BLIP Podcast - Helping Agents Build Agencies with Josh Berg

“There’s a lot of talk about complete transformations of the insurance industry- that’s all hype. Things are gonna change, but being an independent agent is going to be more important now than ever.” (Tolga Demirel, AgencyZoom Co-Founder)

"Look at the top 100 insurance companies and for the most part those guys aren't niche focused. They've got divisions and verticles, but they do more than one thing." (Cameron Pechia - Valley Trucking Insurance)

"Social media is a place where you should stay positive, but you don't have to be fake." (Dani Kimble - The O'neill Group)

"I'm at the beginning of this journey, but I'm in control of my own destiny. " (Andrew Calloway - Agency Owner)

"When the community sees that you are focused on providing a solution for a problem, then they start to trust in what you're doing as a whole for the community." (Aurora Mullett - Intrinsic Insurance)

"Customer service is huge.  When I refer a client to someone, I view that as me guaranteeing my client that they are going to be well taken care of by this person." (Jon Crawford - VIP Mortgage)

"I've never been a huge fan of the pop bys with trinkets or donuts.  I never think 'so and so brought donuts so I'm going to send them a referral'." (Brian Ford)

"The difference between contact and contract is the letter R.  The "R" stands for relationship." (Brandon Smith - GIIG Insurance)

"We want agencies to have a road-map that serves as both a magnet and relieve the burden on their existing staff." (Justin Goodman - CEO Total CSR)

"I'm at the beginning of this journey, but I'm in control of my own destiny.  " (Andrew Calloway - Agency Owner)

"I don't want to put out content just to put out content.  I want it to be valuable." (Chris Greene - The Flood Guru)

"Our success as independents is going to survive and thrive on personal risk manage ment principles and automation." (Chad Spaide - Agency Owner)

Automation in your agency (with Matthias Allred) Automation is one of those things that sounds super sexy and scary at the same time.  If you haven't yet taken the red pill and traveled down the rabbit hole then it might be time for you to take the plunge and see how far the rabbit hole really goes.    Welcome to Episode 28   Matthias isn't the biggest agent, he's not the best agent, he's not the fastest or the most knowledgeable agent, he's a self described "average American dude".   BUT, one thing that is super cool about Matthias is that he's created for himself the life he wants.  A big part of his ability to do that has been through his utilization of automation. Most people who want to jump into automation don't really need automation.  Not yet at least...  Before you can automate something you need to have a process that you're trying to automate.  Most people try to automate a process that doesn't yet exist.  First order of business is to sit down and hammer out your process.  Once you have a process, then you can begin to see which pieces of that process can be automated and go from there. Matthias has automation in place for prospecting, quoting, on-boarding, service...pretty much every part of a customer's Journey.  But he didn't start by automating everything at the same time...that would have been overwhelming.  Instead it was done piece by piece.   My 2 biggest takeaways from this episode are: Automation doesn't take the place of having a good process.  Automation takes parts of the process out of your hands. People don't care if something is automated as long as it's valuable information that they need. "Good automation starts from defining what your process is, what you want to have happen, what your steps are and then determining what specifically I need to do and what I can have another person or a machine do." (Matthias Allred - Agency Owner)   Watch the show below or catch it on our podcast all the way at the top. More Episodes Schedule a Call Links mentioned in this episode: BLIP Facebook Page (for watching episodes live) Matthias Allred on FB Inside Insurance Agency Website Automated Independent Agency on FB

"Being a generalist means you're a specialist to nobody." (Zack Gould - BobbleOn)

"Under the captive agency model we were only addressing 15-20% of the market from a rate and eligibility standpoint.  " (Andrew Calloway - Agency Owner)

"You have to figure out what path you want and what your stance is going to be and just stick with it." (Cameron Brown- Agency Owner)

"We're selling insurance!  Do you want to buy some?" (Cliff Hinkle- Agency Owner) "Analog beats digital." (Troy Thompson - Agency Owner)

"For me, blogging is telling a story with a purpose." - Carrie Reynolds (Agency Owner)

"How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  Treat your goals the same way.  Broken down to small, manageable daily tasks." (Josh Berg - Agency Owner)

"Waking up and crushing your day before most people are out of bed is one of the best things!" (Josh Berg - Agency Owner)

" You don't want to be that monkey who reaches in and grabs it because it's attractive." (Josh Berg - Agency Owner)

"What you should be proactive going after and what you should be marketing for is what you want long term." (Keith Rocha - Agency Owner)

"You have to be willing to spend money to make money." (Shayna Levin - Owner)

"Our world will change and we need to be prepared for that." (Rob Galbraith - Author)

"It goes back to culture, people and trust." (John Darr - Agency Owner)

"I wasn't really owning what my role was.  In order for me to own it I have to hire people that I believe are way better than me in those positions." (Bobby Stocks - Digital Marketer)

"The secret to having a great company culture is taking a unified purpose and connecting it to everything you do." (Grant Botma - Culture Course)

"If you want to acquire new clients you have to buy their attention and you have 2 currencies, time and money.  If you're not willing to spend the money, you have to be willing to spend your time and the real winners do both." (Preston Schmidli - Digital Natives)

"I am trying to build systems friendly to carriers, friendly to agents, that allow us to come together, focus our concern on the consumer." (Seth Zaremba - Neon)

"The most common answer I get from newbies when I ask them about their business plan is a glassy eyed look." (Dave Jackson - Founder IAOA)

"Do people still go to insurance shops? Are they still popular? I don't get it.  I see those stores and think, I'm pretty sure no one is going to those." (Neil Patel - Neil Patel Digital)

I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing now without that State Farm experience. (Ricky Hayter - ANR Insurance Group)

“If you can get yourself a sugar mamma to keep the lights on when you’re getting started…. – Jason Denniston (Denniston Insurance)

“In my mid 40's you won't find me.  For 2 years i'm just going to be gone and I'm going to spend every second with my family.” – Wess Anderson (AgencyVA)

"They want to see your heart and soul.  Don't be unfair, give it to them." - Mike Stromsoe

FEMA's program is there to give you SOMETHING. Private flood is there like a replacement home insurance policy. It's there to actually make you whole again." - Chris Greene (The Flood Insurance Guru)

"We don't want them to think yet, we just want them to get those fingers going." - Austin Moorhead (Conversion Kings)

"The most important aspect of your video is not your video." - Nick Ayers (MadeYouLookVideo)

"You don't need to be fearful.  We're not reinventing the wheel here.  Outsourcing is happening in every other industry, insurance is just a little slower to get behind it."

"I may be slow to take the first step, but when I do it's an all out Sprint."