In this episode of Benefits Broker Boost, Adam Smith sits down with Cole Rodgers, a world record holder and leader at Marsh McLennan Agency (MMA). Cole shares his remarkable journey of completing 20 rounds of the Murph workout in 24 hours while balancing a high level career in employee benefits. The conversation explores the intersection of physical resilience and professional excellence, offering a roadmap for brokers who want to transition from traditional agents to strategic thought partners.

The conversation begins with Cole’s record breaking Murph performance, a feat involving 40 miles of running, 2,000 pull-ups, 4,000 push-ups, and 6,000 air squats in a weighted vest. Cole explains that resilience is built in the quiet, heroic moments no one sees. He highlights how pushing through physical limits at hour 17 was driven by a deep "why" connected to his mother’s battle with cancer, illustrating that achieving something new requires becoming someone you have never been before.

Cole introduces a fundamental formula for growth: the "who" is greater than the "how". He argues that many brokers plateau because they are unwilling to check their egos and become a protege to those further down the path. By focusing on a "future self" mindset, brokers can prioritize the things that matter most and avoid the complacency that comes with resting on past victories.

Adam and Cole discuss why only about 20% of professionals stick in the insurance industry. Cole identifies three primary landmines: being excessively optimistic without realizing the difficulty of the struggle, examining assumptions poorly, and ignoring risk. He emphasizes that successful brokers view themselves as owners of their business rather than mere operators, constantly retooling and pivoting to stay ahead of market shifts.

The episode dives into the behavioral science of sales. Cole critiques the industry for starting with logic and data, arguing instead for a sequence of State, Story, then Strategy. He explains that clients buy based on emotion, and a broker’s primary job is to connect on a human level. By using the art of questions to reverse engineer a client's "future me," a strategic partner builds a level of trust that technical expertise alone cannot achieve.

Cole describes his team as super users of technology who use AI as a thought partner and strategic business coach. He warns that AI will leverage you unless you learn to leverage it, emphasizing that automation should provide an abundance of time to focus on higher level relationships. For Cole, the human element remains irreplaceable, but brokers who resist adoption will eventually find themselves replaced by those who can handle twice the workload with higher efficiency.

The discussion wraps with Cole’s "battle rhythm" of habits, including waking up at 4:00 AM, journaling, and maintaining strict health disciplines. He views health as wealth, noting that energy is a real professional asset. Looking toward 2026, he is excited by the opportunity for positive disruption, reminding brokers that the ultimate "why" remains the people within a client's population who depend on their benefits during life’s hardest moments.

This episode is sponsored by Plansight. Plansight is the only end-to-end benefits marketing platform that uses AI and automation to ensure every renewal and RFP is consistent, accurate, and fast. By taking the manual work out of benefit planning, Plansight helps you stay ahead of the curve and deliver faster, smarter results to your clients. Visit Plansight to learn more about making your brokerage more efficient.

In this episode of Benefits Broker Boost, Adam Smith sits down with Scott Millson, author of Frequency of Excellence and a veteran leader in the employee benefits space. With a career spanning decades at firms like Hewitt Associates and Hub Florida, Scott shares his insights on how agency leaders can build high performing cultures, develop lasting client relationships, and bridge the growing mentorship gap in the industry.

The conversation begins with Scott’s radio tuner analogy for personal growth. He explains that excellence is not a destination but a frequency you must consciously tune into by maintaining a growth mindset. Scott argues that leaders must model this behavior by being sponges for information, whether through books, podcasts, or conferences, to signal to their teams that continuous learning is a core value of the agency.

Drawing from his 17 years at Hewitt Associates, Scott discusses the importance of humility in leadership. He introduces the JGID (Just Get It Done) mentality, illustrating it with a story of an athletic director jumping from the stands to squeegee a rain delayed tennis court. Scott believes that great leaders should smell like their sheep, meaning they must be willing to get in the trenches and do the hard work alongside their teams rather than seeing themselves as above the organization.

Adam and Scott explore the B5 framework: being present, curious, intentional, bold, and reflective. Scott identifies presence and curiosity as the two most difficult traits to master in a world filled with digital distractions. He also shares a mathematical equation for trust where credibility, reliability, and intimacy are divided by self orientation. If a leader or broker focuses too much on their own needs, they drive trust down, whereas a focus on the client’s problems builds long term loyalty.

The episode dives deep into the unofficial nature of true mentorship. Scott highlights a significant gap where 80% of professionals believe they should have a mentor, but only 37% actually do. He suggests that the best mentorships are not arranged marriages by HR departments but natural relationships formed by being present and intentional around people who possess excellence. By simply watching what exceptional people do and asking curious questions, young professionals can inherit years of wisdom without a formal ceremony.

As Scott moves toward the next phase of his career, he reflects on the transition from resume virtues to eulogy virtues. Using Arthur Brooks’ concept of two life curves, he explains the shift from striving to be the best in a metric driven world to focusing on giving back and sharing knowledge. He encourages young professionals to be excited about 2026, noting that as experienced leaders age out, a massive opportunity exists for the next generation to step into the gap and inherit valuable industry relationships.

This episode is sponsored by Plansight, the only end-to-end benefits marketing platform that uses AI and automation to ensure every renewal and RFP is consistent, accurate, and fast. By taking the manual work out of benefit planning, Plansight helps you stay ahead of the curve and deliver faster, smarter results to your clients. Visit Plansight to learn more about making your brokerage more efficient.

In this episode of Benefits Broker Boost, Adam Smith sits down with Sean Turner, the founder and owner of Buffer Insurance. Sean shares his unique journey from serving eight years in the Army infantry to building a thriving insurance agency from the ground up. He discusses how the discipline of military life and a leap of faith led him to start his own business during a period of significant personal change.

The conversation begins with the lessons Sean carried from the military into entrepreneurship. He highlights the importance of grit, determination, and keeping hope when things are difficult. Sean also explains how he filled military downtime by consuming business books, which served as a form of unofficial mentorship and helped him shift his mindset from trading time for money to building a scalable organization.

Sean recounts a pivotal moment six weeks into his business when he discovered his wife was pregnant with their third child. Rather than letting the news become an excuse to quit, he used the back against the wall situation to fuel his drive and commitment to making the agency successful. He emphasizes that for entrepreneurs, the person inside your own brain is often the biggest obstacle to moving forward.

Adam and Sean explore the balance between personal and company branding. Sean explains why he chose a neutral name for his agency to look bigger than he was at the start, while later embracing a founder led marketing approach that humanizes the brand. He shares the story of how a company policy to pay for employee birth and adoption costs went viral, leading to national media coverage on major networks. This experience taught him that people often choose to buy from companies that align with their personal values and beliefs.

The episode dives into the practicalities of scaling an agency. Sean discusses the challenge of letting go of control and the necessity of documenting tribal knowledge into searchable manuals so the business can function without the founder being involved in every task. He advises founders to identify bottlenecks and systematize around constraints quickly to avoid breaking old processes during periods of rapid growth.

The discussion wraps with a look at the future of healthcare and the role of workplace culture. Sean argues that employers can influence long term health costs by creating a culture that champions physical, mental, and spiritual health. Looking toward 2026, he predicts continued disruption from level funded plans and a rise in innovative startups that will challenge traditional insurance giants.

This episode is sponsored by Plansight, the only end-to-end benefits marketing platform that uses AI and automation to ensure every renewal and RFP is consistent, accurate, and fast. Visit Plansight to learn more about making your brokerage more efficient.

In this episode of Benefits Broker Boost, Adam Smith sits down with Matt Richard, First Vice President at Alliant Insurance Services. With over 22 years of experience spanning both the carrier and consultant sides of the industry, Matt has built a reputation as the whiteboard guy on LinkedIn. He uses signature visual storytelling to simplify the complex world of health insurance for his audience.

The conversation kicks off with Matt’s accidental evolution into a personal branding expert. He explains how he moved from a basic, inactive profile in 2020 to a consistent content creator by leveraging a simple whiteboard to capture hooks and themes. Matt emphasizes that authenticity, such as using a natural home office background and appearing in person rather than using generic stock images, is what builds real relationship driven awareness with an audience.

Adam and Matt dive into the playbook for effective digital networking. Matt shares his goal of posting two to three times a week, ensuring two posts provide professional business insights while one post remains personal to show he is a whole person. He offers the water cooler litmus test for personal sharing: if you would not be comfortable sharing it in the office, you should not post it on LinkedIn. He also warns against repost fatigue, advising brokers to instead break down company white papers into smaller, individual insights that add unique perspective.

The discussion shifts to the tactical side of benefits consulting, where Matt explains how his 15 years on the carrier side allow him to better negotiate on behalf of his clients. He advocates for moving away from reactionary renewals toward a multi year strategy built on guiding principles that align with a company’s overall business goals. By using claims data as a foundation for a story rather than forcing data to fit a narrative, brokers can provide clear recommendations for their clients.

Matt also highlights a significant shift in the industry toward provider accountability and performance. He discusses the broad network trap where value is diluted and explains how brokers can help employers identify and incentivize employees to use the top 20% of performing doctors. This strategy ensures better healthcare outcomes while combating the rising cost pressures that are forcing businesses to operate more profitably.

The episode concludes with an optimistic look at 2026, where Matt predicts that innovation and true expertise will separate modern consultants from those resting on their laurels. For any broker looking to cut through the noise on social media and deliver high impact strategic value, this episode provides a masterclass in combining personality with professional excellence.

This episode is sponsored by Plansight, the only end-to-end benefits marketing platform that uses AI and automation to ensure every renewal and RFP is consistent, accurate, and fast. Visit Plansight to learn more about making your brokerage more efficient.

In this episode of Benefits Broker Boost, Adam Smith sits down with Andy Neary, former professional baseball player turned CEO of Complete Game Consulting and host of the Accelerate Your Insurance Sales podcast. Andy shares his journey from pitching for the Milwaukee Brewers organization to becoming one of the industry's most prominent coaches for insurance producers.

The conversation begins with Andy’s transition from professional sports to insurance, highlighting how a reset in 2014 changed his trajectory. He emphasizes that there is no secret bullet to sales. Instead, success is built on the consistent work performed off the field when no one is watching, which is a lesson he carried from his days on the mound to his career in consulting.

Adam and Andy tackle the status quo in the insurance industry, specifically the outdated training methods that rely on 30 year old playbooks. Andy argues that brand awareness must precede the appointment. He walks through his four pillar framework for LinkedIn success:

Profile: Designing your profile to be prospect friendly like a personal website.

Connections: Proactively reaching out to an ideal client profile.

Content: Speaking directly to the needs of the ideal client.

Offline Transition: Engaging in the DMs to turn connections into sales conversations.

The episode also dives into the future of the industry, particularly the role of AI. Andy frames AI not as a replacement for the producer but as a thought partner that automates mundane tasks, such as building proposals, so brokers can focus on meaningful face to face interactions. He shares a candid example of using AI to break through writer's block for his own podcast, illustrating how technology can unlock human creativity.

Finally, Andy offers a powerful lesson on resilience and accountability. He recounts a pivotal moment in 2020 when he decided to go all in on his coaching business, eventually selling his book of business to pursue his passion full time. He encourages producers to stop mimicking others and instead design a strategy that fits their own authentic brand.

If you are a benefits broker looking to evolve your prospecting, master personal branding, or leverage technology to reclaim your time, this episode provides a tactical roadmap for outlasting the competition and achieving long term success.

This episode is sponsored by Plansight, the platform designed to take the manual work out of the RFP process. Plansight is the only end-to-end benefits marketing platform that uses AI and automation to ensure every renewal and RFP is consistent, accurate, and fast.

In this episode of Benefits Broker Boost, Adam Smith sits down with Justin Burgess, founder of Arete and a longtime benefits advisor who recently launched his own agency after more than a decade in the industry. Justin shares his journey from working at a local agency and navigating an acquisition to striking out on his own with a clear mission centered on excellence, strategy, and authenticity.

The conversation opens with why personal brand has become one of the most important differentiators for brokers today. Justin explains how many advisors hide behind their agency’s name and why that approach eventually hits a ceiling. Instead, he argues that brokers who build trust through visibility, consistency, and real opinions create stronger, longer-lasting relationships with employers.

Adam and Justin explore how social media has become a powerful extension of relationship building, not just a marketing channel. Justin walks through how he uses everyday moments, pricing decisions at the grocery store, conversations with clients, fitness and health journeys, to educate employers on the real cost drivers in healthcare. Rather than posting generic industry updates, he focuses on storytelling that connects personal behavior with benefits strategy.

The episode also dives deep into what “strategic benefits planning” actually looks like in practice. Justin breaks down the difference between reactive quoting and proactive planning, explaining how access to data transforms decision-making. From drug pricing and site-of-care optimization to auditing claims for errors, fraud, and waste, he outlines how brokers can create real savings and better outcomes by understanding where money is actually being spent.

Adam and Justin discuss the broken incentives in healthcare, the confusion between health insurance and healthcare itself, and why employers are increasingly frustrated with rising premiums that offer no transparency. Justin shares why he believes many groups are ready to rethink traditional networks, embrace cash-pay strategies, and prioritize direct access to care.

The conversation wraps with a forward-looking discussion on what makes the benefits space exciting heading into 2025. From direct primary care and simpler plan designs to the ability to truly help employees keep more of their money, Justin explains why this moment represents a major inflection point for advisors willing to challenge the status quo.

If you’re a benefits broker looking to stand out, build trust through personal brand, and deliver real strategic value to employers, this episode offers a candid look at what it takes to succeed in a rapidly changing industry.

In this episode of Benefits Broker Boost, Adam Smith is joined by Sims Tillirson, one of the most recognizable voices in benefits sales coaching and social selling. Sims brings over a decade of experience across the carrier, broker, enrollment, and benefits tech sides of the industry and shares a practical, no-fluff approach to building pipeline in today’s crowded market.

The conversation goes far beyond generic “post more on LinkedIn” advice. Sims walks through how his social selling journey started during COVID out of necessity, the mistakes he made early on, and the lessons that ultimately led to a repeatable, high-conversion outbound framework built around trust, relevance, and effort.

Adam and Sims dig into why mass outreach no longer works, why personalization at scale is largely a myth, and how brokers can dramatically improve results by narrowing their focus and using higher-effort first-touch strategies. From video DMs to provocative direct mail, Sims explains how pattern disruption helps brokers break through the noise and lower buyer defenses before a sales conversation ever begins.

The episode also delivers a clear, actionable framework for using LinkedIn effectively today. Sims outlines the four core pillars brokers should focus on daily: building the right network, engaging thoughtfully, creating content that educates and entertains, and intentionally moving conversations off the platform. He also explains why many brokers post consistently but never see inbound leads — and exactly what needs to change.

Beyond tactics, Adam and Sims discuss how to measure real ROI from LinkedIn, why impressions and virality don’t equal revenue, and which engagement signals actually correlate with closed business. The conversation wraps with a forward-looking discussion on industry consolidation, increasing competition, and why brokers who fail to differentiate themselves personally risk being commoditized.

If you’re a benefits broker looking to book more meetings, stand out in a saturated market, and build a durable pipeline using modern outbound strategies, this episode is packed with actionable insights you can start applying immediately.

In this episode of Benefits Broker Boost, Adam Smith sits down with Chris Pierron, a 15-year benefits veteran with over two decades in the health and fitness industry, to explore a radically different approach to winning and retaining employer relationships.

Chris shares the origin story behind The Conscious Bite, a new venture that blends nutrition education, employee wellness, and benefits strategy. Rather than leading with cold calls, rate comparisons, or plan design jargon, Chris explains how he is using value-first education to build trust, create authentic relationships, and organically differentiate himself in a crowded benefits market 

The conversation dives deep into why traditional broker outreach often fails, how HR leaders are overwhelmed and burned out, and why adding genuine value to employees’ lives is the fastest path to credibility. Chris draws powerful parallels from his time running gyms, where giving away education and training led to exponential growth without selling, and shows how the same philosophy applies to benefits today 

Adam and Chris also explore the massive role nutrition plays in chronic illness, healthcare costs, and plan spend, breaking down why prevention, not just care navigation, must be part of the benefits conversation. From seed oils and food additives to the cultural challenges around changing eating habits, Chris explains what resonates with employees and how small changes can create ripple effects across an organization.

Beyond nutrition, this episode challenges brokers to think creatively about their own backgrounds and interests. Whether it’s financial education, mindfulness, fitness, or mental health, Adam and Chris brainstorm practical ways brokers can partner with experts and offer meaningful value-add programs that HR leaders actually want to say yes to.

The episode wraps with a forward-looking discussion on why 2025 may be the most exciting time in history to be in employee benefits. Chris shares his optimism around care navigation, AI-driven decision support, and genomics, and how these innovations could finally shift the industry from reactive care to proactive health management.

If you’re a broker looking to stand out, build deeper relationships, and rethink how you approach employer engagement, this episode will challenge you to stop selling and start serving.

The benefits industry is changing fast, and the brokers who win will think differently, work smarter, and leverage modern tools to deliver more value.

In this first episode of Benefits Broker Boost, host Adam Smith and Plansight CEO Weston Lunsford break down:

Why brokers are under more pressure than ever

Where the industry is headed with AI + automation

The habits and systems top agencies use to scale

How to position yourself as a strategic partner — not a renewal processor

If you're a benefits broker looking to grow, streamline operations, and stay ahead — this podcast was built for you.