In this episode of the Accelerate Your Insurance Sales podcast, Andy Neary, CEO and founder of Complete Game Consulting, addresses agency executives and sales leaders about accelerating the success of newer insurance producers. He argues that the biggest barrier to rapid growth is a lack of confidence and conviction in a producer’s sales message, which outweighs traditional prospecting tactics. Neary outlines a five‑stage career model for producers—Builder, Performer, Professional, Authority, and Leader—highlighting gaps in support at each stage. He then introduces Complete Game Consulting’s “one‑of‑one” sales framework, a four‑pillar system designed to help producers craft a unique, authentic sales message that only they can deliver. The pillars are: (1) defining the producer’s zone of genius or niche, (2) pinpointing the ideal buyer through demographic and psychographic profiling, (3) identifying the single problem the producer is best positioned to solve (thought leadership), and (4) creating a framework to guide the buyer to a solution, all woven together with the producer’s personal story. Neary emphasizes that this customized message builds confidence and conviction, which in turn fuels consistent execution of prospecting activities. He calls for the framework to become a standard part of onboarding for all new producers, arguing that it will transform agencies into unstoppable teams of confident, convicted sellers.
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We have to find a way to help producers build more confidence and conviction faster. And I think that's what's missing in a lot of producers today, even veterans. If you're not confident in your sales message and you're, you're not delivering a message you're convicted in, it's going to be really hard to win today because sales energy goes a lot farther than we give it credit for. And so if we can help producers have more confidence faster, put more conviction behind their sales message, they're gonna win as long as they stay consistent. Hey, hey, welcome back to the Accelerate Your Insurance Sales podcast. Andy Neary here, CEO and founder of Complete Game Consulting. Welcome back to the show. Today I am speaking to Agency executives and sales leaders throughout the insurance industry. My goal today is to help you help your producers get off to a faster start. Now, when I say producers, I'm talking about newer producers, whether they're new to the insurance industry or they're new to working for you. When I look across the industry right now and I look at the vast spectrum of producers who are having success versus those who are really struggling, quite frankly, I think it comes down to the fact that depending on where they are in their career, they are not getting the support they need. At that point in their career, and when we look at our training system here at Complete Game Consulting, we really see five stages to a producer's journey. At the beginning of their career, they're a builder. They're they're new to the industry. They're just trying to figure out if they're going to make it right. There's so much they have to learn—a mix of sales, a mix of industry knowledge. And at that point in their career, they're just trying to figure out whether or not they can make it. And then at some point, they elevate to a performer, which means they're not quite validated yet, but they're showing the signs that they're headed in the right direction. What they need is more consistency and more activity. And then the day will come where they will validate. We call that the professional, and. At that point, they really need to start learning the habits, the skills, the discipline it takes to become a 7-figure producer. And when they become that 7-figure producer, we define that producer as an authority, because at that point they are an authority. They have established they know how to sell, but if they want to keep scaling their book, they need to expand that authority. They need to amplify their expertise. And then at some point, they reach the fifth and highest rung of a career path, which is the leader, where they're no longer focused on their own success. They're now mentoring and helping others succeed. And we are blessed to be able to work with producers at all stages of of one's career. But we definitely see gaps in. Where agencies lack support for those producers depending on where they're at. So today we're going to talk about that producer who's newer to the industry or newer to working for your agency and what you can do to help them speed up their path to success. And when we think about the training in the insurance industry historically, it has been very much focused on the how, the what. What do you need to be doing with your prospecting, right? Cold calling, emailing. I was taught how to go door to door. You need to start building a network. You need to start connecting with centers of influence, right? Those are all parts of what we would define as the traditional training we see in this industry. And there's a lot of that that's still very effective. However, we have to find a way to help producers build more confidence and conviction faster. And I think that's what's missing in a lot of producers today, even veterans. If you're not confident in your sales message and you're, you're not delivering a message you're convicted in, it's going to be really hard to win today because sales energy goes a lot farther than we give it credit for. I think we as an industry underestimate the power of one's energy behind their sales message. And your prospects feed off that energy, good or bad. And so if we can help producers have more confidence faster, put more conviction behind their sales message, they're going to win as long as they stay consistent. Now, if you have a producer on your team who does not enjoy what they're doing, they're here to make money, and somebody told them they could make a lot of money selling insurance, but they truly do not like The act, the art of selling insurance—it's hard to turn that person around. I'm just gonna just gonna be honest with you. So if you're listening in right now and you're you're saying, Andy, I hear everything you're saying, but I've got this this guy, I've got this woman that you know I just don't think they like what they do. I'll be honest. What I'm about to say today and share—I don't know if that's going to help that producer very much. I do believe you have to have a passion behind what you do. To have success and especially to scale. So let's talk about how you can help a producer speed the path to confidence and conviction, thereby speeding the path to success. We leverage a framework here at Complete Game Consulting that we've developed that we truly believe has uncovered or unlocked this ability. To build somebody's confidence and conviction fast, because what we're we really try to do with our training is help producers create a sales message that only they can deliver. And when I look at how I was trained in my career and how I thought I was going to be successful. A lot of the sales messaging I built early in my career was off the back of somebody else's sales message. I spent a very large chunk of my early insurance career just trying to mimic others. And I'm sure you have producers who are doing the same, you know, oh, hey, Doug's really doing well with his sales message right now. He's killing it on the phones. He's killing it in the media. Just say what he says. And that may work for a little bit. I don't believe that is an ingredient that helps a producer have long-term success. But what I do believe is if you have the ability to give a producer a message they have created that is truly theirs, that allows them to show up as themself and be authentic, they're gonna win. As long as they do the work. I can remember when I was trying to mimic other people where I would catch myself literally trying to act like them. And looking back at it now, it's crazy that I even tried doing that. But again, I came up in an era that was like, hey, just use this secret script and it's gonna be magical for you. So let's, let's talk about how you can give a producer More confidence and conviction. And I'll just side note this by saying, you know, a lot of these, my recent conversations I've been having on the podcast, if you get a chance, go back and listen to the episodes I did with Billy Potter, CEO of Snelling Walters in Atlanta, and John Slusser, Chief Growth Officer at Gibson in Indiana. We spent a lot of time talking about developing young producers. And one of the things we did talk about is giving— how do you give that young producer, or again, a new producer to your, your agency, that confidence and conviction they need to go out and have success? So when we look at how we do it here, I believe it does come down to crafting what we call the one-of-one message, which is what is a message that only you can deliver? Because when you know it's only yours and it's customized for you, I do believe you show up Stronger. So here are some of the core components we really unpack when we help a producer develop that one-of-one sales message. The first first pillar is what do you do better than anybody in the market? So when you want to build a one-on-one sales message, you want to really focus on what do you do better than anybody in the market. We we also like to call that your zone of genius. Now, a zone of genius can Come in many different ways. Another way to describe it is what's your niche, right? And in the insurance industry, when you hear the word niche, you immediately think pick an industry, right? Oil and gas, construction, manufacturing. But niches can also come in three ways. A niche can be defined by an industry, as it often is in the commercial insurance business. But a niche can also be defined by strategy or skill set. But our first goal with helping a producer develop their one-on-one message is to. Clearly define their niche, their zone of genius, what they do better than anybody else. And I believe even a new producer who's fresh out of college can define that. So that's step one. Step number two is you have to help that producer get absolutely clear on who their ideal buyer is. Now, this is where I get a lot of pushback from agency executives saying, "Well, Andy, if this producer is new to the industry, we are going to expect." the producer to be a generalist for a while, go after all different kinds of business. I don't want them defining anything specific. And, and I get it, but I also disagree with it. I think the faster you can help a producer define the type of buyer they're gonna go after, the faster you're gonna help them succeed. And when we look at ideal buyers, we really break them down 2 ways, demographics and psychographics. You know, you've got demographics, things like industry, Location, the size, number of lives if you're selling benefits. But psychographics are even more important. Who is the buyer between the ears? What do they stand for? What do they believe? What do they believe about insurance? These are all important things when you really help a producer lock in who their ideal buyer is, because we do business with people like us. It is that simple. And I have come to believe if you end up writing a new piece of business with somebody who is not like you, there's a very real chance that becomes a very difficult client. So you have to help your producers identify their ideal buyer. Here's a great example. I did a private workshop just, uh, uh, earlier this week as of this recording, and he's new to the industry, but he's got a very unique past where he was an executive At a company, at a family business inside a very unique industry. So he is coming into the insurance industry brand new, and he wants to go back and target that industry he came from. Now, this is a guy who is literally 90 days, 120 days into the industry, but he knows exactly who he wants to go after. And that is a guy I know is going to have success as long as he executes because he is so clear on who his ideal buyer is demographically and psychographically. So that's pillar 2. You've gotta help your producers dial in their ideal buyer. Pillar 3, to build a one-of-one sales framework, is you have to help producers Unpack the problem they are best positioned to solve. And I understand as an agency, you solve many problems. It's why you have different departments, right? It's why you have a commercial team, a benefits team, a personal lines team, a retirement wealth management team, an HR team, whatever you have. But for an individual producer, especially if they're going to build expertise over time, they've got to find that problem that they are best positioned to solve. That's called thought leadership. Expertise isn't built on solving dozens of problems. It's built on becoming world-class at solving one. So you gotta help your producers identify that problem. And then the last pillar is what framework will this producer use to help people fix it? So how are they gonna educate the buyer on how to fix that problem that they're best positioned to solve? And with those 4 pillars, you really, you can dial in a one-of-one message. You can dial in a sales message for that producer. Only they can go out to the market and deliver. And especially when you combine their, their story, that producer's story into that message, now they really have something only they can deliver. And I have seen this time after time after time, not only with brand new producers, but with 7-figure veterans. When they see that one-of-one sales message, You literally see the confidence and the conviction skyrocket. For the veterans out there who've taken their foot off the gas, you see it reignite their passion for what they do because now they have a message truly they believe is customized for them and only they can give. So if I had greater ability to have a bigger impact on the industry right now, my one wish for the insurance industry would be for this one-of-one sales framework to be standard onboarding for every new producer in the industry. Before you start telling them how many cold calls they have to make, before you give them some generic cold call script, before you tell them how many COI connections they have to have, before you tell— even give them their sales goals, sit down and help them build that one-on-one sales framework. Telling them how many calls they got to make isn't going to give them confidence right away, isn't going to give them conviction. It may get them confident over time on how to make a call, but when you give them a message that they feel good about, now they're going to do all of the work you're asking them to do with more confidence and more conviction. And I'm here to tell you, you want to build an army of producers who have confidence and conviction, it's game over. And so that's my, that's my ask of you today coming out of this episode is I want you to sit down, especially if you got producers on your team. When you think about training existing producers or one that you're about to hire, before you think about how you want to help them prospect, ask yourself what we can do to give this producer as much confidence and conviction as quickly as we can. And done right, we've seen the magic that That happens, whether it's a young producer fresh out of college or a 20-year vet trying to grow their book from one to five million who has just reignited the flame to make that happen. It's possible. So my advice for you today is leverage that one-on-one sales framework, and it's going to take your producers farther faster, and it's going to make your team unstoppable. And you need help doing it. You know where to find us. This is what we do better than anybody else. But Leverage that 101 sales framework. Confidence and conviction are so much more important than, than the how of prospecting, because once they have that 101 sales messaging, the cold calls, the emails, the LinkedIn, the COIs, the networking, all the execution, as long as they execute, if they've got that sales message, the execution's gonna take care of itself as long as they do the work. That's my hope for you. Be good, and yeah, let's go build a team of producers who are confident and convicted. Your agency will never look back if you do. Be well.
