Insurance In Your Words

If you don't, it will never get done. Lie to yourself all you want, a highly effective piece of content that gets found in search is almost impossible to beat. Because when it starts working its hard to stop. That means a constant new stream of business finding you. The only thing you have to be careful of is making sure you go deep enough. That's what I talk to Woody Brown, of The Rhoads Group, about how he can start to give it more. P.S. Agency Nation University sole purpose is to help you find that respect. Check it out now.

It really depends on what and how you do it. Because there's a very good chance you might be missing an important piece. That piece might technology, it might access to the right company or the thing you want to do just doesn't like it. No matter what, you'll need to overcome them all if you truly want to scale all the way. That's what I talk to Ed Munson, of Munson Insurance, about as he tries to figure out if he can. P.S. Did you know Sydney just released a new 42 video workshop inside Agency Nation University?

Is the lack of trust and respect you have for making sure people know you're an expert. If there's one thing you should be doing on the internet for your agency, it's distributing your insurance brain to as many people in as many places as you can. When you're done with that you should feel good about it because too many of us are worried insurance isn't "cool" enough. Just stop it, it is and so are you so let's all do something about. That's what I talk to Becky Taylor, Marketing Manger at Ohio Insurance Agents (OIA), as she delivers a much needed pep talk. P.S. Becky's going to be wandering around Elevate 18 this year, because let's be honest #TeamOhio, you should come too.

Is by making sure you always know who needs to do what, when. Because when you do, you'll limit the amount on enthusiasm you kill delaying progress. The longer you make something take, the less that will get done. This is also true if you're always trying to do more than you can handle. That's what I talk to Dani Kimble, at The O'Neill Group, about as she tries to figure out how fast her process can work. P.S. If you're not subscribed, I'm going to take a guess and say you have no idea what you're missing from the Agency Nation newsletter. That's unacceptable.

Is so out of control if you realized what's possible you'd spend threes times more. The problem is the mindset you approach the purchase with. That is it's something that isn't really necessary and ineffective. That mindset is easy to have not knowing or seeing the full potential effective video marketing can have on your agency. If you could you would have wished you made that investment years ago and even think it's a bargain for the business it delivers. That's what I talk to Jared Bellmund, of Carolina Living Insurance, about as he dreams of the gear he's missing. P.S. Did you know I write a Sunday morning email for the Agency Nation newsletter that's the best thing you'll read all week?

The better question is, what should they actually be doing? Because if you think you need a person, there's a good chance that you actually need a person. What isn't so obvious is the type of work this person will be doing and seeing if it can be found elsewhere, cheaper. If you don't figure out the answer to those questions before brining someone new into your agency, that might be a problem. That's what I talked to long time guest Mike Crowley, of Crowley Insurance, about as he tried to learn when to pull the trigger. P.S. Did you know I write something extra special directly to you every Sunday in my newsletter? You should subscribe.

If we all work together this is something we won't have to worry about anymore. Alright fine, yes you'll obviously still be able to lose a big account to another agent. However, if we all get our act together it won't happen because someone didn't do their job right or people hate insurance. I know it sounds a little far fetched already, but I'm pretty sure if everyone comes together from all sides of the industry we can make it happen. That's what I talk to Nancy Nicklow, of Huff Insurance, about the account she couldn't believe she was losing. P.S. You can learn from us and agents like Nancy inside of Agency Nation University, I mean only if you want to be awesome.

Do you go after a veteran that's been around the league and knows how to win now or build for the future? Figuring out this simple question alone, is one insurance agents have been struggling to answer for at least a decade. Most of the time what ends up happening is experience is over-valued and everyone discounts what the game looks like through new eyes. That's why I talked to Bogus Handzle, of Handzle and Associates, to figure out what's best for his agency. P.S. Did you know we have only like 34 tickets left, you should come for a few building lessons.

Unless you want to buy a really big door that knows how to handle it. It's never easy finding the right people for your agency. It's even harder when they will never care about your business as much as you do. It's impossible and expecting anything else is just asking for trouble. That's what I talked with Nick Ayers, at i80 Insurance and IAOA, about as he shares his struggles. P.S. Nick is going to be speaking at Elevate if you want to experience the real deal.

Are you making sure the people that want to talk to you can do it without thinking twice about it? The easier it is for people to talk to you and you talk to them, the better you'll be. If every interaction is a struggle of epic proportions for you and them you'll have wasted a lot of everyone's time. Having the proper systems and segmentation in place is vital to making sure that doesn't happen in your agency. That's what I talk to Ryan Anderson, or Columbia Insurance, about as he tries to make sense of his. P.S. There are a lot of people in the private Agency Nation University Facebook group that can help make your communication easier.

If you do, you stand a much better chance when some needs to remember your name. In order to do that, you have to have a solid process in place that believe in blindly to success. It's that level of dedication most agents lack and ultimately why they never see results. That what I talk to Woody Brown, of The Rhoads Group, as he tries to figure out his. P.S. Woody is going to be speaking at Elevate 18, that means you should definitely be there.

It's pretty simple actually, it gains trust faster so you can spend more time selling. Why wouldn't you want prospects to be able to hear, see and know you before you do? Video give you the ability to reach into organizations and audiences you never would expect to be watching. The secret is, everyone is and not many people (see agencies) are giving them anything to watch. That's what Ryan talks to Marcus Sheridan, Owner at IMPACT, about his belief in the power of video. If you want to see Marcus live for a four hour video marketing workshop, get your ticket to Elevate 18 today before it sells out! Connect with Marcus: IMPACT LinkedIn P.S. Seriously, that workshop will change your life longer than you can handle.

It's very possible you might have no idea, even if you do, it will still be fun. This is by far one of the most popular questions I get from people who are just getting to know our company. Which is fine, it's a completely fair question and it's possible we don't make the answer as obvious as it should be (we're working on that). At the end of the day if we can help you find your insurance flag and plant it somewhere worthwhile we'll consider that a job well done. That's what I talk to Ed Munson, of Munson Insurance, about as he tries to put the pieces together himself. P.S. You can really get up close and personal with us (Agency Nation) if you come to Elevate 18!

What really ends up happening is there's a lot that doesn't get done. We've finally made it to a place where "not getting it done" is an option. Someone in your agency needs to be doing something to make sure people know who you are when you are not around. If not, someone else will diffidently be there for them and tell them everything they need to know. That's what I talk to Becky Taylor, Marketing Manager at Ohio Insurance Agents Association, about the thing agents tell her they do. P.S. Agency Nation University is a great place to let someone else in your agency learn how to do it.

I definitely don't see enough of either across the board in the industry. Your ability to find a way around any challenge or obstacle is something that will set you miles a part. Combine that with an ability to make decisions on purpose about how your agency does things and most people won't know how to act. That's how crazy important both are and the power you'll possess if you combine them. I talked to my good friend Dani Kimble, at The O'Neill Group, how she found a way within their culture. P.S. You should definitely find a way to click here and check out Agency Nation University, there's lots of culture agents in there.

This is the not so dirty little secret holding a lot of us back. If you agency struggles with this basic form of communication, you're fighting a steep uphill battle. We have to be better at answering the phone, because it doesn't just impact your agency, it effects all independent insurance agents. That's what you'll hear first hand from calls that went wrong. I was simply looking for an interesting agent to talk to and found something entirely else instead. P.S. Don't forget to get your ticket to Elevate 18 today!

It seems like a lot of "next-gen" agents feel that way. Maybe the problem is the term has changed and we haven't aliened ourselves with what it actually means today? Just because you aren't attracting and closing business the way the previous generation did, doesn't mean you lack natural sales skills. It could just mean you've figured out a way to connect and communicate with prospects that make sense for today's business entertainment. That's what I talk to my buddy Mike Crowley, of Crowley Insurance, about as he confronts his lack of natural sales ability. P.S. A ton of agents a learning how find they're natural sales ability in Agency Nation University, you should check it out.

It's always the right thing to do the right thing. Even though it's really hard at the time, your ability to do it will set you apart from more people than you think. Sadly, too often people in the insurance industry act like they've never heard of such a thing. If we can all stop trying to talk our way out of doing it, That's what I talk to Nancy Nicklow, of Huff Insurance, about as she knows what happens when you do. P.S. There's a lot of people doing the right thing in Agency Nation University, go do it with them.

Don't worry, you're not the only agency having a hard time finding it. This is a question that has haunted the industry for probably more than a decade now. Why are more young people choosing to sell insurance? What has the world come to? These are all fair questions that mostly feature unfair answers. That's what I talk to Bogus Handzel, of Handzel and Associates, about as he try's to figure out where his is going to come from. P.S. Did you know there's going to be a lot of "young blood" running around at Elevate 18 this year? You should come.

Just because someone never sold a policy, doesn't mean they can't say something really smart to change your agency. We have to get over this ridiculousness overvaluing other agents and agency owners opinions. Do they have a better chance of being more specifically applicable to your business? You bet. But is it the only source of wisdom you should adhere to when trying something new? Absolutely not. That's what I talk to Becky Schroeder, SVP of ITC, about how she is constantly pushing herself outside the industry. P.S. It would be a little hypocritical of me to suggest Agency Nation University after all that.