By having a strong talent strategy in place, you set a solid foundation for organic growth. Be intentional in building modern hiring, onboarding, and training processes. It is also important to honestly assess your current capabilities. Joining a network like FirstChoice can offer talent acquisition solutions for the complex challenges of recruiting and retention. •
COMPENSATION MUST REWARD GROWTH AND LOYALTY
What does your compensation plan incentivize? Agencies should aim to align the compensation with the incentives for growth and retention into the organization. To increase loyalty, firms should tie variable pay to controllable outcomes, not subjective outcomes. Variable pay can be tied to controllable outcomes such as new business revenue, retention, and pipeline health. Use declining renewal commissions( e. g., 25 %- 30 %) and service team incentives for high retention. Firms can also publish total compensation statements to reinforce value and boost retention.
TRAINING AND ONBOARDING CAN HELP DRIVE PRODUCTIVITY
Just as important as your hiring process – take a look at your onboarding, training and talent retention strategy. Training and onboarding can have a substantial impact on the success of a new hire. Ensuring that new hires understand their job expectations, organizational objectives, and the resources available to them is only the beginning to an effective onboarding program. A workplace, by any measure, is a natural community. How well that community operates determines how well your firm can engage, hire, and retain top talent moving forward. Encourage current employees to welcome the new hire and engage them in conversations and meetings.
Mentorship, as well as a solid educational plan can help solidify the new employee experience. Onboarding has a much larger ripple effect on the trajectory of a business than historically portrayed. If new employees don’ t feel a sense of community and belonging quickly, they’ ll find a place they do.
Furthermore, well thought-out training and development programs will not only help employee retention by improving worker contentment, but can help them build new skills, methodologies and strategies that will ultimately lead to higher growth. Having strategic coaching and performance management systems for employees will also help drive engagement and retention.
By having a strong talent strategy in place, you set a solid foundation for organic growth. Be intentional in building modern hiring, onboarding, and training processes. It is also important to honestly assess your current capabilities. Joining a network like FirstChoice can offer talent acquisition solutions for the complex challenges of recruiting and retention. •
1. Marshberry 2026 Agency & Brokerage Compensation Report: https:// events. marshberry. com / 26CompStudy 2. https:// www. insurancejournal. com / services / newswire / 2025 / 09 / 03 / 837637. htm 3. https:// www. forbes. com / sites / rodberger / 2023 / 02 / 07 / millennials-and-gen-z-reshaping-conventional-industries / 4. https:// www. coachhub. com / blog / talent-managementeverything-you-need-to-know /
As Vice President of Education & Strategic Planning for FirstChoice, a MarshBerry Company, Diane Wagner is committed to helping members build strategic plans for their agencies and set goals for future growth. Diane is also passionate about helping insurance agencies attract, develop, and retain the next generation of talent to ensure a strong and sustainable future for the industry.
As Vice President within MarshBerry’ s Investment Banking and Consulting practice, Bryan Lake brings extensive knowledge in planning & strategy, recruitment, employment branding, metrics & analytics, as well as talent segmentation and workforce management. Working with C-Suite and HR leadership, Bryan offers progressive and sustainable best practices, allowing business strategy to meet talent strategy so talent results can meet business results.
MarshBerry is a global leader in investment banking and consulting dedicated to helping insurance brokerages, and firms in the wealth management industry and the accounting and tax industry, achieve sustained growth and value for every stage of ownership. With a legacy spanning over 40 years, MarshBerry offers an extensive suite of services, including investment banking( merger & acquisition advisory; capital raising), financial consulting( strategic planning; valuations; perpetuation planning), organic growth consulting( leadership, sales & talent solutions), executive peer exchange, agency network and market intelligence and performance benchmarking.
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