Creating Brand Recognition In A Niche Market with Chelsea Heatherington

Hey. Hey. Welcome back to the Broker's Voice. Today I have the one, the only, Chelsea Hetherington with Kingsgate Insurance in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Chelsea is a crop and ag specialist. Yeah, we're gonna talk niches today. Riches are in the niches, right, Chelsea?

Sure thing.

All right. Well, one, I love having this conversation because you're in Fort Dodge. My mother was born about 30 miles, I believe, east of Fort Dodge, Iowa. So I'm very familiar with that part of Iowa. So let's start here. Chelsea. One, welcome aboard. But two, I love asking our guests this question because most of us did not get in the insurance industry by design. How in the world did you find yourself in this lovely industry?

Yes, I think, like a lot of people, by complete accident. I began as a receptionist, actually, and really didn't know a whole lot about insurance other than my car insurance, auto deductibles, you know, very limited knowledge on it all. And I moved to Fort Dodge with my now husband and was looking for work. And this is where I started. And soon after I began, I was asked to become licensed. And from there it just. It went up and up and up and up and up. And I just have really found a lot of joy in. In learning more about it and becoming better at what I do.

Awesome. Well, and of course, you know, we think about crop and ag insurance being in. In north central Iowa. There's obvious geographical. What do I want to call it? Geographical markers that make selling ag and crop insurance very appealing in Iowa, as it would be from Wisconsin, where I grew up. What was it like when you got in the industry? How. I'm curious, how did you end up finding yourself really focusing on crop and ag?

So I was. I spent the majority of my last seven or eight years here at Kingsgate in personal insurance, so focusing on home and aggressive. I'm sorry, home and auto and boat insurance, life insurance, even a little bit. But a couple years ago, I really got to a point where I was ready for a change. I was ready for a challenge. And my husband grew up on a farm, and that's the reason why we ended up back here in Fort Dodge for him to help on the farm. So been gaining knowledge on that side of things and seeing how. How important it is for a family to grow. Grow crops and. And make a living off of it. So it really kind of had. It was important to me on the personal, Personal side as well. But the. It just so happened that the ag team here at Kingsgate was looking to grow, and so they went out on a limb and, and offered me the position to, to switch over to the farm and ag department. So that's how I found myself in it.

That's awesome. I love that. You know, and I think. Did you say your, your husband, what generation farmer is he?

So his grandfather began farming and here in, just in the Fort Dodge area.

You know, every time I think of farming in Iowa, I think of the decal that's on the Hawkeye's helmets that says anf, America needs farmers. And, and so though I absolutely love that. So, okay, let's talk about this here. You are fairly new to the industry in many ways, but all of a sudden now you're on the crop ag team as a crop ag specialist. And.

Were there any hesitations? Because like when you think about this, number one, we talked about insurance, by and large has, I would say, unfortunately, has been primarily a male dominated industry. Right. But here you are now selling in a niche you could probably argue is also male dominated.

Yes.

What was that like when you first, you took your first like steps into niching in the ag and crop?

I sort of received a warning.

Immediately when I was getting into this position.

Of you might get some pushback because a lot of these guys are used to working with a male, maybe their age, middle aged, older male. So right off the bat you might have little pushback. And so of course that's intimidating as someone, I mean, you're new to something anyway, you're going to feel a little of that imposter syndrome no matter how much studying you do. It takes real world experience. You know, somebody's got to give you a chance. So that alone is intimidating. But then of course that factor as well. I remember early on having a conversation with you and you encouraged me to really just lean into it. Whatever makes you different, embrace it. Because you can't change that. Like, I can't. I mean, I am who I am and I'm not, I don't want to change who I am, you know, for the job for sure. So I want to be authentic and real. And if, if right off the bat that's not something someone wants to work with, then that's all right. You know, they're not the customer for me and I'm not the, the advisor for them.

So that's, that's what I've loved about what you've done. I remember that conversation and the gist of it was it was almost as if you were being told, Chelsea, be the opposite of who you are, which, which you can't hide. From which is, I'm young and I'm a female. And I remember our conversation was actually, no, lean hard into that. Which leads into something I think I'm the most proud of you about, which is you decided to commit to creating content for a platform like LinkedIn that really has been geared towards nothing but your target audience, which again, crop and ag farm farmers, people in the ag business. When you really made that commitment that, hey, I'm going to step into creating content for my specific audience, did you have any hesitations, any fears?

Well, anytime you, you write anything, whether it's on social media or you're sending out letters to customers or prospects, it's, you know, you can't take it back. It's out there. So. So of course there's intimidation of. I don't want to sound silly or sound like all these people already know this. You know, they don't. They don't care what I have to say or, you know, there's. That. That part is scary. But honestly, I felt like it was a great learning experience to, to flip it around of me learning something to try to teach someone else. I thought that that might made a lot of concepts stick for me. Crop insurance can be really complex, and turning it around and, and being the educator has really helped me learn a lot.

Let's, let's walk through that process because I think you've done a great job mixing in videos, articles, you know, pictures, whatever it might be, updates, things that you think are really relevant to that specific market. When you got started and you think about the mode, the medium of content we create from, whether it is video, art, writing or, or posting pictures and things like that. Was there one that really gravitated to you? Were you a better writer? Not afraid of video? Where did you start?

I started with video a little bit because we were already playing with that here as an agency. We hired on a marketing gal who's just phenomenal with that. But that was really uncomfortable. I think it is for everyone when they first start in video. You're not only thinking of what you're trying to say, but also what you look like and your mannerisms, whatever it is. Funny thing that you do, it's hard to get past that. But I've found that I really enjoy writing, so that's what I've. I've started to get more into writing blogs for our website. And then of course, those are easy to share on social media or in letters as well.

That's awesome. So I want everybody, you know, what advice would you Give somebody, because I think that's important, that they hear that people look at our stuff and I think they immediately think, I have to do video. And although I believe video is an awesome opportunity to let people get to know you and let you bring value, you don't necessarily have to start there. So if somebody's watching who has been afraid to put content out there because of maybe, you know, somebody might say something, judgment, comparison, you name it, what advice would you give them?

Just go for it. Just go for it. Because. And it gets easier the more you do it. You're going to figure out what works for you and what doesn't and what's getting feedback and what isn't. But I think everything you do, whether it ends up being a dud or not, is going to be a way, an opportunity to grow.

I love that. You know, I think if you were to go back to that first article you wrote, and I don't remember how long ago it was, now, I bet you your writing skill now, even compared to a few months ago, is probably so much better just because you're putting.

In the reps, for sure.

How about topics? Because again, you're very specifically niched, right? You're in the ag and crop industry in Iowa. When you decided to create content, there's one, how am I going to create it? Am I going to use video? Am I going to write articles? Am I going to post pictures? But now we get to the topic side. What am I going to talk about? How did you decide what you were going to talk about when it came to the content you were creating?

Really, I've tried to stay a few months ahead of whatever is relevant in the industry. What's coming up for top of mind for farmers? So, like margin protection coming up in September. So in the late summer, I really started, you know, getting together some information about that and figuring out outlets where we could share that with customers. And then getting into December was Pasteur, Angelin, Forage Insurance. So that's something that again, we were trying to reach out to people, get meetings and talk about that, share videos about it and posts online. And it's not only just sell, sell, sell, you know, it's more just, hey, this is something that's out there. And these are the places that you could potentially have.

Lack of coverage if you don't have this. So this is, this is an option and if you're interested, you know, talk to us about it. But it's more about just getting the information out there because there are things that if Someone's crop insurance agent isn't familiar with it, they're probably not talking about it and letting them know that it's an option. So that's what we're trying to do, is just get the, the basic information there and then we can talk more in depth with someone if they're interested.

I'm going to pause and go back to something you, you, you said earlier about your content.

Margin protection.

Yes.

Here's what I love about that. I have no clue what that means. I willing to bet most of my peers and our peers in the industry have no clue what that means. But you know what? It doesn't matter. You know, who knows what it means, your prospects.

And that's what I love about the content you're creating is it's, it's. I say it this way, it's not for the comments or the likes, it's for the information. It's. I am creating content that's very informative to my prospects. Now, I'm curious, with that goal in mind, have you gotten some good feedback on your content?

I would say so. There's definitely been.

You know, like LinkedIn, for example, that's a social media outlet that as an agency, we haven't really taken a lot of advantage of in the past. But I've, I've really started to jump into that after working with you. And it's surprising the interest in the questions and the private messages I get from posts about stuff like that.

But then also just even from current customers, that we were sending out emails on this stuff when we were making a video. We shared it with our current customers as well, of course, and got a lot of questions from that too.

I like that because I think a lot of people inherently think you're just putting this stuff out on LinkedIn, but I guarantee you're not. You're probably putting it out on other platforms like an email and newsletter, stuff like that. Correct.

Yep.

That's awesome. You know, I, I want people watching this to take note of what you've done. I'm going to go back to the beginning if I can.

Yeah.

We have a young female in the crop and ag business. Okay, so you are already.

You already have a uniqueness right there. Right. You did not let that hold you back. And in fact, you've lean into that. Your uniqueness and what you've done is started to create content for that audience. And you didn't get hung up on trying to be perfect. You started creating video, you started writing articles and picking topics you think are Timely and informative to your prospects. I might be wrong, Chelsea, but that's not rocket science.

No, anyone can do that.

And that you just hit it on the head. Anyone can do it. But the reason I wanted to highlight you is because you have been consistent doing it and that is what matters. And so I want to shift for a second because I'm excited because you're going to be building a flywheel of momentum here. This thing's going to turn into a machine. You can't stop. And I say that in the most positive way.

Something else in your world has changed in the last year. Outside of starting to create content, you've had a new addition to the family. You want to talk about that?

Yes. So Henry David Hetherington was born in October of 21 and funny enough, I actually, you know, two years ago this time I said I'm, I was talking to my manager, I'm ready for a change, you know, I'd like to do something different and I'm ready. Feeling energized. Well then I, shortly after that, you know, taking the position as a pharma natic specialist really found out my husband and I were pregnant. So the end of that year we welcomed Henry about a week after I passed my crop insurance exam. So a lot was happening all at once. But it was all blessings, of course. And so last January I returned to work and have for the past year been learning the balance. I mean it's an ever, it's ever changing and it's always a work in progress. I'm sure any parent would say the same thing but I feel like I may be getting the hang of it.

I don't ask you. I'm sure there's some young parents listening and watching this, male or female that are probably first time parents and they're struggling with the old work life balance now and there's, I truly believe there's no such thing as balance. What advice would you give them as a young parent?

Don't be afraid to ask for help. I, you know, the past year I've used the word resourceful to, to as my motto, as my word and, and I mean that in work, work related and personal life too. Don't be afraid to ask for help. And if you know you're probably not alone and struggling with something so just speak, speak out about it.

That's awesome. As you look at 20, 23.

And you've got a good game plan now for content and you're out there consistently any other, you know, channels you plan on adding to your marketing arsenal this year. I think there's one we've talked about in our women's community. But is there one that you really want to lean into?

Well, like I said, I've really started to enjoy writing, so hoping to develop our, our blog a little bit further and a little bit of the speaking like that's the a goal for this year too. I had a really great time last fall. I went to a local event a great about COVID crops which are related. I mean it's, it definitely relates to crop insurance, but I don't know if that everyone realizes the correlation there. So we were asked to come and speak at the event and I met a lot of great people, made a ton of great connections there and I was so nervous, so nervous to get in front of all these farmers, these local guys, and talk about insurance. But it was wonderful and I was on a high for days afterwards and I just would love to do more of that.

Let's talk about that real quick. So you've already had experience speaking publicly to your audience that day before you took the stage. What were the butterflies like?

Oh man, I was shaking.

And what was it you were specifically talking about?

I was just talking about a discount that's available if you cover crop. Then you can apply for a dollar 5 off per acre on your crop insurance. So that's essentially what I was trying to bring light to. And then also talk about how the correlation of how cover cropping can help your, your crop insurance rates as well.

Okay, so you're nervous as you know what you're talking about something very specific. Was there, was there a little.

Imposter syndrome that you were about to talk to a room full of farmers who you're in your head thinking they already know this.

Yes.

Or heck, they might be about this.

Yeah.

What was it like when you walked off stage though? So there's the butterflies, there's the imposter center, but now you get up, you give your talk, it's over, you walk. What kind of response or what kind of feedback did you get from folks in the room?

I was blown away by how down to earth everyone was. I mean, the guys that were hosting the event totally set that, that vibe, that feel for the whole event. So I really appreciated that. I felt like there was a lot of back and forth between the speakers and the audience of asking questions. No one seemed like they were afraid to, to ask a stupid question, quote unquote, you know, so there was a lot of great discussion. It was less of speakers talking to the audience and then being done, you know, that's the end. It was a lot of conversation, which feels way more natural than just speaking, you know, uninterrupted. So that was wonderful. And then I even had a few guys come up to me afterwards and ask a couple questions. And so it was just a great experience overall.

Did you feel, you said, you know, you had that vibe for days. Did you feel, did you walk off feeling a heck of a lot credible than you did when you walked on stage?

Absolutely.

And did you feel like you were speaking at them or having a conversation with them?

Having a conversation. And I was so surprised.

Here's what, here's what I, why I wanted to highlight that and this is why I wanted you on the Broker's Voice to begin with. There's a lot of folks out there, young and veterans alike, that are unwilling to put themselves out there right now to win business, to grow their books. And you have done something that I think has been very impressive. Number one, I bet you there's people who will see this Chelsea that go. I have no clue who Chelsea Hetherington is. Doesn't matter. The only thing you care about is that your prospects know who you are. Number two, you had all the hurdles in front of you. Young, female, already in a male dominated industry going into a niche that's male dominated. You had every reason to not do what you've done, but you did anyways. You leaned into it. You started creating content through writing and article or videos, you name it. You've now taken it to the next step where you're standing on stage talking to a room full of farmers. You're building so much brand recognition in this crop ag industry. If you are an advisor in Iowa right now, who's doing the same, you're about to be left in the dust because everybody's going to know who Chelsea is in that space. And, and that is all that matters. That's why it is so cool what you have done. Not only do, not only have you found a niche where everybody wants to talk to everybody. No, no, no. You have a niche. You have built a brand in that niche by being who you are and just bringing them a lot of value. So one last question for you.

Yes.

If there's an advisor out there watching this again, whether they're 27 or 57, who is sitting back there not wanting to put themselves out there, whether it's on stage or with content, and, and they're watching this looking to you for that advice, what would be the last piece of advice. Now that you look back on, I know you're still very brand new to this. Looking back on what you've done, let me ask this better. What advice? Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give Chelsea Hetherington, maybe just even a year ago?

Well, I would say you're not going to regret it by going all in.

Whether you succeed or you flop, at least you can walk away saying you gave it a hundred percent. I mean, anything worth doing is worth doing 100% in my.

I love that. I love that. And when you fail, all that is is a learning moment to get better. Right. Well, Chelsea, I want to thank you. This was awesome.

Like I said, this I knew was going to be one of my favorite episodes because I wanted to highlight somebody who, again, had all the odds stacked against them, but is just showing up every day to do the work. So from me to you, I want to thank you for that.

Thank you so much for the opportunity. I was so excited for this.

There's so many people right now who have all the talent. They're just not putting in the work or. Or. Or the commitment to reach their full potential. They're letting one hurdle stop them. You just keep plowing through it, which I think is awesome. So for everybody else watching this, please take note. We've got a woman who is new to the industry less than five years. Chelsea. Yep, less than five years. But she is putting the work in right now. The things you got to do to win in 2023, if you're a female watching this, use her as a mentor. If you're a male watching this and you're still unwilling to put this out there, you have no excuses. This is your time to shine right now. So, Chelsea, one more time, thank you. This has been phenomenal for everybody else. You know what happens when you get clarity? You mix it with confidence. You do amazing things. You go do amazing things today. Be good.

Thanks, Andy.