You spend at least a third of your day at your job. You might as well spend it doing something you really love while working with a team you really enjoy being with, right? That’s the kind of atmosphere we offer at Pekin Insurance—fun, fast-paced, gratifying, supportive, and collaborative.

Of course, it’s not all fun and games. Insurance is a serious business, and we pride ourselves on making people’s lives whole again after a major disaster or even a fender bender. It’s that sense of helping people that makes our team want to do our best every day.

If you want to be excited about starting your workday and are ready to make a real difference in people’s lives, this could be the right spot for you.

See what Pekin Insurance has to offer by viewing a short video here.

Position Overview

The Sales Manager manages the overall agency relationship from a sales perspective, drives new business sales growth for Personal, Commercial, and Life with independent agents. Meets the sales objectives for assigned territory based on the annual business plan for each business unit. This is a field role where travel within a certain territory is required. The ideal candidate for this role would reside in or be willing to relocate to the state of Illinois in the NE region.

Essential Job Functions

• Directs the marketing of personal, commercial, and life activities in the territory to achieve established profitability and/or production objectives
• Provides technical and field underwriting expertise to the agency force
• Develops, negotiates and executes business plans for selected agencies in accordance with company underwriting and sales objectives
• Point person for all sales initiatives; drives new business quote activity and results
• Recruits new agencies and processes new agency appointments and sales within the territory
• Monitors agent results (production, profit, pricing, loss ratio, hit ratio, etc.) within the assigned territory for the purpose of managing performance and developing corrective actions where necessary in accordance with company standards
• Works closely with underwriting and service team(s) to ensure service levels are met for assigned agents and communicates regularly with these teams
• Collaborates with underwriting team to ensure understanding and agreement of territory and individual agent strategies
• Monitors local marketplace, develops competitive intelligence, and makes recommendations regarding new and/or existing products/programs
• Makes systematic calls on the agent to aid the agent in sales, underwriting and education of the agent or any personnel within the agency
• Communicates to the agency force the company philosophy, company policy and method of doing business; provides the motivation and helps establish agency objectives and goals in all lines of business
• Conducts periodical sales and educational meetings for agency force for the purpose of promoting contests and production
• Conducts periodic agency performance reviews with Sales Management and underwriting teams; creates action plans to improve agency performance (sales and/or profit)
• Assists and trains agencies in using the Company Intranet website
• Maintains the call report and/or software system by reporting dates, times and relevant information about each monthly agency call
• Attends sales meetings at the Pekin Home Office and annual award banquets
• Maintains a positive image and build strong agency relationships
• Supports Life Specialist in generating sales, identifying opportunities, and educating agency force
• Performs other duties as assigned

Education & Experience

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Business or Insurance related field or equivalent experience
• Typically requires 3+ years of related experience

Preferred or Specialized

• Previous sales and/or field marketing experience strongly desired
• Experience with all lines of insurance: Life, Commercial, and Personal

Certifications & Licenses

• Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) or Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) preferred
• Valid Driver’s License required

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

Demonstrated skill in:

• Listening and communicating with the ability to speak in public
• Managing one’s own time and working independently

Demonstrated ability to:

• Operate a vehicle in a safe and sound manner
• To maintain a positive image and build strong relationships
• Analyze, organize, and prioritize work while meeting multiple deadlines
• Establish program goals and objectives that support the strategic plan
• Manage an independent agency force

In-depth knowledge of:

• Local marketplace
• Microsoft Office software

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