The tech stack behind modern agencies - AMS platforms, raters, dialers, CRMs, and the AI tools actually moving the needle for producers in 2026.
48 episodes from Craig Pretzinger & Jason Feltman, hosts of The Insurance Dudes Podcast
06/16/2026 · 8 min read
Organic growth for independent agencies has fallen from 11.2% to 7.1% as rate tailwinds recede. The agencies that sustain growth in 2026 are leaning into tech-enabled production, cross-selling their existing book, specializing in commercial niches, and treating retention as a valuation multiplier, not an afterthought.
06/09/2026 · 8 min read
Insurance agencies are racing to deploy AI, with 70% now running it in live operations, but one in five is simultaneously cutting training budgets. The agencies that close the gap between technology deployment and people readiness are the ones that will pull ahead in 2026.
05/15/2026 · 8 min read
Captive agents can use AI today for sharper social posts, a real Monday sales meeting, and numbers a kindergartner can read. None touch a quote, a binder, or a carrier system. Zero compliance risk. Three wins that buy back hours every week.
04/21/2026 · 8 min read
Kirk Chester scales GRIT Insurance by going deep on six blue-collar niches instead of writing everything that walks in. The playbook runs on three levers: pick a vertical identity, systematize the mundane, and deploy AI in real workflows now, not after another evaluation cycle.
03/13/2026 · 6 min read
Build commercial pipeline with data-sourced lists, industry-specific cold email backed by real research, and automated follow-up sequences over four to six weeks. Warm market has an expiration date. Specificity (not seniority) gives a young producer commercial credibility.
01/19/2026 · 6 min read
Insurance agents should bring marketing in-house because lead aggregator economics broke after iOS 14. Owning your own Facebook and YouTube ad accounts means every improvement in copy, targeting, and landing pages drops your cost per acquisition instead of paying a flat price for shared leads.
12/26/2025 · 5 min read
Culture beats strategy because tactics never survive bad leadership. Kelly Donahue's framework starts with the owner stepping out of every transaction, then layers in intentional culture, documented sales and rounding processes, and accountability built into weekly rhythms instead of crisis moments.
12/19/2025 · 5 min read
AI is solving the wildfire insurance crisis by replacing blanket ZIP code rules with property-level risk modeling. Kevin Stein's Delos uses aerospace-grade data and an MGA structure to price each home accurately, giving agents real options for clients traditional carriers will not cover.
11/21/2025 · 5 min read
After 25 years in insurance: follow up at least five times after first contact (most revenue lives there), document your sales process so the team can run without you, use AI to handle repetitive non-judgment tasks, and design systems flexible enough to survive disruptions.
11/14/2025 · 6 min read
Brian Greenberg's True Blue formula: AI handles the mechanical (scheduling, lead scoring, follow-up sequences) so agents focus on rapport. Add conversion-optimized landing pages, automated review collection, and multi-channel nurture (email, SMS, calls) until the buyer is ready. Persistence is a systems problem, not a character one.
10/10/2025 · 6 min read
Kettle uses machine learning trained on satellite imagery, weather, and vegetation data plus funded community-level mitigation (controlled burns, brush management, defensible space) to actually lower wildfire risk, not just price it more precisely. For agents in wildfire and catastrophe states, this is the distribution opportunity replacing the carriers walking away.
09/05/2025 · 6 min read
InsureGrid eliminates insurance agents' biggest time drain by replacing manual policy-data collection with a secure prospect-authorized data share. Twenty prospect conversations a week at 30 minutes saved per conversation is ten reclaimed hours. Speed-to-accurate-quote becomes a real competitive edge.
06/05/2025 · 5 min read
Spend 70 percent of every call understanding the client and 30 percent presenting solutions. Treat every no as data, not defeat. Use CRM and automated follow-up at 30, 60, 90, and 180 days to amplify the relationship, not replace it. Continuous learning is the only consistent production predictor.
06/05/2025 · 5 min read
Fix insurance commission chaos by reconciling every carrier statement against your contract terms, integrating commission data with your agency management system, and going into contingency negotiations with clean numbers. Most agencies are owed thousands they will never collect without the data.
06/05/2025 · 5 min read
Jay Bregman could not get hourly insurance for drone gig work, so he built Thimble to fill the gap. The lesson for agents: identify client segments where available coverage is genuinely awkward, position early as a distribution partner for solutions that fit, and deploy technology to cut friction in buying.
01/22/2025 · 6 min read
Going captive to independent rebuilds three systems carriers used to handle: lead management (insurance-specific CRM), client communication (automated routine touchpoints), and multi-carrier quoting. Travis Gensler picked each tool by what it eliminated from the workflow, not what it added.
12/31/2024 · 4 min read
Automate the repetitive depleting work, follow-up sequences, renewal reminders, appointment scheduling, status updates, then protect human attention for the listening-heavy conversations that actually convert. Burnout drops when machines run the machine-appropriate tasks and agents reclaim mental bandwidth for real presence with clients.
08/30/2024 · 5 min read
Automate volume (dialing, renewal reminders, birthday touches, follow-up sequences) and protect the human moments (needs analysis, warm transfer, claims support, life-event coverage reviews). Build the process first, then add the technology, and verify carrier compliance on every automated communication channel.
05/16/2024 · 5 min read
Free 20+ hours per week by automating four agency workflows: a centralized CRM logging every interaction, automated email/text follow-up sequences (new lead, quote, annual review), dialing efficiency tools that double dial volume, and renewal/birthday/cross-sell triggers.
01/29/2024 · 5 min read
Insurance sales fundamentals beat tech stacks when accountability is built into the system. Bill Eggert's Green Sheets framework worked because a daily paper review forced follow-through. Run a weekly top-20 pipeline review on every producer and measure the conversion change.