Agency Intelligence

In this episode of the Age of Indiependence podcast, host Katlyn Eggar interviews Jeff Shi, the Chief Visionary Officer at Quantum Assurance International, and Zack Gould, the Managing director at G&N Insurance. They pay tribute to the CEO and founder of Zappos, Tony Hseih, and share how Tony made an impact on them and left a legacy. Episode Highlights: Katlyn introduces Jeff Shi and Zack Gould. (1:43) Zack shares that he started G&N from scratch with Matt in 2010, and they both spent a couple of years at Liberty Mutual. (2:37) Zack mentions that they ran the company for 10 years and recently exited the company and sold it to another insurance agency, but currently run the agency. (2:47) Jeff mentions that he’s a huge fan of Tony Hsieh’s books and a lot of agents from his captive career came to him because he has built a different model of scaling. (3:43) Jeff shares that Tony makes other people's dreams come true and has done it twice. (5:01) Zack thinks that a lot of entrepreneurs who started ha

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Jennifer Carroll, the CEO of Veruna. Jennifer talks about how Veruna’s platform has changed the agency management system and how they became the world's number one customer relationship management system. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Jennifer Carroll. (1:08) Jennifer shares that fear is fun, strong, and temporary. If you want to change to exist in the long term, you need to get motivated for a positive long-term change for something you want. (7:36) Jennifer mentions that she didn’t start off in the insurance industry, she’s a licensed attorney and has been working with tech startups for the last 10 years. (9:41) Jennifer shares that you can't be tone-deaf, you must understand and be where your customers are, to understand their business needs to continue and grow in the right direction. (10:31) Jennifer mentions that her undergraduate degrees were in biology and chemistry, then she went to law school. (11:22) Jennifer

In this episode of Agency Intelligence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Roger Sitkins, the CEO of Sitkins Group, Inc. Roger talks about the coaching and training programs that they provide to independent insurance agencies and discusses how your clarity, consistency and commitment can determine your level of success.   Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Roger Sitkins. (1:06) Roger mentions that he made an early career decision and chose his parent’s insurance agency. (9:58) Roger shares that through the years, he learned a lot from his parents and eventually worked in the business. But unfortunately, during his senior year of high school, his father became a quadriplegic due to a doctor’s malpractice, and their life changed dramatically. (10:14 Roger shares that the first program they developed was a weekend sales and marketing Bootcamp, then they created the first producer training camp, the sales managers camp, and the CEO camp. (11:28) Roger mentions that the GAP for GAP stands for, Goals And Pla

Peep Laja, founder of world-renowned conversion optimization company CXL and the copy testing platform Wynter.io joins the podcast to explain why every we do is a commodity except our brand. Get more: https://ryanhanley.com/

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Tena Hoyt, the Owner of Geary & Hoyt CPA’s PC. Tena talks about the impact of recent tax changes, the significance of giving financial reports to your clients, and shares her knowledge and expertise in the accounting industry. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Tena Hoyt. (4:12) Tena mentions that when her father’s former accountant offered her a new job, she left her father’s restaurant for the accounting firm, as a staff accountant. (8:41) Tena shares that their niches were insurance agencies, grocery stores, and retail. However, the insurance agency somewhat developed with the client base that they have and they have seen what’s essential along the way, that they could potentially provide. (11:04) Tena thinks that it’s significant for the client to get reports that are meaningful to you, particularly with the trust fund. (15:14) Tena shares that when it comes to automation, getting information from the client has allowed th

In this episode of the Age of Indiependence podcast, host Katlyn Eggar interviews Brandon Smith, the Managing Partner at Glidewell Investments & Insurance Group. Brandon talks about how to build better relationships with clients, his goals, and the benefits of the Producer Development Program. Episode Highlights: Katlyn introduces Brandon Smith. (1:09) Brandon shares that their agency started as an independent life insurance agency 40 years ago and he’s been in the insurance industry for 17 years. (3:59) Brandon shares that he used his background in communications and marketing to help him grow his knowledge in the industry. (5:32) Brandon mentions that he’s responsible for the profitability of the agency, the systems, and strategies and the marketing and high-level thinking. (5:58) Brandon shares that since COVID, they’ve found different ways of doing business, they have shifted their business model to working remotely, and 50% of their employees will not be working in the office permanently. (7:16

In this episode of Agency Intelligence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Carlos Vargas, the Founder and President of Vargas & Vargas Insurance. Carlos talks about his career in the insurance business and how video and social media have helped grow his agency. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Carlos Vargas. (1:11) Carlos thinks that winning and losing are significant because we all learn from losing. He loves to win, but he will not learn his lesson, without losing. (4:50) Carlos shares that he was trained in the life insurance industry, by his parent’s insurance agent, and the old process of the life insurance industry made him learn about prospecting when you're in people's homes. (7:18) Carlos shares that as salespeople, they go into the conversation or the battle with our hand out. But nowadays, we receive it through social media. (10:58) Carlos mentions that the power of social media is unbelievable, and he has a personal VA that’s been working on his social media. (14:22) Carlos shares

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Ashley Fitzsimmons, Customer Experience Manager at Ohio Insurance Agents Association. Ashley talks about how we can build and develop stronger relationships inside the insurance industry. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Ashley Fitzsimmons. (1:35) Ashley mentions that she started in the family agency on July 5, 2019, in northeastern Pennsylvania near Scranton. (9:38) Ashley shares that she wants to be the voice for other people, and because of that, she caught the attention of the CEO of the Ohio Insurance Agents Association, at a conference in Pennsylvania. (10:35) Ashley mentions that in her first four years in the industry, she didn’t dare to expand and meet other agents, but eventually she started to learn how to network. (14:47) Ashley shares that the people in their industry truly care, not only about insurance but also about the relationships. (15:06) Ashley shares one of her biggest accomplishments was the IA Circl

In this episode of the Age of Indiependence podcast, host Katlyn Eggar interviews Dr. Billy Williams, Ph.D., CEO of the Williams Family Investment Group, and the President of Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring. Dr. Billy talks about how to successfully grow your agency and the three emotions that stop agencies from growing, the four types of discipline, and the significance of understanding the S4TS model. Episode Highlights: Katlyn introduces Dr. Billy Williams. (1:19) Billy shares that he’s a retired army, and 21 years after serving in the military, he took a Ph.D. in finance. (2:18) Billy mentions what made him leave Allstate after 4 years, was because they were not allowed inside to open an agency, and they were only selling outside. (04:07) Billy shares that he opened his first independent agency in April 2008, and today, they have more than 160 agencies under the Williams Family Investment Group, $1.2 billion in premium, and more than 2,000 members at Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring. (05:06

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Sonny Patel, Founder & CEO of Insurmi. Sonny talks about how he built Violet, a digital assistant for the insurance industry. He also shares his knowledge and expertise in the world of Artificial Intelligence. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Sonny Patel. (2:12) Sonny mentions that he worked at an agency as an office assistant and worked his way up to become a sales director, for about 3 years. (5:28) Sonny shares that the problem in their industry was the way they were selling policies was outdated, and most of what they’re doing in their agency is done offline. (5:43) Sonny mentions that he started Insurmi in 2006. (6:25) Sonny mentions that they built Violet for two primary customer segments, for the enterprise, and the agencies. (9:42) Sonny shares that they built Violet in a way that is tailored for an insurance agency. Therefore, the onboarding and the setup of the product are specifically tailored for a commercial a

In this final episode of the Agency Intelligence podcast miniseries, Age of Independence, host Katlyn Eggar is joined by Jason Cass, giving insights about her interviews and experiences with the rock stars of the insurance industry. Katlyn also discusses how the Age of Indiependence became a huge part of her journey and where that journey is headed. Episode Highlights: Katlyn thinks that one of the greatest factors about guest hosting a podcast is the opportunity to interview such amazing guests and be joined by rock stars in the industry. (2:11) Jason shares one of the reasons why they made Agency Intelligence is because people wanted him to take the interview a bit further than he did on Agents Influence. (3:10) Jason mentions that they will be working with Kelly Donahue-Piro and her company, Agency Performance Partners, at The Insurance Alliance, starting in January 2021. (4:11) Katlyn discusses the podcast episode with Kelly Donahue-Piro entitled, What Your Team Isn’t Telling You Through Big Chang

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Tyler Lessard, VP Marketing and Chief Video Strategist, at Vidyard. Tyler discusses how creating educational and personalized video content is significant in growing your business in today’s world. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Tyler Lessard. (1:19) Tyler mentions that today’s world is all about authority, engagement, and earning trust with our buyers. (2:52) Tyler shares that he was a graduate of the Systems Design Engineering program at the University of Waterloo, 20 years ago. (6:41) Tyler mentions that his first job was at Blackberry as an engineer, but he slowly migrated away from being a developer. (6:51) Tyler shares that when he knew that he was better at working with people, he became a developer relations manager, where he worked with third-party developers to support and educate them on how to build great mobile apps. (7:06) Tyler mentions that he co-authored the book entitled The Visual Sale, with Marcus She

Sheldon Snodgrass, owner of Steady Sales, a CSR focused consulting firm, joins the podcast to share his experience and expertise driving agency growth by helping CSRs overcome sales reluctance. This is a tremendous episode... Get more: https://ryanhanley.com/

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Benjamin Dennehy, Managing Director at The UK's Most Hated Sales Trainer®. Benjamin talks about the sales process and his knowledge, and expertise in being a salesman. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Benjamin Dennehy. (1:42) Benjamin mentions his YouTube channel called The UK's Most Hated Sales Trainer, and it’s about cold calling people live while filming it. (5:34) Benjamin mentions that most salespeople think that it’s the winning personality because they only remember 20% of people that buy from them, and they're selling to 20% of the people that have their personality. (6:56) Benjamin thinks that luck is preparation when meeting opportunities. (8:21) Benjamin shares a story about his job at a company that specializes in setting appointments. (15:07) Benjamin shares that when he was turning into the person he was pretending to be, he started to figure out how selling works. (18:35) Benjamin realized that buyers don’t

Miles Merwin, President and Founder of Advisors Insurance Agency, stops by the podcast to talk about his new program, Producers to Principals. Miles is helping producers (and Agency Owners) take control of their business to become more productive and efficient every day. Get more: https://ryanhanley.com/

Jay Mueller, agency principal at Camargo Insurance, breaks down his power move in 2018 to take control of the future of his agency and build the business he wants to work in. This is an episode you don't want to miss... Get more: https://ryanhanley.com/

In this episode of the Agency Intelligence podcast miniseries, Age of Independence, host Katlyn Eggar interviews Carey Wallace, the CEO of Intell Agents. Carey talks about understanding the functions of utilizing data in our agency valuation and the measurements and methods that impact the value of your agency. Episode Highlights: Katlyn introduces Carey Wallace. (1:53) Carey mentions that she’s been in the insurance industry for over 12 years and her background is in finance. (8:33) Carey shares that they built a consulting, valuation, perpetuation planning services, and data analytics team in order to leverage the data and start to help agents understand what's inside their agency and what they can learn from each other. (10:41) Carey mentions that at present, 50% of the agency owners are at or near retirement. (13:15) Carey shares that Intell Agents started around two years ago in Ohio, and they have over 20,000 agencies in their ecosystem. (14:11) Carey mentions that the main priority in their

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Reid Holzworth, Chief Executive Officer at IVANS Insurance Solutions. Reid talks about the opportunities in insurance technology, data, and how IVANS was built to digitally connect the insurance industry and streamline the flow of insurance across North America. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Reid Holzworth. (1:27) Reid mentions that TechCanary became the number one insurance solution worldwide on the Salesforce platform. (7:33) Reid shares that although TechCanary was originally built as an Agency Management System, it transformed the platform. (7:40) Reid mentions that TechCanary was acquired by Applied Systems in April 2019. (7:54) Reid shares that the tasks that they can do with IVANS and all of the connections that they have today can streamline the overall flow of insurance across North America. (13:30) Reid shares that most people don’t realize that IVANS stands for: Insurance Value Added Network Services, and IVAN

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Hala Taha, the Host, and Producer of Young And Profiting Podcast. Hala talks about how she got into the podcast industry and built her show. She shares her knowledge and expertise in marketing and growing an audience. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Hala Taha. (1:41) Hala mentions that she worked at Hot 97 for free for about 3 years where she had her radio shows with other DJs. (8:01) Hala shares that she decided to get her MBA and went into corporate, then started a young and profiting podcast, and currently, she’s working at Disney. (11:20) Hala mentions that her job at Disney is focused on email and mobile marketing. (11:42) Hala shares that her Young and Profiting Podcast has been running for 2 years, and they’re listed on the top 10 “How To” podcasts on Apple, they have over 30,000 subscribers on Castbox (13:28) Hala mentions that she recently started a podcast marketing agency this summer, and all her clients were t

In this episode of the Agency Intelligence podcast miniseries, Age of Indiependence, host Katlyn Eggar interviews Alejandro Velez, Director Of Strategic Alliances at Quantum Assurance International. Alejandro talks about what agencies can learn from call centers and what call centers should be learning from agencies.  Episode Highlights: Katlyn introduces Alejandro Velez. (0:58) Alejandro mentions that he’s a giant insurance nerd. (2:40) Alejandro mentions that the way he got into insurance was very happenstance, and when he worked at a call center insurance company, he went to the claim side. (8:38) Alejandro thinks that there’s a certain level of criticalness to the understanding of insurance. Because when you're purchasing insurance, what you're literally purchasing is the claims experience and claims protection should the need arise. (9:22) Alejandro mentions that insurance takes a bad day and prevents a bad life. (12:14) Alejandro shares that when he was in claims, he was defending the arbitr