Support Matters In Family and In Business

My brother, Joe, and I both work for Marsh McLennan Agency (MMA). I bring the best producer talent on board, and Joe, a client director with the national accounts team, supports them with top account service once they’re here.

Family and business have a lot more in common than I ever anticipated.

Some families — and businesses — champion their members. Encouragement and support are woven into the fabric of relationships. Fostering a culture of support and success, they lift as they climb to break through plateaus and achieve great heights.

In other families and businesses, everything comes at a cost. Help has strings attached, and members often go it alone because there is no one to truly rely on. Rivalries, indifference, and lack of cooperation make it difficult to get ahead. Companies like these may ration assistance or expect producers to do (and pay for) everything on their own, capping their earning potential. 

I’m one of the lucky ones who benefits from a supportive environment at home and at work.  While you may not get to choose your family, you have options when it comes to your career. If you don’t have the support you need to grow your book of business, it’s time to start fresh and find a new company to call home.

Look for an organization that provides you with a robust, experienced client management team. A dedicated client services specialist should be involved with each of your accounts from the get-go, managing your clients’ day-to-day needs so you are free to call more prospects and grow your book of business.

Companies that do this best, like MMA, will often segment support based on business size, as each will have unique characteristics that require specific support —small business, middle market, and national or large accounts.

Client support for small to mid-size organizations

·       Commercial insurance: Support for small to mid-size organizations should focus on optimizing the insurance coverage structure to best meet the client’s needs while also providing specialized risk management guidance. Effective support teams will have access to e experts of all kinds, including property, casualty, cyber, product recall, and IPO, that work directly with the client to help reduce and mitigate their individual risks.

·       Employee benefits and retirement: Your support team should help you optimize and tailor employee benefits options to help your small to mid-size business clients hire and retain employees for their specific industry and market. A robust support team will include additional expertise in the areas of actuarial and benchmarking, HR technology, and employee well-being. 

Client support for national or large accounts

·       Commercial insurance: Large accounts require deep product knowledge and high touch service. If you have a large P&C business prospect, for example, a broker with casualty expertise should join you for early-stage meetings. Your support team should conduct a full program review, provide a stop light analysis, and detail ideas for more optimized structures.       

·       Employee benefits and retirement: The employee health and ancillary benefits program of large companies needs to meet compliance standards in every jurisdiction in which it operates — sometimes even across the globe. A producer’s support team should provide them with the knowledge transfer needed to direct large clients to maintain benefits compliance across their operations.          

This segmented support has awesome long-term advantages for your clients too. No one is more excited than you, the producer, when one of your client’s businesses takes off. It feels great to know you have the account team support and experience to grow along with them as they ramp up. This scaling ability with your support team can help with retaining your clients down the road.

Knowing your client service team has your back and you have theirs makes for an amazing work culture. And just like with me and Joe, everyone brings their own skills and talents to the table, improving the experience all around.

Find your professional family at MMA

Are you looking for the support you need to break through your current sales plateau, grow your book of business, or rise to the next level in your career? Reach out to me to learn more about a thriving career with MMA.