Catalyst recently successfully completed an On field Assessment project with one of the fastest growing life insurance companies in India. The Organization is following bancassurance model for selling its Life insurance products through nationalized banks. The penetration of Life Insurance products amongst PSU customers was as low as 1% thus there was huge opportunity to build business through this target group.

The Project was a key strategic initiative to enhance penetration across the partner PSU Banks. The scope of the project was to assess the behaviour displayed by sales team in selected 250 branches of the PSU Bank. The purpose of the same was to identify

• Enabling and disabling behavior displayed by the Sales Manager in different branches of the PSU banks.
• The environmental factors of different branches which enhance or reduce the efficiency of sales of Life Insurance products.
• Top Recommendation to Management of the Organization, Partner Bank and Sales team to enhance on field performance of the Sales Team.

The Project was implemented in 4 Key phases:

Phase 1: Planning and Customization

Customized On field Assessment questionnaire was prepared through detailed study of Sales Manager KRA’s, Job description, competency framework and their Scorecards. FGD’s and in depth interviews of key Stakeholder like HR and L&D team, RSM, NSM and select branch managers were also conducted. Workshop on training of On field assessor was conducted to train them on background of the project, Catalyst methodology of assessment and the Assessment questionnaire.

Phase 2: Assessment

On field Assessment was conducted across 200 branches of PSU bank. Assessor filled structured on-field observation sheet for each branch visited and each Sales Manager who he worked with. Different behavior in different branches and overall comments on their selling and interpersonal skills of sales manager was captured.

Phase 3: Development

Data points captured as assessor ratings correlated with actual ISM and branch performance to arrive at conclusions and recommendations. Correlations based on ISM tenure, gender and ISM level were also studied. Below mentioned points were highlighted

• Key skills, knowledge, attitudes and traits which differentiates a superior performer from an average or low performer
• KRA’s based enabling behaviors
• Comparative analysis of difference in behavior of Sales team in different category bank branches
• Observations on overall Branch environment

Phase 4: Reports and Recommendations:

Following reports were created:

• Individual report on Sales Manager,
• Report on enabling and limiting Sales Manager behaviors and Branch environment
• Recommendation report to the Organization on KRA’s, process, Advertisement and Marketing were made. Also recommendation to Bank and Sales Manager to improve the approach of sales and increase efficacy was made.

Catalyst Team is still working with the Management of the Organization to follow through the recommendation. Also we would be conducting similar on-field assessment across locations for them.