How Do You Produce?

Stephanie is a Cannabis insurance specialist in California and recent winner of a Business Insurance Breakout Award.

In this conversation we talk about how to cultivate a deep specialization and some of the risks that come along with it. Cannabis was a very challenging segment (still is!) because of its federal ban. This created all kinds of headaches for insurance clients in the cannabis industry. Stephanie found a fantastic solution that let her break in!

Jordan on how they produce at the Benefits Group. TBG is generating organic web leads from around the country!
They are working hard on the last mile problem, being getting the information into the hands of the customer so they can make a decision for themselves and their families. 

Heather and I talk about how a producer looks at investing time into prospects, especially early in her career. No prospect is too small because she's building a network of relationships and, importantly, building credibility, experience and a track record. This is the main asset that an agent has. 

We also talk about how technology can fail. In the voluntary benefits business this tends to boil down to one scenario: nobody uses it! Why? We dig in!

CLG is a very interesting case study in how to use a call center to generate P&C customers. 
There was also an interesting insight for me in that the carriers have a very strong hand in defining what customer segments exist. 
It isn't obvious to me that the world needed to be organized that way. Why not customers defining their own segments based on some social factor or something? 
This was super interesting. 
And as for call center staff: the crazier the better!

In this conversation we learn about how a P&C agency productively used an outsourced outbound call center to generate leads. 

Long Haul trucking is the quintessential 'difficult' insurance class and Patrick and RSI specialize in it. 
I learned many things!

- specialize in a class and understand the businesses of your customers "even better than they do"
- even adopt the jargon of that business. You'll note that when Patrick says "carrier" he means transportation carrier whereas most people in insurance mean insurance company. 
- within the trucking world there are sub-classes of business that matter for determining carrier appetite
- in trucking, insurance is one of the top cost sources for the client. Generates a lot of focus
- this is a very hard market these days
- insurers lost money on this segment for years. According to Patrick, new insurers kept showing entering and exiting fairly rapidly at the same old (inadequate) rate levels. For YEARS. 

Dirk DeJong describes one of the most magnificent sales management and oversight systems I've encountered. 
Some features:
* high structured sales plans built on an annual basis and revised weekly
* Intensive selection and training program
* Specialization of focus for producers
* Growth hacking referrals by turning their customers into referrers

It's amazing! Much respect to Dirk and Frank H Furman agency and I feel very fortunate to learn from him!

With Seth Denson I got to talk about how Knowledge -> Confidence -> Enthusiasm. It's his phrase and a winning formula. I didn't tell Seth this but this was exactly how I found my own feet as a producer once upon a time. 

See more of Seth at https://sethdenson.com/. 

With Brian I got a chance to talk about motivation of the producer and how sales is about finding a personal style. Brian's style is evident in his coffee with Cote blog which is very, very light on insurance. It's about living well, which 44North encourages!

Coffee with Cote:
https://44n.com/coffee-with-cote/

Brian's linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/briantcote

44north: 
44n.com

44N e-book!
https://online.flippingbook.com/view/561772/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/robby-mcgehee-b9a7b35/

After a year at Vanderbilt University, Robby graduated with a degree in Computer and Informational Science from the University of Mississippi. Shortly after graduation, Robby pursued a professional racing career, highlighted by receiving the Rookie of the Year honor at the 1999 Indianapolis 500. Pursuant to his retirement from auto racing in 2004, he began working full-time in the insurance industry with Huntleigh McGehee. In his tenure at Huntleigh McGehee, Robby spent the majority of his time leading a team in the practice of risk management for a large international real estate developer. His expertise includes risk management for land development, horizontal and vertical construction, and international risk exposures. He joined Smith McGehee Insurance Solutions in November of 2011.