Episode 108: The $882,000 in Your Bank Account Podcast

Welcome to the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. Wherever you are today, if you're starting with nothing or are well on your way to the success you desire, with the right people, processes and promotions in place, you will be unstoppable. And now I'd like to introduce your host, Mike Stromso. Hey, everybody, this is Mike Stromso coming to you with the next episode of the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. And. And not only am I pumped and excited, and I know that I say that often, but this time I am also pumped, excited and honored to have on the podcast the one, the only, Mr. Chuck Blondino. Chuck, how are you doing, sir?

Doing great, Mike. Thanks for having me with you.

Oh, my pleasure, my honor. And I am so glad we were finally able to catch up and spend some time together to ultimately talk about both of our passions, which is helping independent insurance agents make it down the road, you know, if you will navigate today's minefield of everything going on. And one of the things that I know you always talked about a lot, and we still talk about it a lot in the trenches, if you will, is, you know, if we want things to change, we need to change. And we used to have this old joke, something's going to change in the next hour. Well, nowadays, something's going to change in the next five minutes, if not sooner. So you have just an incredible, credible history of helping agents. So go ahead and give everybody a couple of minutes, who you are, personally, professionally, anything you want to add, and then we'll get started on helping agents.

Well, Mike, I'm formerly the Director of Agency Capabilities and Programs with Liberty Mutual Business Lines and Safeco Insurance.

Left the company with. It's hard for me to use the word retired, but I retired from Liberty Mutual and Safeco three months ago. I continue. I can't get it out of my head. I can't stop thinking about.

What I've been so passionate about for so long, which is helping independent agents grow. And there's so much there and so many new things coming that we can address. So I work on that as a speaker, as a writer, as an occasional consultant, enjoying a lot of time with my family and getting to golf every once in a while. So that's me right now.

Any luck on the golf game?

Of course. I went into this with the intent of lowering my handicap, and it's done nothing but gone up. But the one thing that has definitely changed is my approach to the game. And it doesn't matter what the shot is. I enjoy it every time. So that's much better than getting angry or getting frustrated when you get home.

Fantastic. And something that I know about you, I wanted to make sure we add this as well. Not only have you done amazing things for our industry over the many years, you created the Customers for Life program marketing workshops of which I've had the privilege and honor of attending. We'll get into that in just a couple of minutes. But not only that, to help everybody understand the depth of Chuck's wisdom, knowledge, experience, he's traveled to see thousands of independent agents at their offices and presented to thousands more by sharing the growth tactics and strategies proven to work in the fastest growing independent insurance agents across the country. So today we're going to dig in and anything Chuck is willing to share along those lines because our goal is, is to impact people's lives personally and professionally at UPP and the three areas of the three Ps, people, processes and promotion. And everything that Chuck has taught and shares aligns with all of that maybe leans a little bit toward the promotional realm, which is fantastic. So Chuck, we decided today to talk basically and we'll start the conversation about this. How the independent insurance agent can deliver a customer experience of unequaled excellence. And let's ping pong off of that and get started.

You talk about ping pong, it can go in so many different directions. I think, Mike, there's a few things that I'd like to talk through and one of those is unequaled excellence of customer experience from the agent's point of view, in my perception is occasionally different than it is from the customer's point of view. And then also I would love, love to, if we get time to, to just take a few minutes on the, how competitors, meaning the directs and exclusives, view the independent agent channel and what their perception is of what, what unequaled excellence could be, what, what do they fear from independent agents and what, what do, how, how do they combat that? So when, when I think of unequaled excellence.

There are some things as I. Mike, I'm going to back up just a second, please. You mentioned the visiting of the agents and the speaking with agents. And every year with Safeco and Liberty Mutual, we surveyed the fastest growing agents because we had 27,000 sub locations that we worked with. And yet you have this really thin.

Percentage at the top. Oftentimes UPP customers, coaching clients, people that you work with right up at that really thin layer at the top and they just believe, well, this is how everybody acts. But when you look at 27,000, you've got 45 to 50% that are struggling to make it. You've got another 30% that are too busy to add any of these things that you want to that that we talk and helping. From my point of view, it was less about helping the masters and often just trying to light the spark for everyone else to say there is a better way you can have a more fulfilling life. It's not that everybody needs to be like so and so or if you want to have a one location office, that's great. If you want to have 20 locations, that's great. It's what brings you joy. But you can't, as some of those agents are at a position where they are so busy that they can't see adding additional steps so we can talk about achieving unequaled excellence and they're still stuck going, I'm sinking, I can't breathe. I don't get to see my family as much as I want to. So how do you break out of that? Where I want to begin this with is just to say it's one step at a time. Don't panic. We're going to throw a ton of ideas out over the next 30 minutes or so and.

Don'T feel like I have to do it all at once because there's nobody that did it all at once. Everybody did one thing at a time and if it worked, they kept it and if it didn't, they dropped it. So just a few thoughts there.

Fantastic. I mean, I hope everybody. And by the way, if you don't have something to write with and write on right now, pause, please, go grab it and bring it back. Because I've just written down a bunch of gold nuggets myself. So.

Based on your observations and working with these thousands of agents, Chuck, because a lot of people that listen to our podcast are striving for that top tier, right? Can you think of any commonalities of the top tier?

What are they? Oh yeah. Well.

Getting back into that mode is. I've got to flip that switch back on Mike to recall some of those things. But I think there was a moment in my career as I was working frequently with independent agents and going visiting them all.

Where it's like, what is it that has these bright spots doing what they do, that are the things that they do in common versus what everyone else thinks they're doing, which is providing great service, giving service with a smile, handling claims appropriately, doing all the things you need to do to stay in business, but not taking any of the extra steps that actually Differentiate you. Those things that I just mentioned are done by every independent agent, every exclusive agent, and every a direct company, good service, service with a smile, handling claims. Well, that's. You're just in the game that you have not differentiated. So when I looked at this, another thing, Mike, we looked at average retention rates. The bottom third was 85%. And below, when I say retention, I'm not saying by premium, I'm saying by policy count. Okay, good. So then we go 85 to 88 is the middle third, and 89 all the way up to 95, 96% retention is the top third. And so when I was looking at these agents that had their retention rates 91 to 95.

That'S way less than the whole third. I mean, you've got maybe just a slice of that top category now, and that's really rare error. And they are communicating frequently monthly or quarterly with their clients.

They put testimonials on everything that's going out the door. They're communicating. When I say monthly to quarterly, it's e. Newsletters, it's newsletters, it's postcards. Certainly social media gets included in that. They have referral programs. And in the last five years or so, those referral programs, which used used to be Starbucks cards, car washes, ice cream pizzas, move to working with charities, gifts to charities, and you started to see the character of the independent agent channel. And because these are things that these agents had been doing all along is working with not, not just donating to charities, but spending time with their favorite charities. Right. I don't know of a. Of a more gracious kind group of people than independent agents in how they work with their communities. It is stunning. I am so proud to get to know them. And I'm floored each time I hear more personal stories. Right. But what that also does, if you're communicating it is it builds up a trust and admiration, a level of likability, something that they can point to other than they're always trying to sell me something. They give great service.

There's a reason that they're remarkable. There's a reason to refer because I can see that you do things that I appreciate. Why would I ever go to a 1-800-number to get insurance direct when I can work with someone in my community that I can get to know and love, that I admire? I see what they're doing in the community. But the trick is you've got to communicate it. You can be doing all those things, but if you don't tell anybody how Are they going to know? So communication and then tracking, I think Mike is the final key to that puzzle. Communicate, be involved in the community.

Have a really strong referral program and then track. And they track everything. They're tracking retention, they're tracking. It's way more than just what's the revenue, what's the commissions am I able to make payrol? It's how many policies per client, what's the close ratio for this category of.

Lead source by producer in my office and who needs the training and how do I spot this stuff? They're so good and they find new things to track. They're consistent with it. So those are just a few of the things that really differentiate the people at the top.

Just a few.

Wow. There's more. Yeah, yeah.

That is fantastic. No, I've already finished my first page of notes. Thank you. So, yeah, where do we start? You know, I'm going to encourage back to the communication and tracking. Tracking and inspecting what you expect, right? Vitally important, but we've learned from. Because I still invest in three different coaches to get better every single day. And one of our coaches hit me up the side of the head with a 2x4 on February 5th of 2019. Not to date myself, but.

It was that moment, right, that aha, light bulb moment. People need to hear things at least seven times nowadays. And everything that you mentioned is so on point, we need to reach them multiple times because, you know, it's a noisy, polluted, busy world and people just don't have time to pay attention sometimes. So that's great stuff.

So Mike, you, you started this, right, with customer experience and of unequaled excellence. And where you, where you immediately went to was what differentiates the top tier versus the rest. So let's look at what that when we say excellence in customer service. I think most.

Agencies are stuck and overwhelmed with the quantity of ideas on how to get better digitally. One of the things that this COVID 19 time has pushed on us all is look, if we're all working from home, we got to get good at digital, right? But when you're talking about good at digital, people are thinking, I've got to get good at reviews, I need to get good. I need to put my staff bios online. We can't see people anymore. So I need photos of my team. I need to let people know some, some personal insights outside of work.

I need to allow texting, I need video chat, I need to maybe have some video messages go out in my emails or be allow my clients to Self service their accounts, those today, if you don't have them, they're like, I'm riding the horse and I need to get a car. And when you get the car, you're differentiated from all the people that have horses. But eventually the industry is going to get there and all those digital things that you believe will differentiate you today are going to become commonplace in the industry. We have a very slow to change industry. So you will get some differentiation in the beginning, but then it gets back to who are you? How do I trust you? How do I get past what you think I want from you, which is good service, good claims and I know you're going to handle my insurance and give me good advice and get more to the point of can I emotionally connect with you and do I see you in the community and how are you going to communicate that to me? Will I admire you so much that I will go out of my way to refer other people to you because I believe in you so much. That's what the consumer is looking for in a great experience. We think it's today especially there's so much chatter on the let's get better independent agent.

I don't know, radio waves.

That you just get inundated with how much digital change needs to happen and it does. But even when you get there, they still want to know who you are as people and are you someone I want to do business with. So it's a two sided thing where you've got to get better at digital, but you also need to strengthen that relationship. I can go on another rant, but I'm going to pause and take a breath for a second. Any comments or thoughts on that?

We don't have enough time. Yes.

You know what came to mind immediately as you were finishing that up and it couldn't be more spot on. It's the relationship and depth of relationship. Case in point. I was huddling today online via Zoom with a business owner, very successful local business owner that I've known, I'll suggest more than 20 years. And he was sharing some stuff in his time.

That I had never heard before.

And he thought, you know what, many of you don't know this about me. I just wanted to share. And he went on to share about his family and the fact that his wife had quadruplets and one of them didn't make it and they have now an adult special needs child and all of this. And I saw the pictures and learned the story and my heart just went out to him and I thought to myself, I Didn't know that. Now, because I know that about him, I want to refer him even more. It's one of our local CPA partners in our business communities. And I'm like, wow, now that I know him, I mean, truly know him.

Right?

And I mean, he's a bicyclist like I am. That's how we kind of connected in the first place. But Chuck, spot on. And we have to be open to being vulnerable.

Yeah. My friend. I'm sorry.

Yeah, yeah. So go ahead.

My friend, Jan Jessberger. Jan Jesperger Insurance up in Hayden, Idaho. She told me that the first time she sent out a newsletter and it had a personal story in it. A customer said, I've been an insurance client of yours for 11 years, but this is the first time I've felt like I really know you in 11 years. Right. So that kind of. So when I say communicate, let's be really clear. Going to take a couple minutes on this soapbox that I have, which is. It is not about more insurance news and safety tips. It is not. It is a. If someone. If a principal of. If I were the principal of an agency and I just wrote a little article about love of grandson, where. Here's my story. I take taco fixings over to my daughter's house, 20 minutes away, and my intent is to get to spend a few minutes in the kitchen with my daughter. And my two year nine month old grandson, who is starting to learn to think for himself, comes up to me and says, uppy up, Pop pop, Poppy up. And I look at him and I smile. I go, okay, love. He goes up and. And as soon as I reach down, that little stinker turns and runs away with the biggest grin on his face and says, chase, be pop pop. It is like, oh my gosh, he got me so good. At two years and nine months old, you tell that kind of a story. And that gets people to connect. Most people, oh, they don't want to know about that. They want to know that you're real. What they see is this polished insurance person that sometimes used to wear ties or a suit, that you might go to dinner and you have a professional conversation, never once really say anything about who you really are and what you care about. Right? That stuff that you care about, your passions of your family and the charities that you love and why you're in this business and why it's so important to you to be in this business as opposed to the people who are so busy that the perception clients get is they don't communicate so they're indifferent towards me. Their websites have no photos of anyone in their office. So they're indifferent towards me. They don't care that I connect with them or not. I go to their social media, I see posts and posts and posts and posts and I can go back for a year and never see a single photo of anyone.

From the agency, let alone someone in something doing something on a weekend or an evening or with their dog or whatever. Just something to connect. So when I say communicate, you will find that you can do all those things I mentioned for styles of communication. Put in a bunch of insurance news and safety tips and you will not see your retention nor your referrals increase. But if you do it the right way, your referrals should go up three to seven times. Your retention should move from 85 to 88% up into the low 90s. And the more personal you get, the more stories you tell about family and why, you know, store on honoring your parents and your grandparents or stories, you know, that gets, that allows people to say, I'm never leaving. These are my friends. My rate may go up. Or I'm just going to call them and say, hey, what can you do? Rather than my rate change? If you don't fix this, I'm moving right. So, yeah, communication style is a huge change.

Mike I.

If I, Mike I, we haven't talked about this at all, but if people would like someone to review what they're sending, I would love to help and just offer that up.

I can't do it for hundreds, but certainly I can do it for some and would be happy to just review and give people some tips on that. My old team does that as well. Because it is not enough just to say, hey, here is what the people do. Good luck. Right. If you've struggled with that or if you've never done it or if you're afraid to do it, that's the vulnerable feeling that's getting you closer to where you need to be. It's causing the discomfort and stepping from I'm too busy to I've got to make a change here. I'm making a try. Let's start with this anyway. It's not easy for folks to get there, but that's really the key, is that personalization.

Could not agree with you more. Thank you for sharing stories about Caleb and can't wait to hear more about that. That's fantastic. And go ahead and chase him. It's worth every moment.

Yeah, I said sorry to my daughter Brittany and I just, yeah, I played With Caleb the rest of the time.

I'm sure the tacos were just fine.

Oh, yeah, they were. The family did great.

Case in point. From the trenches to support what you just said. So now for this particular year, we have created a nonprofit spotlight just because of a lot of things going on around us. And I try to get involved in the award to the nonprofit in their spotlight time every single month. And I got to do that a couple weeks ago. And we were in the office after hours waiting for one of our teammates because got caught in traffic with all the prospects, if you will. And when we were waiting, I got a chance to, you know, get to know them a little bit. Okay. They lost their daughter to a drunk boater. The driver of a boat was drunk, and their daughter seized at 15 years old.

Heartbreaking.

At the end of the day, we're sitting in the lobby of the office, and she saw our rough notes plaque. We were privileged to be featured on the COVID Right? And she's reading it. She goes, you know, I didn't know that about your agency. I've worked with you guys forever, but I didn't know you guys were owned by a real local person, and I didn't know it was you.

Now, she said that, and that just supports everything that we just talked about. She gets emails, she gets communications, et cetera, et cetera. She's not reading them. No disrespect for her, but that statement, a real local person, I will never forget that. And I'm working on that one right now. It's so vitally important.

Yep. Yeah, Mike, people not reading that kind of stuff is not unusual.

When you look at Facebook and you see zero, like, zero comments, zero shares, it's usually about an insurance news or safety tips post. And then they'll put in a throwback Thursday photo of somebody or the principal when he was playing basketball back in high school. And you'll get tons of likes, comments, and shares. Right. They're training us on what they want to see from us. When. When you. You. I had one agent in Alaska who. Who said, I'll send out the newsletters. I'll do that quarterly.

Actually, I think he did the E newsletters because he was able to track open rates. His first one opened at 35%. His second opened below 30. Then it was down to the low 20s, and eventually it got down to the teens. And he says, this doesn't work in the beginning. He also said to me, I think they want to see things about insurance. I'm an insurance person, after all. So that's how I want to do my newsletter. And so it's like you can do it however you want. You're an independent business owner, go more power to you. But if it doesn't work, consider personalizing because that's the thing that make. That turns the corner.

Yeah, absolutely. And you know, the thing is, insurance is a mystery. It's very much misunderstood. And people want to learn about that. If they want to learn about it through a conversation. Yeah, they can read something. It doesn't mean they're going to understand it and be able to interpret it as applies to their own situation. Back to the matter at hand. Let's elaborate on agents point of view for a minute.

Okay.

Did we get deep enough on that or what was your thought on that?

Yeah, it's just that.

What we. Yeah, I think we did go deep enough. Okay. Rather than recycle that, let me move to what you just said about how insurance is misunderstood and let's get to the competition's point of view of, of unequaled excellence. The competition is doing all they can to make it seem like insurance is not misunderstood. Insurance is easy and that anybody can do it. Right. They want it to seem like it's direct. You can go direct, have a 15 minute phone call, solve all your insurance needs. You'll never need anything again. You'll never need more than the 15 minutes. And if you something, you know, unfortunate happens, we'll be there to solve that for you. And that, that is so misleading. And, and the independent. So, so, so from a. From the directs point of view, the more they can make this about TV humor, the more they can make this about insurance is easy. The more they can make this about you don't need anybody local, the better off they are. And so all their stuff is about funny, funny, funny. Lots of, you know, slam you with repetitive interrupting commercials.

And we'll remember you because we got our name out or you'll remember us because we got our name out there. The exclusives want it to be about local and about price. And they're very frustrated when they're not in the game. But they don't really change the message. And whereas the independent channel looks at it and says.

We are about making it easy for you being local. We live where you live, shop where you shop, kids go to the same schools. We are here for you. We can emotionally bond and we offer this fantastic choice that neither of the other two channels can offer. They can give you different prices and different coverages, but it's still that One carrier we can offer choice.

In. In my most basic educated mind, it's like, how do people not see that independent agents offer the obvious choice for how someone should buy insurance of any kind? Right. So independent. So what do they fear from us as independents? They fear from us that if we ever do catch up with digital.

Capabilities and we add on top of that choice, being local, being admirable, being being community involved, that's going to be really hard to stop. So I've got to flood the airwaves with this message that it's easy and you don't need local.

One thing independent agents might think about fearing from directs would be if directs can ever make their teams, their companies, lovable and relatable. I don't see how that can happen where every time you pick up the phone, you're going to reach someone else on that1,800 number. Right. You're never going to talk to the same person twice. You might get lucky if you have a claims adjuster that you talk to a couple of times, but that's going to be really rare. Right. Most clients of directs won't ever talk to somebody twice.

But if they ever figure out how to become lovable and admirable.

USAA kind of tries that from a veterans point of view, and you can see that a little bit. But the others really struggle. So we should be doubling down on. We're local.

And involved in the community. Yes, we offer great digital capabilities. We all need to get there. But we also have a relationship that is second to none. And you want that when your insurance gets complicated, and it will as you grow in assets. So.

We have to build not only digital, but that relationship side, because that's the part, not the digital side. The directs can match that. That gets us in the game, but that relationship side, we've got to lear to communicate in a way that builds the trust and the admiration and the emotional connection.

Fantastic. Yes. And so somebody out there who might be, you know, in that not quite to the top tier yet, and they wanted to get started doing that. You gave them so much information already to begin doing that. But what's your opinion on where they should start? Well, the very core.

Okay, Mike, I'm going to go a completely different direction than you might have expected. But here's because I'm not going to rehash any of the different tools in which tool to start with first. Because, Mike, a long, long time ago, nearly 40 years now, I spent two years with my own business. And in two years, in 18 months, I grew it from me out there cleaning and dying carpets and doing fire and flood restoration to 18 months later having a 15 person. And.

Every time I added a truck to my business, I took a day out of doing the work and moved into sales. So by the time I hit my fifth truck, I was very motivated to get to five trucks so that I didn't ever have to do the work anymore. And all I could do is just sell and be the CEO and work on how do I continue getting this business to grow. When you are any stage and you're stuck, you can't add more to a glass that's already full. The only way to get, to be able to get to the point where you can take the next step, you either have to work more hours, which I do not.

Sometimes it's necessary, I get that. But the other way out is to multiply your efforts and you multiply through hiring. If you are.

If you are pretending to be a CEO of a business, but when everyone looks at you and says you are a producer owner and you don't have time to do the things that a CEO would do, then it's time for a step to hire somebody to get you some help. And then it's going to take time to train them and get the processes in place to make sure that they're doing things the right way and everything that UPP talks about, right. But you can't add more to a cup that can't hold anymore. And so I am a huge proponent of hiring. I am a huge, for both producers and marketers, hiring a marketer to start to do the things you always wished you could do, that's going to be the place to start. My old team has two different training programs. One for a full time marketer, one for a part time marketer and by the way, for all those commercially focused principles. Principles. When I say marketer, I do not mean a person to come and set more appointments for you. I mean the person that's going to handle your communication manager, your relationships with your social, with the social media companies, with the, with the different.

Community charities and all, all these different things that, that go on to manage your referral program, manage your communications. That's what a quote unquote marketer in my term, what that means. So Mike, I really think it's, it' expansion. I have a friend.

That I.

Lost a friendship talking about growth and all this friend wanted to do was to just be a one person shop as opposed to somebody that grew all the time, didn't like hearing Me talk about growth and what's possible and what the best in the business we're doing all the time. And I probably pushed that too hard and I didn't see that that's not what brought him joy. And I have a great appreciation that some people don't want more than a three person shop and they're perfectly happy with that and they're able to do a little communicating and they get referrals and they have a very good business. More power to you. But if you want more, there are stages that are available. I see so many people, Mike, that get into this business and they struggle. They're hungry, they'll write any policy they can because they need to make a commission and have some food on the table. But then they get to the point where they are consistently growing and they're happy, but then they start to feel stuck. And if they're feeling stuck, then there's different things you can do. You. But.

It'S to each their own. And I have no qualms with the people that are finding joy in whatever stage they're at. I think that's absolutely wonderful. That's why you become an independent business owner.

Exactly. And I didn't know that story about you, how you exploded your business in less than two years.

Yeah.

Congratulations.

Well, but the funny thing about me is that's not what brought me joy. What brings me more joy is helping other people grow. And, and that. Thanks, Mike. That, that, that part of, of life. My goodness. That, that, that I found, I found my, my spot. So, you know, that wasn't for me. So. But that's okay too.

Yeah. Something that I get to lead. It's a huge privilege. It's called upp, Fast start. And we had one yesterday. And one of the key moments that came out of that was somebody asked when you get to the point where you have excellent people, world class processes and systems, you can promote the heck out of it. You can grow your business. What does that truly mean when you get there to the point that you set out to achieve? And I had to think about it for a minute. But truly what it is, Chuck, in alignment with joy, it's peace of mind.

Yep, exactly.

And having those communications and through everything that you've shared so far. Thank you so much for sharing that. And I hope everybody's listening, making notes and planning to make a decision to take action. Because it's a decision with action that is the key. That difference between say 85% retention and 93% retention. Ultimately, at the end of the day. If you do the math, it's a lot of money.

It's a boatload of money, Mike. On a million dollars over 10 years, on a million dollars of revenue, a three point retention change from 88 to 91 is worth $882,000 of revenue in the pocket of an agency. And if you're a $10 million agency, it's 10 times that. If you're a $500,000 agency, it's half that. The math, Mike.

We'Ve said a lot and I know we normally just do this at about 30 minutes. There's one last thing that I want to share with people. If you're going through the motions and some have been going through the motions of providing great service and selling every day for 20 to 30 years, if you are going through the motion, it could be six months, I don't know. But. But act with intent. Have a plan in mind. Let your team know where you're going. Let your customers know what you're trying to achieve with your business. Invite them to come with you on your charitable events. Communicate what your dream is and have a perpetuation plan in place. Know either how many years it's going to be, know what the dollar figure is for you to be able to step out. I've only been out for three months and I'm giving myself the grace to take six months to a year to figure out really what I want to do next. Knowing that I want to stay involved, but just being in it and going through. You only get one life and having a plan and acting with intent and acting with purpose. And again, if what you're doing is what you choose because that's what makes you happy, boom, you have achieved it. That, that's wonderful. If you're not and you're feeling stuck, there are ways out and lots of people that can help, including up and you, Mike, I really appreciate what you do for people.

No, it's an honor and a privilege. Thank you. Thank you for saying that. So. So. By the way, I know Kathy has something coming up for you here in a few minutes, so we need to begin to wrap, but any last thoughts, pearls of wisdom to add? Takeaways?

Yeah, I think I just shared them. But Mike, it's for the people that are frustrated. It's just one step at a time and that's how the great got to be great. Just doing, adding one new tactic. Keep working at it.

Small choices plus consistency over time equals the massive results.

Compound effect.

Compound effect. Could not agree more. So, Chuck, I Look forward to going on and let me drop this so I don't forget you made a very generous offer to take a look at something for a few people if they want you to. What's the best way to do that? Should they send it to us and we'll forward it on or what do you think?

So.

I think just reach out to me on LinkedIn sounds good, right? I think that then I can share contact info and anything else with people happy to do that for anybody that wants to. And I offer that Mike, because I've done that before and received five and the second time I did it I received one. And if people are serious about wanting to be able to communicate in a way that lifts retention, referrals and rep revenue I'm happy to take a look.

At stuff I heard you say what size of agency was $882,000 in a.

$3.1 million revenue agency.

One million revenue agency.

So with a three point change in retention 88 to 91 it worth 882,000 over 10 years.

So.

I hope Chuck, it was very clear what we just said so we'll repeat it just in case it was wasn't a $1 million revenue agency. A three point lift in retention means $882,000 over a 10 year period. And Chuck just generously offered his time to help you get there. So connect with Chuck on LinkedIn. Just go to LinkedIn and search Chuck Blondino. And Chuck is very generously because that's what his heart is. I have a new webcam by the way so I need to get Those drivers downloaded, etc. Etc. Thank you for your patience everybody but Chuck. Thank you.

If I got 10, I'd be very surprised. If I get more than that I may have to put a limit on it but I don't think that I will because it's just I've put out the offer before and I've just never had people do it. Maybe your clients are different though Mike and I do believe that's actually true.

Well that they are. I will let you be the gatekeeper. And if it gets to be too many, just let them know. We'll let them. We'll tell everybody here now either listening or watching. You know, money and success. Love, speed. Money and success. Don't sleep. So take action now before it's too late. So decision in action. A decision in action. Fantastic Chuck, thank you so much. I would love, love, love the opportunity. Maybe sometime in the future we can revisit this conversation, see what's changed in the landscape based on what you decide to do in the future. And of course, if there's anything that we can be doing to support you, we would be honored to do that.

That'd be great. Mike, again, love your company. I love what you personally do and I absolutely believe 100% in independent agents. So if I can help them more, I'd love to do that.

Absolutely. I mean, the great thing to restate that we provide customers a choice. We work for you first. We're not beholden to any company.

Beautiful.

Wonderful.

Being independent.

Yep. Absolutely is.

Yeah. So fantastic. Mr. Chuck Blondino, thank you so much for all you've done for our industry that you do for our industry. I'm super grateful and thankful for our relationship over the years. Having attended your classes, continuing to learn from you. Other people have learned from you in your classes and I could go on with the story about success because of you. So thank you. Thank you for making a difference in people's lives, making that impact. Just for everybody else out there, if this is your first time on the podcast or you're wondering what this podcast is all about, please we're on all the channels out there. Share this with anybody you know if you enjoyed the conversation today. Unstoppableprofitpodcast.com Unstoppableprofitpodcast.com, go there and subscribe to make sure you don't miss one episode of the podcast. In addition to that, we're out there on all the channels. Google, Apple, Stitcher and all of them were out there. So just search unstoppable profit podcast.com and we're on YouTube as well. You can watch this live and get a double dose of excitement and power from it. So just go to YouTube and search Unstoppable Profit Producer and you will find all of our podcasts there for your learning and growth pleasure and it will fuel your mind and your heart beyond. And again, my name is Mike Stromsel, your proud host. I'm also recognized as a leading author, speaker and coach for the independent insurance agency industry, you can find me@unstoppableprofitproducer.com Also, if you're interested in attending a virtual or live event to learn to grow your business, create wealth and have more freedom to live life on your terms, please visit us. The virtual event is at uppfaststart.com and the live events are at beunstoppablebootcamp.com both events are designed to share with some of you the best money making strategies proven over 35 years of research in your industry to help you grow, create wealth, and to have more freedom and joy and peace of mind to live life on your terms. So that's why we do what we do. It gives us great joy. And speaking of joy, Chuck, thank you.

Absolutely, Mike, wonderful.

Thank you for being with us today. And thank you for inspiring and helping Unstoppable Nation and an industry as a whole. You rock, sir.

Thanks, Mike. It's great, right?

Have a great day, everybody. We'll see you on the next podcast. Until then, be Unstoppable. Thank you for listening. If you would like to listen to more episodes or share this podcast with someone you care about, please visit www.unstoppableprofitpodcast.com. now go out and make a difference. Be unstoppable and leave no regrets.