How I Made $620,000 Working From Home (Insurance Sales) ft. Mallory Kroos | Ep76

mom of 2. I know you sling a lot of insurance.

My first year, I think I did about $250,000.

Doesn't suck for a year one.

My second year, I did $424,000. Last year, $620,000. Super proud of that.

Making some shit happen. Appreciate y'all getting on again. Another episode of the Insurance Insiders Podcast. Have Mallory, and do you say Cruz? How do you— how do people mess it up? And then how do you say it right?

Just like Tom Cruise. Cruz. I knew—

I wondered if you were going to say that to me. I knew my only had two choices.

Yeah, Cruz is fine. That's what I say.

What do you— do you get Cruz most often?

So, um, it's my married name and it's technically Cruz, but I'm not gonna go around saying, say Cruz, Cruz. I'm not doing that. It's Cruz.

You never get that? No one never gets it right then?

Well, I've always said Cruz. My husband has always been Matt Cruz, so we just call it Cruz. Originally, he is from— he's from all over, but I'd say—

what's the name from is what I kind of was getting at.

Oh, I'm sorry, German. Sorry about German. Cool.

No, no, it's okay. Good deal. My mom is married to a guy from Poland, my stepdad Chris, and he has a crazy name too, and we just— it's Chris, and it's not Chris at all, but it's Chris.

Just make it easy. Exactly. We made it easy for the kids, right?

Yeah.

100%.

Well, cool. I appreciate you getting on. I've heard some cool things about you. I know you sling a lot of insurance. I've heard $600K plus, somewhere in that range, probably your top year. Is that accurate?

Yeah, that was last year, $620,000. Super proud of that.

Mom of two?

Yes.

So making some shit happen.

Yep.

It's crazy. How long you been?

Uh, so I started in 2022, uh, beginning of 2022. Um, totally understand women that are like, well, let me start my business when when the kids get older.

Yeah.

Um, you know, let me just focus on, on the littles. But the thing is, that time's gonna pass and you're gonna have to start it later. And I was just like, you know what, my daughter's 1, but this is an amazing opportunity. And I'm the kind of person, if there's a great opportunity, I'm afraid it's gonna like disappear or go away. So I'm like, I need to take advantage of this now. So I just, I started slinging insurance. Yeah. My first year, I think I did about $250,000.

Second year doesn't suck for a year one.

No, it doesn't suck. And I was selling like age leads, you know, so that's pretty good.

How much of that did you keep, do you remember?

Um, I want to say probably, oh, at least six figures. I can't remember, I wasn't good at, you know, keeping track of my numbers the first year.

I was just like, okay.

But my second year I did $424,000. I jotted it down here for but let's just say $425,000. So that was the first year I hit Hall of Fame.

Love it.

And that was awesome. And then I was like, let's do it again.

So, so you're keeping a lot more money today?

Yes, I am. And then this year I'm not selling near as much because I'm growing my agency, so I'm kind of doing that balancing act. And so, uh, but, but I'm making more and I'm keeping more, which is important.

So Will you make over half a million? Like, keep— will you deposit over half a million, you think?

Yeah. Oh yeah, good shit.

Will you hit a million or no? Not yet?

No, I think I've deposited like $300,000 so far. Doesn't sound right.

That doesn't suck. Imagine you come from a sales background, right? I think I heard something with Sizer, you cracked $100 grand in your professional career before insurance.

Yes, yes. So I did sales before, but I did like corporate, like for corporations. So you're never going to make the kind of money you make in insurance. There's no way. So I think I did like 6 figures here and there. Like, I worked for Amazon, Amazon Local. It was like a Groupon. It was really fun. I did that in my 20s. So yeah, I've done sales before, but I always felt like they— what's that thing they say where they like, they move the cheese? You know, you get through the maze and then they move the cheese. And I'm like, yeah, they're like, I gotta— and I got so sick of that. And I was like, I'm tired of this. They, they're controlling everything, you know. Yeah, they're making you work harder to make the same amount of money. Like, what? So I love insurance because, you know, it's unlimited. And if one carrier pisses you off, go sell the other carrier, you know what I mean?

They'll do that too, won't they?

Yeah. So you're still in control.

Yeah, I love it. So you started selling final expense right off the rip?

I started final expense, and I mean, that's, that's all I knew.

Still?

No, no, no. Now I do mortgage protection. I have locked into mortgage protection, and I love it. I'll still sling a final expense or, uh, like a life insurance term policy, you know. But I like mortgage protection because I feel like the clientele's a little bit better, you know what I mean. Um, they have a house, they pay a mortgage every month, they care.

It's a different level.

Yeah. And so I have a higher persistency with that, and I just feel like you're giving the insurance a job, you know what I mean. Like, it's not just like, oh, get insurance so when you die someone gets money. It's like we're making sure your family keeps the house, and the house is like a thing of value. So I think it just means something different. So I, I, that's why I enjoy it. I love it.

Yeah, that's good.

And I've just gotten so good at it that it's like, you know, at this point you can do it in your sleep.

It's just, it is, it is easier to get in a groove with and like just sling it, you know.

That's what I feel like I did both.

Yeah, mortgage was, it was like, all right, this is easy. Yeah, craziness. What do you say to people?

Surprised more people don't do mortgage protection. I guess there's a little bit of a learning curve, but not that much.

It's so weird. I've been 13 years in the business, and people who love final expense hate mortgage protection and think it's hard to figure out. And then on the flip side, most of the people who started straight mortgage protection never did final expense. They can't wrap their head around making any money on final expense. It was like, there's no money at it. They all cancel and everyone's broke. And I'm like, there's actually a shitload of money in both. They're just different.

Yeah. And on my team, I have people that do final expense, I have people that do mortgage protection, I have people that do first responders. And I just say, find the one that feels right to you, that you get in a groove with, and then just, just ride it home, baby. Like, don't, don't switch it up, you know what I mean? So I, I agree, I think you can be successful in anything, but for me, mortgage protection is like my niche.

All remote at home, or do you go to an office, or all remote, all from home?

I'm in the Dallas area, so that, that was a big, that was a big factor that drew me in, was like, I could just do this from my home, like, game over, let's go.

Plus, you know, not— you sell outside of Texas? Yeah, yeah.

Oh yeah, yeah, I sell. Um, yesterday I sold a policy in Arkansas. California's been really hot lately for me. Um, yeah, all over the place.

I've heard some people— someone hit me up on social the other day trying to convince me that he can't do mortgage protection anymore because there's no leads because interest rates are high.

No.

What's your thoughts?

Oh, I think that a lot of times our limiting beliefs are what hold us back. I don't ever— I just think, dang, we live in a huge country with so many people. We have a huge market. People are— most of the people that I— I don't like to say sell— most of the people that I write mortgage protection plans for, they've been in their home for a long time. It's not like they just bought their home. A lot of them, they've been in their home for 6 years, 10 years. So I mean, you can write mortgage protection on someone who's like at any point in the home owning experience. So I think that that's a limiting belief and I think that that person should probably get on self-gen leads. Not mailers, or you know what I mean.

Okay, like Facebook type generated?

Yeah, because I used to do mailers and I liked it, it was successful. But with mailers, they're mailing to people that just bought a home or just refinanced a home, so I could see that they're being not as much data. But with self-gen, I'm just hitting anyone that's on Facebook that owns a home and is like, oh yeah, I should probably do something. So I'm getting tons of leads.

Yeah. And you could technically— like, we used to mail old data. I don't know why people don't do that. Like, if you got a mortgage 3 years ago, we'd mail it now because they weren't getting as many, you know? I mean, I'm like, we've always done that. I don't know why you couldn't just ask for that too. But are you running your own ads?

I've done both. What's that?

Do you have someone do it? Do you run your own ads or you have someone do it for you?

No, I do not run my own ads. I don't want to touch that. I don't want to look at the ad. I don't even think I've seen the ad. I just I just pick up the phone and sell the insurance. Money-making activity— what is going to make me the most money? It's going to be writing, then talking to the client, writing the insurance, training people, recruiting, not working on Facebook ads. So I, I hire a guy and he's really like— no, I'm not going to say who it is.

No, no, it's all good. I, I knew better. I wouldn't ask that one. Um, they're out there though. There's plenty, there's plenty out there.

There is.

Yeah, there's—

it's not like it's so a rock and you'll find someone. Correct.

It's not that deep.

Um, yeah, shit, I just had a question I was gonna ask you, but, but find someone that's been doing it like longer than like 3 months, you know. That is true, because there are a lot of people just getting in and they're like, yeah, I can, I can try to help you with, you know, Facebook leads. Don't, don't, don't use that guy. Find someone who's been doing it a little bit longer. Yeah.

I always tell people to ask someone who's making a shitload of money. The problem is you got to have a relationship with that person before they tell you, you know what I mean? And add value. Like, sometimes it takes time. You can't just be a nobody and one day be like, hey, give me all your stuff.

Yeah. Um, I do though. People message me and they'll ask me questions and I just, I remember what it's like. So I'm like, yeah, here you go.

Yeah.

If I have the time, I'll just send it. Yeah.

I mean, shit, that's how you and I started talking. It's just a DM.

Yeah.

I answer people all the time.

You were on a plane. I'm like, lucky me, he's on a plane. Don't worry, he cannot escape. I can ask him all my questions. Remember, I was like, one more question.

Yeah, I think you said that like 7 times. It was good. Um, what do you spend on leads? What's that look like for you to get that kind of production?

Okay, this is really interesting. So last year when I did the $620,000, I was spending $4,500 a week on mailers. No lie, $4,500, something like that. Plus my dialer, because I had a dialer in the Philippines. I love the VAs, I highly recommend. Um, this year when I switched to SelfGen, which was kind of a bumpy road because I had to relearn it, now I'm spending $200 a day, which is roughly $6,000. So I'm like, this is a steal, are you kidding me?

Um, so like 25%— they— a little over 30% of what you were spending. Sick.

It's cheaper not to mail paper to people's houses. Who thought?

Yeah, imagine. Go figure. Crazy.

And then there's, there's some other like fees and stuff in there, but it's, I'd say about $6,700 a month on that, on, on the SelfGen. But however, I'm not trying to hit huge numbers this year. I'm really focusing on growing my agency. If I try to hit Hall of Fame, I think I won't have the bandwidth And you can speak to this better than me. This is just my little thoughts, you know. But, you know, I can't—

remember that thing you said earlier about limiting beliefs?

Okay, there we go.

We could, we could potentially go down that road if you want. You know, we don't have to. All right, it's your choice.

Hall of Fame this year, let's go, let's go! I just need to sell 250,000 by the end of the year.

Just saying, people do it.

You're right, you're right.

Anything's possible. What's, um, what's, what's the, the whole mom life? How do you make it all work? I have, I have someone asking me questions often, and I'm like, I can tell you every piece of it except what it's like as a mom to do that. I don't, I don't know how to navigate that, obviously. So would love for you to share that.

It's different now, you know. I'm in my fourth year. It's different 4 years in than it was my first year.

Why?

Because now my husband's on board. When I first started, he's like, what is this insurance thing? What the hell are you doing? Oh my God. And And I kept— I would say to him, just watch me, just watch me, watch what I do. I would say that all the time when like there was no proof. But, you know, it was, it was juggling a lot. It was staying up late. It was a lot of mom guilt. It, it was crazy. I mean, honestly, it wasn't easy. But one thing that I did that I'm proud of is I like really made my kids and my family a part of it. Like Some people don't talk about work or they kind of like separate it. But I would like— my son was 5 when I started, so I would like tell him what I was doing, what my goals were, how much money— like, my son knows how much money I make a month. Like, we talk about it. Like, yeah. And like, I talk about what my goals are and what we're going to do. And I like it because I think most people aren't financially— what's so illiterate? Most people aren't financially literate. And my family never talked to me about money. And all I knew how to do was how to get into debt. I just got into a lot of debt, which is why I had to get into insurance. So I'm trying to teach my son about money, entrepreneurship, what to do with your money to grow it. And that all started when I started in insurance. Anyway, that was a roundabout answer. But now that my husband's on board and he's like, wow, you're bringing in a lot of money now, um, you know, he helps more with like cooking and kid drop-off and kid pickup. But it wasn't that way in the beginning. And you, you just got to be okay with the sacrifice. And you gotta know that it's temporary, it's not forever, you know.

I don't know. So it's like, I mean, the reality is you were selling $40K plus and having to take care of diapers and cooking, and I'm sure he helped to some extent, but you still had to—

he's so much more helpful now. It's funny what money will do. So much—

can I ask you a question? Yeah. Are you making more than him yet?

I am. So when I— no, I'm glad you asked that question. When I— so my husband's always had like the big career, and I was always like trying to— trying things and figuring out. I always said he's the anchor and I'm the kite. I was like the kite trying, you know, flying around. And so I always put his income on a pedestal, like, oh, you make so much, I'll never make as much, because the old way of thinking was you had to go through 20 years in your career to climb the ladder. I think I made more than him Definitely last year. I think I broke even with him the second year, which is mind-blowing. But what he would always say is, well, I got us health insurance. So now, or where I can be like, well, I can cover our health insurance.

I got you, bro. I love it, dude. It's good to see.

Now he sees it now. And he used to get on me like if I bought a new dress or, you know, shop too much, he'd be like, oh, you need it. Now he's just like, go girl, just go. Like, I'm not even gonna stop you. Go. Yeah. Because he sees how hard I work and he believes now.

Yeah. And he comes around to events or anything?

Oh yeah, yeah. He came to the, um, Family First Life. I brought my whole family last year for the last day. They came on the last day and we just went to the top producer trip. And, um, you know, it's real. Like, it becomes real and you're like, it makes everything else, all these other career paths, just look stupid, honestly. Yeah, in my, in my opinion. I'm like, college, what?

Why?

You know, your son's how old now?

Is he 9.

Is that right?

Okay, cool.

He's 9, and I have something funny. Today was his first day back at school, and we made that little first day back at school board. And I said, one of the questions was, what do you want to be when you grow up? And he said, insurance, insurance. He said, what you do? And I said, okay. And I wrote insurance agent. But I was like, that's crazy. He's 9, and he's like, that's like what he, at this point, what he wants to do.

Isn't it wild? It's wild to see my kids are getting— a couple of them now are getting into it, and they're like, well, I think I want to do that. My 17-year-old is dialing right now for people. You can get his license in, uh, November.

So that's the way to go, man. I agree, that's the way to go. It's called, uh, an apprenticeship, you know.

That's true, 100%. What up, y'all? So YouTube memberships, we have one now right next to the subscribe button. There's a neon white join button. You can't miss it. Subscribe, whatever it says, click the link, get in there. I do a ton of coaching, teaching people how to dial, corrections, working on their presentations, working on their mindset. I will coach on theory, but I like coaching real world stuff. And if you join the membership section, you're going to see live coaching where I'm not only helping people, but every once in a while I get in there and dial myself. There's some cool videos coming out, tons of content. All the training videos will be directly on my YouTube channel. That's available to members only. Super easy to find. In order to access them, you have to join our exclusive training videos tier. Do More does not get access to the training videos. So join now if you're interested. Click below. See you in there. What is— give them some sales stuff, whether phone. Let's start on the phone. What, what advice can you give people? Um, you know, if you could go back in time and give yourself advice on things you did well, things you did poor, you know what I mean? What you would do better, et cetera?

I think in the beginning, a lot of us, especially with sales background, we think sales is you've gotta be really nice, you've gotta be really friendly, you gotta like connect with them, be best friends. And I would do that a lot on phone calls. I would, oh, you've got a dog? I've got a dog. What kind of dog do you have? You know, that whole thing. Oh, how's the weather in wherever?

Yeah.

And as time has gone on, I have just realized they're not looking for a friend and they're not really gonna buy from a friend. They'll just just use you to talk to the— on the phone with and then hang up on you. And, you know, you're out, their hour's up, whatever, and you won't make a sale. So what I try to focus on more now is being an expert, talking in that— like, I tell my team this, like, talk in that low authoritative voice instead of that, hey, you know, especially as women, like, be more authoritative and be direct and just show them that you know what you're talking about. And I don't let anyone waste my time anymore. My time's valuable. So I'm like, You know, I'm sticking to the script and we're keeping it moving.

Give some examples there. That's— but I want to, I want to hear some of that.

Oh my God, I'm not good at the examples.

It's okay, do your best, and we're in no rush.

Like, like what? Give me an example.

Like, where would you let someone waste your time before specifically that you wouldn't now? Is it them talking too long? Like, like, that's a common one. They want to talk about, I don't know, their granddaughter's trip to Paris last year, shit like that.

Or people will tell you stories and you feel like it's polite to let them finish their whole thought. And I think in like a normal social situation it would be, but in a selling situation, when you want respect and you want to maintain control of the call, I like cut in as soon as possible. I'm like, okay, that's great. So, uh, let's, you know, go to the quote or whatever, or just pick it up where it is. I'm always conscious of where I am in the call, like in the script, and I'm gonna get us back on board. But I would let people waste my time. I would be overly polite. And I realized that it's okay to be kind of, um, firm and direct. I know that's a big thing with you being direct, right?

But picture like when you're trying to, I don't know, go through the grocery store with your kids and the whole time you're like, hey, no, come over here. Hey, get out of my way. Hey, you're like— exactly, you're kind of corralling them in a sense. You're not letting them get off track.

Exactly. And I think when you lose, um, so many deals because of different things like being too nice, being on the phone too long, you get pissed off. And I see it with my new agents all the time. Like, they keep getting rejected, or people waste their time, or disrespect them. Really, it's disrespecting them, and then they get pissed off. And they're like, I just got mad. And then they go into the call with that anger. But I don't want to say anger. It's not like a personal anger. It's just mad that your time is being wasted and they take control. And I say, being pissed off is a superpower. You should be pissed off. You need to take control and be the dominating person on the phone. And when they do that, they close more sales because you're on the phone with someone because at the end of the day, they're interested in insurance. So Why are we talking about your granddaughter's trip to Paris? Like, let's get back on track. I don't care, you know? But I will say, once I get into the application, then I'm more like, you know, how many things? Yeah, because I'm like, well, now we're friends.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

We're friends for life now, unless you charge back. But I love it.

So you said, uh, you stay on script. I'm a big— like, people always go, John hates scripts. I'm like, no, no, no, that's not what I said. You know, for me, I think it's— yeah, I think it's understanding what the script is doing and staying on track and staying on. But if you had to explain your script to those watching, give us some structure, like what you're trying to— how the flow works for you.

So you don't have to say the same thing every time. When I was new in mortgage protection, I read the script. I literally— I tell my agents, I had it on my desk and I would like— I would do Zoom calls and I would like read it, look up, read it, look up, and I still sold deals. That like they didn't care. No, but basically the script is first you want to establish your authority and your— what's the word— legitimacy, I guess. What's the word there?

Yeah, that's a good one. Who you are, credentials and all that.

Your credentials. Thank you. Because if you don't do that in the beginning, they are going to second-guess you later. So I do that. Then I explain what we're going to do on the call, how the process works. I make sure that they know that I'm not the person that decides that they get coverage. It's the insurance carriers, mortgage protection carriers. I, I touch on that. Why? Because I'm kind of setting them up that later we're going to have to apply. So just be honest. Tell me your health things, you know, all your health history. Then I kind of get— once I say my whole, you know, intro and then what we're going to do, then I get into their why. And that's where I'm really, you know, Why are you looking into this? Why is this something you're taking the time to look? What made you look into it recently? Have you gone through this process before? Who's your beneficiary? All that information is giving me that ammo. And I don't mean that in a bad way, but, you know, the why. Like, if there's no why, there's no reason to get it. So I definitely take my time with that. Um, then we go through the health questions, we go through the, the history. Um, you know, I have my standard questions that I ask there, and then, um, pulling the rates, taking my time there, going over the different options, and then closing it. And simple. My closing is something that I'm really known for. Um, my team calls it leveling. They're like, we cannot believe you just closed that deal. We can't believe you made that sale because people literally say, you know, the classic, I need to think about it. I need to talk to my wife. I just want to look at other options. And I just go for it. I'm like, well, haven't you been thinking about it for a while? You know, how long are you— how long— what's tomorrow going to change? I literally had a guy that I spoke to like a month ago and I said, he said, well, can we talk tomorrow? Let's set up a call for tomorrow. And I said, yeah, we can, but what's going to change tomorrow? What new information are you going to get? And he said, you're right, let's just do it now. And the way that I say it could be perceived as rude. And I think a lot of new agents that come in, they think I'm being rude, but I'm not. I've just been through this so many times that I'm like, let's cut through the bullshit. Do you really want insurance? And I just talk directly. I think that that is something that more agents need to do. Do you agree?

I agree 100%. I, I think for me, if what I understand is— and you obviously understand this— I think where people miss is like, they are just families, right? And I always go, if they were dead and got to see what their family had to live through without insurance, and then you— then they didn't buy, and then they got to see the aftermath and $122 a month solve that aftermath, would they go back in time and rebuy? I, I don't know anyone that would say no, right? So it's like, I, I just gotta get 'em there. And I also know people are really smart and they know they're not covered and they know that it's like shitty, but yet there's this weird, we don't believe we're gonna die thing. So I, I believe all of these people are just procrastinators at heart.

That's the word that was in my head. They're procrastinating and you have to jolt them out of it and you have to talk to them not like a salesperson. And honestly, at this point in my insurance career, to me it's not even about the sale anymore. Like, I'm at a place where like, I know I'm going to make money no matter what. Like, I've just been doing this so long, the money keeps coming. I'm like, I'm not worried about the money. Like, yeah, I want more of it, but I'm good.

You know, you don't care if Steve says yes necessarily.

I'm not like I was in the beginning where I'm like, please, I need this or I can't pay my credit card. It's not like that. It's just that I know that they're lying to themselves. And I also have such a deep conviction that what we do matters and that they need the insurance and that they're going to eventually get it, but maybe down the road and it's more expensive, or maybe they won't get it. But I'm convicted that the best time to get it is now because it is. Like, there's, there's not a better time.

Uh, cheapest time.

It's the cheapest time. And yeah, it's, it's just, I know that they're just telling themselves, oh, um, I just need to think about it. They're not going to think about it. When you can understand that they're not going to think about it, they're probably not going to talk to their spouse, they're going to get off the phone with you and go do whatever. When you can understand that, then you can cut through that bullshit. And you won't close them all, but I bet you close like 25 to 50%, I don't know, a lot.

I mean, at the very least, you'll speak differently to people, you know what I mean? If you believe that their objections are not true versus if you believe they are true. And some agents out there get objections and they actually believe that the person's telling the truth, right? Or they're deep down gonna execute on—

I stopped doing that.

Yeah, when you stop, when you think it's a game, like they're trying to get you to go away You play it different, you know.

The other thing it's about for me is like not flinching. I think a lot of salespeople when they're new, they flinch. There was a book a while back and it was, it was like Flinch or I don't know something, but it was saying basically saying don't flinch in life. And on sales calls we flinch, you know, like they're like, oh, I gotta think about it. And you know, you should say something back, but you're like, okay, well we can follow up in a week. You know, you're not gonna talk to them, but it like, it feels good in the moment. It's like instant gratification of like, Putting off instead of— you're, and you're flinching instead of just saying the hard thing, which is, why don't we take 5 minutes and see if we can get you approved?

Yeah.

And not flinching. And another thing I did, I do, uh, which actually got me a sale yesterday, was, um, the client, a lot of times they, they want to think about, should I get $25,000 or $40,000? Well, I need to talk to my husband so I can decide. I get that all the time. And I said, hey, I have a better idea. Let's apply for the $25,000 today. Let's see if you can even get approved for it. We'll start the policy. Once you get your policy packet, you get 30 days. And then if you want to increase it, if you wake up in the middle of the night with a cold sweat, call me, we'll increase it to $40,000. And what that does is take the pressure off the decision. I close like that all the time. And you know what? I'm happy to get them $25,000 because it's better than zero. It's better than zero.

And most don't call back to increase it, but they keep the original amount, the lower amount that you go with when you do it the right way like that.

Yeah. And I always— I also say 90% of people, because my, my 6-month persistency is around 90%. And so I say 90% of people keep their policy exactly as is.

So that kind of makes them think like, yeah, it's good, you know, like that line. That's good.

Yeah. I said, but if you do want to increase it, 'Just call me within those 30 days.' It just takes the pressure off because they put so much pressure on that decision. And I'm like, 'Oh my God, you're not—' It's the making the decision that's hard.

So you, you just make one for them. Here, here's the decision, go with it. Yeah. And if they want to hire every once in a blue moon, they'll fight. They'll be like, 'Nah, you know what, I'm going for the bigger one.' Every once in a blue moon. Yeah.

You know, but it's just stepping in and being the adult in the room and being the sure person and kind of telling them. And grown men, they'll be like, okay. And I'm like, all right. And like I said, 90% persistency. So I'm not twisting their arm, I'm not, you know, tricking them. They know the policy is going to start. I'm not— I don't do— that's not my style. I like everyone to be in agreement. But what I'm doing is just making a suggestion, like a strong suggestion, and then they're like, yeah, you're right.

Cool. I want to rewind a little bit to the beginning of your process. Um, one, you're doing them on the phone, not Zoom, correct? It's all—

I did, I did Zoom for a while. I got really tired of people saying I can't make the sound work, and I was like, forget this. So I do it for now.

Yeah. Are you— what percentage is like a one-call close versus booking appointments?

So the style— I've done every style. The style I'm doing now is mostly self-booked.

Um, so like yesterday, like a link of some kind Yeah, see your ad, click it, go to the calendar direct.

Yeah. And, and, uh, I'd say usually half show, half buy is kind of like what's been— I closed 2 yesterday out of like 10 or 11.

Okay, so show up and half buy. Yeah. So out of 10, 5 show up, you sell 2 or 3.

Yeah, that's been, that's been the norm. Life is good. What's not to love? Yeah, come on guys, it's a numbers game. It's a numbers game. That's what I got from this book. It's all a numbers game.

It is. I, you know, it's funny is people get mad when they go, it's not just a numbers game. I said, I didn't say it's just a numbers game, but it's a really big fucking piece of it. You know what I mean?

Skills up to a certain point. You don't have to be the best, but like have some skills, which just comes with time and then just stack the numbers in your favor. When people look at me and they're like, you sold so much. I'm like, yeah, I bought so many leads and I spent so much time working. Like that's the, that's it. Yeah. And I believed in it.

How many leads a week now are coming in on the new, roughly? I know, I know you said $200 a day. Do you know what that gets you? If not, it's okay.

No, I could check and get back to you.

That's all good. And I'll be honest, my strong— remember earlier she said that's not her strength?

She did say that. Numbers is not my strong suit. I'm more of like a big picture person, but I work— I've worked with my sister Kendall, shout out Kendall, since I started, and she's like my numbers person. So when someone's like, how many leads do I have to buy? I'm like, Kendall, can you like break this down for me? So she's kind of Yeah.

What, how do you then? Well, I guess if they're all booked, it's a little different. But then I was gonna say, there's a part you said you set expectations at the beginning of your process, your script.

Let me back up. I want to make a comment here. I haven't always worked, just worked self-booked. I'm in a different stage of my business where I'm growing my agency. So I'm trying to like, get the low-hanging fruit. But when I, if I was new in this business, or even like, didn't have an agency yet, I wouldn't just be doing self-book. I would be dialing my, my butt off. Yeah.

Let me ask you this thing because I want to actually— should ask it to you. How do you— here's what I see people struggle with. They get someone on the phone, they're making the calls, outbound calls, they get someone on the phone and they don't know if they should go for a one-call close, book the appointment. They, they go to the book the appointment after they get some pushback and it's like this half-assed point, you know what I mean? Like they get stuck there. Yeah, a lot.

Yeah, a lot of people think that they have to do appointment or that they should do appointments. I get this question a lot with my agents, do not book an appointment if you don't have to. My self-booked appointments are people scheduling a time, and they literally have like a 1 to 2 day window where they see the ad and then they're scheduling the call. So that's different for you if you have a list of leads and you're calling them. One call, close them. Why? Because there's a less than 50, 40% chance that they will show. So probably less if you book an appointment. So what I say to people is, if you have the chance to— if you have them on the phone now and there's no They're not in the middle of Walmart. They're not at the doctor's. They're not having surgery right now. Why would you talk to them later? Like, let's not complicate this. You can literally have someone insured in 15, 20 minutes, maybe 25. I don't know. What do you think? But like, if you're doing AmeriCo, it's quick. So like, why are we scheduling an appointment again? You're flinching. You're flinching. I love it. Don't you think? You're like, oh, this will be easier tomorrow. No, it's easy. Like, close the deal.

Is there something you do to see if they can have the time now, or do you assume they have the time? Like, when do you know to pull out? I know you just mentioned doctors are in the middle of Walmart, yada yada, but how do you gauge that? Or how do you— even better, how do you teach new agents how to gauge that? Because they suck at it.

Yeah, I don't know if this is a good thing to say, but I usually say, is this still a good time for you? Or is this a good time for you? I don't know if that's a good thing.

It seems really fucking easy, and I like it.

Yeah, I just— I say that, but when I was one-call closing, I would just kind of jump into it because, I mean, if they answered the phone I would just, you want the conversation to kind of draw them in to where like, you know, they have to interrupt you to tell you that they're busy. So I don't know. I mean, a lot of this stuff is just like soft skill, people skills, like, you know, it is, does it seem like they have time or is it loud where they are? I'm not going to do a call with someone if they're in the middle of, you know, Applebee's. No, but if it sounds quiet where they are, yeah, let's go for it. Just get the sale. Fucking simple.

Yeah. Get to the expectations part. You get them on the phone, you're talking a little bit. How do you, how do you set the stage for what's, what's about to happen? Yeah.

So, hi, this is Mallory Cruz. I'm a licensed underwriter with the state of— I'll say whatever state they're in— California. Can you please get a pen and paper? Do you have one handy? I'm just going to give you my information. Sometimes I'll send them my license. I give them my name, I give them my license number. I tell them that I'm background checked with the state government. I never say I'm with the state, I'm appointed by the state. That's important. Um, I go over, um, so I give them all that. I make sure that they're kind of satisfied. Usually they're like, okay, like, enough, like, let's like get on with it, you know. But I like that they're like that because that means that I've, you know, they're not questioning me, right? They're like, okay, let's go. Then in the expectations, I say I'm licensed, uh, I'm contracted with over 30 A-rated insurance carriers. Um, uh, the insurance carriers. I'm not the one that decides if you get coverage or not, um, it's the carriers. So what we're going to do is we're going to talk about what mortgage protection is, or you can say life insurance. We're going to talk about your situation and why you need it, why you think it's important. I'm going to tell you what it covers, then I'm going to ask you some health questions because it's not me that decides it, it's the insurance company, and then I'll pull works for you. At that point, when we're able to find something that's a good fit for you, then we're going to apply with the insurance company. Um, uh, usually our— the policy will start in 1 to 3 business days. You're going to receive your— if you're approved— I always say if you're approved, so they're like, oh, I want to be approved. If you're approved, you'll receive your policy within a week, and then you always get 30 days to make any changes. So I kind of go from— you give them the whole deal right up, because I want them to visualize getting their policy packet, you know. So I don't leave things I know there's a lot of— I'm not the person that says this is the only way to do it, but I know there's a lot of people that don't tell them that they're doing an application or they like— I hate that shit, to be clear.

When they don't, I fucking hate it.

They sneak up and they're like, so what's your social? If I'm the person on the phone, I'm like, social? My address? I want me and the client to be in agreement about what we're doing because I don't want a chargeback. And that's why my persistency is high. We're on the phone. We're doing like a virtual handshake. This is what it is. Any questions? And even when I do the payment, when I ask them for their account information, I'll say, the, this policy, these policies typically start in 1 to 3 business days because I do immediate draft. The policy typically starts in 1 to 3 business days. Is there any reason you wouldn't want the policy to start? And I say it in a way that's like assuming that there isn't, like, is there any reason you wouldn't want it to start? And usually they're like, no. Um, but I'm telling them, you know, they're going to draft the payment. So I like to be upfront versus, hey, when do you want the payment to come out?

Because then you're going to get anytime within the next 60 days is fine, Steve, just pick a date.

Don't do that. Don't do that. I don't, because I don't want that. I have a lot of mental load between being a mom, running the agency, and, and writing business. I don't want that in the back of my head, like, is this guy going to pay 2 weeks from now? No, I hate that. I want, I want it to start immediately. There are circumstances, especially if you're doing final expense, but for mortgage protection, most people can afford it in the next 3 days. Yeah, for sure.

If you're in the insurance space and trying to build an agency, or you're trying to like break records in sales, just hit new levels, new heights, click the link below to apply to my consulting and coaching program that I have out there. I'm helping tons of people get to new levels, get to new income heights, help them build their teams, put systems in place, staffing stuff, recruiting processes, automations. I'm just teaching people how to get to a point where they're selling on their own pen 30, 40, 50 grand a month. And if they're building a team, teaching how to have an effective structure to your insurance agency for the most profitability you can. There is an application process. I'm only looking to work with like high-end people who really want to make big things happen. Couple recent clients that we've had in the, in the coaching program. One dude as an individual went from selling like $8,000 a month, barely getting by, about to quit the industry, found the book, hit me up direct, started the coaching program, went to $35,000 his first month, has issued like $150,000 in the last 90 days and has changed the trajectory of his career. Working with another agency builder, very first month went from doing like $800,000 a month to almost $1.1 million. We added like 10 or 15% production in 30 days and continue to work on things there. So if you're interested, click the link, apply, and if you're a fit, I'll reach out. I love it. I'm— anything else on the process presentation you want to cover that you like talking about? Because I'm going to switch to some building stuff in a minute.

Um, Uh, also always have a follow-up procedure after you close the policy. Don't just think your job is done. Um, when I had lower persistency, it's because I was just burning and churning, like selling, moving on to the next, which fine, but eventually you got to grow up, be an adult, and you've got to take care of the client on the back end. So always send a text or an email with a, um, like a review of what you did, like what the policy is, policy review. I'll send a postcard if someone buys a lot of insurance from me, like a lot, a lot. I'll and then flowers just as like a nice touch. That's for like my, you know, platinum clients. What's the dollar amount to get that? One lady bought 6 policies from me, so I was like, she deserves flowers. And she was going through a hard time, and I was like, I sent her flowers, and she was so thankful. Um, and then I just have a little spiel where I tell them the name of the company, I spell it out for them, I give them their policy number, I tell them when to expect their policy, I tell them just any pertinent information. I just have I just feel it just rolls off my tongue now. But A, that's being professional. But B, that's so— I used to get calls 2 days later like, I haven't got my policy yet. And I'm like, do you think that they like just Amazon did not deliver it? Yeah. Like it's Amazon Prime to you? Like, no. Like, so I like, I set the expectation and sometimes I do go overboard. I overexplain, but I would rather overexplain than have chargebacks. So I would just say write a script and then just say it every time. You will think to yourself that if you're not doing that, that's what's missing from your, you know, from your, your business.

All the stuff you've gone through is really simple. It's just, will they do it? It's so simple. Choices, choices. I love it. Let's talk about building a little bit.

Simple and systems.

All right, building. You got a team, $250K, right?

Uh, last month, yeah, about $265,000.

So almost $300,000. We'll say that. How about that? Almost $300K. Yes, love it. How many agents got you there?

Um, so I wrote that down. I have 53 writers so far this year. 53 writers. Okay. Yeah, yeah. And 21 are new, so hell yeah, that's awesome. That is good. I used to be half of my team's production. Yeah, now I'm just a small piece of it, which is a really great feeling.

Were you recruiting at the beginning, like early, or did you wait a minute?

I've always been recruiting. Yeah, I've always been recruiting. My problem is that I switched agencies a couple times, not, not because of myself, because the agency I was part of switched. It was just, you know how it is in this business. Yeah, it was, it wasn't me.

I was far too well.

Yes. Yeah. Um, but I've always been recruiting and kind of been sharing my story. And like, the way I see myself is, in undergrad I studied journalism, okay? In graduate school I studied marketing. What am I trying to say? It's about communication. It's communicating. I'm just getting the word out. I'm just sharing, you know, I don't— when I started sharing on like Instagram about my story, it wasn't that I had some master plan. It was just like, I want to get to share. I don't know, it's just my personality. And so that's kind of grown that now people are like, hey, I've been following you for a long time. I want to join insurance. I want to join your team. And it's from stuff that I posted years ago, right? So, so yeah, in a sense I've always been growing and recruiting, but I finally feel like this year I'm at a place where I like can put down roots and really take off, you know?

Yeah, you actually have a team now. We're like ready to roll. I love it. Yeah. What's the hardest part for you right now, the building side?

The hardest part is managing. It's a lot of things, you know. This— I talked about mom guilt earlier. I feel like there's like agency owner guilt.

You said this in the text, funny enough, in our DM.

Yeah, like, am I taking care of everybody? Am I— is everybody getting what they need from me? And I think that's something that I'll mature out of because at the end of the day, I think that's a heavy burden to carry, especially as your team grows, you know, to be responsible for everybody's feeling and success. And if I say this in the group chat, is it gonna offend someone? 'Cause my style can be very direct. I know yours is too, but like, we're not here to babysit. We're not here to like give you participation trophy. Like we're here to make you money. So I'm going to give it to you straight so you can get off your ass, you know. But then the other side of it is when I say that, I'm like, ooh, is that too mean? So that's kind of what I think about this.

Earlier in the sales process, you dealt with the same thing with clients. Yeah, remember you were explaining that and then you were like, I got sick of being taken advantage of. Yeah, I decided to just tell them like it is. Exactly.

Yeah, same psychology. This is like a coaching session for me. I love it.

Yeah, it's the same. I mean, that's what clicked for me was how similar it is. And a lot of people building— in this case, we're talking about you— you have this skill set already. And the mistake a lot of us make is we don't apply it on the business side. We only apply it on the client side, you know. But the concepts and the principles are the same on both.

Yeah, you're right.

And just like the clients are procrastinators and afraid to make decisions, Think what it's like for this agent. Do I buy leads? Do I not? Do I call more? Do I not? Do I call them again? Do I not? Do I— you know what I mean? And they're just— they get stuck. They're like a little fucking squirrel.

And the thing that needs to grow is their mindset. And that's what I've learned, is it's— it's not that the work is too hard. It's not that they don't have the time. It's that they have, like we keep saying on this call, limiting beliefs. And it's like cracking that open to— to make them see that, no, you can be successful here. You're just afraid to spend the money, or you're afraid to put the time in because you might fail. And it's a frustration I feel with like trying to get people to my mindset to see what's possible. But oh my gosh, when people break through, you know that feeling, it's the best feeling when like you feel like they joined you on the mountain or I can't explain it better. Like you're like, yes, they got it. And they make money. It clicks one day. It's like. And then yes. And then they start talking different. They can't keep, they start moving different. And then they start saying, I love this business. Yes. And I'm like, yes, me too. We made it.

We made it.

But they hate it in the beginning, or they're like, what have I done? Oh my God, what is this? This is terrible. But if they stick with it, they will get to the I love this business part, you know.

How do you think people could get there quicker? Like, what advice would you give from everything you've seen? Obviously, you've got to have 50-something writers this year. You've dealt with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, right? And at some part, from at least talking to them or an interview, or getting them in class and they didn't do shit, or whatever. They get contracted and they don't sell, or they, you know what I mean? All the shit.

I think what worked for me and the reason that I was successful so quickly, I was looking at some of my past, um, Instagram posts, uh, this morning, because it weirdly enough, it like inspires me and jazzes me up. And in my first 90 days, I had already issue paid over $30,000 in my first 90 days. And most people don't do that. Most people on my team aren't doing that. They're kind of dragging along and I'm like, what's going on? You should be like doubling every month. I think what did it for me was when I told my husband and we kind of had this conversation, hey, I'm going to go into insurance, I'm going to buy leads. What we agreed was I was going to go all in for a year. And he was like, I remember saying, don't tell anyone I'm doing this. Tell your mom, don't tell our friends. I don't want the pressure because people are like, oh, she's doing this new thing, and then you feel pressure. I was like, don't tell anyone. I'm just going to do this. And he said, yeah, just— he still thought it was like a scam, but he was like, yeah, just go in for a year. And literally that was my mindset, was like, I'm going to say no to everything. I was a big wine night with the girl, go on a trip even though I was broke, do all this stuff, brunching. I was living like I had it all, but I was really like struggling, you know, struggling to find my purpose, struggling to find some cash. But it was when I put my head down for one year, and even break it up into 90-day increments, when I picked my head up in a year, everything had changed. Everything. I had changed. But it, but it was hard. But it's like when you make a decision, it's different. You're like, I'm choosing this. And I see the people that go all in and make it like literally a decision, that's when it changes. There— nobody just casually kind of finds it like, oh, just casually try this. It doesn't work that way.

I've been trying to tell them. Some listen, most don't.

Like, oh, let me put my toe in the insurance pond and I'll buy $200 of leads. I talked to someone the other day, she said said, I'm spending $200 on leads. I said, okay, $200, like what, like a week? She's like, no, a month. And I'm like, no, I was like, just save your money, don't even do it. Like, what are you doing? And she was like, oh, and they just— I don't know if they're not listening. She's not on my team, she was just someone I like reached out to me. But, um, yeah, you can't just stick your toe in the insurance pond and see what happens.

Don't work quite like that.

No, you gotta, like they say, burn the boats, dive in. Yeah, and that's really when the magic happens, really.

How are you finding the agents?

Um, Instagram, podcasts. Um, I started doing podcasts, I guess, last year. For a while, no one ever asked me to be on a podcast, and I was like, what's a girl gotta do to get on a podcast? Like, I, I had hit Hall of Fame, you know. And then, then once they started happening, it, it was like they just kept happening. I kept getting invited, which is great. And every time I'm like, yeah, let's do it. Even if I'm nervous or don't know what I'm going to say, every time I've gone on, just putting your message out there, people connect with you. You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to be polished. Just go out there, you know, speak your truth, tell your story. People will align with you. And I'm sure you've obviously found the same thing. Adding up. Yeah, exactly. And the great thing about podcasts is they stay out there forever. So someone's gonna watch this podcast in 5 years, and then they're gonna message me and they're gonna work with me. So hey, what's your production—

what's your team production going to be in 5 years? Oh, they're gonna see then. Holy smokes. What can your brain wrap its head— wrap your own head around right now?

It's, um $6 million, $6 million a year would be big. I think $10 million is the red jacket. So all that I know is I'm not going to stop. I'm not going to stop. No one's going to stop me. I always tell myself no one's going to stop me. I'm unstoppable. And my goal is just to help more people, especially women. I don't want to just be, like, super successful but have a team of struggling people. And I don't have that, by the way. But I'm saying, like, I want more people to you know, I want it to be like a winner factory, you know what I mean? I just want winners to come in. It's a lot nicer when everybody's making money. Yeah. And, um, yeah, that's, that's kind of the dream. And just, just to have freedom, you know, which I kind of already have that now, you know what I mean? Like, I'm doing what I want to do, but, um, you know, more financial freedom, things like that are the goal.

Staff, like, helping you do all this?

Are I do, I do. This year was a big year for staff. I always had virtual assistants that helped me with dialing when I did the mailers. Um, they're awesome. It's very cost-effective, uh, cost-effective. They're hard workers. I love it. But then I also have an admin that helps me with onboarding and not really recruiting. She doesn't do the recruiting yet, but she's just doing the onboarding because that's a lot. That's a lot of That is not, you know, something I want to do. So she does that. And then I have someone that does my graphic design. That's a VA. And then I have someone that helps me with, she helps me just stay on top of my book of business. Like if there's a lapse policy, policy reviews. Yeah. So I kind of have departments now and, you know, look at you. Yeah. Proud of myself. Crazy.

Big things can happen. This has been a— it's been a fun ride, this industry, and, uh, it does keep getting better. There's always shit that doesn't go away. Yeah, I don't know how to make it go away, but the good keeps getting gooder, if that's acceptable.

I completely agree. I think this industry is so fun. I think winning is fun, and I think what's cool about this industry is that you can win so quick. Like, you can write a policy on Monday You can get paid on Wednesday or even Tuesday. You know, you can recruit someone. You can do so many positive things for your business in a day. There's not like a big lag time. And so I'm having the time of my life. Like, I, I love it.

I love it. That's dope. Um, cool. Let's end it. I'm gonna let you end it with anything you want, whether something I should have asked you that I didn't, or you just want to end with something cool, a message for people watching.

Oh my gosh, the pressure. I love it.

Get effing paid. Get effing paid.

Get effing paid. Get effing paid.

What up, guys? If you guys are looking to get to a new level in your career, you may have seen that we've been running some workshops in my office in Atlanta. I have them every quarter now. Last one sold out fully. It was a massive success. A couple different levels you can attend. Just a general ticket, um, get you in the door, listen to 2 days training, interactive workshop style. We really dive into what you got going on and how to get to new levels. If you're looking to be in a new crowd, higher level up, um, I have a private mastermind. Last one was at my house. It was insane. Um, all the value that everybody added to each other and we had a good time. And, uh, I heard it was way underpriced relative to what people got out of it. You can check out some of the testimonials here, I'm sure. But if you'd like to attend, click the link below. I do 'em every quarter. The date'll be around here somewhere. Look forward to seeing you there. If you are in the insurance industry and you're looking to scale and grow your business, I highly encourage you to check John Wetmore out. Honestly made the cost of the event back in like the first 2 hours of being here. John Wetmore is a beast.

So much value in everything that I've learned here.

It is worth the price of admission.

Make sure you get to the next one. I think, I think the number one thing I truly, truly want to see people win in this industry and I hate seeing people start in this industry and then fizzle out and not have success. I truly think the number one thing that's stopping anybody out there from having success at any level is just their work ethic. It's just your work ethic. And I know that that's not a popular thing to say, and I know probably everyone's turning this off right now and they're like, fuck this girl. But you are either going to sacrifice now or you're going to sacrifice later. And for me, I mean, I'm about to turn 40 this year. And I started in insurance when I was 36, and I was just like, I would rather sacrifice in my 30s than have to figure out my finances in my 50s or my 40s. And the cool thing about the insurance industry is you can make so much traction in such a shorter time. Like we said earlier, you know, I'm out earning my husband, who has an amazing career, by the way. I mean, he's, he's no, you know, slum. He's got a great career. And he's done amazing things, but I've out-earned him in a short period of time. When you— when that clicks for you and you realize the only— like, like you say in your book, you're your own worst enemy, and you just say, it's gonna suck, it's gonna be hard, but I'm just gonna lock in. I really hope people take my advice from the bottom of my heart to just know that that's really the only thing stopping you from, from winning. I love it.

Well, appreciate you getting on. Mallory Cruz. Those that like share it, subscribe, do all the things. If they want to follow you, how do they do it?

We'll put it in, uh, follow me on Instagram at @themallorycruz. Last name is K-R-O-O-S. I also have my agency page @upliftagencies, but best to follow me mainly on my personal page. I post every day, all day. I'm all up on Instagram.

So you are. I like it. That's good. It's working. Keep doing it. Well, I appreciate it. Thanks for your time. If I can help you at all, let me know. Keep killing it and keep me posted. Let me know what's up.

Yes, thank you so much. Thanks for having me on.

You're welcome. All right, have a good one. See you guys.