Territory Management Consultant

Essential Functions:

• Oversees an assigned territory with broad and challenging agency partners driving profitable premium growth to achieve financial and operational goals

• Creates, implements and executes territory and agency strategies to achieve short term and long term goals utilizing all company programs, tools and resources in collaboration with internal business partners

• Leads a collaborative, proactive approach with underwriters to drive profitable premium growth within a territory through directing sales pipeline activity, identifying account leads and prospects, pre-qualifying business, and selling quotes and EMC to agents

• Creates demand by marketing EMC as a leader in the market.  Enables agents/producers to maximize the flow of desirable business to meet or exceed goals

• Owns the business development process within assigned market area with heavy emphasis on developing a pipeline of profitable new business and renewal retention

• Continually identifies and evaluates prospects for new agencies within the territory.  Surveys prospective agencies and obtains completed agency applications

• Identifies new agencies and effectively onboards the agency. Discusses company and agency responsibilities and establishes a business plan for the agency.

• Leads training of agencies on EMC products and services, rate levels, underwriting eligibility, sales techniques, EMC and agency technology, and other administrative processes

• Researches EMC’s competitive position in the marketplace, proactively providing competitive intelligence to the branch and corporate offices as appropriate. Performs surveys of competitor products and services, rate levels, producer compensation and incentives, and marketing efforts

• Evaluates the impact of market conditions and representation by territory and recommends changes in agency representation within an assigned territory.

• Determines areas of the branch territory to further develop or expand market presence and leads recommendation discussions with appropriate branch team members

• Builds and cultivates complex agency partnerships in person with agency ownership, management and frontline team members 

• Creates, drives, and manages strong producer relationships through high visibility, clear knowledge of company strategy and joint sales planning

• Drives the acquisition and evaluates complex new business accounts with agents through properly conveying branch and underwriting risk appetite, discussing leads and prospects, and pre-qualifying submissions and evaluating risks. Collaborates with underwriters to secure the acquisition of desirable individual accounts

• Establishes position as a subject matter expert while delivering product, underwriting philosophy, appetite and system training, and support retention and new business development to increase depth and maximize agency revenue

• Partners with existing and prospective independent agencies to develop a strategy to drive profitable business and sources of new business

• Leads, influences and supports internal business partners to identify and capitalize on opportunities, resolve problems, share key competitor and industry intel and provide a voice for our agent/customer

• Communicates with branch team about complex agency relationships and proactively coordinates actions to address potential issues, involving other departments as appropriate

• Serves as a consultant to the agency and branch to articulate and explain coverages, premiums and claim decisions, involving other departments as appropriate

• Leads and organizes various functions to promote EMC and/or represents EMC at special events, such as agency sales meetings, agency trade association meetings, etc.

• Builds and executes an effective agency management sales plan with broad and challenging agencies to achieve maximum production and profit goals in assigned territory

• Leads assigned geographical territory and agency management processes (e.g. agency prospecting, business planning, engagement, training, compensation, etc)

•  Creates, maintains, and executes high-quality agency strategies and plans to achieve direct written premium, profit and new business goals, such as strategic and tactical components and alignment with key commercial business strategies including carrier consolidation (book transfer), agency force expansion and new product/program rollout support

• Leads the agency review and joint planning process.  Collaborates with agencies, branch underwriting and management to develop specific business plans which outline performance goals and strategies, and address key issues within the partnership

• Creates tactical sales plans that provide for the profitable growth of targeted business segments

• Regularly monitors and proactively modifies agency plans according to their performance data, such as production growth, profitability, business mix and retention, submission quality, account payment, and technological services

• Recommends the cancellation of underperforming agencies.  Communicates branch decision to the agencies and cancels contracts per branch and regulatory guidelines

• Provides agency leadership with profitability and production progress reports throughout the year to keep the agency informed of key compensation and/or other incentive qualifiers

• Serves as a mentor to the branch team to foster understanding of unique agency relationships, operations and processes. Initiates active collaboration with underwriting or other team members to answer questions and provide recommendations for complex situations, such as difficult accounts.  Assists with other challenging communication and socialization strategies as it pertains to problematic agency relationships and clarifies the rationale for the recommendations

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in marketing or business or equivalent relevant work experience

• Five years of experience in property and casualty underwriting, claims, sales territory development, or agency, or related experience 

• Insurance designations, such as CPCU or CIC, or an agent license preferred

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Excellent knowledge of property and casualty insurance industry

• Advanced knowledge of independent agency operations, market conditions and competitor information

• Exceptional problem-solving skills and the ability to make sound decisions

• Excellent sales and negotiating skills

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including presentation skills

• Excellent organizational, time management and planning skills

• Strong problem-solving abilities and interpersonal skills 

• Ability to work independently

• Strong computer skills, including knowledge of Microsoft Office and social media

• Demonstrated leadership qualities

• Travel required; valid driver’s license with an acceptable motor vehicle report per company standards required if driving

The hiring salary range for this position will vary based on geographic location, falling within either the $83,925.00- $115,647.00 range or the $92,509.00-$127,495.00 range. A hiring range represents a subset of the full salary range.  The actual salary will depend on several factors, including relevant education, skills, and experience of an applicant, geographic location, and business needs.