Have You Ever Took an Extended Vacation, Burned Out...

[todd02]

Hey guys. I've been doing the grind for 5 1/2 years and got major burn out. Anyone gone through this? Tired of hiring/firing/training and talking about insurance. What did you do what got you past it?

 

[insurance1822]

I hear ya...That's what separates the good money from the GREAT money is sticking w/ it & working like you did in the beginning. It's mental & yes this business drains your soul. I've seen many agents call it quits w/ personal...maintain the book & focus on commercial and/or life after a point in time.

 

[todd02]

I hear ya...That's what separates the good money from the GREAT money is sticking w/ it & working like you did in the beginning. It's mental & yes this business drains your soul. I've seen many agents call it quits w/ personal...maintain the book & focus on commercial and/or life after a point in time.

Ya I think making to much money is actually my problem. I keep wasting it on poor staffing/hiring decisions.

 

[CaptiveGuy]

Ya I think making to much money is actually my problem. I keep wasting it on poor staffing/hiring decisions.

I feel where you're coming from, take a vacation or step back and only focus on commercial clients. List the things that you don't want to do (quoting, customer service, etc.) then hire someone for that.

I'm 4 years in and finally making good money but to keep from burning out I take a half day every Friday. Never schedule any appointments that day and I hate making changes to personal lines policies so I hired a csr to do that last year. Schedule a vacation or some sort of carrot for you to chase each quarter. This is what you worked hard for, enjoy it.

 

[todd02]

I feel where you're coming from, take a vacation or step back and only focus on commercial clients. List the things that you don't want to do (quoting, customer service, etc.) then hire someone for that.

I'm 4 years in and finally making good money but to keep from burning out I take a half day every Friday. Never schedule any appointments that day and I hate making changes to personal lines policies so I hired a csr to do that last year. Schedule a vacation or some sort of carrot for you to chase each quarter. This is what you worked hard for, enjoy it.

Kind of a Segway is have you guys continually made poor hiring decisions. I feel like people interview well and seem good but once in the insurance world they either drag down my retention because they don't go above and beyond in customer service or they can't sell and my new business suffers. It's driving me insane to find quality people.

I have one amazing office manager and I'm scared she is going to leave because I can't find quality staff so she gets over worked but she does make around 55-60k a year with commissions.

 

[todd02]

Just an update: decided to fire two csr's so now I'm left with my rockstar office manager and a producer. I feel a million times better even though I have to step in for a while and be a paper pusher/service work. It's hard to stomach spending 60k in payroll when the csr's were hurting retention and couldn't sell. Hiring sucks, I wish there were a place I could hire quality people that didn't cost an obscene amount of money like monster or careerbuilder for small biz. Anyone know of one? I have always gone off craigslist and their are very few diamonds in the rough.

 

[VolAgent]

I highly recommend you do things different this time. Don't take this the wrong way, but if you have hired several people and each and everyone one of them interviewed well and then promptly crashed and burned, the problem is the common denominator. You.

I'd consider a call to a staffing firm in town. Look for a temp to perm situation. I'd be most interested in a back loaded deal, where the staffing firm gets the bulk of their money when the person goes permanent.

That or suck it up and go on Monster or Careerbuilder. Yes, it will cost more upfront, but if you get a better employee who performs better and reduce employee turnover then ultimately you come out ahead.

 

[insurance1822]

Some of the best employees I've seen in insurance agencies have come from family/friend/network referral. Try mailing/calling/emailing your entire network. Clearly spell out the compensation & job description.

I'm an amazing salesman..but I'm not a good manager/trainer of people. Most very successful agencies tend to be ran by the latter. Training & motivating people is an art form & I'm just not good at it.

My approach is "shut your mouth & write business you pu$$y" and that hasn't worked well. But really...It's an art form. The best of the best are constantly training, motivating, rewarding, team building blah blah blah god i hate that crap i just want to sell!!!!!

Prob is once your book grows it becomes more of this $hit opposed to writing business like a beast. ahhhhhh the progression of the life as an agency owner.

sucks ehh?

 

[VolAgent]

There is a reason sales manager is referred to as adult day care...

 

[JimmyUt]

There is a reason sales manager is referred to as adult day care...

SO true. I realize I could have recruited a big downline for MAPD sales a few years ago, and made a grip of over writes but I decided I love my own kids and didn't want to deal with anothers.