Vertafore Insurance Podcast

Today's guest is Caribou Honig, Chairman and co-founder of InsureTech Connect, one of the largest gatherings of insurance technology professionals in the world. Before he ventured into InsurTech, Caribou spent over a decade in the financial technology sector and witnessed the digital disruption-slash-transformation that occurred in the worlds of banking and finance. 

With his vast knowledge and understanding of the insurance and technology businesses, along with the finance and investments that power the current surge in InsurTech, Caribou brings loads of insights to the table. Not least of which, the revelation that playing gold is no longer a necessary part of winning in our industry.

What does "modernizing your agency" mean and why is it something you have to do (and do now!) to survive? In this week's InsuRant, Rick explains the importance of moving into the future for the benefit of your customers, your employees, and your overall business. More than just updating the look of your office, Rick explains how and why using modern technology to engage your customers and empower your employees will ultimately enable profitable growth for your business. 

This isn't your typical motivational speaker! Seth Preus of Mivation joins the podcast to shed some light on what motivation is (and isn't) and how you can harness the driving forces that will motivate you - and your employees. Learn the strategies Seth has found to motivate independent workers (around 7:15), the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivators (at 10:08), and how to correctly use gamification to boost performance (head over to 22:40). This episode is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the topic of motivation, but if you're interested in learning more, it's a great place to start.

On today's InsuRant episode, we're talking about something that's personal to our host Rick Fox. As a Los Angeles native and lifelong Laker's fan, Rick has always found inspiration in the way Kobe Bryant lived his life and the values he demonstrated. While a basketball star might not be a typical source of professional motivation for insurance professionals, Rick shares Kobe's impact on his life and career and personal traits like work ethic and attention to detail. No matter who you are or what you're doing, Rick wants to share his source of inspiration with you.

Join us to talk about the diversity in your network with author, speaker, and consultant Amy Waninger. Amy's career has twisted and turned from her childhood in small-town Indiana to working in IT within the insurance industry, to finally finding her passion in educating others on the importance of diversity and inclusion (that's the first 14 minutes of the episode). Then, we dive in with Amy to get her take on how you can actively improve your life and career by intentionally making connections with people who aren't like you (at 17:00) and how you can take it a step further to make your business stand out and earn the trust of different communities you may not have been reaching before (skip ahead to 28:00). If you like what you hear in this episode, you can get a free e-book with even more takeaways from Amy at https://bit.ly/37jXNH2 (look on the left side of the page for 21 Insights for Inclusive Networking).

If your focus is strictly on "new business" you might be ignoring the incredible value to be found in retaining current business. Since most consumers are always on the lookout for a better deal, you can't take your existing customer base for granted. And you certainly shouldn't overlook how important recurring revenue is to your success. In this week's podcast, Rick gives advice and insight into some of the things you can and should be doing to work on your customer retention and explains in detail how improving retention directly impacts your bottom line. 

Wouldn't you like your business to be as successful as Amazon? Love them or hate them, you can't deny Amazon has built an enviable brand since its start as an online bookseller in 1995. This week our guest Steve Anderson shares some key points from his international bestseller The Bezos Letters, which uncovers and simplifies the wisdom found in Amazon's philosophy. Steve talks about the importance of failing successfully (at 4:45), how "customer obsession" worked for Amazon and can for you too (at 11:30), and the one idea that has kept Amazon relevant across decades (at 28:44). If you've been craving a podcast with action items you can put to work for you right away, look no further!

It's a new year and that means it's time to start making your plans for 2020 education and travel. Whether you're a long-time conference-goer or looking to attend your first industry event, starting with your personal goals and finding the events you'll get the most out of is key. In this edition of the InsuRant, Rick gives his advice on how to decide which events to attend, his top picks for networking and education, and what to do once you arrive. Pro tip: if you register early, you might save enough on your registration to help finance an additional trip this year.

Welcome to 2020! Our first guest of the year is Ryan Hanley, Founder and Chief Strategist at Hanley Media. Ryan is an industry veteran across both the insurance and marketing fields. Now he spends his time trying to educate and inspire others to use the most modern tools and methods to enhance their businesses. This week's episode starts out with Ryan's background (around 6:17), how he realized he could transform the way insurance agents sell with the power of storytelling (around 8:45), and leaves us with some strategic and tactical takeaways that you can put to work in your own business immediately (from about 24:32 until the end). 

With the VIP team still recovering from their busy end-of-2019, we've got one more week with a replay of the (second) most popular episode of the year. Angela Adams (President of Angela Adams Consulting) is an industry legend with over thirty years of experience. Before opening her own business to consult exclusively with Vertafore customers, Angela was the only female agency owner in Augusta, Georgia in the 1990s. If you listen, you'll see why this episode was our #2 hit across all of 2019.