Episode 179: Agency Wealth Secrets Revealed

Welcome to the Unstoppable Profit podcast. This podcast will give independent insurance agents all of the tools to grow your business and live life on your terms. Wherever you are today, if you're starting with nothing or 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 Stromsol.

Foreign.

This is Mike Stomso. Welcome to the next episode of the Unstoppable Profit podcast. Backed by overwhelming demand, our first podcast in a new format was received so well. Got so many positive comments, and when we hear that, we want to bring it back to you again because it helps you. Joel McKinley, welcome back to the podcast.

Hey, thanks for bringing me back, Mike.

You're welcome. So what we're doing here is Joel works with agents all over North America. High achieving agents is consistently in a touch. In touch with them.

Providing them accountability, which they say they want. And then he does it. And sometimes they want it, sometimes they don't. Right?

Right. Well, they always want it, Mike. It just hurts sometimes.

Aha. Pain.

Well, that's when I start growing.

Come again?

That's when you start growing, when you get out of your comfort zone.

That's why people don't like it, because they want to stay in their comfort zone. Right.

It feels good.

Well, screw that.

Right. Well, if you want to be your best future self, you got plan for that now.

Aha. I mean, if you're failing to plan, you're planning to fail.

Thanks, Ben Franklin.

Yeah, exactly, Ben. Dude, we're grateful for you more than we can tell you. So we decided we wanted to talk a little bit about a subject today mostly. And we'll go out in left field sometimes here and there. Because this subject keeps coming up and it keeps coming up, and we identify huge missed opportunity for agents. Right?

Tons of it.

Yeah. And we don't want them to miss opportunities. It's knocking every single day. Speaking of knocking, I know your favorite holiday's coming up. So anyway.

Which involves knocking. Right. For candy. So anyway, so what we want to talk about today as a topical subject is creating agency wealth. So agency wealth. And this is a topic that you continue to get questions about a lot when you're working with agents, right?

Yeah, all the time.

Yeah. And so what kind of things are they not clear about?

Well, I mean, Mike, when it comes down to where's. Where is that wealth?

It's in our existing book of business.

They have the anchor of diamonds, but all too often that last P, Mike, I mean, that's the sexy one. They love that.

But they're forgetting that's not where your diamonds are.

On the contrary, though, but speaking of the last P, what is the last piece? Promotions, right, People processes and promotions.

Right.

On the contrary. There's a way to rethink that, right?

Tell me.

Yeah, you know you can. You want me to share it publicly today only. Okay, fine. So anyway, so the promotions promote to your existing book of business and it.

Should be one of your processes to always do that.

Yes, sir. Couldn't agree more. So if you're watching this podcast and you don't know what that means, because I keep doing that to people. I was on with an industry leader last Friday and I did that to her and she goes, peace. I said, no, you obviously, obviously you haven't heard about that. That means I second or I agree, it's non interruptive. Born at the dinner table downstairs. But anyway, so back to ways to promote to your existing book of business. And why is that important? Do you think it'd be a good idea to. To position this with the Bain and McKinsey studies?

I mean, yeah, evidence is right there.

It's why you should do it. Right. I mean, how many agents do you talk to that have 3.0.

That's rare, Mike.

Rare moment. Right. So 3.0, the Bain and McKenzie studies, right. Revealed out of 100 clients over a 10 year period, if you've got just one policy, you're going to lose 90% of them. Right?

90%.

90%. But if you've got two policies, that number goes down to 38%.

It's a pretty big improvement.

That's a huge gap. It's 58%.

Right.

Or thereabouts.

We're close.

It's a big gap. Yep. Or three or more policies, you only lose 10% of them.

So why are people not asking for that third policy, Mike?

Or why are they not proactive? Proactively.

I think a key point. Would you agree?

Yep.

Proactivity versus reactivity.

I agree.

Why are they not, Joel.

So what are some of the ways that you would proactively go after them?

Well, first of all, and we're going to continue to share these ideas or in our internal circles, Welch, these ideas, that's from Jack Welch from GE. Grew a company from 19 billion to 410 billion in 21 years. Fairly decent growth.

So we, we call, we call it the Welching philosophy. Jack Welchetti had this crank, a little voice, and I've studied this audio. So Much. He said, if I've got an important message that my team needs to hear, I'm gonna send that message to them so many times that they want to barf. That's how many times they need to hear it.

But. Right, but that, that's what makes it stick.

Exactly. So ultimately, the message, the answer, the beginning of the answer to that. Joel, if you want to reach 100 of the marketplace, you've got to use 100 of the ways. Let me ask you a question, may I please? So if something happened with one of the kids, Right.

Yep.

Let's say they're at school, Right?

Okay.

Something happened with one of the kids and they're at school. What are you going to do? Are you going to email the school?

I'm going to pick up the phone or I'm going to. You're going to call or I'm going to be there for face to face.

Oh, so face to face and phone are the most effective ways to communicate on an urgent matter?

I would believe. So nobody emails 911, Mike.

Right.

Well, so case in point is an existing book of business.

That agents have worked their excuse, the term fannies off for, to build over a period of time, whether it be 3 years, 5 years, 10 years or longer, is it not urgent to keep those?

I mean, Mike, if they lose every one of their clients, that's their livelihood, every wealth, Right. I mean insurance, you're protecting people. You want to protect your clients too, because they're your livelihood.

Well, wait a minute. They're providing hard earned money to pay the premium. Are they not expecting something in return?

Care, a listening ear, compassion, Proper protection.

Right.

So in a recent session in helping agents, we got a chance to view affectionately what we call the retention calculator, which inputs, you know, we input criteria like number of policies or clients at the beginning of a tracking period. And we used a one year example. And then new business added during that tracking period, total number of policies at the end of the tracking period or clients at the end of the tracking period. And then we added the agency revenue and it shows a net improvement over a 10 year period. And the numbers were phenomenal. Right.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And there was, you know, I believe the highest example was $1.8 million over a 10 year period for one of the profile agencies.

That they were leaving on the table from their existing book of business if they had invested in the retention strategies to keep more business instead of chasing those shiny objects.

Yep. Why greener?

But why?

Because it requires work, Mike. Just throwing out some promotions and expecting people to call you.

Oh.

You mean they throw out an email and they expect that somebody's going to read it 100 of the time.

I mean, my case in point, you say all the time, study your mail, study your own email, study commercials. And there's this. There's this lizard. They do something with insurance. I'm not really sure what it is, but they always tell you to call them. Who's going to get contacted more when you are proactively picking up your phone and calling out to those clients? Or are you going to just wait for your clients to pick up that phone and call that lizard? You want to give your business to the lizard, go for it.

Or there's. There's another guy who seems to like accidents.

Yeah. Bad things keep happening to him.

Yeah. Mayhem, right?

Something like that.

But same thing. We were talking about this before we started. What does he encourage people to do?

Call us today? Call us.

Pick up the damn phone. Right.

Well, they're making it all about them.

And it's not about them, it's about you.

Exactly. It's about the people that we're serving and protecting. Right. So I'm looking at what we affectionately call one of the strategies that we teach. Let's take a bit of a dive into that. Okay. So a lot of people that we talk to in the early sessions in our programs, they say, well, we want to know your strategy for renewal reviews, and we want to start a renewal review strategy. But we've determined that it's not a good idea. Right, right. Let me repeat that. I'm going to pause for just a moment because there's power in the pause. Right.

I mean, you did a pause.

Cast a pauscast, right? Yeah. Maybe people should go back and either. I'm not sure if it was on video back then or not, but it's definitely on auto audio podcast. So I'm going to pause. We do not primarily advocate renewal reviews. I'm not suggesting that we don't or we're not telling you not to contact people in the renewal period, which is in 45 days to renewal date. But there's a better way to start that whole process and position yourself to win at renewal by doing this. Okay. Because.

If people start, if people are doing renewal reviews and they contact a customer at the time, they already have their renewal invoice or bill. What's the conversation about Joel Price. Why?

Because they're starting to shop it around. Somebody else is probably marketing to them.

Not only that, but they have that in their position. So what's on their mind?

The numbers.

The numbers. The, the premium. Right. Because they have the bill.

Yep.

So flip the whole thing in your favor because we want more agents to win. Right.

So this process is an account review. Right. Not an annual review. Eliminate the word annual. Because if you say annual, annual, annual and you miss a year and they have a serious loss, who's on the hook for that? Right, Right. So account review.

Okay. And. Or, you know, when I was the insurance doc wearing the white coat and the scrubs, I call it a checkup. And I had a prescription in the whole nine yards. But for this pro, for this thought process, account review.

So we have an account check in roadmap that we provide to our members. Okay. And I was recently helping agents in a midwestern city and I showed this to a very high achieving agent who had never seen it and he goes, that's genius. And that just helped me know that this is a good idea because he had never heard of such a theory. Right. So there's six month policies and one and 12 month policies out there. Right?

Right.

Yeah. So anyway, so the process starts at 90 days for 6 month policies or 180 days.

Prior to renewal for 12 month policies. It's really that simple. So you're doing the account check in in the middle of the year and we have a whole roadmap that dials that all in.

So fantastic stuff. Any thoughts, comments, suggestions on what you're.

I mean, just looking at that, Mike, putting that in, you know, 180 days are in the middle. Doesn't that serve as one of your additional touch points to keep you as top of mind and more importantly, top of heart awareness to your clients?

You mean Toma and Toha.

I love it. Thanks to a office manager of a very successful agency in the great state of Georgia.

Right, right, exactly. UPP members. Exactly. And he identified that because he showed up.

That's where success comes from.

Showing up.86, according to Woody Allen and many others who have a similar observation. So toma, which is top of mind awareness and Toha is what?

Top of heart awareness.

Exactly. And to be clear, people buy an emotion. Right.

And to avoid pain.

Aha. You mean they'll invest money first to avoid pain rather than gaining pleasure?

Always.

So the successful agency, the top 3% agency, will show up to make sure that doesn't happen. How are they showing up proactively?

How often, how many times can you touch your clients? Well, I mean, we test and then we adapt.

Exactly. But there's no Limit.

Yeah.

I mean the systems that we built for agents, a minimum of how many times?

26 touch points.

Yeah, 26. 29 touch points via all of the ways, right?

It was 29.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So anyway, it's all good. Things are good, never perfect like Fred Kramer said. So the other thing that we do in the account review is there's a pre call checklist and we get ready. Oh wait a minute, I know it's a call or. I was also with this extremely high performing individual who helps agents around the nation who said if you've got a large account, like a large commercial account, I recommend a personal visit with that account a minimum of two times a year. Oh, face to face. You're shaking your head. Yes, Mike.

Because you know it's seven to one, Mike. And there are so many things that you convey to that client through being there that they will see that you care about them, they will see that they are important to you. And ultimately that what people want, they just want somebody to care about them and they'd want to be important. And if they're getting that from their insurance guy or insurance gal, I mean that's a. What an amazing connection. People do business with people they know, love and trust.

People refer and do business with people they know, love and trust. And that's what excites me so about Bob Berg being at the upcoming boot camp. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. We're going to, we're going to learn all that and more because Bob was the originator of that statement. So face to face and phone calls.

Isn't that our Welch message today?

Pick up the phone and show up.

Pick up the phone and show up for your customers, your prospects and your center of influences and your community. People, period. That's simple. Right?

Right.

All right. That's all they need to know. Let's wrap it up. Just kidding. Shall we give them some more?

A little bit more.

Okay. All right. So we have created in the effort when you pick up the darn phone, a bullet point script. Never to say, you have to say every word exactly. Just bullet points. Things you need to touch on. So we've designed it all and I tested it in the trenches in the insurance agency business. Over 35 years of research in our agency. I remember one of our new coaching members, I don't know if you remember this, recently said chimed up with a question at the end of the session.

William. Remember William?

Yep.

He goes, where did you get all this stuff? Remember that?

Yep.

Remember what I told him?

Remind Me.

Okay, that's. It's all good. It's all good. I know I pull things out of left field really quick. You don't expect. Anyway, he goes, where did you get all this stuff? I said, I designed it over 35 years of research in the agency business. I've developed it over time and it works. He goes, oh, good.

Proof. I mean it's, it just, it becomes easier the more you do it. Right. So. So we've designed the bullet point script, if you will, for the calls out with back and forth. What the agent says. What the cl. If the client says this, the agent says that. If the client says this, the agent says that. And it's also got points for. If you need to leave a voicemail, we write out what they need to say. If they're going to send another follow up text, we tell them what the text should say and the links that should be included. And to preface it, the guideline before you make any calls should be what? Remember that every call should to include an attitude of gratitude. Aha. Why?

Well, an attitude of gratitude always wins, Mike.

Couldn't agree more. Right. And a positive tone voice. Right.

Mike, did you know that you can hear a smile over the phone?

Yes, I did. You know why?

Because not only did I know that, but when I make calls out in today's world. Oh, the 8020 rule is definitely in effect here 80% of the time. Do you think I hear smiling on the other end?

Yes.

No.

Really?

Yeah. Today's world, I mean, I call somebody, I get Patty poopy on the other end.

But Mike, don't, don't people rise to meet you where you are?

80%. No.

Wow.

It's only the top 20% that do.

That's sad for those 80%.

Well, that's their choice, right?

Is.

Yeah. So that's why it's important to also. And we talked about this in recent session, role play. Right.

And record them. Oh, Mike, that is one thing that I've learned from you that is amazing. You and I will be on our coaching calls like this and you'll say you want to press record and going back and watching little things that you've, you've taught me over time. And I get to go back and then I can see it because I always miss it when we're live and I say aha. That's where he did this or he applied this strategy when talking to me. So record it and let your team, as you're training them, let them evaluate themselves because they're going to be their own biggest critic, and they're going to identify things. I missed an opportunity to say this. I didn't hear them, you know, communicate this to me, and they'll learn about, you know, better ways to communicate with your clients and take better care of them.

And when you do that, as an agency whole, you're creating a culture of what?

Accountability.

Accountability, growth. The thought process of getting better every day. This is who we are internally. I mean, I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't tell them. Okay, we'll share this with him too. So I just started going back through a book, and I've actually got it right here.

And I have no idea why the title caught my. Or the sub title caught my interest. But if you're on the YouTube video of this, this is the book Relentless.

From Good to Great to Unstoppable. I want to be unstoppable, don't you?

I. I already am unstoppable, Mike.

Aha. But learning b motivations, like bathing. It's recommended. Daily.

Learning is like bathing everything else.

And so it takes effort to continue to become unstoppable.

Right, right.

So great job, by the way. And I. I built in. That's why it's important to continue to study as a leader in today's business world. The book is Relentless by Tim S. Grover. From Good to Great to Unstoppable. I'll let you pick it up. It's on audible and in book form. But did you look at the rowing in the same direction I did?

And Mike, in relation to that, that's a. Was a great strategy that I picked up that you did. You. You took a picture of what you had highlighted in the book, and then you sent it to us and the rest of the team. That. That was. That was a great covert sell, which I picked up, by the way, because I said, aha. Number one, Mike is investing in himself, in his books and studying his knowledge. He's highlighting so that the parts make that connective tissue between hand and brain. But we. The fact that you were sharing it with us also said, look, I'm training. I'm working on myself. I am not stopping. So, great. Covert cell thing, duly noted. And I'm gonna have to find something to highlight to send back to you.

Yeah. To give everybody some encouragement. This is our encouragement for everybody. Right. Thank you, by the way, for your thoughts. You know, a lot of people say, when are you going to stop? I said, not as long as I breathe. That's just, you know, part of that mindset.

I Don't ever want to stop.

So anyway, let's get back to helping people with regard to agency, wealth, and retention. Okay, so we've identified face to face and pick up the darn phone. Right, Right. And every call should include an attitude of gratitude and a positive phone voice from the person calling out. Like, in other words, they should have a mirror in front of them. I have one right here, but it's stuck to the device, and I don't want to pull it off because it'll screw everything up. Right. But they should have a mirror so they can see themselves. They got to be smiling because people can feel the smile through the phone or even on Zoom.

Well, Mike, we all have a mirror.

It's upside down.

Only the only one person stands between you and success, and it's the ultimate accountability partner.

Oh, my gosh. And I see the same person all the time.

So, anyway, but I mean, let's talk about zoom for just a minute, because I was helping some agents recently.

And I'll just leave it at that. And I was on a Zoom session with some people, and I'm not gonna fully say what this means, but people who know what this means know what this means. Right. Do you know what RBF means?

Yes.

Resting. Fill in the blank. Right. Yep. Smile.

Smile. Don't have an rbf. Right. So anyway, back to the matter at hand. Make sure to update the agency management system and be smiling and role play and listen to recordings just in the effort to get better. So we've given them the live, proactive phone call outs. Okay. And we've given them what to say if they're leaving a voicemail message. Right, Right. Should they add the attitude of gratitude and the tonality when they leave a voicemail as well?

Yes.

Do you think that affects people calling you back?

I mean, nobody wants to call that. Bottom. Well, the 80%, Mike.

Aha. Right, right. So do you also think it's a good idea if you want to reach 100 of the marketplace, you should use 100 of the way. So you make a phone call out. Let's say the case study sample here. Phone call out. All right. We're not going to go see them face to face. We're going to make a call. We're going to leave a voicemail. Is it a good idea to do other things at the same time?

You leave the voicemail, you should automatically be prepared to send that email to make. And this is the key word that I learned from you to make it easier for you, I am emailing you the Information that you need because it's about the client. How do they want to be contacted? But you always want to do everything you can to make it easier for them. People love when things are made easy for them.

Wait a minute. But I'm the agent, I'm the professional. I'm doing them a favor by providing them a policy. Shouldn't they do it my way?

Well, when people are playing wiifm, that's not going to happen.

So we should meet them where they are. I, I, I did that intentionally. Everybody.

They'Re the customer, they're giving us money, they're paying their premium, and we get paid a commission based on the premium that they pay.

It is our duty and responsibility. Thank you. David Goggin. David Goggins. It is our duty and responsibility to provide them care, protection and service for the money that they're investing in their insurance. With us, we should be running to the end of the hall at a heartbeat when it makes sense based on how we design the business. I'm not saying you jump every time somebody calls. I mean, it's structured, but I mean it's a thought process and a mindset.

Right, Right.

So you make a phone call out. Let's say you leave a voicemail. Let's say you send an email out as a follow up to that with the scripting that we've provided for everybody. Anything else? Should we send them a, I mean.

If you have the ability to send them a text message, I mean, you could go to any restaurant or anywhere else. What are people staring at? A lot of the time they're staring at their phone. It's right there in front of them.

Well, that's why they're not, that's why people aren't making phone calls out. Aha.

Because if you go to a restaurant and you have a family of four sitting at the same table, they're all on their phones.

Right.

They're, they don't, they're forgetting how to have a human conversation.

But that's going to be a great pattern interrupt when you're not afraid to make that phone call too.

Right?

How many? I mean, Mike, another strategy for retention that we didn't even hit on today was the birthday call.

Exactly.

When somebody wishes you happy birthday, Mike, how did 80% of the people show up to tell you happy birthday?

Say it again, please.

So for your birthday, how do 80% of the people show up to tell you happy birthday?

I will say text message or I.

Would say a social media post as well. Maybe something to tag you in Good point, good point.

In today's world. Yeah. Social media posts, hundreds. So grateful for that. But I will also say the ones that I'm closest to actually call me.

Exactly. Your best friends, your family members, those are the ones that call. Now imagine your agency also makes that call. You just put yourself on the level of their best friends and their family because everybody sends them an email or a text message or something to that effect.

So.

Are you saying money follows trust.

And the depth of relationship?

Aha. Deep, significant, meaningful relationships.

Those are the only people that call.

So let's give them two big gold nuggets as we begin to wrap this up today, shall we?

We shall.

Okay, good. So that text message and. Or that email that goes out after a follow up of the phone call and the voicemail every single time.

And. And something. I'm just going to pepper another one from left field. Do you mind?

Yeah, I'm okay with it. Okay.

There's this other thing out there called analytics and there's companies out there that can help with the analytics. So you know the customer satisfaction levels, etc. Etc. The net data scores in the whole nine yards, we'll leave it at that. All that's out there for you people, it can help you be a better, more profitable business, period. Okay, so you've made the phone call out, you've left the voicemail with a attitude of gratitude, you're smiling in a positive tone, voice in every touch. Right. You sent the email out with a positive wording and tonality. We provide that for people. Okay. And a text message in the email and the text message you can include a link.

Right, right.

So what does that link go to? I mean this is part of the what review process? Right, the account review process.

Right, right.

And we also teach people how to embed links on the back of their website.

Right.

And one of the other key ways to build that depth of relationship, it's a little known strategy that people are on their phones with. Again, what's that platform you. YouTube.

Right.

Right.

It has things called videos.

YouTube University. You can learn everything there.

Exactly. So anyway, so the link goes to an account review form with not too many questions. We've tested it, we come just the right number of questions.

Okay.

And it includes a video, a personal video from an agency leader.

Connecting with them. Right. So we're really systematically. And that's the key. Right, right. People, processes and promotions. We've built the systems and installed them in the agency and we're from a leadership standpoint, training people in the agency. Business to work within those systems.

Right.

Pretty simple. Right?

It's the way.

Why isn't everybody doing it?

I can't tell you. I don't know, Mike. Got to figure that out.

What are you hearing from the trenches? I mean, you're reaching out to agents and you're, you know, helping them with accountability and, hey, Agency A, I'm checking in with you. How's it going? What's working? What needs improvement type thought process. Why aren't they doing it? What are they saying?

I mean, Mike, I mean, I mean, it's a great question because there's so much to it. Do they think it's too hard? I mean, we've created it all for them already. But there's the training aspect of it. I have to teach my team how to do this. And you, I heard you say this recently during one of our sessions. You said, there's two things missing in the. In the insurance, independent insurance agency arena right now. Hence, leadership and training.

That's business period, in my opinion.

I mean, that's where it's coming from is why aren't they implementing this leadership and training? Lead the team, tell them this is the way that we're going to do it, teach them how to do it, and then hold them accountable for doing.

It and empower them to do. Which is a deeper form of training.

Mike, that is. That's missing right there is. Because what I've seen so far is that a lot, a lot of agency owners believe that they are the ones that have to do everything.

Why do they believe that, in your opinion?

The lack of empowerment. Empower your team, give them that ownership to own a process or developing it, and then just have that oversight. Just because you're the owner of it doesn't mean you have to do all.

The work you shouldn't. I mean, we're not going to go into another training on the top three vitals.

But they should be work. They should only be doing the things that only they can do. Right, Right. Back to why people might not be doing it. I'm sure you saw the visual from one of our unstoppable members. They threw it into the ocean recently during Mastermind. Right, right.

Oh, it's awesome.

Three things. What might be in the way?

Fear, Doubt, and was it worry?

Worry, yeah. Fear, doubt and worry. And one of our amazing members, you know, was talking about that in Mastermind. This is kind of cool stuff that comes out of Mastermind. And was she. Because we were planning on going to dinner that night near the ocean at Right near a piercing. And she said, you know, one time I was in a training and we wrote what we were looking to get rid of and we put it on a rock and threw it in the ocean. Said it's gone from our lives forever.

And we did it.

Yep.

And I'll never forget the video showing one of the members, the member who threw Fear in the Ocean. It was like almost.

She was visibly moved to let go of it. Almost a fearful of letting fear go.

Right.

But what's amazing is I remember observing this agent after that happened the next day, the whole day there was this calmness and peace.

I'll bet she slept much better that night too.

Right. So they're not doing it because they're, they're afraid and they're worried what might happen and they have doubts. You know, we're both big preparers. Right?

Right.

I prepared myself this morning because I got a lot, a heavy day of helping people. So I watched one of my two go to videos. Should we share it with them?

Is it the crawl?

No, that's a. That's another good one. So when they come to boot camp this year, they're going to get to experience that. But anyway, it's the Prince EA video. A brand new ending. Right. So if they, if they go on to you, if they go into YouTube. Go ahead.

I don't believe you've shared that with me yet.

So you. Here, here's the other thing that recently has been developed. Don't think it. Ink it. Because once you ink it, you sink it. Right. Maybe you didn't ink it. Go to YouTube. How much does that cost?

It's free.

Free, got it. One of the five trigger words.

Right.

It's free. Go to YouTube. Search Prince, P R I N C E space E A Edward Alpha.

Space. A brand new ending. It's about five and a half minutes roughly.

Awesome.

So one of one of my absolute great mindset videos recently shared that with a group of high performing agents in the Midwest. So he talks about in that video that be aware of doubt. It's stolen more dreams than anything else. If you see doubt, call the cops.

That's what he says. Watch it. It's just.

That's awesome.

It's a great visual and, and I fill my mind with that kind of stuff before I go to help people because it positions me in the right mindset. Because our mindset is our skill set. Exactly. Great stuff. So anyway, so just to recap our. Our conversation, great job, Joel McKinley. Thank you.

Thank you, Mike.

You're welcome. So we're, we're looking to help people with the thing that is their agency.

Wealth, which is their.

Their existing book. Their acre of diamonds. Their existing book, exactly.

I get it. The carriers are pressuring you. They're telling you got to write new business, got to write new business, got to write new business. But if you've got a growing existing book of business that has a solid loss ratio, they're not going to complain that much. It's these reps who are giving this pressure. They're playing their favorite radio station, wiifm because they get paid more. If they get more new business from you, it's your business.

Right.

That's the beauty of being a, an independent insurance agent.

It's your business.

So anyway, take care of your existing book of business. There are potentially millions of dollars that there. But you got to have the systems in place and it starts with what.

Two activities.

Decision and action.

Agree, a decision and action and then you are face to face. Right?

Yep. Face to face and pick up the phone.

Face to face and pick up the darn phone. Don't think it sending out an email is going to be good enough. It's never good enough. And don't do it on renewal. Do the account reviews midterm.

I mean, Mike, I've seen you open up your email before. I mean, how many emails do you receive a day?

Hundreds.

So all of the agency owners listening to this, how many emails do you receive a day? Potentially your clients receive that many too. How easy would it be for your email to get lost in their inbox?

And they don't care that much about you. Right, Right. Sorry to tell you the truth, but I'm here to tell you the truth every day. They don't care that much about you. They don't really probably don't care about you at all. You are just a tool or a mechanism that works within their business or their life and they're looking to avoid pain before gaining pleasure. And unfortunately, back to the 8020 rule. It's always in effect, right?

Right.

80% of insurance probably involves some type of pain, at least in their mind and heart. They don't want to deal with it, they don't want to talk about it. They don't want to call your agency. They don't want to do this and that. They don't want to pay for it. And God forbid they don't want to use it, but they need to have it. So make it pleasurable. Be the welcome back guest, never the annoying pest. And that's why we teach the 29 ways to reach people throughout the calendar year, all of the time to build those kinds of relationships.

Right.

That's why back in the old days, you know, I couldn't go in the grocery store, you know, before 9pm.

Why?

Because we were touching so many people on such a large level with our newsletters, our nurturing emails, our voice broadcasts, and later on video, SLY broadcasting and all that. I mean, our promotion and marketing systems were just pouring out in the marketplace and everywhere I go, Mike. And then we started building in the UABS board of directors, AKA the grandkids and the whole nine yards and profiling people's animals. Kids and animals. Right. Kids and animals. And so, like, everybody knew who we were. So every time we go in the grocery store, Mike this, Mike that. Oh, and so, like, I just wanted to run in for a couple things, you know, I wanted to get in, get out an hour later. It's like, I mean, don't get me wrong, I love talking to people and collaborating, but, you know, a lot of kids and everything going on. I need to get home.

Right. But, Mike, that's when. When they think about insurance, they only thought about your name. And that's what you're trying to create with your clients, right? Insurance. They hear your name.

Right, Right, Exactly. So. So after a period of time, I thought, I'm just gonna go home, whatever, have dinner, you know, get the kids ready for bed and everything. I'll go to the grocery store after 9pm that way, everybody else has gone home, nobody's there, I can get in and get out. Right. Grateful for it. Super grateful. Don't get me wrong. That's a huge positive. So loving it. Joel McKinley, anything to add before we wrap it today?

That's it. That. Tons of gold nuggets. So thank you for all of the gold nuggets and for, you know, continuing to share so that we can continue to help agencies keep their clients and keep them away from those lizards.

And mayhem.

And mayhem. Keep away from all of them. Right.

And be uniquely you. That's what we wrote. Prescriptions. This prescription will eliminate mayhem today when you call.

Oh, that's a good one.

It's not rocket science. You said it already. Two things. A decision and action. Action. Exactly. So good. Anything else?

Nope. All good.

All right. Till the next episode. This is awesome. An awesome format. We'll be bringing you more gold nuggets from the trenches very, very soon with the unstoppable Joel McKinley, our AFY director. Accountability for you and around client member experience guru within The UP team. Thank you so much. I just wanted to share also with everybody. If this is your first time on the podcast, welcome. My name is Mike Stromso. I'm widely recognized as the leading author, speaker and coach for the independent insurance agency industry. You can find out more about us atunstoppable profit producer.com and if you want to learn more about our virtual or live events, you can visit our virtual account portal or excuse me, virtual event portal@upp fast start.com or find out more about our live events at the unstoppable boot camp.com Both events are designed with some of our best money making strategies and designed, developed and designed over 35 years of research in our industry. Just like we let William know, right? All with the goal of helping you grow your business, create wealth so you can have more freedom to live life on your own terms. And please make sure you subscribe to our podcast. Just go to unstoppable profit podcast.com go up to the top hit subscribe so you won't miss one podcast full of gold nuggets. All designed to help you grow your business, create wealth so you can have more freedom to live life on your own terms. And our podcasts are available on all the channels. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, stitcher on our YouTube channel where you can see the visuals and the videos of all this as well. Go there. Unstoppable profit producer on YouTube. Click videos and you will see all of the podcasts live in living color on video. We just want to be there for you. And our podcasts are now on Amazon. Recently I was on looking for something on Amazon. I don't know why, but anyway. And there was the podcast at the top as an Amazon ad.

Awesome.

Yeah, so it's out there and there's no limitations for you. You can watch it and learn from it. 247 365. So Joel McKinley, thank you for joining us today and helping agents.

Thank you for hosting. Mike.

You're welcome. All right everybody, until next time, get out there, make a difference, be unstoppable, leave no regrets. And remember, I'm going to give you two sets of takeaways from today. One, it starts with the decision in action. And two, pick up your darn phone and go see him face to face. Right?

Right.

All right, man. Till next time. See you.

See ya.

Can't get enough of the Unstoppable Profit podcast. Come join our next live three day boot camp in warm, beautiful San Diego. Invest in ticket today at Be Unstoppable Boot camp dot com that's be unstoppable Boot camp dot com.