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03/08/2023 · 5 min read
Sethe Smith's second-decade ownership strategies: shift from doing to enabling, build culture through consistent behavior not values statements, track retention as hard as new sales, upgrade your peer network to other owners and coaches, and treat personal health as a business strategy.
03/06/2023 · 5 min read
Sethe Smith's first five years in insurance came down to four tactics: build prospecting skills before referrals make them optional, get comfortable with uncomfortable conversations early, invest in deep product knowledge as a competitive moat, and find one mentor doing what you want and learn everything you can.
03/01/2023 · 5 min read
Insurance agency owners cannot take vacations because they never explicitly delegated decision authority, never wrote their judgment calls into checklists, never transitioned client relationships to the team, and never developed a number-two who can run the floor. The fix is those four systems.
02/27/2023 · 5 min read
Before starting a P&C agency, plan for 18 to 24 months of runway. Expect year one to be relentless prospecting from zero, year two the service-vs-sell balancing act, and year three when renewals and referrals compound. Build systems, pick a niche, and run lead-gen alongside referrals from day one.
02/22/2023 · 5 min read
Jennifer Haring scales a values-driven insurance agency without dilution through five daily practices: storytelling that transmits values through specific client examples, enforced standards even when uncomfortable, regular client feedback reviews, slow values-aligned hiring, and an owner who holds herself to the same standards as the team.
02/20/2023 · 5 min read
Build client loyalty beyond the numbers with Jennifer Haring's heart-first playbook: empathy first in every hard renewal, plain-language explanations that assume nothing, claim moments treated as referral moments, and a team hired for values alignment, not just production potential.
02/15/2023 · 5 min read
The communication tool that changed our insurance agency is a structured channel-based team messaging platform (Slack-style). Conversations stay searchable, channels by function keep noise low, quick questions stop interrupting deep work, and CRM and phone integrations make information flow automatic instead of memory-driven.
02/13/2023 · 5 min read
Audit your insurance agency bonus structure with three questions: Is it driving the behavior I actually need right now? Does my team know exactly how it calculates and where they stand each week? Is the payout affordable against the real profitability of the policies it rewards?
02/08/2023 · 5 min read
Apply corporate insurance lessons to an independent shop with a daily scoreboard of activity metrics, a 20-minute weekly review ritual, a written client journey map from contact to renewal, recurring role-play practice, and a systematized referral ask built into peak satisfaction moments.
02/06/2023 · 5 min read
Geico taught Robert Junge four things he carried into his independent agency: structured discipline that operates regardless of motivation, regular coaching as fuel not criticism, treating every conversation as data, and management as a separately trained skill, not a reward for great sales.
02/01/2023 · 5 min read
Take a quantum leap in your insurance agency by adding a second product line before you feel ready, investing in your own owner-skill development, building systems before headcount requires them, locking in deliberate referral partnerships, and stopping the trade of personal production hours for revenue.
01/30/2023 · 5 min read
Replacing a sales agent costs $15K to $25K once you stack recruiting, licensing, 2-to-4-month ramp, and lost sales. Most attrition is a lead-supply problem, not a hiring problem. Feeding your existing team a steady flow of quality leads is cheaper than another hire, every time.
01/25/2023 · 5 min read
Paul Woodburn's follow-up system: 5+ touches across phone, voicemail, text, and email over 30 to 45 days, with every touch adding value, short curiosity-driven voicemails, text after unanswered calls, a defined endpoint that moves unresponsive leads to long-term nurture, and delegation of early-stage work.
01/23/2023 · 5 min read
Cold calling still beats every other lead source because it is the lead channel you control. Paul Woodburn's framework: non-negotiable daily dial volume, openers that buy the next 30 seconds with directness over cleverness, treating objections as information, and tracking ratios at every stage instead of rejections.
01/18/2023 · 5 min read
Acquisition cost for a P&C agency is total marketing and prospecting spend divided by new clients written. $10K spend with 40 new clients equals $250 per client. Compare it to lifetime value (5-year retention, $1,200 premium, 15% commission, roughly $900 LTV) to know if you're profitable.
01/16/2023 · 5 min read
The biggest growth opportunity for P&C agency owners is the displaced business pouring out of agencies failing the hard market. Capture it with proactive 90-day renewal outreach, aggressive cross-sell, a public review strategy targeting frustrated clients, and a referral flywheel built on existing-client experience.
01/11/2023 · 5 min read
Justin Farnsworth scales an insurance agency past $500K to $1M with visible team scoreboards, scripts that anchor every stage of the client journey, retention tracked as hard as new business, attitude-first hiring, and a continuous personal development habit outside insurance circles.
01/09/2023 · 5 min read
Build a million-dollar book from scratch with five fundamentals: belief work before scripts, a systematic referral process baked into onboarding and renewals, sub-5-minute speed to lead, lifetime-value-based prospect selection, and an internal culture that leaks out into every client interaction.
01/04/2023 · 6 min read
Eight specific moves raise P&C client lifetime value: a 90-day onboarding sequence, scheduled annual reviews, life-event cross-sell triggers in the CRM, a proactive four to six touch communication calendar, claim advocacy at filing, a systematic referral ask, an at-risk client early warning system, and trained relationship skills across the team.
01/02/2023 · 6 min read
Three sequenced steps maximize insurance agency sales: invest in fundamentals (documented processes, defined roles, 3-5 tracked metrics), script for consistency so every agent hits a floor, then align the team and scale on that foundation. Skipping steps compounds errors.