Excellent Takaful Agent

Takaful agent is an entrepreneur thus his earning depends on how well he observe the key success factors of being an excellent takaful agent.  The approach is known as DOME:
1.  DIAGNOSIS - You should conduct a comprehensive evaluation of your current status against your desired goal. This will lead to a gap analysis result where you compare between your existing achievement against your objective or goals as set at inception. For instance, you have set to close 4 certificates per month however you had only achieved 2 per month so far on average.  Thus, your gap is 2 certificates to be closed per month.  Similarly, you may have set a target of RM2,400 per certificate for average annual contributions whilst your current achievement is only RM1,800 thus your gap is RM600 per certificate.  For leaders, you may have set to recruit 120 agents per annum whilst your current achievement is only 60 agents thus creating a gap of 60 agents to be recruited.  You may have also set persistency as your key diagnosis.
2.  OBJECTIVE - After conducting a comprehensive diagnosis, you then set your objectives to minimize or zerorised the gap.  For instance, your objectives are to close 4 certificates per month, contribution target of RM2,400 per certificate for annual contribution, recruit additional agents of 60 agents in the next X no. of months.
3.  METHODOLOGY - Now you have to lay out the strategic initiatives that will lead to your achievement of the objectives as set above.  For instance, if your closing rate is 20% then in order to recruit 60 additional agents you need to have a prospect agents of at least 300 persons (60 / 20%).  Similarly, if you want to close 4 certificates per month you need to have prospects of at least 20 per month if your success rate is remain at 20%.  Furthermore, if your success rate for appointment or meeting is say 20% again then you need to have at least 100 leads or referral.  This is also known as Prospect 100.  Basically, it is an activity game plan.
4.  EXECUTION - Finally, a plan will remain just a plan if it is not well executed.  Therefore, all the above in item 1 - 3, shall be properly documented in a project management plan (PMP) in order for ease of execution.  PMP usually comprises of at least What to do, Who shall be responsible, and When it is due.

In addition to the above, there are also certain behavioral elements which ensure greater success in takaful agency business which can be summarised as EHSAN:
1.  Excellent - always perform your duty to the best of your ability and take extra milestone to deliver excellent services to your clients
2.  Honesty - always being honest when dealing with your clients
3.  Solution - remember that you are offering the best solution to help ease the burden of your client when the mishap arises
4.  Assurance - always give your assurance that you are always there when the need arise
5.  Nurture - you should always nurture the best in whatever you do to delight your client.


I will share a new concept in your endeavor to become an excellent takaful agent in my next posting.

Zero Based Philosophy

Zero is a special number which is weird and unexplainable. For instance, 4/2 = 2 thus 2 X 2 = 4. However, 4/0 = Infinity but 0 X Infinity not equal to 4, following the mathematics as above.  If we  come across with a house under fire we commonly just watch and maybe ask around about the owner of the house or whether anybody trap inside it.  We may further ask whether someone had contacted the firemen for the rescue.  Similarly, if we happen to be at a seaside and someone is drowning we may ask more or less the same kind of questions such as whether someone had called for the rescue, etc.  If we change the situation where inside the burning house is our baby or loved one we would definitely without any delay, rush into the house to rescue the person.  We would waste no time asking questions like calling for the rescue etc.  Same goes to the drowning case.  This is a situation called a Zero Based where we forget who we are and whether we will survive or not and etc. Instead, we  leave it to the God to determine our fate as we deeply believe that our intention is absolutely good and pious.  That is a moment where nothing is important to us other than saving the life of our loved one and we solely submit our life entirely to God.  Thus, if we believe that doing takaful is a pious act from Islamic point of view and shariah jurisprudence, we should zero based ourselves with takaful company we are in, and fully commit and contribute to deliver the best results of the company.  The rest is up to Allah swt to determine our outcome and fate.  The more you give the more you get and doing good deeds will result in good return.

1st Roadshow and Launching of Takaful Salam

After successfully launching the first product, Mortgage Reducing Term Takaful (MRTT), Takaful Ehsan continues it's initiatives in increasing market penetration by launching the second product, Takaful Salam, during it's first Malaysian roadshow from 17 - 22 May, 2011.  It took a bold move to conduct the launching in Bukit Mertajam, Pulau Pinang, far away from capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.  Bukit Mertajam is selected as the venue due to it's strategic location in the midst of 3 states i.e. Pulau Pinang, Kedah and Perak.  Main purpose of the roadshow are:
1. Brand awareness campaign;
2. Takaful Salam product launching; and
3. Agency recruitment campaign.

Takaful Salam is an investment linked type of policy with 4 additional riders as follows:
1. Investment linked Takaful Ameen;
2. Investment linked Takaful hospital income;
3. Investment linked Takaful accelerated illness; and
4. Investment linked Takaful Salam saver.

Takaful Ehsan is expected to collect more than 1,000 leads generation for potential agents as well as customers to Takaful Salam. With highly Moslem populated area in Bukit Mertajam and surrounding area, Takaful Ehsan expects to create a successful brand awareness campaign in the north part of Malaysia.
The activities are held in the biggest shopping mall in Bukit Mertajam, AEON Jusco shopping complex, where huge number of visitors usually spend their time for shopping, eating, networking, business, etc.  This roadshow marked a historical milestone for Takaful Ehsan and more interesting events scheduled to be launched in the near future.  www.takaful-ehsan.com.my

The Birth of Takaful Ehsan in Malaysia

On September 2010, Bank Negara Malaysia, being the insurance and takaful regulator, issued four new takaful licenses on top of the current eight takaful operators in Malaysia.  GE Takaful was the first to launch followed by AIA AFG Takaful.  The third one was ING PUBLIC Takaful Ehsan Berhad (Takaful Ehsan) officially launched on 5 April, 2011 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Takaful Ehsan is also the 11th. takaful operator in Malaysia. The strength in Takaful Ehsan lies in it's shareholders which are two strong household brand names i.e. ING and Public Bank.  Both are leading players in life insurance and financial institutions, respectively.  Obviously, Takaful Ehsan will leverage on it's strong shareholders by embarking on agency and bancatakaful as it's main distribution channels.  Besides, Takaful Ehsan is also expected to capitalize on the medical service provider from ING being the no. 1 in medical service provider in Malaysia.

Takaful Ehsan aspires to be a low cost producer via "lean and mean" strategy for it's human capital.  This is possible through the shared services agreement with ING on critical areas such as IT, Underwriting, Call Center, Risk Management, Investment, etc.  With the shared services or outsourcing arrangement, Takaful Ehsan may utilise it's resources towards market penetration whilst back-end is mainly supported by experienced and well trained ING personnel.  Time spent to develop the system and operational procedures are shortened.  Various ready made templates and modules are ready for customization to suit with the need of Takaful Ehsan.

Takaful Ehsan has also managed to secure reasonable business from day 1 operation which may support the significant initial expenses in setting up the company.  It is forecasted to capture a total 1st year contribution of RM31 million and increase significantly in the next 5 years for a total CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of more than 50%.  This is a remarkable annual growth rate and if maintained Takaful Ehsan may become one of the market leader in the next 5-10 years to come.

Another significant strategy of Takaful Ehsan is to embark on Global Market Penetration strategy after 3 years in operation.  This is in tandem with the government aspiration to encourage local players to tap into global market.  Takaful Ehsan may leverage on it's multinational shareholder, ING, where they have presence in several global market such as middle east, hong kong, India, etc.  TE needs to strengthen it's local infrastructure and market penetration and export it's expertise to international market via it's shareholders.

Takaful Ehsan hopes to compliment other takaful players in increasing the local Moslem market penetration and subsequently export the expertise to acquire significant business from global market.

What will you do if you are the CEO of takaful company?

September 2010 marked a new episode in takaful industry in Malaysia as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) had approved 4 new takaful licenses.  Even though the licenses are strictly for family takaful business, it came as a surprise to the industry players as BNM had, earlier, announced that they will approve only two new takaful licenses.  Anyway, 2 out of 4 new players had launched their companies and already doing takaful business.  ING Public Takaful rumored to be the next to join the bandwagon whilst AmTakaful (perhaps) will be the last to do so.  Anyway, yesterday, 7/3/11, IBFIM had organized a postmortem session with the Islamic institutions to assess the effectiveness of the 10-yrs FSMP introduced 10 yrs ago.  During the session, BNM had highlighted several critical success factors which according to them had failed to embark.  Innovation of products is one of the issue where the industry was alleged to just replicate the conventional products and services with some cosmetic features and claims as Islamic products.  Commitment from shareholders had also contributed to the shortfall in achieving the target.  MIFC had also failed to materialized as expected.  Whatever it is, the industry needs to review their strategies accordingly to prepare for the future masterplan which will be introduced sometime this year, according to BNM.
Now, if you are one of the CEO for the takaful company (maybe new or existing), what do you think you will set as top priority to ensure that your company will take the lead in the industry soonest possible.  Be it IT, Operations, Finance, Sales, Human Capital, etc, CEO must prioritize the list and execute accordingly.  Now, most of new players started their business using the shared services model and claim cost efficiency as the objective.  Nevertheless, there are few players which are using the approach since day one had yet to convert into full-fledge takaful companies despite of being in operation for more than 4-5 years.  The question is that which is more effective and efficient?  Shared services come with a price.  However, the sacrifice is the control i.e. takaful operator may have lack of control on the resources executing the processes.  BNM had also highlighted the same where they claim that too long dependency on shared services lead to lack of technical know how transfer to takaful operator.  Maybe yes.
Is top line a top priority or bottom line?  As a new company, good top line will increase a confidence level to potential clients to participate in the takaful business.  This is important in order to reap more business in future.  However, shareholders are more keen to see the bottomline results.  In other words, huge business with no profit is not a darling to most shareholders.  Therefore, managing expenses is more crucial than struggling to record higher production. I know at least one takaful operator which recorded the profit margin lower than 2%. As an investor, this is a bad investment as he can easily find an alternative investment vehicle which can easily generate 4-5% annually with lower risk.  Think about it if you are the CEO.  Competent and talented human capital is crucial, for my opinion.  You cannot lead an army which mostly do not know on how to pull the trigger.  Nevertheless, with 4 new players coming into play more or less at the same interval, human capital is the main issue as talent is still shortage in the industry.  Everybody agrees that we cannot build a house without a contractor who had experience in doing so previously.  Therefore, all new players had no choice but to lure or entice from the same pool of talent.  Best men win.......
Ok, let me stop here to allow readers to stir your brains and formulate the best strategy for your company should you be the leader in the company. Will continue with more interesting topics....