Best Version Possible - A Documentary Experience for Independent Insurance Agencies

Hi, I'm Roger Sitkins, CEO and founder.

My name is Brent Kelly. I'm the president of the Sitkins Group.

If you're a frustrated agency owner who knows your total team isn't in alignment and you realize there's the best version possible of you sitting out there waiting for you to arrive, guess what? We've made this documentary just for you.

If you're an independent insurance agency leader who's looking to truly transform your agency without losing your sanity, this is the best investment of time that you could possibly make. So sit back, relax, enjoy the show.

Well, if you want to sit there and go the old fashioned way, it's going to be a long journey. But with the Sitkins process, it'll certainly cut that journey in half and it'll get you quicker to results and frankly to that financial freedom threshold that we all strive to.

Everyone in this group wants to move forward and grow and I think that's really the number one criteria.

All of us big business professionals are going through the same challenges and the same struggles and this is a great place to strategize with one another and to learn how to do things better.

Jump, go for it.

Take that plunge. Immerse yourself with those who are like minded.

We work exclusively with independent insurance agencies and our goal is to help them transform their organization.

All that I want from insurance agencies is to have them walk a path of, of growth and consistency in their, in their organization. It's about true transformation. It's about from where you are to where you want to go. And that's what we do at the Sidkins Group.

From day one, I knew I wanted to do it. My mom and dad did. The two of them had the agency together. My goal was to get in the business as quickly as possible and I kept seeing that there was a better way to do things. So I started consulting with other agencies and I soon learned very quickly that had an absolute passion to help others grow.

We were chasing so many different rainbows, I guess for lack of a better term, that we never really finished or checked anything off the list.

We feel like if we're not growing, face a potential of not having a bright future. The word potential gets thrown around quite a bit. You know, she's got potential, he's got potential. And I was well educated through college. I worked for a very nice insurance agency, had a lot of things going my way. But on a particular hot summer day, I recall vividly that I went to a gas station. I had to go see a prospect about 10, 15 miles away and slid my debit card through a gas station pump, and it was declined. And then I pulled out a credit card and another credit card, another credit card, all were declined. And at that point, I realized the absolute truth of my situation. And the fact was this is that I'd been living a lie, right, in many different ways. And it was being exposed. And, you know, I think many of us have been in situations where we realize we're not being 100% honest with ourselves. And that was one for me as a grown adult. I was newly married. I was expecting our very first child. I just wept. I heard a quote from the late, great Jim Rohn. And he said this. He said, for things to change, you have to change. For things to get better, you have to get better.

We didn't have a path to go on, and we were just out calling on clients and doing the best we could.

My agency started in 04 and back around 2017 timeframe, I decided that we needed a little more accountability and structure.

We really wanted to figure out a way to streamline and drive efficiency and consistency.

How to build on relationships, how to get referrals, how to work on those referrals, how to run your company, how would a sales process is supposed to look like.

And I had read Roger Sitkin's articles in an industry publication called Rough Notes.

And quite honestly, I was really passionate about who had had success in it in the past, who had done it in the past, versus trying to recreate it.

And I thought, if I learned so much from him from just his articles once a month, why don't I look into hiring him full time in his organization? And it was the best move we ever made.

I realized that I was pointing a lot of fingers, but the biggest finger I needed to point was at myself, that it was time to grow up and take responsibility and use the gifts and resources that I had been given. Roger reached out to me, it was, what, early 2017, and said, you know what, we should get together and learn more about each other and what we're looking to do. And started my career with the Sitkins Group.

Anybody that's really trying to grow on a regular basis, they're going to have struggles. I know I should do this. And they ought to. I ought to do this, I ought to do that.

And.

And they have a lot of personal frustrations where they realize late at night that things aren't well. We actually talk about the fact that most people have two comfort zones. They have a comfort zone one which is from eight in the morning till five o' clock, and they have comfort zone two, which is five o' clock in the evening till eight in the morning. And what we find is most people are comfortable at work, even though they're just semi successful because they go there, they've got their friends, they've got their clients, they just get along and they don't really hold themselves accountable to a higher standard. And when we realize that they're uncomfortable and comfort zone too, because they get home, it's five o' clock and they realize, you know what, that's not really the house I thought I'd have. And the kids really aren't in the best schools. And what they really don't have is financial freedom. So when they get home, there's that frustration of not doing what they know they could do. When we realize we've got to get them to get uncomfortable in comfort zone one, if you're too comfortable, you're not growing. So the goal is to get comfortable being uncomfortable and challenge yourself internally.

The one word to me, it's simple, it's impact. It's the impact that we have the opportunity to serve independent insurance agencies and independent insurance agency professionals. But at a deeper level, it's communities that are impacted, it's their clients that are impacted, it's of course, their families. I can tell you there's not a better feeling in the world of when someone comes to me, whether it's a year, two years, three years or beyond, someone says, you know, x amount of time ago you came into my life and you don't know this, but you changed it and you changed it for the better. So we're a few minutes into the movie now. If you're still watching this, it appears that some of our message is resonating with you now. We're going to continue to share more examples and stories and evidence about what we do to help transform independent insurance agencies. But if you're ready right now, go ahead and click that button below to book a call to see if it's a fit for your agency.

When agencies work with us, when they become members of our network, what happens is they go through a transformation process. The average agency is stuck in some traps. There are things that stop them from achieving true financial freedom. That's where we work with.

Everything that we do at the Sidkins Group is about agency transformation. And transformation is simply moving from one place, wherever you are, are today, to where it is that you specifically want to go. Some examples of this would be moving from levels of confusion in your Agency, maybe you're unsure of certain areas to true clarity right with purpose and mission. Moving from chaos or disorganizations to true consistency in the agency. And lastly about moving from complacency. At the end of the day, it's about transformation and you and your agency's freedom.

They realize that things are holding them back and they have a tremendous level of frustration. They maybe have friends, colleagues in the business that are getting much better results than they are.

A lot of that comes into areas of stagnation. They want to move away from that feeling of being trapped. They want to escape the life of freedom.

When you work with Sitkins Group, what happens is you have a clear path to your future. More importantly, you have a clear path to the freedom that's going to allow you to do what you want to do and really have an agency that you've always dreamt of having. Working with Sipkins allows you to have an unfair advantage to do the things that your competitors aren't doing, help you with the behaviors, the strategies, the resources that are going to help you get those results again that you've only dreamt of.

They had prepared documents that really got us started and kept us on track. So it wasn't that we had to come up with the way we were going to accomplish all the things we knew we wanted to accomplish. Sitkins was able to give us actual collateral.

Our goal is to remain independent and using Sitkins and using the model, allow our agency to grow so we don't have to be bought out by some big other company or do a merger or acquisition.

Some of the practices and things that they taught us, I wish I had back when I was a producer. The process that they put in place, the language and the things we've been able to accomplish with Roger and Brent's leadership has just been very valuable for us.

You need to be committed to it if you really want to make a difference in your career, a difference in your family and frankly, in your family tree.

It's really hard that first two years. But if you can see the numbers and you follow the numbers and Roger gives you the numbers and teaches you how to manage the numbers, it just makes the whole organization run as one. If you're all focused the same way.

There is value in a third party being able to say, this is how we should operate versus, you know, First Main street coming in and saying, this is how you should operate.

Success, at the end of the day is about freedom. And I think there are a lot of different areas of freedom for an agency. But four specifically stand out. Freedom with your time. Time is our only diminishing asset. What would it look like if you're able to get some of that time back? Freedom of relationships. This is both internal and external, right? Internal would be your culture, your team. What would it be like if those relationships were at a deeper level with every member of your team? And of course, external relationships. Are you working with the right clients? The clients that you love to work with, the client that you're set out to have these great experiences with? So I also believe it's about freedom of purpose. Are you doing the things that you're ultimately meant to do? And lastly, it's about freedom of money. This idea of having that financial freedom, that true financial freedom that you deserve as an agency leader. The freedom to do what you want, when you want, how you want, with who you want. The Sitkins approach is completely different in the marketplace, and it's based on three specific areas. Number one is a holistic approach. Let's face it, it's really hard when it's an individual producer or an individual department trying to do things alone. Number two, it's about a proven process. You know, most people overestimate the importance of an event, and they vastly underestimate the power of a process. And we want to give you a proven process that you can deploy in your agency right away. And lastly, it's about commitment to your community. Now, here's what I mean by community. We want to empower you as an agency leader to be around peers and mentors and coaches that are going to both encourage you and challenge you to your best version possible.

The reason this is important to you is that agencies are losing millions of dollars of value each and every year. If you take a look at your agency and the current trend, it's on, and it just continues on that trend forever because you've not changed any. You'll be semi successful. You'll do okay. So the big loss is not necessarily short term. The bigger loss is long term. The number one blind spot agencies are not aware of is that they have profitable accounts subsidizing unprofitable accounts and profitable producers subsidizing unprofitable producers because they're allowing these unprofitable accounts and unprofitable producers to exist. At the end of the day, they're losing millions of dollars of value in the average agency. Today, producers are not spending enough time in what we call the green zone. The green zone are when the producers are doing those things that earn green that Earn money. Our goal is very simple. Producers in the green zone 80% of the time. Most producers are spending 80% of their time in the red zone in many cases.

Most of the agency leaders that I speak with try to make things too complicated. One of the things that we help agencies do is actually do less. Just do the important things, things better. The idea that 20% of the right input leads to 80% of the right output.

I've done over 150 producer camps now and we've had over 4,000 producers go through our program.

You know, I've spent my entire career in the independent insurance agency world. Spent 15 years in the role of a successful insurance producer where I was named one of the top 12 young producers in the entire country. It's a newer producer.

You know, for years I was crazy enough to think I could transform the whole industry. What I quickly realized is that 80% of the agencies are going to do well whether they ever work with Sitkins or not. The top 20% of the agencies are the ones that are going to grow and get better. The top 2% don't need us. They're already doing great. What we work with are the middle 18% of agencies that are committed to continual and never ending improvement.

It's not always easy. In fact, many emotions can come with any type of challenge we receive. The first emotion is typically fear. I know, I agree. Experience that. Can I do this? Am I good enough? Am I ready? But when you put yourself in that position, you provide it through leadership or mentorship to grow into that position. It also fosters confidence. So one of the critical things that we do as part of the Sidkins network is to help agency leaders perpetuate into the future. And that goes by investing into the most important resource that you have. It's your people to give them the right tools and resources and development and growth. We're looking for those agencies that are truly committed that want to escape those traps and get into the freedom zone. You're going to get continual leadership development, coaching equipment for your entire team. You're investing in the most important asset that you possibly can yourself and your team. So we're halfway through the movie. Now. We've shared some stories, we've shared facts, we've shared about our process and how it helps independent agencies truly transform the game and to eliminate the traps that you have now. Some of these traps that we've been talking about truly impact you and you're looking to escape these traps and move into your ultimate freedom again. If this is resonating with you. If you're ready to take the next step in transform your agency, click the button below to book a call now.

The average independent insurance agency and the best practice of study, they only spend.4% of their revenues on the training and development of their people. The biggest job for the leaders is to improve their people, who will then get the best result.

There is a big lie that's out in the marketplace, certainly with insurance agency leaders, that you should just have this stuff all figured out, that you should know all the answers, that your team should just magically get better. And that just simply is not true. We all need partners, we all need teammates, we all need mentors, we all need coaches to challenge us when we're telling ourselves lies, but also to encourage us when things are challenging, when things are down and we need that lift, we need the inspiration. We need a pat on the back to help us get through difficult times.

Another problem we have is that the average agency, they're spending right about depending on the size of the agency, but right about $675.

It takes hard work, but you need somebody, you need the guide, you need the professional guide. They definitely have the credibility. They've got the experience, they've got the collateral. They care.

This is working with Sitkins. They become friends at the same time. Okay, so it's not only a business relationship, it's a friendship relationship. And having a relationship with Roger and Brent is one of those situations where you think you know everything and you want to approach them about it. And they have a way that they can tell you, you know, you're not very smart. I don't think I think you should do that. But they do it in a way that's very professional, and they get you back on track. And they've never been afraid to tell you what you don't want to hear.

It's about having clarity, consistency and commitment. Clarity is very simple. Where am I today? Where do I want to go? How did I get there? Consistency is developing your agency's way of doing business. And finally, commitment. Commitment is the leadership team and subsequently everybody on the team committing to one concept, and that is accountability. When you have clarity, when you have consistency and you have commitment, your results are predictable. And quite frankly, they're guaranteed.

The professional fitness experience has three key advantages. Number one, it's a holistic process where every single member of your agency team will have access to our tools, our resources, our coaching and development. Number two, it's a proven process. We're going to walk you Through a systematic process that your agency can easily identify and take action upon. And lastly, we're going to provide you a community of support. Not only will you have the opportunity to to work with the Sitkins coaches and have access to our tools and resources, but you'll also be connected to other growth minded agencies. There are four key trainings that we have in the Sitkins program. We have our Producer Fit program. This is our world class sales training. We have our sales leadership program. Want to help empower and equip sales leaders in your agency? We have our account manager training to help your entire service team understand the language of and the behaviors that we're speaking around. And lastly, we have CEO training or leadership training so that you as an agency leader are empowered and equipped to take the right actions. You know, one of the things that we're aware of is that you can't implement all the things that we talk about and teach in our core programs. We want to help your agency identify the one key area, the most impactful area of your agency that you can really go deep end. We run ongoing programs, we have live sales training, we have ongoing leadership forums and service forms to help you and your agency continue to stay consistent and up your game at every level. We want to make sure that your agency has every advantage possible to succeed. In fact, we want to make your results predictable and guaranteed. And to do that, we're going to surround you with tools and resources as you go from through these 90 day deep dives. We're going to have live masterminds and we're also going to provide you a true learning management system so that every member of your agency has access to specific information on demand when they need it the most. Does your current direction that you're headed on right now, does that current direction match your desired destination? We often find is there's a gap. There's a gap between our current trend, our current direction and our ultimate destination.

One of the biggest problems agency principals tell us is I'm too busy. And I always have to challenge that. Wait a minute. You're too busy to get better? You're too busy to stop losing millions of dollars of value. We've got to get very focused on doing the right things. All too many of us have self limiting beliefs. I've had them in my life. I don't know if I'm good enough. I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I can do that. Listen, if somebody's done it, you can do it. But See, we can't want it for you more than you want it for yourself. And that's what we say. We want the 18% of agencies that realize, you know what? We are trapped. All right, what about the financial obligation? Well, it's an objection for some people. Studies by the American Society of Training Directors have shown that the best professional services firm on an average spend 2% of their revenue getting better. If you're losing millions of dollars, which you are by not training and developing your people, why not make the investment? The first thing that happens are some mind shift changes. What's the long term? Well, something we firmly believe in. Continual and never ending improvement. Our best clients have been with us for decades. Guess what? They don't go away. In our Elite 50, our sales mastery program, we have producers in there that have been working with me personally for over 30 years. It's 100% money back guarantee. If what we do doesn't work for you for any reason, you get your money back, no questions asked. Wow.

You have watched this entire movie. And we've shared stories, we've shared examples, we've shared testimonials. Most importantly, we've shared every proven process to help your agency truly transform to the next level. Now here's the thing. You can't unsee, you can't unwatch, and you can't unlearn all the things that we've shared with you today. You know there's a better way for your agency. The question now is what are you going to do? There's really just two choices. You embrace a better, improved path for your agency or you can go back to to the old behaviors, the old habits, the old results that are preventing you from your ultimate greatness. Even if you book a call with us and it's not a fit, at a minimum, you'll gain greater clarity for your agency and your agency's future. Your team, your clients, your key relationships, your family are waiting for your best version possible. Will you take advantage of it? Don't wait another minute.

It.

Click the link below and book that call. My name is Brent Kelly of the Sitkins Group. Thanks so much for watching.