Episode 182: The Vault 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.

Welcome everybody, to the next episode of the Unstoppable Profit podcast. I'm back with my partner due to rave reviews and requests from all of you out there. Joel McKinley. How you doing?

I am doing awesome, Mike. Excited to be here once again.

Fantastic. So we decided to do this podcast format from time to time because it's a good collaboration on. You know, I was telling you before we went on about a TV show that I used to grow watch when I was growing up before your time, because you said you never heard of it way before back in the go ahead.

Way before my time.

Yeah, I was, I was looking for it, but I didn't have time to look too much. But back in the day it was called Share and Tell and it was a TV show that was on, didn't last too long, but it was kind of a fun format. And I thought today that we would revisit that TV show from years ago and we would do a share and tell session about things going on inside of the UP circles. How's that sound?

Let's do it.

Fantastic. So we're going to share with you, all of you today, a little bit about what's going on and we're going to share with you a secret that we've never shared publicly. Do you think we should share it.

With them once again, Mike? We're only going to do it today only.

That's right, exactly. So anyway, the secret that we're going to share with you today is about the launch of the all new UPP members only website. And we want to share with you some of the details, the insider secrets about people, processes and promotions. And that's what the all new member website is. We have completely detailed all of our trainings, everything we've ever learned, over 35 years of research in the insurance agency business. 100% of the time. It's a proud independent insurance agent and we have designed this vault is what we call it, right?

Yep. Court Knox.

Exactly.

It's the key to the vault, to their bank, their future, freedom, success, their future building, their book, generational wealth and so much more. So should we give them some Details.

Let's get, let's open up the vault, Mic.

Right, let's open up the vault. Here you go. Okay, so keep in mind this, it's about the three P's. The simple, proven, systematic blueprint for your agency, growth, wealth and freedom operation, which is excellent. People working within world class processes and systems and then you simply get to promote the heck out of it. So we're going to spend a couple of minutes on what's inside of the vault on the people portion. That elusive as we affectionately call the first Pete. When you're talking to people about their AFY operations, their accountability for you and helping them stay accountable, what they said they really wanted from their agency business, do you encounter first P issues, Mike?

I mean, it's all the time. I mean, the competition for great teammates has never been more difficult.

Yeah. You mean people are actually trying to poach other people's teammates?

Well, that and with people working remote, Mike, I mean, you being in California, you could hire somebody in Florida, no problem.

Exactly.

But you know, so. Oh, does it go back to leadership.

And your culture of your agency?

Aha.

So we got sections. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

Let's start there.

Okay. It really begins with the hiring. Okay, so we've got recruiting. How many different ways should people be recruiting?

Every single way imaginable.

Exactly.

And how often? Always, always be recruiting. I, I recently shot a video which I know you witnessed about what I may be saying from that box when my day comes. Probably those three words might be coming from the box. And the attendees of boot camp will see that, by the way. So always be recruiting. And then the war for marketplace talent.

Is one where at the higher, at the interviewing and the hiring, the onboarding your team, what are you going to do there?

Right, but at the interviewing table is where the war for marketplace talent is won. So we've got, keep in mind we have modules for all of these things. Modules for all of these things. In fact, 59 training modules.

Correct, Right.

For people. And you can log in anytime, day or night, 24, 7, 365 to continue to up your game, to hone your skills, to be the best. So we've got recruiting, interviewing, which is where the war for marketplace talent is one. And then we get a lot of questions from people from time to time on the offer and compensation.

Right, right.

Because I mean, Mike, people are going to send out those offers quick if they're great talent, it's coming.

So it's now higher, slower, fire fast, if that sometimes Hire fast. Fire fast.

Right?

Yeah, Yeah. I had a session this week with Platinum member on the offer and compensation only because it was a very unique situation. We had to custom design an offer and compensation for that member. It's awesome. So what about training?

Is that important, Mike? It has to be. Not only onboarding. I mean, we talked about love bombing your new hire when they come on. But Mike, I. I brought it up to you, Mike. It needs to be a love atomic bomb that needs to be explosion with continued fallout.

Right.

Showing them why they should continue to be on your team and helping your clients.

Right.

You know, you remember what Simon Sinek said, right?

What's that, Mike?

I know that's out of left field. I do that a lot to you. Thanks for taking it. Simon Sinek said employees, or excuse me, cancel. Simon Sinek said customers will never love a company until the employees love it first. And that's the point. What you were just talking about, Mike.

Who's your most important client?

I've got over 4,000 of them. Let me think about that. Oh, my team.

That's right. They're the ones dealing with those 4,000.

Exactly.

And the better you care for them, the better they're going to take care of your prospects, your clients, your communities, your COIs, etc, and each other.

Right.

Fantastic. So, you know, we learned from the late, great Zig Ziglar, not only is motivation like bathing, training is like bathing all recommended daily.

Right, Right.

Yeah. So we've got onboarding training for both sales and service sectors. Part of the super complicated business plan.

Get clients, keep clients.

Exactly, exactly.

And then like we're just talking about, with Zig Team motivation, we've got a module on that. So to help you. And then one of your specialty areas, your top three vital functions, personal talents, gifts, etc. Is accountability. And we deliver accountability individually through the.

The Accountability for you program.

Yep, accountability for you program and the PX3 program for individual teammates. We help people learn about that. So. And the thing that is one of the huge missing pieces in the agency world nowadays.

The team meetings.

Right, right.

I mean, everybody says they're rowing in the same direction, everybody says they're on the same page. But when we dig in, not always. Right.

Yeah, it's. It's more rare than. Than people like to admit, Mike.

Well, yeah, that's where our progress starts.

Though, is the truth.

Exactly, exactly.

So, you know, I'm thinking back to a sport that's really in season right now and super popular and football. How often do they huddle up and, you know, talk about their game plan.

Well, unless it's towards the end of the game, but it's before every single play.

And they're all on the same page. Right. Rowing in the same direction. Vitally important. Okay. And then you need to go deep off site team meetings, two, three to four times a year where you completely sequester yourself to get super clear on the vision for the organization, which is set by the team leaders. Or I learned from a platinum coaching member who's here for their private one on one session. They don't call them a leadership team. They call them a trailblazer squad.

Oh, I like that.

Yeah, yeah. Your buddy Gutenagen or whatever you guys say. So anyway, great stuff.

So.

And then the team member journey cycle, I mean, critically important, their career path.

Right, right.

And then ultimately it boils down to leadership. And you were sharing something with me today which I had not heard. So please share it with everybody about leadership, what you're talking about.

So I learned, you know, with my military career, I learned from a leader that I had very early on, and he was teaching me how to be a leader. And he, he didn't always do the things that I liked for him to do. And he was telling me, he said, when you, when you become a leader, there's a difference between leadership and likership. He's like, you know, and if you think about it with your kids, you don't always tell them the things that they want to hear. And often when they become adults and they have children, they come back and they say mom or they say dad, thank you so much for all that you taught me and all that you led me through. And I, I'm sorry for, you know, the way out. I responded to you as a teenager, but you really taught me and trained me because you are being a leader and leadership, not likership. And I know you want your teams to like you, but they will like you when you do what's right for them. You do what's right for your agency and you keep Bob healthy.

Exactly.

And they're counting on you to make the tough decisions.

Right, right.

And you're.

That's why you're in the leadership chair. You want that role now take it.

It's a lonely place sometimes.

So. And that's what we help with. And to get super, super clear on the inner workings of the organization, part of the leadership modules include core values.

Right, right.

And then. Oh, that thing that we seem to talk about quite a bit. The core values drive the other c Word. Which is.

Culture.

Right.

Culture and your agency.

Right.

Culture eats strategy and everything else for breakfast. So vitally important.

Well, Mike, we. You also shared something with me from one of the books that we both studied together. If you don't create your culture by design, it will be created in your agency haphazardly.

Wow.

Love that. And hopefully you watched the podcast last week with the unstoppable Patrick o' Neill on culture. Holy Toledo. If you missed that, go back and get it. It's the episode right before this one. And watch it and listen to it with the notepad. Patrick drops gold nugget after gold nugget on culture itself. The culture is the invisible architect architecture of your business. Let me say it again. Culture is the invisible architecture of your business. Vitally important. You care for it. So then developing leaders around you.

Right, Right.

Leadership teams, or trailer blazer squads, whatever you want to call them. It's your business. And then how to consistently have think tank leadership team meetings that set the tone for the vision of the business to share with the rest of the team. We teach on all of this in all of the modules, in just the people portion alone inside the vault. That's just a little sneak peek of what's coming up inside the vault. Exciting stuff.

Oh, I love it.

Yeah. Let's jump to the next P, which is the second P. Because inside the vault, these modules help you how to have excellent people on your team. Because that's the goal. Excellent people. The best. Not the best available. Okay. Working within world class processes and systems. So let's talk about processes for just a minute.

Okay.

So what is the thing that drives us to have conversations all the time, which always a. Because a lot of our teams can't name their. What right off the top of their head? There's normally three of them. Right.

I mean, their top three goals.

Goals. What are. Why should they have goals?

I mean, like, you brought up the football thing. They do the preseason. What is every single team think that they're going to be doing at the end of the year?

Playing for the championship.

No, no, Mike. They think they're going to be winning that.

Like it. Yep.

But the teams that show up, they do the hard work and they lay out exactly how they're going to win. Those are the teams that have a chance of winning the championship.

Wait a minute. We were talking about showing up yesterday because we have a fairly new platinum member who is absolutely killing it in a niche that he designed.

Wow.

He was like investing $500 and he was getting $30,000 back in commission.

Right.

For that 500. I mean, that doesn't sound like a good idea, does it?

Now, now why would you let him have all that business?

And that's first year commission only, right? Super proud of him for it. But what was the key? You said it yesterday in our go.

Round, I mean, Mike, he's consistently showing up for his accountability calls, for his coaching calls with you to his group meetings. He's constantly engaged with other platinum coaching members.

Yep. And when he first joined our platinum coaching circle, he was here for his private one on one with me, probably within 45 days. I mean, he made it a priority to show up.

Right.

Success leaves clues, Right?

So all that championship, Mike.

Exactly.

And he's going after it, right?

Relentlessly.

So goal setting, top three agency goals. We help with that from a vision and standpoint. We go through the thing that a lot of people don't pay attention to close enough and often enough, which we also discuss to remind them all of the time, is what doesn't lie?

Your numbers don't lie.

Exactly.

They don't lie. So if you can't, you know, repeat the KPIs for your organization just like that when we ask you about it, then you're not paying close enough attention. I mean, why are you in business?

Right, right, exactly.

So we help with that. We got modules on that and super complicated business plan. Get clients, but keep clients. Yeah, that's the, the next module. I mean, you can go ahead and be on the hamster wheel and keep bringing it in. Keep bringing in, but if you're not protecting that back door, they're running right at it.

Right.

I mean, if you're. When you just want to throw all your money at just trying to find new clients, just letting the other one slide out. I mean, that's a strategy.

Yeah.

I don't know if it's a winning strategy.

Well, it's certainly not a wealth strategy. Building a book of business that creates generational wealth. Stay tuned. There's lots more on that. And that's what we want for all of you.

Right.

Why we're here. So we talk about that. We talk about peak performance and how to dial in, working on the priorities only.

Right?

Right.

I mean, do you recommend people should work on 8, 10 things at the same time?

Oh, Mike, we talked about this yesterday during our personal coaching call. You can multitask, but you cannot multifocus.

Aha. Hope you wrote that one down. Can you repeat that, please?

You can multitask, but you can not multi focus like you have one. Mike, you're one thing. Pick your magic wand. What's the one thing that could have the biggest ROI for you?

Yeah, thanks to platinum coaching member Jesse Villafranca, who gifted this to me at one of the mastermind sessions. And I learned he was just here for his one day. He showed up.

Okay.

But he taught me, use this with your left hand so you can see the one thing properly. One thing.

Right, Right.

And go deep on it. You know, definition of deep with regard to the process realm is delivering excellence. Every process. Go deep on it and make sure. And then train your team and document the process within your organization.

Right.

Because we've learned there's only, what, how many 15, 20 processes in an agency that are the core, that they're repeating 80 of their day at the max.

Mike, I've heard you say up to 30 depending on what they're doing, but if it's only 30 things they're doing 80% of the time in school, that would get you a B every single day.

Oh, wait. The, the, the quote about coaching. If you're an average player, you want to be left alone because you want to be able to slide by.

Right.

Are you suggesting that most people are sliding by?

Well, if they're, if they're using, finding the right people, training and onboarding their team, I would say that not in upb.

Okay, good. If you're an average player, you want to be left alone because you want to be able to slide by. If you're a good player, you want to be coached. And if you're a great player, you want the coach to tell you the truth every day.

Right?

Right.

Yeah. Doc Rivers. I mean, championship coach. And we're here to tell you the truth. That's what we're delivering to you today. Let's keep telling some more truth then identifying people's top three vital functions, talents, personal gifts, all the same thing. That's where people should be operating.

How often? At least 80% of the time.

Exactly. The 8020 rule is always in effect. So. And a lot of people, they're not doing that because they're playing what?

Well, they're playing it. They're playing it easy. Doing the $10 job that they're really, really good at.

Exactly. Exactly.

Because it's easy. Oh, I want to make myself feel better by doing the easy stuff. Well, that's not going to. Stuff that's not going to make the impact. You should. You know, one of the great leadership thoughts that I've learned over the years, you should only be Doing the things that only you can do. And another leadership thought. What you don't confront, you condone.

Digest that one. Let's keep going. So the next segment of the modules within processes, back to your area. Accountability.

Right, right.

And you know, a lot of agencies we find don't have defined job description roles.

Right, right.

So we've created all that for them and so all you need to do is customize it for your own business. So we've got accountability charts, job descriptions, role descriptions. If it's right for the agency and it's not for everybody, scorecards.

Right, Right.

Because you can't hit unidentified targets.

Right, right.

So you got to know the score.

Aim small, Miss Small.

Aim small, Miss Small. I love that. Thank you. By the way, are rowing in the same direction series in upp. Rowing in the same direction. How often do you see the scorecard?

Every single Sunday. I will not go to bed before that hits my inbox. That I get to print it out, review it, digest it, compare it to last week's and see what you've changed, what you've got going on. To find out ways that I can help you to find out ways that I can help the rest of the team and to find out ways that I can help all of our of our coaching members.

So you say, are you saying it's important to know the score consistently and you feel like it's on point when you know the score?

Well, Mike, if I'm competing against anyone, I have to know the score so I know how many more points I'm going to run up on them.

Love it. Good job. Production logs. I mean I ran across somebody in the last two days who didn't have a production log. They have no idea what the score is as far as new business or logging.

Right.

I mean that's, that's one of the modules again. Agency processes. The whole array of agency processes from intranets to ideal client avatars to their agency way, their agency standards of excellence, their complete risk removal guarantee, their account check in and review system off renewal, which is what we recommend. Oh my gosh, there's so many more and just processes modules within the vault. Time choices, lost soul win back programs, you know, your time maximizers, how to plan your day. I just talked to a platinum member.

About that this morning.

Right.

I mean that was a key to a brand new team member. He was so lost because he's not planning his day.

Right, right.

Mike, speaking of moving, every before we could ever move into the third piece, that process of designing and creating Your ideal client is absolutely vital.

You talked to a member about that yesterday. Go ahead. Yeah.

Who are you going to promote to if you don't know who you're sending it out to? You can't target and speak to the mind of your ideal client by just speaking in generalities. Targeting wiifm.

What's that?

What's in it for me? Your clients are thinking about that all the time. You don't.

And they're playing their favorite radio station.

It's. The radio is broken. It doesn't change to any other radio station.

But I mean, people don't care about my messages.

They don't, Mike. They only care about themselves.

I know.

Thinking about it, it's.

It's our human species. We're. We're designed to protect ourselves.

Right.

So, yeah, great, great feedback. And in addition to that, working with a platinum member just yesterday. They are looking to dominate the commercial space, but they're not defined on who their target is. And I got an opportunity to share with them. The triple. No go. There, go. Wow. That's a game changer. Exactly. That's why we have the vault for everybody. Ongoing, you know, all phases of acquisition, succession and so forth. Ongoing training for sales and service. All part of the processes. So we got excellent people, world class processes and systems. And so should we give them some insider secrets from the vault on promoting the heck out of it?

Well, I happen to know that marketing is one of your top three personal vital gifts functions. And you love marketing.

Yep. When I lay my head to rest every night, that's one of the things I repay. Thank you Lord for allowing me to love marketing. Because I love marketing.

So let's give them some of your insider secrets. And like Inspector Gadget, this will explode in 30 seconds.

Go go Gadget. I wish I had one of those arms.

So where does it start? I mean, you know, we find that people, once we look at their numbers don't lie and they properly complete it. Wink, wink. We identify that everything they ever want is where.

Right. Inside their own book of business, Their.

Own acre of diamonds.

Right.

Oh my gosh. But they're, they're too busy, you know, going after social media leads, cold calling and various other things.

I mean, advertising on Facebook.

Yeah. Well, it's. It's up to them, right?

It's. It's one of the ways.

It's all about choices.

But what about those people that have already raised their hand and said they love you and they want to do.

Business with you and after you bring them into the agency as a New client, you should welcome them like nobody else's business.

Right, right.

So we got welcome kit, we've got nurturing campaigns to nurture your acre of diamonds. Newsletters, newsletter postcards, constant nurturing online and offline. And oh my gosh, the number one way to grow your business. People refer and do business with people they know, love and trust. And we've got over 20 years of a vault of referral programs and we.

Happen to have somebody speaking at this boot camp to give them even more. Diving into that for those that show up.

Wow. Yeah. And I know who you're talking about. Unbelievable. It's going to be off the stinking charts. Super exciting. You know, again, client check in account reviews for your acre of diamonds lost souls and win backs programs, four year acre of diamonds, the wow experience, leaving them without words. And, and speaking of boot camp, we also have another super high performing, nationally present agent who's going to be talking about niches to.

Niches to riches.

Niches to riches. And so we have a whole portion within the promotional segment and multiple modules on niches to riches. So super excited about that. Including their marketplace research.

Right, right.

The key is your gold is your list. Your list, exactly. COIs, how to penetrate and develop relationships within your COI, your centers of influence, marketplace, third party endorsements, niche campaigns, and so much more. And then if people have community efforts, and I can think of a few people right off the cuff who do in networking, we've talked about the top 10 ways and the top 10 questions to ask.

Right, right.

And the better the question, the better.

The, the better the result. Better the answer.

Exactly, exactly. That's something we're currently trying to train people into their minds because, you know, everything they need is the 8 inches between their ears, by the way. So the better the question, the better the result. You should spend a lot of time on the question. The question, Mike.

Not only the question, but the follow up question.

Aha.

Also the follow up because there's always a little bit more they may be holding back from you.

You think?

Oh, I know by when they hear.

The words insurance agent, they might hold something back.

Look, if they may not want to, may want to hold themselves back because it, it's, it's not the sexiest thing in the world.

It's a, it's a mystery too. It's misunderstood.

Speaking of mystery, the next portion of the promotional segment, I know this is a family show, but it's called let's get Naked.

Right.

So we have a complete checklist of everything that you should be thinking about with regard to your promotional and marketing plan. You don't want to miss it. It's extensive. And then the organic bank Healthy Juice starts with the central premise, which is unique to you, and organic, which is your blog.

Right, Right.

Your blog or your vlog. Video blog. And you transcribe it. Boom.

This is not super complicated. That's why we created the vault. To make it easy for you.

Right.

And make it easy for people to give you money. How does that sound?

Sounds great to me.

I mean, we do have areas on social media, direct mail, voice broadcasting, sly broadcasting, texting. Oh.

We teach people. Why should people do business with you over and above any and all other options available to them? Why should a team member join your agency over and above any and all other options available to them?

Why what people have already said you're doing for them. Social proof.

Exactly.

Huge sections on social proof. That's the key. That's the beginning of the answer to those questions. Educational videos, video proposals, relationship marketing, and so much more. In fact, within the vault, we also have a complete 12 month documented marketing and promotional game plan blueprint for everybody to simply fill in the blanks.

Right.

And then you help them from an accountability standpoint, stay on point. And you were telling me right before we came on today that you were just working with a platinum member on that.

Right. And Mike, and that's something that, that I don't think, I don't think you actually even mentioned today was. It's not only all of these trainings are in there, it's how to use them and how to tailor them to fit your specific agency. Because your agency is not a. It's not a cookie cutter. You don't have a McDonald's agency. You're not a lizard or a mayhem or anything else. It's how to take the principle and apply it and then tailor it with help. It's not just, oh, well, here's some stuff and go figure it out now. It's. It's designing it specifically for you to implement to make you stand out from everyone else in the marketplace.

I'm going to mostly agree with you, but I'm going to disagree in part. The basic principles of agency operations are generally the same, right? I mean, let's keep it simple. Get clients, keep clients.

Oh, yeah.

That is a basic principle. Now how we do that.

Right.

Is different. Bigger than that, the biggest contributor to how every agency is different is its people, right? Because I don't know. Last time I checked, and I'm sure you find the same thing. Everybody's got a different personality, right?

Oh, yeah.

However, the basic design of agency culture or business culture, period, is based on its values.

Right.

And I was just doing a study on that this morning. I don't have it at the top tip of my tongue, but it's the left brain, right brain theory. And I know we're going deep on this now and I'm not going to go there.

Right, right.

But the right, right brain directs your values. The left brain directs your logic.

Right.

But the values are at the base of your culture. That's why it's important to have core values. Great feedback.

Thank you.

So, everybody, we hope this has helped you understand what this vault is all about. And the vault is at the core of our experience within our Unstoppable Profit Producer programs. We get lots of questions about that, so we thought we'd share that with you today a little bit from the trenches on how we're helping agents and exactly how they're going to use it. But in the inside the vault, it'll have a dashboard custom for every agency. It will have video training by me on every module. It'll have the documents associated with that. It'll have references to resources to help you with that and then member case studies on video on their experience with it to help everybody and so much more. I'm excited. You excited?

I'm fine. Fired up for it.

Fantastic. So we hope this has helped you today and if this is your first time on the podcast, welcome. My name is Mike Stromso. I'm widely recognized as a leading author, speaker and coach for the independent insurance agency industry. You can find out more about myself, my teammate Joel McKinley and our programs@unstoppable profit producer.com. and if you're interested in one of our virtual or live trainings, our virtual trainings are at uppfaststart.com and our live trainings are at bunstoppablebootcamp.com both trainings are designed to share with you our best money making strategies developed over 35 years of research in your industry 100% of the time as a proud independent insurance agent to help you grow your business, create wealth so you can have more freedom to live life on your own terms. And please go to Unstoppable Profit podcast. Go up to the top. Hit subscribe so you don't miss one valuable episode of the podcast. Where we're dropping these gold nuggets all the time to help you is our goal. And we're out there on all the networks, Apple podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, our YouTube channel. YouTube, Unstoppable Profit Producer. Everything's there for your visual pleasure, Amazon and more. Joel McKinley, thanks for joining me today to share the insider secrets of the vaults.

And for those of you that tuned in, thank you guys for being here. And we will be back to bring you even more.

Exactly.

So stay tuned to this bat channel. You're not going to want to miss it. And if you missed anything, of course, rinse and repeat. And until the next episode, get out there, make a difference, be unstoppable and leave no regrets. And it starts with just two things, right?

A decision and action. Action.

Take action. We'll see you next time.

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