Agency Intelligence

It's been a few weeks since we released a podcast, busy with insurance work.  But don't fret because in this episode we pick right back up with Boyd McGee, the National Young Agent Committee Chair for the Big I. We are stepping into our new series, "Times of the Young Agent," where we discuss issues that young agents face. He gives some awesome thoughts on what the agency managements system of today and tomorrow should look like. Are you going to listen to it? Blog post reference: Why Young Agents Are Key to Choosing Agency Management Systems

Listen to the last podcast in the Summer of Marketing series with Eddie Emmett, The Godfather of Insurance Edutainment. He talks about some very valuable steps that agents should take to kickstart their local search on Google, spread their brand on Facebook, and ignite a referral program using YouTube. Learn some insights on Per-per-click and per-thousand on Facebook Ads. Join Eddie and Jason as they close the series by smooth sailing through the marketing advice that all agents should by now start adopting and implementing.

Is it: A.) Agents without a perpetuation plan? B.) The mass consolidation of large local brokers buying up smaller ones? C.) That companies demand high premium volumes but don’t hold up their end of the bargain by providing stable rates and help with marketing, etc…? Would you agree with him? Listen to Jason Cass and how he answers this question as Billy Van Jura interviews the host of Agents Influence.  Jason answers a wide range of tough questions from what thinks about large office signage to being part of a cluster.   

The Summer of Marketing wouldn't be The Summer of Marketing without our Part 2 of our Top Listen with Chuck Blondino.  In Part 1, Chuck Blondino discussed his background and his outlook on independent agents and the industry.  In Part 2, he discusses what he would do in 2014 to be successful in an era of rapidly changing consumer demands. Enjoy the remix version.

The Summer of Marketing would not be The Summer of Marketing without a special remixed edition of our all-time Top Listen with Chuck Blondino, currently the Director of Agency Capabilities and Programs at Safeco Insurance. Originally released in January, 2014, this podcast answers these questions: What do you see the future small and medium size agency looking like? In the ways of technology and doing business? Will there be just large agencies getting larger? When do you see the hard market balancing out to flat rate increases? Agents, particularly new agents and those moving from the captive field are having a hard time getting contracts with companies.  Any ideas on how to fix this? When companies take rate increases why do they do it all at once rather than slowly and spread out over a couple years? Is your company pro social marketing and digital media?  What are you doing to help agents use these tools more effectively?

Join us for the second podcast in the Summer of Marketing series with BrentKelly, CEO of BizzGrizz, formerly known as The Insurance Coach. Brent was an insurance agent for 15 years and continues to pour out his passion for the indendent insurance industry by providing coaching and mentoring services tailored to agents, as well as other small business owners.   He answers these meaty questions that are more relevant than ever. What’s the biggest challenge agents are having in evolving to the new age consumer? and How can agents get there? What questions can agents ask themselves to help them develop their personal branding? Brent tackles these questions point-by-point and distinguishes between selling and marketing and what you should do to stand out. Resources:www.brentmkelly.comwww.bizzgrizz.com - Join Brent Kelly’s FREE webinar seminar on Lifecycle Marketing Books:Ducttape Selling http://ducttapeselling.com/How to Sell Your Way Through Life by Napolean Hill    

If Ryan was going to start an insurance blog today his first three post would be validated content about:   ·        Your Company ·        Your Client ·        Your Community   Sounds hard right?  It was before you listened to this podcast.    Ryan Hanley, Head of Marketing for Trustedchoice.com / Managing Editor of Agency Nation stops by Agents Influence to breakdown strategies to GROW your business in today’s world.   Learn:  the difference between a referral vs. a lead how Ryan would strategize a brand new agency some inside scoop about Trusted Choice what new skill Jason Cass acquired at the base of the Mississippi River

While the summer of 1967 was tagged “The Summer of Love,” we are calling this summer, the summer of 2015: “The Summer of Marketing.”   Collectively, we can mark the edge of this industry’s creativity in marketing, and openness in marketing communication as we create a counter culture of marketing systems and approaches to the traditional, often archaic execution of the insurance industry.   In this podcast, we kick off with Jason Cass for The Summer of Marketing podcast series happening from July through August.

And last but not the least, we bring him in, by listener demand . . . Bob Juracka, the CEO of Nexsure. If you want to learn about a complete platform including a fully integrated accounting system with a high-level horsepower software, listen to this interview for the last segment for The Month of Maynagement Systems.   They were first to come out with mobile technology, first to be on a truly modern platform, and their name is now gaining popularity among smaller companies. Their strategy had previously been focused on larger accounts and agencies, but they’ve shifted gears to serve agencies of any size.Their core belief is that a portal must be a true portal, a unique access to that singular database by all its different constituencies. 

Just when we thought it was over, we realized we’re just in the middle. The Month of Maynagement Systems brought in a lot of listens and the demand for additional CEOs of management systems, so here we are extending The Month of Maynagement Systems. There are 10-20 good systems out there with the same core functionalities across the board, but what adds deep value is knowing that the developers speak your language and we can’t understate the importance of our mantra: “by agents for agents!” He's a programmer, a CEO, and an insurance agent who has been running his agency for 25 years.  If anyone knows how an agency management system should run, it would be Eddie Price, the CEO of Jenesis Agency Management Solutions. In this podcast, we’re not only getting to know the history of the system, but we’ve also broken down some of its proud features: No contract Offers the system as both a windows-based system and cloud-based system Integrated accounting E-signatures Open API integrations In

You hear it a lot from Jason Cass, but he shouts it out loud, "the independent insurance industry is the best industry that God's ever created."  Today we have the CEO of Applied Systems, Reid French, whose company supports our industry as one of the main developers of another management system.   We've brought to you the CEO of QQ Systems, The VP of Aartrijk, and now the CEO of Applied Systems.  We want you to have the information you need as an agency owner. We want you to enrich your knowledge by giving you the story behind the systems that support our entire business activity. Join us for the another podcast from The Month of Maynagement Systems to learn about the largest provider of agency and brokerage systems in the world.

This is podcast #2 of The Month of Maynagement Systems and we have industry veteran Rick Morgan who is the Senior Vice President of Aartrijk.   Join this unscripted conversation between Jason Cass and Rick Morgan as they discuss why agents need to use an agency management system, and why everyone in the agency must be fully invested and involved in the process of their management system.  

This is podcast #1 of our Maynagement Month series with Mark Malis, CEO of QQ Solutions. Learn about the evolution of QQ Solutions and learn why its history makes it so special. Learn the key difference it has over other agency management sytems.All management systems have the same core features so it's up to each user and how they like "the feel" of each management system.  But if you need access to open API, then QQ Solutions is what makes the entire difference.

Jason Cass is back in action to introduce the next podcast series with an unrelated rant, in true Cass fashion.  You will love it!  The month of may will be a series on Management Systems, but before getting into it, Jason talks about his frustration with people telling him that price is not important to the consumer to whom we sell. Listen to 11 minute rant then email Jason Cass at jason@growprogram.com and tell him what you think about it. Is he wrong?  He bets he's not!

Chris Amhrein is the president of Insurance is Fun, and when you listen to this podcast, you’ll quickly grasp the wit and humor behind the industry expert and history buff himself. Time flies when you’re having fun, and that applies to insurance talk too! Join this insightful conversation where he talks about the industry: historically, generationally, operationally and ‘potentially,’ and see how easily it spilled over to an hour-long podcast. He challenges his listeners on what it means to stay atop of marketing strategy and technique: “If I can find anyone in the world, why you?”Bio:  Chris Amhrein is a veteran in the industry, who like many, stumbled into the business as a post-college graduate.  He spent many years as a full-time educator/VP-Education for the Florida Association of Insurance Agents and VP-Education for the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America which brought him around nationally giving seminars on everything from agency management to the claims made CGL. He is now a spea

If you like tapping into a puddles of theory and enjoy stretching the outer limits of the box, then The Grow Show is the place for you.  Hinging off Jason's podcast from 3 weeks ago, they further discuss John Chamber's forecast of the internet: “In five years ALL business will be digital and just happen to be in the industry they serve or create things for.” – John Chambers, Chairman of Cisco In this recording we have Jason and Joey battling it out in discussing the elimination of insurance companies. Guess who takes the more sober approach and guess who takes it to "church!"

Back from a short hiatus, we have Jason and Joey on the Grow Show unpacking Google's role in Insurance.  How do we as insurance agents need to think about this entry by Google?  Is this dark and dismal?  This is a recording from Wednesday, February 11, and we will sprinkle our weekly podcasts with The Grow Show recordings.  Don't forget that you can stream live on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays at 11a CT/12 p ET.    

“In five years ALL business will be digital and just happen to be in the industry they serve or create things for” – John Chambers, Chairman of CiscoIn this podcast, Jason Cass talks about his weekend epiphany about the internet as he listened to an interview with Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN.   He relates the interview with you, the agent and the insurance professional. It summarizes your business, where we're going, why we're going there, and how we're going to get there. The insurance industry of the future will be nothing like it is now, and how insurance companies will not be a part of it. No insurance companies, just us agents.  Is that possible?Jason says it is actually inevitable.It is outside of the box thinking, but is directly related to the inside of your agency.    

All roads lead to Duke Williams when it comes to payments.  His product is often brought up by industry tech expert, Steve Anderson, and agents all around are eager to find out how this technology can help their agencies save money and run better and easier payment systems for their clients.   Get behind the scenes with a 52-year industry veteran who remains at the forefront of software and technology. His technological expertise and legal background positioned him to lead many “firsts” for the insurance industry including uploading and downloading back and forth between carrier and agency, back in the day when no management systems existed and information was stored in a diskette.   He also had a hand in modifying the Fair Isaac Quotes Scoring Model from banking to insurance and was the cause of credit scores to be factored in automotive underwriting.  -A love and hate for agents! Agents, know your industry’s history, see how far it has come, and how much further it has got to go.

She's younger than most of us, owns more agencies than most of us, and is brilliantly known in her community as the "Insurance Chick."  She has plans on growing her agency by acquiring another in the near future and has been successful in growing her business.  Her agency prides herself on staying on top of technology and implements the type of technology that makes communication with her clients easiest.