This article is part of the Recruitment Ki SHAKTI Series of articles. This is my fourth article. You will find all articles on agency recruitment in my blog https://www.helpindiainsure.iistpune.in/
The gold standard for all development officers and unit managers is: THE STANDARDS YOU SET ARE THE STANDARDS YOU GET. One of my colleagues, Clifford, enlightened me on this gold standard. He had learnt it from his father. A golden rule that all development officers and unit managers must follow. In fact, all managers should follow.
An example of setting standards
Suppose you want to buy a house. You will have some considerations for the purchase. You may want the house to be close to your office, or your home; you might want a certain size or number of rooms; you may want it to be properly ventilated with adequate sunlight and so on. These considerations are your standards. If you try to buy a house with defining your standards, you will in all probabilities end up with a house that does not meet your expectation.
Similarly, you must have a set of standards when you recruit agents. While there are many standards that you must define and set so that your agent works professionally, in this article I take up an important standard that you must set while recruiting agents.
Setting the standard of flexi time is a huge mistake
One of the biggest mistakes development officers and unit managers make in the recruitment process is to tell the candidate that an agency career offers flexi time. The indication given to the intending agent is that he can work at any time during the day or week or month or even year. Almost all candidates understand flexi time as a license to not work. Soon this tendency leads to inactive agents.
Put yourself in the agent’s shoes. Suppose you are being interviewed for a job and the interviewer tells you that you can work whenever you please. What will be your impression of the interviewer and the organisation? You will most likely think that at this place there is no respect for work discipline, and it is a place where whether one works or not, it does not really matter. You will lose respect for the interviewer and that organisation. If your boss in that organisation tells you to complete a task by evening so that it can be submitted to the higher ups, what will your reaction be? You will talk back to the boss and tell him that you will work at your free time and free will.
Something similar happens in the agent’s mind, when you tell him or her that an agency career has flexi time. This is one of the main reasons why most development officers and unit managers find it difficult to get agents to work. Their mind is already conditioned to flexi time – work whenever you wish (If you do not work also, it is okay).
Setting work timings and a daily working routine
It is therefore important to indicate to the agency candidate that he or she should work daily and at fixed times.
Suppose the candidate is a housewife. She has time during the day, outside her family responsibilities, to work daily. This time may be 1 hour or 3 hours. The timing should be fixed and agreed to during the interview process.
Similarly, a candidate may have a full-time job, say 9 am to 6 pm. Such a candidate must agree to work at least 1 hour every day at the minimum, at fixed timings.
Ideally, you should look for full-time agents. If you are unable to so, the part-timers you recruit should be told of the standards of work in your team. Unless you instil discipline in your team, the results are unlikely to follow. Remember only you as a development officer or as an unit manager can set standards on which your team works. If you do not set the right standards at the time of recruitment, you will have a non-performing team.
The standards you set are the standards you. You tell your agency candidate that there is flexi time in an agency career, and you will get a non-performing agent. You tell your agency candidate that there are fixed timings and daily work in your team, and you will get agents who perform. They will also respect you for the rules or the standards you have set.
It is normal to insist on discipline at the workplace
Insisting on work discipline is the normal expected behaviour. Flexi time is not the normal behaviour. Since standards and work discipline are normally expected and accepted, those who join will themselves ensure that the discipline is maintained.
The question you may have after reading this article is where do I find such candidates? Getting good agents is based on the principles of the law of large numbers and having a defined recruitment process in place. Read my first article in this series on recruitment https://www.helpindiainsure.iistpune.in/2025/10/23/super-sellers/ for more inputs on how to look for Super Sellers. You will understand how to get agents who work.
This is what you will learn when you join the unique, tried and tested method of IIST’s Recruitment Ki SHAKTI course. Visit our website https://www.iistpune.in/recruitment-ki-shakti/ to know how we can help.
More tips in my next article. Look out for regular articles on agency recruitment. In the meanwhile, you may also visit the website (https://www.iistpune.in/) of The Institute of Insurance Sales Training (IIST) to know more about the number of ways we can help you reach great heights in life insurance sales team building and selling.