If your business is in the insurance industry, this concept is especially relevant. Mary Newgard, senior search consultant at Capstone Search Group, says as independent insurance agencies look to evolve, redefining the producer role is becoming more prevalent.  

Agencies with perpetuation concerns have unbalanced sales departments.  Usually older producers (those usually over the age of 50) control the largest amount of renewal revenue but they don't represent the best opportunity for aggressive new business returns.  To simply hire another generation of producers and work them in the same way for 25 years means an agency just perpetuates the same perpetuation problem.

The position Servicing Producer is being attempted by agencies to address two critical goals: staffing perpetuation and achieving balanced new business production. If you're unfamiliar with the terminology here are ways you'll see this position integrated into insurance brokerages.

1) Separating hunters from farmers. Historically agencies have monitored the performance of a new producer for a period of 2-3 years before classifying them as a hunter or a farmer. Having a servicing producer layer allows agencies to react more quickly to defining the nuances of its sales team. Folks are set on different production paths. Sales expectations are set up differently. Creating clear separation in roles fosters a better, more organic cross selling strategy.

2) Moving away from account executives. Agencies look at the servicing producer as a way to get the best of both worlds: a.) Someone who can sell–really open and/or close doors (not both), and b.) Someone who can handle strategic client management, marketing and relationship building. The traditional AE can definitely handle letter B but very few have the ability or interest to tackle true parts of letter A.  Servicing producers in theory can do both and their compensation is more weighted on commissions than a salaried account executive position is.

3) It's a training ground. Agencies want to grab a hold of younger talent but often not enough data exists to know whether younger professionals have what it takes to hunt. The servicing producer model instantly affords job shadowing and mentoring at a reduced cost from a true producer salary. Also, if the person proves to be value but not as a hunter agencies still feel like they hired a valuable person, one who will remain tied to large business and involved in the closing process as a No. 2 producer.

Knowing whether the servicing producer role is right for your agency, or any organization, boils down to some ingenuity, the desire for change and an emphasis on a "sales first" culture.  Flat organizations, ones without cross selling interests and those heavy in the Account Executive ranks may have a harder time adopting this new trend in insurance agency hiring. Insurance agencies have a big job, especially in light of the new guidelines in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. They need both sales people and account managers. However, any organization that uses a professional sales team to promote itself and its products can adhere to these same principles.

When you engage a real salesperson, they should have qualities that go beyond just routine "business as usual." Salesmanship involves a combination of strategy, ingenuity, intelligence, personality, and hard work. There is no short cut to the President's Circle or Round Table. The vast majority of those brave souls who weather the sales storm and bring their ship into port with a full cargo do so with conscious effort.

Of course, timing and who you know also play a part in your success. But, at the end of the day, a true salesperson wins the game by professionalism, putting in long hours with tireless devotion to his craft, high ethical standards, hard work and a winning attitude. There is a difference.