Area Manager - Agri (Douglas) at Santam Insurance

ROLE REQUIREMENTS

• Portfolio Growth
• Identify new potential clients/intermediaries. Identify competitors and gather market intelligence.
• Provide input into the broker business by sharing analysis, compile and manage intermediary clients’ prospect list.
• Preparing and delivering quotes (direct and through intermediary).
• Identify and facilitate opportunities to be part of industry forums and events
• Senior relationship manager also assists regional manager on regional level.
• Detailed explanations regarding changes with respect to terms/
• Grow the portfolio through direct sales and through intermediaries.

Area Management

• Execute relationship management with intermediaries and clients.
• Attend/handle meetings with intermediaries to discuss performance statistics and growth.
• Understand the business opportunities in the area and client segmentation.
• Attend to ad hoc queries and resolution of issues from intermediaries and clients.
• Promote Santam through marketing activities to intermediaries, clients and the community.

Portfolio Management

• Assist in developing the sales strategy for the area and/or the region.
• Identify intermediary training needs.
• Manage realised rate levels according to minimum and target rates.
• Identify cross and up-selling opportunities.
• Monitoring crop profitability 

Business Planning

• Contribute/participate/prepare area reports and presentations (can be regional as well as at a senior level).
• Assist/drive profitability by improved cost managements (commission, management expenses, assessment cost).
• Assist in/produce analysis of existing clients and segments.

Distribution Channel Management

• Advise intermediary on appropriate channel selection.
• Take ownership and manage channel solution implementation at intermediary level.
• Manage sales function, quotes (large quotes), channel conflict or under quoting, NQR etc.

Loss Assessments

• Performing assessments.
• Manage part-time assessors.
• Train assessors in collaboration with technical insurance services.
• Performing control/inspection assessments and re-assessments where complaints are logged on assessments.

ROLE REQUIREMENTS

Technical Support 

• Training assessors in the correct assessment of the crops cultivated in the designated area (districts). 
• Receive and manage all Damage Reports from brokers after insured loss reports. 
• Conduct insurance assessments, especially specialized assessments, personally. 
• Managing the assessor corps after a hail event to assess the damages to crops. 
• Inspections on a random basis to ensure a high level of accuracy of assessments performed.  

Claims Resolution

• Conducting claims estimates on allocated business/portfolio.
• Facilitate resolution of queries at any point of claim by understanding end-to-end claims process (registration, assessment, settlement, repudiation, dispute handling etc.).
• Interpret policy wordings against claim situations.
• Analyse and report on claims drivers affecting portfolio growth and profit, such as frequency, average cost per claim (acpc), severity etc.
• Manage ex gratia requests by assessing merits (loss against policy cover, policy and intermediary history) and create business cases for management consideration.
• Maintain close network relationships with claims handlers, assessors etc.

Internal Networking

• Build relationships with business and insurance support, facilitate the resolution of queries and issues with claims.
• Contract and monitor service levels with support units.
• Build effective working relationships with RM, RU, assessors and advisors.
• Attend and participate in quarterly distribution planning meetings.
• Manage escalations, exceptions and service interruptions in the different channels.

Crops

• Understand the climatic needs for each crop, as well as the genetic differences between cultivars.
• Able to distinguish the problems regarding weeds, diseases, nutrition, insects etc.

Farming methods

• Understand the need for, and the effective use of equipment and machinery.

QUILIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Qualifications

• Grade 12
• H Dip degree in Agriculture (preferably with horticulture as a subject)
• FAIS compliance: 
• Commercial and Personal Lines and RE a preference
• Driver’s licence

Experience

• 2 – 3 years’ specialised crop experience is essential 

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

• Business management
• Negotiation
• Sales
• Conflict management
• Presentation skills
• Writing skills