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Welcome 
From our Founder,
Catherine Oak
Greetings!
Sales is the life blood of any business. What people need today is motivation to keep on keeping on.......
A good Sales Manager is the heart that keeps the blood flowing.
The practice of "sales management" is embraced by some and ignored by
others.
It is considered a powerful tool for some agencies, yet others
see it as a total waste of time.
The bulk in the middle will exercise
various degrees of sales management, usually out of a sense of
obligation or hope. These random practitioners typically see mixed
results.
To see a list of the key responsibilities of a sales manager click here.
Our article on how to hold an effective sales meeting provides great ideas and actions you can take now to make your meeting more effective. To read the entire article click here.
Producers need to look at this marketplace as an opportunity to solve more problems and write more business.
Do your producers need guidance with sales?
Oak & Associates has developed an affordable way to guide the Sales Manager and producers.
If you want to go to the next level, find out more about our new sales management tools and coaching. Click Here
Another tool that will help your agency improve its' performance is our Productivity Enhancement, Personnel Management and Time Management Seminar.
Call us now at (707) 935-6565 for a free 30 minute review of the key issues you are facing.
You can also email Bill or Catherine.
Visit our website to find out more about our services or download useful tools
We, at Oak & Associates, are committed to your success!
Sincerely
Catherine Oak
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Webinars 
Join us for our webinars!
Keep up on the topics you need to know, now!
Producer Vesting Basics
What works and does not work when it comes to producer vesting or equity.
May 11, 2009
12:00 PM Pacific
Effective Sales Meetings
Make your agency a "Sales Organization" by holding effective sales meeting.
June 12, 2009
12:00 PM Pacific
Budegting &
Financial Analysis
If your in business to make money, then you need to know how to manage it!
June 24, 2009
12:00 PM Pacific
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TECHNO-TERMS
It seems everyday a new term or acronym is used.
Here are some terms that are becoming more popular.
SOHO
Small office - home office
SME
Small and medium enterprise
SEO
Search engine optimization
SERP
Search engine results page
SSL
Secure sockets layer
*You want to see this one when doing any financial transactions over the internet.
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The Sales Meeting
The centerpiece of sales management is the sales meeting.
Effective, weekly sales meetings are used to play-out the sales management process. It is during this time that sales activity can be properly monitored. Numbers are reviewed and discussed. Specific sales activity for each producer and the group is checked and analyzed by all.
It is during this time that the rubber hits the road on new business produced, lost business, hit ratio for each producer, prospect activity, what referrals have been obtained from new sales, etc.
The sales meeting time is not just for working on numbers.
Producers have egos and need recognition.
These sales meetings are also an excellent time to recognize superior performance.
Click here to read the full article.
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Oak & Associates Seminar Offer
"Productivity Enhancement, Personnel Management and Time Management"
10am - 1:30 pm, with a working lunch.
July 9th San Francisco Bay Area
July 14th Orange County *tentative
Two people $300
One person $175
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*Four Elements of
High Value Agencies*
Why?
Partly because buyers are now more selective in their acquisition search. Other contributing factors include low profit margins, lower contingents and market uncertainty.
*ELEMENT #1 - GOOD STAFF MANAGEMENT
ELEMENT #2 - EFFECTIVE SALES MANAGEMENT
ELEMENT #3 - GOOD MARKET RELATIONS
*ELEMENT #4 - HAVE A PERPETUATION PLAN Click here to read the full article.
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$ $ $ $ $
Oak & Associates'
Extreme Financial Makeover
- a financial analysis
- a productivity analysis
- an Opinion of Value
- and assistance in creation of a pro forma budget
$2,500
Oak & Associates'
Extreme Agency Makeover
This includes the Extreme Financial Makeover services listed above and your choice of any two of these services:
- a one day Strategic Agency Planning Session
- a one day Sales & Marketing Planning Session
- a one day Management & Organizational Review
- a one day Work Flow Analysis
- a one day E&O Audit
$5,000
Plus travel expenses, if any
If requested, a summary report or any follow-up work to these services will be billed on an hourly basis.
Click here to register today.
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Top Ten List
Responsibilities of a Sales Manager
In
most agencies, the task of sales management falls to one of the owners
or the top producer in the firm. This is not necessarily a good idea
because sales
management can take time away from the sales manager's own sales
efforts, and good producers do not always make good managers.
Actually,
sales management, as important as it is, should not be a full time job
in most agencies. The truth is that once a system is in place, magnificent results
can result from a relatively small amount of effort.
If goals are properly set, communicated and
monitored, if the right people are hired and developed, and if
management will remove any unreasonable obstacles to production,
producers should essentially manage themselves. They simply need to
know that their performance is being monitored and that poor
performance will not be tolerated.
Here are the top ten
responsibilities of a sales manager:
- Makes sure that weekly sales meetings are held
- Collects and analyzes the sales activities information
- Analyzes the book of business for each producer and the agency overall
- Producer coaching and training
- Hires and fires the producers
- Oversees the direction of sales activities
- Sets sales and growth goals for agency
- Oversees the development and use of sales tools
- Reviews all "boiler plate" sales letters
- Liaisons with other departments
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Benchmark
Agency value seems to have softened now that banks have taken a sabbatical. Buyers still outnumber sellers, but buyers are more cautious. Terms of transactions are trending toward a lower down payment and more on retention of business.
The following are the current "rules of thumb" on agency value:
Multiple Multiple
of Revenue of EBITDA
Premier agency sold to a well funded buyer 1.5 - 2.5 6.5 - 7.5
Agency sold to another privately-held agency 1.0 - 1.5 5.5 - 6.5
*EBITDA is Earning Before Interest Depreciation and Amortization.
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