Depth chart -- what is your perpetuation plan?

Anyone who follows Iowa Hawkeye football knows the phrase "next man in" well, especially when it comes to our running game.  We were reminded of the importance of that phrase on Saturday afternoon when our first and second string tailbacks were both injured.  In came a non-scholarship player who appears to be more of a fullback than starting tailback.  More than 100 yards and three touchdowns later, the fans were all chanting "Weisman for Heisman!"

We all know that agencies and carriers alike love to hire college grads or life experience hires that they can train, mentor, guide, and build into legacy producers or salespeople.  The problem that follows is quite often total lack of ongoing support.  They say their philosophy is to hope they're "game ready" when they're faced with a tough situation, but they have not had the proper mentality in practice.

Okay, I might be stretching a bit here with football language, but bear with me for a second here.  I argue that Weisman had success on Saturday because he had repeatedly been told in camps and practices leading up to that game that he should be ready to play even if the chances were slim he would see the field.  Prior to Saturday's game he had touched the ball only a couple of times in an actual game.  But because his coaches had ingrained in his mind that he should be ready if called into action, he was able to perform at a high level when his number was called in the huddle.  He even went on to embrace the challenge and looked like he was having the time of his life.

Does your sales leadership remind new producers or salespeople of all of the fundamentals necessary to achieve success in real world situations or do they just throw them on the streets with a pat on the back and hope for success occasionally?  Do they know what the future will hold if they practice and play hard even when no one is looking?  How important are they compared to the million-dollar producer that gets all of the accolades at sales meetings and in the board meetings?

You can't have a highly successful sales team by accident.  You must preach on a daily and weekly basis the idea of what the near future goals should look like to eventually achieve long term success.  The daily grind may not be fun and could come with some pain.  You may see the tenured producers getting away with days off and the "easy life" with big paychecks and carrier reward trips.  But you never know when your number might be called and you could land a huge meeting with a valuable prospect.  Or meet with a broker that could lead into hitting your premium goal with a large association/program.  If you are not ready to be the "next man in", you could lose on the opportunity.  How do you want to be remembered?