Should you quantify productivity based on numbers or feeling? Michael Howe, senior vice president of product management for Applied, says it varies by role.

The daily duties of a CSR, for example, differ drastically from those of an agency owner—and call for a different set of technological tools, resources and products.

“The metrics and objectives and how you look at productivity varies down at the individual level,” Howe says. “So it’s really important to go from those top-level objectives and translate them down into objectives and measures of productivity for a given role.”

While an agency management system will always serve as the backbone—and act as a key source of productivity gains—technology capabilities and innovations can provide customized tools for specific roles across the agency. Looking at agency growth, profitability and customer satisfaction levels gives a big-picture view of agency performance. And the usual operating metrics of any business, including margin, profitability, new sales and retention rates, are typical places to start.

But “even though at the high level, everyone’s shooting for the same objectives, breaking down to what can I or what can my role contribute to that is important,” Howe says.

Here’s how each role in your agency should measure productivity.

Principal

Ultimately responsible for the success of the agency, principals need access to agency-wide metrics at the tip of their fingertips. But the data can easily get convoluted—meaning leaders need the information in an easy-to-read format.

For agency leadership, “productivity is probably more a function of how readily do I have access to the information so that I can actually understand what is going on in the agency and make decisions—change things, respond to things, understand if my competitors or customer base is changing,” Howe says. “Is the agency being responsive to it?”

Greg Wright, senior vice president, agency management systems at Vertafore, agrees. “The executive is worried about the overall health of the entire business,” he says. “What are the growth opportunities they have? What is the untapped potential they should be focused on? How are they performing compared to last month, last year, all the way down to personal and commercial lines? Understanding those elements are the big opportunities to grow their business.”

Producer

Metrics change for producers, but the theme is the same: Responding to current and prospective clients should override performing redundant tasks.

“For producers or people trying to go out and drive business, it would be just what you would expect,” Howe says. “Am I spending more of my time meeting with new customers and finding more customers? Am I able to spend time helping and responding to my existing customers? Am I able to take more meetings in a given week?”

The difference between actual and ideal amount of time spent selling is probably more drastic than you’d like: The Real Time/Download campaign 2013 Agency & Brokerage Technology Survey found a 12% gap between how much time a producer actually and ideally spends selling (the latter should be about 51-75%).

Producers should seek out new ways to streamline workflows, both for themselves while on the road and when communicating with service staff back at the office. Apps, mobile technologies and automated capabilities are a good place to start.

Independent agency Bryan Insurance in Graham, Texas recently implemented a new agency management system after 20 years. After reducing any reluctance and uncomfortable feelings, “the producers here enjoy the new system from a number of standpoints,” says Tommy Dies, CFO. “We can now start to do a little more pipeline management, which helps them. We’re able to send out to multiple markets simultaneously, which makes life easier for them and account managers as well.”

CSR

Because an agency’s service staff deals with the minutiae of accounts day in and day out, staying productive is imperative to building a smoothly run agency that is able to meet customer needs.

“If one person is managing twice as much revenue as another, all working within the same set of hours, it’s pretty obvious who’s being more productive—assuming quality and subjective measurements are still the same,” says Dayton Kilgus, a producer at Metz Stoller with agencies throughout Illinois. “It comes down to results and sales. Either you’re growing or you’re not—and for those that grow, there’s a direct correlation to productivity.”

“Different agencies measure it differently, but it shows up as a general ‘Am I able to spend more of my time with customers and on customer-related issues, and less time on administrative and other related tactics that don’t particularly add any value to customers?’” Howe says.

To measure this, determine how much time CSRs dedicate to chasing customer issues versus completing administrative work. Ideally, you’ll find that your service staff spends more time on customers and their issues. And because the agency management system is an agency’s foundation, Howe says that’s the best place to start.

According to Applied’s e-book “Working Smarter: Finding Agency Productivity Gains,” going paperless is another important initial step. Incorporating a process for electronic document management—and thereby eliminating the unnecessary time and expense associated with mailing—can boost efficiency tenfold. By doing this, you’re more likely to uncover a plethora of possibilities available in your agency management system.

“Even if they are self-aware enough to know they need better tools or more tools, it takes any person— regardless of the role—a little bit of time to get familiar with a new technology, especially if it’s one they’ve never used before, and adapt how they do their role and how the business runs,” Howe says. “Once the individual becomes familiar and that becomes second-nature to what they do and how they do their job, then they’re off to the races.”

Morgan Smith served as IA assistant editor.