I'm referring to the risk of bringing a new producer into your business. As a successful producer yourself you've come to a point where you're trading time for dollars. You've run out of time so you've capped your dollars, so to speak.
This is both a good and bad position to be in. You're no rookie and you know how hard it was to build this business. You know you're one of the rare few who've actually succeeded in this business in spite of all the misguided advice you were given.
You did it right. You invested in yourself and you grew a business where you attract ideal prospects to you, and you help them to buy from you. You've built a solid reputation among your clients and you hold a positive position in the minds of both your clients and your prospects.
Any new producer you bring in to your business will be a direct reflection on that reputation and position you've worked diligently to build for yourself and your business. You can't afford to risk damaging this reputation or position. When you allow the ?industry? experts to train your new producer for you, you're risking damage to your reputation and positioning.
Things have changed and things have remained the same since you were a new agent yourself. The industry is still pushing the same manipulative and coercive marketing tactics that don't work. Now, however, the industry has gotten even greedier and they're pushing products with multiple hidden fees and tiered payouts. You understand how to protect your clients and prospects, but will this new producer?
You're already faced with a time versus dollar crunch will you have time to invest in developing a producer that meets your standards for excellence? It's well known, the industry as a whole is doing a poor job of properly training agents. Your new producer won't learn how to ethically market themselves and generate sales from the ?industry?.
You've seen it perhaps you've even been there. An agent who can't pay their bills is a desperate agent. Desperate people do and say desperate things to close a sale. Those moments of desperation can translate into a lifetime of distrust for your business.
You don't have to be locked into this catch 22 situation. The problem isn't you and the problem isn't the new agent. The new agent is a blank slate waiting to be filled with the right stuff. Training doesn't do what it's supposed to do.
Training is an incomplete solution you buy over and over again. Training is based on symptomatic treatment without addressing the root cause of the problem in the first place. Plus you certainly don't want your new producer to be ?trained? to follow the unethical practices of scaring people, and using manipulative or coercive language.
Instead you need this person to develop the skills to ethically market and sell themselves. As you know these skills don't develop in a predefined ?training? event time line. Plus you have to get comfortable with what you're doing and build on your existing strengths.
You could work intensely with the new producer yourself and act as their mentor. Although when you choose to do so you pay through your own decreased productivity. You wanted to increase the productivity of the agency and decrease your time commitment, right?
You can remove your risks and lower your investment through coaching. Coaching is proven to produce positive results. The new agent gets the one-one-one help they need so they're productive sooner, and you get the increased agency production and more free time you want. You don't want an agency puppy mill making money from agents you know are predestined to fail. You want a successful financially secure stable business that reflects your values and protects your clients. Coaching is an option for you. Get your new agent off to a good start by sharing the free 7 Secrets report below.
The Business Of Risk
Business is about risk and profit. Generally, the more risk a business accumulates the more profit this business can earn. However, with joint ventures that involves multiple locations, many unknown factors and complexity risk moves upwards significantly. However, on the other hand, risk of stagnation and lack of growth can be significant as well.
Some of the risks faced by stock holders and investors are the loss of value. If an organization expands but profits do not expand along with it the organization may increase its expenses but not increase its profits thereby causing a loss of income. When determining if a joint venture is risky stockholders and investors often require an assessment of risks, operational functioning, and competitive threats (Blaszyk & Hill, 2007).
Few if any stock holders or investors would be willing to invest the companies profits or their personal money into a venture whereby it was not know how much risk, how the business would function and what the competitiveness in the market holds. Having information on these aspects of international business helps these stockholders and investors make educated risks and assessments as to the likelihood that they will receive and appropriate return on their money.
Before one can truly consider moving operations overseas or merging with another organization they will need to determine their goals and objectives (Duell, 2007). If their goals are to hedge risk versus having the highest profit margins or complementing their business they may have different goals. Having a clear game plan could have a significant impact on how successful the merger, growth or acquisition will be.
Organizations should also look at their internal manpower and skill level (O'Sullivan, 2008). Even though a company may have great managers that can move overseas in only a short span of time that does not mean that the company currently has the knowledge and ability to make such mergers, growth or expansions possible. The strength and abilities of the management team will have a lot to do with how successful the business will be.
There are some advantages to firms that move part of their operations overseas or expand to multiple locations. These advantages include a reduction in cost, reduction in risk and sharing of revenue (Broll & Marjit, 2005). These advantages can easily be outweighed by the risk of unknowns when conducting business in such widespread locations.
The answer to the question, ?Does moving overseas or merging increase risk?? is not an easy one. The answer depends on many factors such as the amount of profits associated with that risk, risk strategy methods utilized and the knowledge of the parent firm. Any business venture is risky but that risk can be mitigated by proper knowledge and planning.
Blasyyk, M. & Hill-Mischel, 2007). Joint ventures to pursue or not to pursue? Health and Financial Management, 61 (11).
Broll, U., & Marjit, S. (2005, September). Foreign investment and the role of joint ventures. South African Journal of Economics, 73(3), 474-481. Retrieved February 6, 2008, from EBSCOhost database.
Duell, J. (2007). Management Matters. Commercial Property News, 21 (17).
O'Sullivan, K. (2008). Governing Joint Ventures. CFO, 24 (1).
Both Cheryl A. Clausen & Murad Ali are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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