The Insura-Preneur Podcast

Video Masterclass for Insurance Agencies

Ron Sheetz, VP, RJ Media Magic, Inc.

Ron Sheetz is the video consultant to the top marketers in the field—from thought leader Dan Kennedy to our own host, Michael Jans. Ron strips away the confusion, doubt, and excuses surrounding video production. 

Great video content for insurance agencies isn’t hard; it’s just new. Ron knows every reason agents shy away from video, and respond to each in a manner designed to boost your confidence. 

• When to use high, medium, and low production video 
• How to create connection between you and your viewers
• The story-arc formula that helps your agency attract your best prospects

If you’re wondering how to use video in your agency, this is the masterclass for you. Professionals pay Ron up to $10,000 a day for his insights, and you get his top advice for free in this podcast.

Presented by Agency Revolution, the Connected Insurance Podcast provides weekly opportunities for listeners to dive deep into the trends affecting insurance agents and brokers today and to gain proven strategies and tactics for agency growth. Our hosts facilitate thoughtful panels and 1:1 conversations with a variety of prominent thought leaders, with a focus on how to streamline and drive operational efficiency for your independent agency through the intelligent use of technology.

Insurance Marketing That Works in the Real World

Nick Andrews – Channel Partner Marketing Manager at Liberty Mutual

If you have time to listen to one conversation about real-world, street-smart insurance marketing, look no further. Our guest, Nick Andrews, dives deep into actual agencies, actually marketing, and actual results. In his role as Channel Partner Marketing Manager at Liberty Mutual, Nick plans, executes, and scales high profile national marketing campaigns that get put to work at the local level. Nick shares:

• Seven easy-as-pie proven-to-work marketing disciplines that generate leads, boost retention, inspire loyalty, and increase policies-per-customer.
• How you can ‘out-local’ big national competitors (and win!) even though you can’t possibly outspend their ad budgets!
• A simple way agents are getting up to four times more referrals without expensive marketing campaigns. 

Please don’t miss this conversation with one of the industry’s most respected marketers and trainers. Listen today and get ideas you’ll put into practice tomorrow!

What are other agents & brokers doing to thrive? What are the biggest trends affecting the retail insurance agent & broker? What are the most important strategies and tactics you need to grow faster? Find out here in the Connected Insurance Podcast, where our hosts discuss the biggest issues affecting the independent insurance agent & broker with the industry’s leading figures.

Motivate Your Agency’s Team to Achieve World-Class Performance

Seth Preus – Founder of Mivation

What would it mean to your agency if everyone on your team got to the next level? Our host, Michael Jans, speaks with Seth Preus, agency owner and creator of Leaderboard Legends software. In this episode, he reveals surprising strategies to help agents make that happen:

• Common mistakes agency owners make when they try to build a high-performance culture (and the huge mistakes they often make when they don’t even try)!
• How to tap into those magical and powerful intrinsic motivators to help your team members achieve results that exceed even their own expectations—plus a shocking analysis on how extrinsic motivators can backfire when wrongly applied!
• Three high-leverage but low-cost habits you can install in your agency for an almost-instant and reliable boost to agency-wide performance.

From producers to CSRs, if you are looking for an easy but important uptick in team performance, do not miss this conversation with Seth—one of the industry’s top thought leaders and practitioners of outstanding performance. 

Listen today and get ideas you’ll put into practice tomorrow!

What are other agents & brokers doing to thrive? What are the biggest trends affecting the retail insurance agent & broker? What are the most important strategies and tactics you need to grow faster? Find out here in the Connected Insurance Podcast, where our hosts discuss the biggest issues affecting the independent insurance agent & broker with the industry’s leading figures.

The Real Scoop on Using Social Media to Make Content Marketing Successful

Jason Marlowe - Marketing Director at InsuranceHub

It can be frustrating to get advice on traditional marketing that doesn’t apply to the insurance space. Agents face unique restrictions and challenges when it comes to building their online audience. It’s crucial to take things like your budget, time, and bandwidth into consideration before launching a social media strategy.

In this discussion, Joel interviews Jason Marlowe, a superstar marketing director at InsuranceHub. They dive deep into the world of social marketing. They answer important questions like:

• How much should you pay to promote a post? (Remember, it is pay-to-play!)
• How do you target your ideal clientele?
• How can you build the right content for your audience? 

Jason knows what he is talking about and the strategies he lays down are ready to be used immediately! If you want to “Future-Proof” your agency, this is an important conversation for you to hear.

What are other agents & brokers doing to thrive? What are the biggest trends affecting the retail insurance agent & broker? What are the most important strategies and tactics you need to grow faster? Find out here in the Connected Insurance Podcast, where our hosts discuss the biggest issues affecting the independent insurance agent & broker with the industry’s leading figures.

How This International Insurtech Broke into the Agency Space to Skyrocket Their Growth

Darcy Shapiro – Director of Insurance at Cover Genius

What exactly is the shape of insurance in the modern age? The best answer may be this: different.

As entrepreneurs solve insurance problems in new ways, that ‘shape of insurance’ will continue to change. In this discussion, Michael interviews Darcy Shapiro, Director of Insurance at Cover Genius. Together, they explore:

• How the modern insurance consumer has changed—and how savvy insurance innovators can respond to that change and delight the customer and marketplace. 
• The tricky and challenging issue of finding a strategy for success in the modern market—and why Cover Genius is the perfect object lesson. 
• Darcy’s simple but clear-eyed perspective on how to create a successful launch—and how Cover Genius achieved what few insurtechs do: exponential growth with positive cash flow. 

Darcy is a longtime insurance pro—The Hartford, AIG, Liberty—so she speaks the language of modern insurance. If you have time for ONE conversation this week that shows you where our industry is going, do not miss this podcast. It’s that important. 

What are other agents & brokers doing to thrive? What are the biggest trends affecting the retail insurance agent & broker? What are the most important strategies and tactics you need to grow faster? Find out here in the Connected Insurance Podcast, where our hosts discuss the biggest issues affecting the independent insurance agent & broker with the industry’s leading figures.

Leading Insurance Industry Analyst Zeroes in on the Modern Consumer

Greg Donaldson – Senior Analyst at the Aité Group

What does today’s insurance consumer want? How do they differ? How do we earn their business and loyalty?

These questions make some agents toss and turn – wondering if they’re keeping up with the changes in the modern world. Our guest, Greg Donaldson, specializes in the heated intersection of insurance, technology, and human behavior. 

Every serious student of today’s insurance consumer will want to listen to this conversation between Michael Jans and Greg Donaldson as they explore:

• The juicy topic of privacy and data. How much are insurance consumers willing to share? What do they demand in return?
• Navigating your agency’s path through the torrent of technology that is and will continue raining down on the insurance industry. 
• Why Greg is encouraging agents to embrace the very technologies that look like they’re going to take their place. 

Do not miss this mesmerizing conversation exploring the research and conclusions of Greg’s recent study on the modern insurance consumer. 

What are other agents & brokers doing to thrive? What are the biggest trends affecting the retail insurance agent & broker? What are the most important strategies and tactics you need to grow faster? Find out here in the Connected Insurance Podcast, where our hosts discuss the biggest issues affecting the independent insurance agent & broker with the industry’s leading figures.

Michael Reilly – Managing Director at Accenture

Small commercial lines insurance alert: turbulence ahead

Big changes are ahead of us. If you have any small commercial lines business, it may have been smooth sailing… until now. Willis Towers Watson Securities and CB Insights recently forecast that up to 25% of total small business could be digitally underwritten by 2020. This huge $100 billion market hasn’t had a single dominant player – no carrier owns more than 4% market share. 

But, as insurtech and competitive forces sweep the market, you can expect everything to change. Our guest, Michael Reilly, ‘wrote the report’ on the turbulence in the small commercial market – and he shares his insights and success strategies with our host Michael Jans, including:

• Michael Reilly’s 3 strategies to win the small business insurance market.
• What major carriers have been doing behind the scenes – and why you can expect to see a fast and dramatic battle play out on the international insurance stage.
• The dark cloud of negative emotions that small business owners have about their insurance… and the one big thing agents can do to turn that around.

Mr. Reilly and Accenture have released one of the ground-breaking reports of the year. This is a can’t-miss interview. 

What are other agents & brokers doing to thrive? What are the biggest trends affecting the retail insurance agent & broker? What are the most important strategies and tactics you need to grow faster? Find out here in the Connected Insurance Podcast, where our hosts discuss the biggest issues affecting the independent insurance agent & broker with the industry’s leading figures.

John Fear – Owner of Premier Business Consultants

Industry veteran helps agencies define how to spend their time on written business in the most efficient way possible

If there’s one thing John Fear has discovered in his twenty years in the insurance industry, it’s that agents are not as efficient as they should be. As owner of Premier Business Consulting and National Director of Agency Development at Travelers, he’s worked with thousands of agents to understand their challenges.

In this fast-paced conversation, John lays out his Insurance Matrix. As you follow along, you’ll learn how to:

• Run your business “less inefficiently” – and how it’s different than just being “more efficient”
• Balance your expertise, passion, and business availability to determine your niche classes of business
• Maximize your business and focus your efforts

Get out your pen and paper, because you’ll want to try his in-depth exercise to build your own matrix. Don’t miss this episode if you want to make your agency more efficient!

What are other agents & brokers doing to thrive? What are the biggest trends affecting the retail insurance agent & broker? What are the most important strategies and tactics you need to grow faster? Find out here in the Connected Insurance Podcast, where our hosts discuss the biggest issues affecting the independent insurance agent & broker with the industry’s leading figures.

Scott Knowles – CEO of Modgic

From super-producer to Insurtech CEO: ‘Here’s the one thing you need to do in the real world of insurance’

Scott Knowles was worried. His products were the same as his top agency competitors. Prices were the same. He couldn’t bring anything to the client that made him the obvious agent. 

Then, he cracked the code. He blew his competitors away. They tried to make him go away. They tried to hire him. He decided to do something different. 

And, that was the birth of Modgic, a leading insurtech solution in the Workers’ Comp arena. Scott lays it all out in this fast-paced conversation: 

• How to make price progressively irrelevant to your prospects – by delivering a VALUE that means more to them than the dollars they may save from someone else. 
• How to have a permanent and positive impact on your commercial lines clients – so they have loyalty that never goes away. 
• A simple method to help you determine which technologies are right for your agency – and which ones to ignore. 

Whether your agency is personal or commercial lines (or both) this is the conversation that will give you a glimpse into winning in the Modern Age of Insurance. Listen today and get ideas you’ll put into practice tomorrow!

What are other agents & brokers doing to thrive? What are the biggest trends affecting the retail insurance agent & broker? What are the most important strategies and tactics you need to grow faster? Find out here in the Connected Insurance Podcast, where our hosts discuss the biggest issues affecting the independent insurance agent & broker with the industry’s leading figures.

Nick Petrocelli, COO of ASNOA, and Stephen Gebhardt, Regional VP of Distribution of ASNOA

What is the shape of insurance in the modern age?

Independent agencies have always been independent.

Now, the independent agent channel is ‘shape-shifting’ more than ever. More and more agencies are cooperating, coordinating, and collaborating in one form of network or another. 

Fast growth networks demand our attention. They signal things to come. What your competition may look like, and opportunities for your own agency. 

In this interview, Nick Petrocelli and Stephen Gebhardt from ASNOA share their insights on:

• The rapid pace of change in the industry, how agencies can respond, keep up, and win… and why Nick believes “The squeeze is on!”
• Nick’s five-part method to help agencies choose which technologies to invest in and which ones you should ignore in the face of so many emerging technologies.
• How integrating tech with the human touch makes an unstoppable combination in the marketplace – and the little things you can do to make that easy and powerful.

Please don’t miss this conversation with two of the industry’s most innovative and respected business leaders. 

What are other agents & brokers doing to thrive? What are the biggest trends affecting the retail insurance agent & broker? What are the most important strategies and tactics you need to grow faster? Find out here in the Connected Insurance Podcast, where our hosts discuss the biggest issues affecting the independent insurance agent & broker with the industry’s leading figures.