fire hose. So just be patient, everybody. And again, they're not paying me to do. To say this, but it's. It truly is what our agency is built around. And, and every time I go through it, there's something bigger and better that applies to the situation we're in. So that's my two cents.
Thank you, Ben. Thank you, vast majority of us. So we're sitting there and we're saying we've got to balance it. And some of you are also the CEO. So you've got, you've got A situation there where you're trying to wear three hats. CEO, sales leader, big producer. So if, if there's anything that you can jump on that will help you the most, it's number one, getting your producers to understand red zone, green zone. That was one of the main topics today with the producers. That and the perfect. The perfect. The producer's perfect schedule. Understand that when the producers are in the red zone, which is where they're stuck in activity, they're in the service trap. They react all day long. They're busy on transactions. They start having the itb. I'm too busy to get better. I'm too busy to get out and sell. They deal with the trivial many things and again, they just. Everything's about an activity. They allow themselves to get stuck there. Now, something I said today that I've never said before to producers, and I want you to write it down if you weren't there. Red happens. Red zone things happen. Here's the biggest mistake producers make. They allow red zone things to happen during prime green zone time.
That. That whole green zone thing, green zone always made sense, but when I took it to urgent and important. Yeah, they just like, we're like, oh, my gosh, here's my list of what I think. I'm like, no, that's not urgent. It's not urgent important.
That's just important.
But then you got to prioritize that because at the end of the day, it's our behavior that's going to bring us closing opportunities. Not, oh my gosh, I can react to this because, you know, whatever. No, let's be thoughtful. And it takes the pressure off of designing your producer per schedule, I think, too.
So, yeah, it's a great point. The. I think you heard us say this before, but the. In one of the big account manager programs we had, we had some really big dog account managers also. And it was amazing how this one particular group had a lot of really seasoned people in the breakout. And when we had them reporting back, actually heard it from several of them, but this one said right away, not everything's urgent. Right. And you could just see them going, Brent has a new thing. If people exhale, that's good instead of inhale. Not everything's urgent. And that was a game changer for these service people.
