Amid the struggle to keep marketing tactics relevant in a rapidly evolving world of technology, how do you juggle age-old business problems like time management and problem employees?

At the Presidents’ Panel last Saturday during the Big “I” Fall Leadership Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan, five insurance industry leaders shared important insights about effectively managing agency branding, office time and personnel issues—without ruffling too many feathers.

The panel featured Tom Minkler, immediate past Big “I” Chairman and president of Clark-Mortenson Agency in Keene, New Hampshire; Tom Ealy, president of Encompass Insurance; Mark Malis, CEO and co-founder of QQ Solutions; Glenn Renwick, chairman of the board, president & CEO of The Progressive Corporation; and Jim Hinchley, executive vice president, business insurance and general manager, regional operations at Liberty Mutual Insurance.

What are some of your time management strategies on a day-to-day basis?

Hinchley: We really try to push managers to establish how much of your time should be spent on one-on-one coaching with your staff? How much of your time should be spent on problem solving? How much of your time should be spent visiting agents and customers? That’s so you don’t get sucked into the trap of grinding email all day. Using a standard calendar, at the end of the week you can go back and say “Hey, I was supposed to spend 20% of my time one-on-one coaching my direct reports this week—was I successful in doing that?” You can occupy 40, 60, 80 hours a week on things that just pop up. You really need to have a plan.

Malis: I have a million emails to go through, but at the end of the day I make a list of everything that’s important. What are the As? Those are the things that need to get done during the week. I’m trying to become better at pushing the Bs to other people—saying if someone else does it and they don’t do it as well as me but they do 90% as well as I do, that’s better than putting it on my plate and having it never get done.

Renwick: Don’t be bound to your email. I try to have a very fixed set of priorities. If these don’t get done and I don’t work on these, who else will? There are a lot of other things that come along through the course of the day, emails, phone calls, but I write down my priorities for at least a week and make sure I’m working on those priorities.

What advice would you give the young agent who’s dealing with a tough management situation?

Ealy: Very few people are honest in employee conversations. Most people don’t like to give bad news, and most people don’t like to hear bad news about themselves. So everybody comes to that dance with frankly too much gentility. The best gift you can give somebody is honesty. You shouldn’t dance around it. Obviously you have to be respectful and you want to do it in a coaching way, but sometimes that ventures into not really saying what you mean. Don’t dance around it—get right to the point. Be very constructive, but get to the point.

Malis: First thing we want to do is find out is this person doing something wrong? Can they be coached, can they be trained? If not, you have to get rid of them. I go to insurance tradeshows and talk to agents who have employees that are really not good for the agency. And I ask, “Why don’t you get rid of him or her?” And the answer is always, “They’ve been here forever, they know all my customers and I don’t know what I would do without them.” In reality, a lot of the customers don’t really like that person. I’ve done it before—we’ve let someone go, and as soon as the person left, people came to us and said “What took you so long?” If anyone has anyone like that in your office, you’ll be much better off without them.

How important is branding for an agent who is trying to market his or her agency today?

Renwick: The question I would be asking myself is: Why am I relevant? What do I bring to this community? What do I do differently? When you’ve got that answer, build your brand around that. Don’t think the solution is in the jingle or something catchy. The real issue is trying to get to the core of the brand. What is the quintessential message that makes that brand sustainable?

Minkler: There are two forms of branding for us in this room. One is our individual brand—whatever we describe ourselves as to our communities. Live up to your brand, because the moment your brand is tarnished, it takes a long, long time to get it back. But we also need a national brand—something we collectively are a part of, because our competition isn’t really each other. We need something to resonate to the public, and Trusted Choice® is that answer.

Once we elevate that brand, we’re unstoppable. We have the best value proposition—there’s no doubt in my mind about that. We’ve got the most choice, we’re customized and we’re local. But we have to do that together. The national brand in conjunction with our local brands is the best way to be successful.

Jacquelyn Connelly is IA senior editor.