Lindani Mkhize

In my current role, I lead the planning, implementation, and effective delivery of Old Mutual iWyze short-term insurance sales and distribution strategy. Providing executive oversight to four major verticals: Internal Sales Call Centre with a team of 110 employees, External Distribution through 5 reputable business partners, Marketing (Lead Generation initiatives), and strategic partnerships.

The role reports directly to the Chief Executive and I serve as a member of the executive committee (Exco) of Old Mutual iWyze. Additionally, I serve as the Key Individual of the business.

Successes to date include:

• Incentive Program Launch: I Successfully developed and implemented a new incentive program that aligns employee behavior with key business objectives, driving enhanced performance across the team.
• Achieved a 16% improvement in lead effectiveness, contributing to higher conversion rates and overall sales performance.
• Effectively managed the cost of sale, maintaining it within a competitive 3.5P-Factor range, optimizing profitability while supporting business growth.

In the role, I led the sales and distribution strategy for insurance products (Short-Term and Long Term) across Delivering successful outcomes in expanding insurance channels and driving growth in a diverse range of African markets, such as Botswana, eSwatini, Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zambia.mbique, Namibia and Zambia.

Some key responsibilities of the role included:

• Developing and executing a sales and distribution strategy for insurance sales for the broader Africa markets and segments.
• Channel Development: Establishing dedicated insurance sales channels in all the markets FNB exists in the broader Africa geographies, this includes establishing outbound call center capability.
• Sales management of Insure products (Life and Short Term) across all distribution channels (Branch; Digital; Call Centre; and Direct Sales Agents)
• Ensuring a functional relationship is in place that allows for open and clear communication and understanding between FNB Insure Pillar, insurance managers, and channel teams in the countries we operate in.
• Setting bold aspirations and clear vision to internal and external stakeholders. Implement controls that ensure that FNB requirements on governance, legal, and compliance rules are met.

Key successes in the role:

• Successfully developed the first-ever sales and distribution strategy for Broader Africa Insurance in 2022.
• Successfully developed a channel development strategy for broader Africa insurance, launching the first insurance-dedicated sales contact centre in Botswana and adding other alternative channels by launching Direct Sales Agents in Botswana and Ghana.
• Achieved a 30% YoY growth in new business sales for FY23.

Oversaw and achieved growth of Underwritten Life Portfolio comprised of complex Life Cover products distributed through the Contact Centre. Expanded scope to include sales and campaign management of Underwritten Life products across various channels including Digital, Advisory, and Contact Centre

Some of the key responsibilities of the role included:

• Developing and executing sales strategies including sales activities that enabled target delivery across all customer segments (Entry; Middle and Premier)
• Driving sales of correct premium to achieve Annualized Premium Income objectives.
• Forecasting required leads volumes based on sales targets and expected conversions informed by the business objectives.
• Ensuring a functional relationship is in place that allows for open and clear communication and understanding between FNB Life and Channels- some of these channels included external contact centres.
• Providing quantitative information to guide campaign related decisions.

The role also included:

• Overseeing two products in the Underwritten Life Portfolio (Life Simplified and Life Customised ). Previously, this required two Growth Managers.
• Overseeing insurance sales of the back of service for the Middle customer segment

Key Successes:

• Successfully fulfilled a dual role in the Underwritten Life Portfolio team as a growth manager for both the semi underwritten and fully underwritten Life products.
• Led the transition of the contact centre operation from office base to work-from home (WFH) in response to the pandemic with minimal impact on productivity.
• Consistently exceeded volume and premium targets.
• Led the design and implementation of the QA escalation process between BYC (third part QA provider), FNB Life and Contact Centres.
• Co-created a calibration process between BYC/ FNB Life QA and Call Centre channel (this blueprint is now implemented across all our Call Centres).
• Designed a sales training and coaching model that has been deployed across Call Centre channels

Reporting to the General Manager for Direct and Digital Channels, in this role I was responsible for the management of contact center sales for Insurance.

Some key responsibilities included:

• Developing and executing sales strategies, including sales activities, that enable target delivery.
• Forecasting required lead volumes based on sales targets and expected conversions, informed by the business objectives.
• Improving Client-Supplier collaboration (Relationship Management) Increasing the embedded value of new business by increasing the average premium per product and decreasing the NTU and Lapse rates.
• Providing quantitative information to guide campaign related decisions. Ensuring campaign briefs, scripts, and product information are in place and accurate.
• Ensuring that all supplier contracts are valid and in place. Implementing controls that ensure that Absa requirements on governance, legal, and compliance rules are met.
• Facilitating the conduct of audits.
• Ensuring that Channels adhere to TCF principles.

The role also included:

• Overseeing the onboarding process for new call center partners.
• Extracting, quality checking, and delivering the commission statements to the call centres and ensuring that the invoices are accurate, signed, and paid to the Call Centres.
• The scope of the role included managing a total of 6 Call Centres with over 200 agents.

Key Successes:

• Successfully constituted and led a project team that designed a risk-proof migration process for the migration of old funeral policies to the new enhanced, higher-value policies.
• Appointed to the bid committee responsible for overseeing the RFP process of new Call Centre suppliers in 2015.
• Consistently achieved a strong performance rating since joining the organization in 2014.
• Exceeded all premium/revenue targets since joining the organization.
• Average monthly sales: $20,000 across 9 different products.
• Increased average premium on Funeral Policies from R60 to R102, resulting in increased revenue for the business.

Executed role of improving sales for Dairybelle products in Kwa-Zulu Natal province.

Reporting directly to the CEO, I was responsible for the key account management of all outbound sales campaigns. Key amongst my responsibilities were to identify business development opportunities in the market, while ensuring that the SLA expectations of existing business are exceeded.

Additionally, the role was responsible for:

• Managing the relationship between internal teams and external clients.
• Collaborating with the internal sales teams to develop solutions to respond to client needs.
• Implementing effective key account strategies to meet client requirements and drive business growth.

Oversaw a sales team of 60 agents and 4 team leaders, driving successful sales delivery and campaign profitability.