©Copyright 1992-2016 The Wedge Group. All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is confidential and/or privileged material.

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GRIT_Exercise Guide ABBRV 9.2016

Page #

What's Your Why?1

Cost of a Mistake 2

Your Past Three to Five Hires 3

Define Your Perfect Candidate 4

Locating Million Dollar Producers (Five Ways to Find Them) 5

Potential Million Dollar Producer Candidates 6

The Three Whys 7‐8

Interview Checklist 9

Producer Goals 10

GRIT Webinar Information 11

CraftMetrics (sample CMPI & CLAS) 12‐14

The Wedge Group/GRIT_TOC_9.23.16

© Copyright 1992-2016 The Wedge Group. All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is confidential and/or privileged material.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Wedge Group/GRIT_Whats Your Why_6.15.16 © Copyright 1992-2016 The Wedge Group. All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is confidential and/or privileged material.

 Defining your personal WHY can be a powerful and life changing motivator.    Take a moment before proceeding with GRIT and Think About: 

1. Why you want to grow your agency?  2. How would a team of Million Dollar Producers change your life? 3. What’s in it for you?  4. Not just the monetary rewards but the lifestyle rewards (i.e. more free time to 

spend with your family, more time to play golf…)  Brainstorm Your Motivators: 

Now Write Down Your WHY: 

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Pre-Employment Costs:     Advertising Cost (ads and man hours)                                                                     Pre‐Screening Applicants (assessments, review, scheduling, man hours)     Interview Process (assessments, background checks, man hours, travel expenses)

Employment Costs:     Annual Salary for a new producer     Benefits (approx 30‐35% of the annual salary)     Support Costs:     Training     Professional Fees (business cards etc)     Medical/Wellness Physical     Drug Testing     Orientation     Relocation Expenses

Other Considerations     Support Staff Time     Team Productivity     Customer Relations/Lost Customers     Unemployment Compensation Rates     ________________________________________________     ________________________________________________     ________________________________________________     ________________________________________________     ________________________________________________

Costs ( C )

Business Written ( BW )

BW  TCThe Net Difference of their BW minus your Costs  ‐

equals YOUR

Total Cost of a Mistake:

The Wedge Group/GRIT_Cost of Mistake_6.2016© Copyright 1992-2016 The Wedge Group. All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is confidential and/or privileged material.

It costs between $75,000 and $120,000 per year to hire a new producer; the average validation period is 3 years. Over 60% 

fail and quite long before they validate, costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars… or even worse hang on for years 

costing you even more, let's look at what a hiring mistake REALLY costs you:

Name:

What they said:

What they 

probably

 meant:

What were the 

financial sales 

results?

In retrospect, 

should you have 

hired them?

If not, why not?

When should 

you have fired 

them?

When did you?

The Wedge Group/GRIT_Most Recent Hires_6.2016

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Things to consider…

Did you go into the interview with clear criteria on who you wanted to hire?

What questions are you uncomfortable asking or not willing to ask?

What did you not do to find the truth?

In order to improve your success, are you willing to establish clearly defined criteria for hiring producers and sticking with it?

When your gut talks to you, do you listen or ignore it?

Top Primary TraitsAge

Education

Licenses

Employment

Experience

Core Skills

Family

Philosophy

Work Ethic

Interests

Location 

Compensation

Start Date

The Wedge Group/GRIT_Perfect Candidate_6.2016

© Copyright 1992-2016 The Wedge Group. All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is confidential and/or privileged material.

Now YOU KNOW what YOU'RE LOOKING for…

Use this worksheet to describe your ideal candidate.  

Think about the attributes he/she MUST possess to become a Million Dollar Producer record them below: 

How will you make yourself aware of these people in your environment?

The Wedge Group/GRIT_Locate Perfect Candidate 9.2016 ABBRV © Copyright 1992-2016 The Wedge Group. All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is confidential and/or privileged material.

Your challenge is to cast your net with the right bait, and do it consistently… (Don’t give up if you pull it in empty every once in a while). Use the below to brainstorm ways to find your perfect candidates… Five Ways To Find Candidates:

1. Your Staff – Cork Board: a. Have your “Perfect Candidate” checklist ready b. ___________________________________________ c. ___________________________________________ d. ___________________________________________

2. Facebook or LinkedIn

a. Review your social media accounts for candidates b. ___________________________________________ c. ___________________________________________ d. ___________________________________________

3. Your Clients

a. Share your “Perfect Candidate” checklist with your clients b. ___________________________________________ c. ___________________________________________ d. ___________________________________________

4. Friends

a. Share your “Perfect Candidate” checklist with your friends. b. ___________________________________________ c. ___________________________________________ d. ___________________________________________

5. Run Ads (You can run free ads and paid ads; remember the wider you cast your

net the more chance of finding the right ones). a. Free Services:

i. Example: Indeed ii. _______________

iii. _______________ b. Paid Services:

i. Example: StaffMyAgency.com ii. ____________________

iii. ____________________

Introduction Source/Connection Candidate

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

Why Be a Producer in the Insurance Industry?When you find your potential Million Dollar Producer, you want to make sure they know WHY they should be an InsuranceProducer. Use the space below to brainstorm some of the most compelling reasons (think about the positives... potentialearnings, ability to fund their futures...) Write down anything that comes to mind.

Use the previous pages to fill in the details of ! Make sure to cover all the

The Wedge Group/GRIT_Interview Checklist_6.2016

© Copyright 1992-2016 The Wedge Group. All rights reserved.

The Wedge Group/GRIT_Goals Worksheet_6.2016

© Copyright 1992-2016 The Wedge Group. All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is confidential and/or privileged material.

Join Randy Schwantz CEO of The Wedge Group as he discusses,

He will help you dig into the psyche

of a REAL Producer…

And show you how to use that knowledge to determine if your

prospective hire has what it takes BEFORE making the

commitment, not after, saving you $100,000's of lost producer

payroll and overhead expenses. ________________________________________________________________________________________________

This webinar is for you if you plan to a hire New Producer over the next 12 months.

It's for you if you've struggled to separate Producers from Pretenders, Winners from Losers, those who can and will Sell vs. those who only talk a good game.

In this webinar, Randy will cover:

The 5 Characteristics of a REAL Producer

Talent is Everywhere…Here's Where to Find It

Recruiting; How to Get Them to Beg You to Be a Part of Your Interview Process

It Takes Two to Make a Great Hiring Decision, Good Cop-Bad Cop

Stop Relying on Gut Feel and Personality Profiles That Can Be Gamed - The

Evidence Based Assessment Process

Treat Them Like a Million Dollar Producer - Setting High Expectations When Training Your Newbies

You’ll also learn How a Large Agency was Successful on 85.2% of their 34 New Producer Hires….

To register and learn more visit: www.thewedge.net/GRIT

WEBINAR SPECIAL FOR ATTENDEES ($250 VALUE)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Randy Schwantz Twitter: @RandySchwantz (214) 446-3209 Join the conversation #iWinGRIT

 

 Planning to Hire a New Producer? Eliminate EXPENSIVE Hiring Mistakes with this 1‐2 Punch…. ____________________________________________________________________________   

When you make the mistake of hiring a producer that is not ambitious and driven, you are making a mistake that will cost you anywhere from $50,000 to $250,000.    You can solve your hiring problems when you combine the Evidenced Based Hiring techniques you learned in GRIT: How to Find, Hire and Develop REAL Producers, along with the CRAFTMETRIC Peak Performance profile (built specifically for hiring High Activity Salespeople).  It’s a 1‐2 punch that will help you eliminate expensive hiring mistakes that slow down your agency's growth.   To learn more visit: www.thewedge.net/GRIT  or email caryl@thewedge.net   

     

CMPI Profile ReportHigh Activity Sales Person

Important Note: the following Job Compatibility Chart information by itself should never be used to hire, promote, orterminate an employee. Success in any given position is a combination of factors, including skills, knowledge, intelligence, andwork ethic, none of which are being measured in the "CMPI Job Compatibility Score".

Date: Jan 1, 2015Name: Sam PlePosition: High Activity Sales PersonCMPI Job Compatibility Score: Moderate-High (78) When available, this score is validated by performance data on thousands of employees and applicants. It is calculated usinga complex scoring algorithm that "weights" each scale as it relates to its predictive power. The higher the CMPI JobCompatibility Score, the greater the relationship between the CMPI Primary Traits and job performance.

Recommended Coaching Hours Per Month: Approximately 2-4 hours.The CMPI Profile Report is derived from statistically significant (weighted) correlations with productivity measures. Therefore,some traits are more influential than others in determining the CMPI Job Compatibility Score. The Recommended Coaching HoursPer Month is an estimation, based on thousands of personal interviews with managers and employees who described theirchallenges as they related to each of the CMPI Primary Traits listed below. Managers should spend the most time coachingindividuals about issues pertaining to their traits outside the "green" range. For ideas on how to coach these individuals, referto this individual's Full Report, which provides specific, personalized coaching recommendations for each of this individual'straits.

Primary Trait 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Intensity/Drive (88%)

Independence (95%)

Need to Analyze (30%)

Need to Serve (87%)

Assertiveness (95%)

Self-protection (62%)

Drive for Recognition (95%)

Interpersonal Trust (95%)

Optimism (95%)

Consistency/Reliability Index (CRI): High

This candidate's Consistency/Reliability Index (CRI) rating relates to the way the candidate responded to the CMPI.

High CRI indicates a pattern of responses that matches the great majority of responses from other candidates. If theEGI (see below), is low or moderate, these CMPI results can be relied upon when used in conjunction with thepersonal interview and reference checks.

Exaggerated Good Impression (EGI): Low

This candidate's Exaggerated Good Impression (EGI) rating relates to the candidate's tendency to intentionally orunintentionally exaggerate strengths and downplay weaknesses in order to leave a more favorable impression.

Low Exaggerated Good Impression (EGI) indicates a minimal tendency to exaggerate strengths and ignoreweaknesses and an open and vulnerable personality that easily recognizes personal faults and easily accepts blame.These results are accurate and predictable.

© 2014, CraftMetrics International.

Profile For:

Date:

Learning Accuracy: 23 correct out of35 questions

Learning Speed: 30 seconds perquestion

CLAS Learning Aptitude Report: The CLAS is the first assessment of its kind to measure both the respondent's accuracy andspeed of response. As a result, the CLAS is able to describe the interaction between these two factors using the traditional 4-stylegrid with its low/low, high/low, low/high, and high/high labels. With this knowledge, managers can personalize training programsto be compatible with the employee's learning style. Note: If the marker is closer to the corner of a quadrant, the individual can bedescribed by one of the following primary learning styles. If the marker is on the line or close to another quadrant, that secondarylearning style can also be descriptive.

Faster Response

Lower Higher

Accuracy Accuracy

Slower Response

Your Primary Learning Style is the Intuitive Learning Style: This style learns by seeing and doing. They will become quicklybored with information that is not related specifically to their immediate needs. Be sure to provide examples and stories that helpthem to learn essential information and avoid exercises that require deep concentration. Get them actively involved. The more theyparticipate, the more they will learn. Use multi-media presentations and test their recall immediately afterwards to reinforce thelearning process. At ninety day intervals, consider repeating the instruction as it relates to the most essential topics.

Your Secondary Learning Style is the Deliberate Learning Style: This style learns by reflection and repetition. They may showinitial interest, but their attention will be difficult to maintain if they feel the subject matter is irrelevant or they do not trust thesource of the information. Use step-by-step instruction and ask questions to make sure they are following your process. Provideevidence in the form of written material, but avoid information overload. Most important, be patient and repeat the instruction ifnecessary. Once the material is received and absorbed, retention is not typically a problem.

This CLAS report is solely for the purpose of determining the training modality that best matches the employee's learning style. The CLAS shouldnot be used for hiring or terminating an employee until it is normed within the organization and research confirms its predictive validity. See CLASUser's Guide for more information.