Learn More and Listen More with Steven Woodward, Senior Vice President, Employee Benefits

Welcome to the Agent Leader Podcast. My name is Brent Kelly, your host. Thanks so much for joining me on another episode. And today get your pens, your paper, whatever you can write on and write with. Get them ready. We have a fantastic guest. He's part of our elite 50 sales mastery program. Someone who I just love to talk to and get to know and had a chance finally to meet this guy in person a few months ago but always adds great value so be ready today. He's a high level achiever and producer out in the west coast and I'll let him talk about that in a minute. But I always want to start off with the purpose of this podcast which is to help you, the agency leader, to help you gain clarity, build consistency and make a commitment to become your best version possible. Which happens to be the title of our brand new book. If you want to get a copy of your book, of our book, we'd love for you to go reach out and grab as many as you like and pass it to your friends and getting some great feedback on it. Just go to sitkins.com bvp bvp for best version possible to get your copy of the book. Also want to mention we've got a great sponsor, Rough Notes. We're so glad to have the Rough Notes Company as part of the podcast. They are the publishers of the insurance industry's leading magazine and technical insurance content. They provide pro. They profile successful agencies plus keen insights from respected experts on a host of must know topics. Also they have Rough Notes Advantage plus which provides the tools to help your agency grow, providing authoritative information on complex coverage issues. Go to roughnotes.com to learn more. Get excited to be with the Rough Notes Company. But with that I believe my guest is ready. He's ready to share his wisdom, his expertise. If you're not watched on video, he's smiling. He's ready to go. Steve Woodward is exec or is a Senior VP Employee Benefits at Hub International. And Steve is also not only a great benefits producer which I'm sure he's going to share some of his experience whether in the business, outside of the business. He's also part of, I mentioned our Elite 50 Sales Mastery Program which is our best producers. And just to give you an idea of the class of people that Steve hangs out with in our elite 50 sales mastery, you know the average commission revenue in that group is over a million dollars. And so these are high achievers and people that are committed to personal and professional growth. So Steve, without any further ado, welcome to the Agent Leader podcast.

Good to be here with you, Brent, and I'm flattered to be part of your podcast. I listen to them all the time and now to actually be a guest on it, I'm certainly excited. So thank you very much for the invite.

You're welcome. Now you get to see all the behind the scenes stuff, right? So to speak. There's, there's not too much behind the scenes. We're pretty straightforward. I tell all of our guests, I said, hey, we're just having a cup of coffee and we're going to share ideas and information with the audience. And again, I, I know you as an audience listener, as a podcast listener, get your pens and paper ready because Steve's got some great stuff to share today. So Steve, if you would, just from a very basic level, as deep as you want to go or as shallow as you want to go. Yeah, I mentioned obviously you were the senior vp, Employee benefits at Hub, but just tell the audience about your experience, what you do, whatever it is you like to share. Just to get us started today.

Yeah, well, I think like most of us who found our way to the insurance industry, it found us. Unless you are a risk management major at the University of Georgia or any other higher education school where we had no understanding of this business, nor do we, did we even think we were going to get into it. But having been here now for 32 years, frankly, it's probably one of the most amazing careers as I've seen a lot just by virtue of the companies. I insure that, that I am so grateful for the people, the experience, the constant learning and challenges, helping employers, shall we say, bend that curve, yield better outcomes. It certainly has been something wonderful for, for me and, and now I have introduced my son to the business. Well, it found him. So, so I have that next generation coming in behind me. So starting right out of college, I was on the carrier side, so in this case the insurance company side, for about 27, excuse me, seven years and now 25 years on the retail side. And again, I've enjoyed every aspect of it. Started my career on the retail side as a benefits manager complementing a property and casualty agency. After eight years, myself and the president of that agency broke off and started our own independent agency. And we had an incredible run of 10 years. Like any good business, you tend to find that tipping point one, does it make sense to find another partner in this case, go to another level of our business? And so we sold a Hub International. It'll be six years here in November. And since then I'VE continued to enjoy what I do, and that's connecting with people and in this case, finding where we could be a good fit.

That's fantastic. I just, you know, a part of this I shared a little bit in the beginning. You're just getting to know you a little bit, and obviously you've known Roger and Sitkins for quite a while. A little newer with me, but it's just, you know, it's always interesting. Success leaves clues, and we say that all the time, Steve. And just, you know, again, you're not going to say this about yourself because I know you're a humble guy, but it's just the fact that you're coachable. You're constantly looking for higher levels and things that how you can serve people right and just what that looks like. And it's just, again, I'm appreciative of what you do. And again, I know that, you know, just from your background, your experience and the things that you're looking to do, you're going to continue to add a ton of value to people. So I just want to appreciate you for doing that. I want to dive right in with challenges. I always do this with my guests. And, you know, I know that as much as you've done really well and will continue to do well, Steve, there's no doubt in my mind you also face challenges. So I'm just curious, what has been your number one challenge that you've dealt with or maybe you're currently dealing with it, right? Depending on what it is and what are you doing or what did you do to overcome it?

Well, I mean, it's certainly mindset that has been so profound and so important to me to where it's like anything when you wake up, are you ready to play the game? Are you ready to engage? Because if you're not, you're not going to be able to succeed. And it doesn't matter what you're playing the game in, be it that it's sports, be it that it's in a relationship, be it that it's in anything. If your mindset isn't right, it's. You're not really giving yourself that added edge that you should. So certainly being in that mindset, we're going to have those days where we're not ready. That's okay. Just acknowledge it and punch out for the day. But can you still be successful in something else for the rest of the day? But if you're not ready for it, if your mind isn't set, then it certainly is going to be a deterrent. And as Roger would say, it's also head trash and barriers to where you're going to not get yourself into areas that you had hoped for. So mindset, seriously was my number one challenge, Brett, that I had to overcome. Because when that mindset is there, it's amazing on all the good things that can click and happen.

So what do you. Just a follow up question to that because, and I love that, I mean, even. And you can even. You've experienced our programs at multiple levels. And it's one thing people ask me, like, what's, you know, what's unique about your program? There's another sales program. And actually kind of before we started recording, we talked about this a little bit. I'm like, it's not just a sales program. Like, it really is a personal development program in many, many different ways. And it starts, as you said, with the mindset. So my question to you is this around that, what have you found or what are some things that you do when you do have those difficult days? Right? Because the easy thing to do is, well, I'll just pack it in. But what are some ways that you, you know, when you run into those barriers, so to speak, how do you help? What do you do for your mindset to push through some of those difficult times?

Well, I mean, I've been fortunate to be around just incredibly high achievers, as you had said, having known Roger for, gosh, close to 25 years, it certainly has been an advantage to me. And it's getting around the right people who care about you, who will lift those spirits up. Because this is you, like it or not. This is an emotional sale. You know, everyone says, hey, Steve, remove the emotions and kind of get back into the pragmatic or the analytical side of it. Well, we're all trying to connect with people and at times we just can't. So it gets frustrating. So who else is on the bench? Who else is a good accountability buddy or somebody like yourself, Roger, or others that you can reach out to and just simply say, hey, Brent, you know what? I am not having a good day. I did everything that you guys said I should be doing, but I'm just feeling deflated. So find people who care enough about you, who will pump you up during those low times. Because we've always said it's not how well you do on the peak, it's how well you do in the valley that's going to allow you to persevere, push through it. Because when we get on the peak, we can all celebrate, but it's when we're down in those lows where it's just not a good place to be.

I'm so glad you said that. It hit me. I was on a training program earlier this week, and I don't know where it even came up, but we're just talking about that. As. As you may know, Steve, I love sports analogies. Like, probably a lot of people that speak, I love them. Maybe too much, but they're just.

They're good.

They're easy. But I just think about this. You know, it's really easy or easier to go to a practice, for example, after a big win. You know what's tough? You get your tail kicked. You have a tough loss, right? And how are you going to show up the next day? I love that. A big part of that is, who are the people that are in your corner, Right? And what does that look like? And so I just think that's a critical piece that you mentioned, the environment. And then I also have to get feedback. The emotion is so true. And people are like, I just take the emotion out. I was like, well, let me ask, is anybody that I'll be dealing with, are they human? Well, yes. Well, then we will not be able to take emotion out. Right. Because any human has emotions. We have responses. So love that response. Steve, I appreciate you sharing that. Let's go to the. I guess the winning side, so to speak. You know, you've done some winning, and I know, again, you're a humble guy. You're not wanting to brag about stuff, but you've had success. You built a really nice book of business, right? What has been you believe? And again, success is your definition, not mine. But what do you believe has been your greatest success, and what are you doing or what have you done to replicate it?

Steve, what has been my greatest success? Gosh, and this is no plug, but believing in those who believe in me, and in this case, making an investment in my career to be the best I possibly, possibly can be. You know, when I talked to Roger years ago, it's like a lot of us have a membership at a gym. Are we going every day? Are we getting that workout? Are we feeling good about it? Some of us will say, we haven't been to the gym in three months. They're still taking your money, right? Why aren't you going? So in this case, when you invest in yourself, when you. When you try to surround yourself with the best, success is eminent. It's just gonna happen, but it doesn't. It is not easy. You have to stay committed. You have to believe in yourself, and you just have to use the tools that the agency has provided. And where in this case, you and Roger have given us to. To execute at that high level a greatest success that I. That I had. It wasn't until.