September 8, 2023 • 12 mins
Today we tackle the question, "Can I Become A Preeminent Producer With Only Small Accounts?"
Also: If you are a commercial insurance producer and looking to grow your book of business to $1M, you will want to join us for our upcoming LIVE Webinar, where we will do a deeper dive into this topic!
Register Here ➡️ https://webinar.thepreeminentproducer.com/register
See you there!
...
Are you a commercial insurance producer struggling to stand out from the competition? Do you find it challenging to grow your book of business and create a fulfilling career?
Then welcome to The Preeminent Producer Podcast! Each week, we'll be tackling important topics, sharing proven strategies and insights from successful producers that are in the trenches and have traveled the journey to becoming a Preeminent Producer.
You'll discover what it really takes to become Preeminent & build your book of business, in a way that isn’t being taught anywhere else. Our hosts are experts in the field and have built thriving businesses by becoming the most trusted adviser to their clients. Welcome to your journey to becoming a Preeminent Producer.
Let’s dive in!
Ready To Grow Your Book Of Business?
For More Information go to:
https://www.thepreeminentproducer.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
There was a question submitted of can I become a
preeminent producer with onlyhaving small accounts?
So that is the question thecoaches are going to be
addressing in this episode ofthe preeminent producer podcast.
Let's dive in.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Are you a commercial insurance producer struggling to
stand out from the competition?
Do you find it challenging togrow your book of business and
create a fulfilling career?
If so, then welcome to thepreeminent producer podcast.
Each week, we'll be tacklingimportant topics, sharing proven
strategies and insights fromsuccessful producers that are in
the trenches and have traveledthe journey to becoming a
(00:36):
preeminent producer.
You'll discover what it willtake to become preeminent and
build your book of business in away that isn't being taught
anywhere else.
Our hosts are experts in thefield and have built thriving
businesses by becoming the mosttrusted advisor to their clients
.
Welcome to your journey tobecoming a preeminent producer.
Let's dive in.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
You know it's really a good question.
I think the simple answer tothat is no, you really can't.
You know, the only diminishingasset that you have as a
producer is time, and if you'respending your time running
around with small accounts, whoare typically unsophisticated
not that they're bad, not thatthey're not not intelligent they
are but small accounts arenormally a person, a man or a
(01:20):
woman, who is wearing many hats.
They're the CEO, they're theCFO, they're out working in the
field, they're doing it all andthey really don't have enough
time to really spend with you.
So you're going to be chasingsmall accounts.
What we find and this is aquestion we get frequently that
there's a way to handle that,and preeminent producers really
(01:43):
focus on increasing theiraverage account size all the
time, and we can kind of walkyou through how that's done.
So I think what I really wantto tell you is in these podcasts
, what we're talking about is acoaching program that we really,
really love and we think youwould too.
There's nothing we're going tosay in this podcast or any one
(02:04):
podcast that will change yourlife.
This is a career.
This is something that we putyou, we hope.
Our goal here is to put you ona path to success, and that path
is going to take some twistsand turns.
It's going to have somedifferent things in it.
It's going to.
We're going to talk about how doyou get out of being a small
(02:25):
producer producer and into apreeminent producer.
How do you own your calendar,how do you take control of your
time.
We're going to talk about allthose things and try to give you
examples that if you put all ofthis stuff together, it will
change your life as a producerand it will put you on the path
of becoming a preeminentproducer.
(02:46):
That's our goal.
Matt has lived it.
I've lived it.
Christian who's not on ourcoaching call today has lived it
.
So we've done it.
We know how it's done.
We've done it ourselves andwe've coached other people in
our agencies, as agencyprincipals, how to do this.
So if you can join us, we cantell you, we can give you ideas
(03:07):
that over a period of time, willtake your small accounts and
turn them into larger accounts.
Your book of business will havefewer clients, fewer headaches,
you will do much less servicehopefully none and the average
account size will grow.
So what do you think, matt?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Well, yeah, you handled that really really well.
Oh good, Thank you.
Yeah, you didn't leave me muchto say.
I found myself nodding inagreement the whole time we were
talking.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
I thought you were nodding off.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Yeah, I'm fully capable of that.
Okay, paul, it's a really goodquestion.
I agree with Rick.
The simple, short answer is no.
But obviously what's small toone producer may not be small to
another producer.
I mean, I knew a guy many yearsago who I think I mentioned this
(03:58):
recently in one of the otherpodcasts who had eight accounts
which totaled over a million ingross commission.
Now to him a account bringingin $20,000 of annual commission,
he would have considered thatsmall and wasted his time or
whatever.
(04:18):
So it's kind of relative.
But the problem is but I'mgoing to attempt to define that
Okay, I would say realistically,if you're writing accounts that
generate less than 5,000, I'mtempted to say 10, but I'll go
with 5,000, you're going to havea hard time really becoming
preeminent and really buildingup a big book.
(04:39):
And there's a couple ofphenomena that Rick hinted at
there.
One of them was that and weprobably have all experienced
this the smaller accounts arejust less sophisticated,
certainly about insurance, oftenabout business in general, and
they can therefore become muchmore time consuming.
And you work with a little moreeducated, experienced insurance
(05:01):
buyer who's used to paying 20or 30,000 a year I'm sorry he's
paying premiums that wouldgenerate that kind of income for
us 20 or 30,000 a year.
They don't bother you as much.
Typically they know the answersand whatnot.
So there's that aspect.
So I think, rick, as youmentioned, it's a process here,
(05:25):
kind of a journey, and more thanwe can deal with in just a
quick podcast like this.
But part of the solution isclient segmentation really
identifying, knowing your bookof business and being willing to
set higher standards foryourself as time goes on and
(05:45):
even do something that's kind ofdifficult at first for people
and that is let go of some oftheir smaller accounts, have
somebody else in the agencyhandle those or whatnot, and
that's all stuff.
We can get into a lot moredetail as time goes on.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Right, matt.
The other thing I would suggestis producers you're there to
sell insurance.
You are not there to service.
If you get trapped in service,then you are on the path to be a
very average insurance producer, the kind of producer that has
a fairly small book of businessbut you're very involved in
(06:19):
service because it feels good.
It feels great Producerssometimes and if you be honest
with yourself, sometimes youhide in service.
You don't want to make thosecold calls, you don't want to go
out and go to that mixer, youdon't want to get out of the
community and network yourself.
A preeminent producer networksthemselves.
They do a service handoff.
(06:39):
They don't get involved inservice.
And I think, matt, you're rightwhen you write a larger account
.
So there was a time in my lifethat I would have said, Matt,
you're crazy.
$20,000 revenue.
Well, I'm at that point now andbeyond.
But to a new producer thatsounds crazy.
Matt is not suggesting that youdo that tomorrow.
(07:00):
We're saying that that's whatyou aspire to and we'll put you
on a stair step on how to dothat.
We'll give you some tools andtricks and things to do.
But I think the best thing youcan do for yourself is try
everything you can to getyourself out of service and into
sales, and we can give you somereally good tips on how to do
that, how you're still involvedwith your account on a regular
(07:23):
basis.
In my situation, I'll just dothis really quickly here.
I don't take changes onpolicies.
I don't do any of that kind ofstuff.
They don't call me when theyneed a certificate of insurance.
My team handles all of that andit leaves me time to sell and
it's allowed me to build a verylarge book of business.
It's very, very.
(07:44):
You have to be very strategicwith your time, very strategic
with what you do with your time.
That's part of what we're goingto coach you up about and how
to do that.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Rick, I'm really glad you mentioned time there at the
end, because that was goingthrough my mind also.
It's just a real phenomenonthat as you work on larger
accounts and spin off smalleraccounts, ironically you'll have
more time, even as your, evenas your book grows right, the
more you develop a BOR mindsetand do less and less, if any,
(08:19):
quoting.
Ironically, you have more timeand your hit ratios go up and as
your book grows, you're finding, if you do it all really right,
that you actually have moretime to do some important things
.
So it's just a contrarian orwhatever are not intuitive
(08:39):
truism, but when you experienceit, it really works, true.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Now listen for your new producers out there.
You've been in the businessmaybe for a year or two, even
three.
You're going to sit there andsay, wow, my book isn't that big
yet.
We want to get you right awaybefore you develop some bad
habits, before you waste yourtime on not doing a service
handoff, that you become tooinvolved in service, that you
(09:03):
don't find out a way to manageyour calendar, that you don't
find a way to meet with yourclients on a regular basis in a
advisory, consultive way ratherthan an insurance salesperson
way.
All of a sudden you go from avendor somebody there to sell
insurance to a trusted advisor.
(09:25):
We want to try to put you inthat position.
That puts you in an entirelydifferent visual place with your
client than somebody who's avendor.
A vendor just comes and sellssomething and they leave.
It's a copy machine, it's aphone system.
A trusted advisor is their CPAand is their attorney.
It should be their insurancebroker.
We say this all the time, bythe way.
(09:46):
They're going to spend moremoney on their insurance, most
likely every year, than theywill with their CPA and their
attorney combined.
My last example would be littleaccounts.
I used to ensure backhoeoperators and every one of them
had a dump truck, a trailer anda backhoe they would go out and
dig ditches.
I'm not sure what they weredoing.
I was a young guy that wouldrun across this town and write
(10:07):
anybody, but they would call meup and say Gregson, I'm thinking
about buying a backhoe that'sthree years newer than my
current backhoe.
How much more is that going tocost me?
Oh God, now, if I have anybodyin that industry one of the
people on my service team justhey, by the way, jerry just
called me and he bought 10 newbackhows.
Oh great, he didn't call andsay how much is it going to cost
(10:30):
for each new backhoe?
They're much more sophisticatedbuyers and it's a much more
sophisticated relationship.
We can get you there.
It's a path, but we can get youthere.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Yeah, it's a path, paul.
Maybe Rick and I just took acircuitous path to your initial
question, but there's just a lotinvolved.
It's a process.
It's not that there aren'tsimple answers Sometimes the
answers are simple but theimplementation of them and
(11:04):
that's where a coaching program,I think, really really comes in
handy.
Hey, rick, you and I stillbenefit, and I know Christian
does too.
We still benefit from coachingprograms.
Oh, absolutely, I learned stufffrom you, matt.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
I learned stuff from Christian.
It's a process and, by the way,maybe we demonstrated to you
accidentally earlier in thisit's a process that can be fun.
We can have fun as coaches.
When it's no longer recording,we have a lot of fun, but when
it is recording, this is such agreat industry and if it's the
right industry for you, you area lucky person and we can work
(11:41):
our butts off and we can havefun doing it and we can make a
great career out of this and wecan help you do that.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
All right, guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode of
the Pre-Imantive Producerpodcast.
As the coaches alluded to morethan once, it is really
important to have a coach inyour corner.
That really will help shortenthe distance and time to success
and really being able to guideyou along and streamline the
whole process.
So if you'd like moreinformation on actually getting
(12:08):
coached by the coaches that youjust heard, check us out at
thepre-imantiveproducercom andfind out more about the
different coaching packages thatwe offer.
You can get coached by theseguys and, again, to shorten the
distance and time in yourjourney of becoming a
Pre-Imantive Producer.
Until next time, guys.
We'll see you in the nextepisode of the Pre-Imantive
Producer podcast.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Thanks so much for joining us on this episode of
the Pre-Imantive Producerpodcast.
If you're enjoying the show,please feel free to subscribe,
rate and leave a review whereveryou listen to your podcast.
That helps others find the showand we greatly appreciate it.
Once again, thanks for joiningus and we'll catch you in the
next episode of the Pre-ImantiveProducer podcast.
There was a question submitted of can I become a
preeminent producer with onlyhaving small accounts?
So that is the question thecoaches are going to be
addressing in this episode ofthe preeminent producer podcast.
Let's dive in.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Are you a commercial insurance producer struggling to
stand out from the competition?
Do you find it challenging togrow your book of business and
create a fulfilling career?
If so, then welcome to thepreeminent producer podcast.
Each week, we'll be tacklingimportant topics, sharing proven
strategies and insights fromsuccessful producers that are in
the trenches and have traveledthe journey to becoming a
(00:36):
preeminent producer.
You'll discover what it willtake to become preeminent and
build your book of business in away that isn't being taught
anywhere else.
Our hosts are experts in thefield and have built thriving
businesses by becoming the mosttrusted advisor to their clients
.
Welcome to your journey tobecoming a preeminent producer.
Let's dive in.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
You know it's really a good question.
I think the simple answer tothat is no, you really can't.
You know, the only diminishingasset that you have as a
producer is time, and if you'respending your time running
around with small accounts, whoare typically unsophisticated
not that they're bad, not thatthey're not not intelligent they
are but small accounts arenormally a person, a man or a
(01:20):
woman, who is wearing many hats.
They're the CEO, they're theCFO, they're out working in the
field, they're doing it all andthey really don't have enough
time to really spend with you.
So you're going to be chasingsmall accounts.
What we find and this is aquestion we get frequently that
there's a way to handle that,and preeminent producers really
(01:43):
focus on increasing theiraverage account size all the
time, and we can kind of walkyou through how that's done.
So I think what I really wantto tell you is in these podcasts
, what we're talking about is acoaching program that we really,
really love and we think youwould too.
There's nothing we're going tosay in this podcast or any one
(02:04):
podcast that will change yourlife.
This is a career.
This is something that we putyou, we hope.
Our goal here is to put you ona path to success, and that path
is going to take some twistsand turns.
It's going to have somedifferent things in it.
It's going to.
We're going to talk about how doyou get out of being a small
(02:25):
producer producer and into apreeminent producer.
How do you own your calendar,how do you take control of your
time.
We're going to talk about allthose things and try to give you
examples that if you put all ofthis stuff together, it will
change your life as a producerand it will put you on the path
of becoming a preeminentproducer.
(02:46):
That's our goal.
Matt has lived it.
I've lived it.
Christian who's not on ourcoaching call today has lived it
.
So we've done it.
We know how it's done.
We've done it ourselves andwe've coached other people in
our agencies, as agencyprincipals, how to do this.
So if you can join us, we cantell you, we can give you ideas
(03:07):
that over a period of time, willtake your small accounts and
turn them into larger accounts.
Your book of business will havefewer clients, fewer headaches,
you will do much less servicehopefully none and the average
account size will grow.
So what do you think, matt?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Well, yeah, you handled that really really well.
Oh good, Thank you.
Yeah, you didn't leave me muchto say.
I found myself nodding inagreement the whole time we were
talking.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
I thought you were nodding off.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Yeah, I'm fully capable of that.
Okay, paul, it's a really goodquestion.
I agree with Rick.
The simple, short answer is no.
But obviously what's small toone producer may not be small to
another producer.
I mean, I knew a guy many yearsago who I think I mentioned this
(03:58):
recently in one of the otherpodcasts who had eight accounts
which totaled over a million ingross commission.
Now to him a account bringingin $20,000 of annual commission,
he would have considered thatsmall and wasted his time or
whatever.
(04:18):
So it's kind of relative.
But the problem is but I'mgoing to attempt to define that
Okay, I would say realistically,if you're writing accounts that
generate less than 5,000, I'mtempted to say 10, but I'll go
with 5,000, you're going to havea hard time really becoming
preeminent and really buildingup a big book.
(04:39):
And there's a couple ofphenomena that Rick hinted at
there.
One of them was that and weprobably have all experienced
this the smaller accounts arejust less sophisticated,
certainly about insurance, oftenabout business in general, and
they can therefore become muchmore time consuming.
And you work with a little moreeducated, experienced insurance
(05:01):
buyer who's used to paying 20or 30,000 a year I'm sorry he's
paying premiums that wouldgenerate that kind of income for
us 20 or 30,000 a year.
They don't bother you as much.
Typically they know the answersand whatnot.
So there's that aspect.
So I think, rick, as youmentioned, it's a process here,
(05:25):
kind of a journey, and more thanwe can deal with in just a
quick podcast like this.
But part of the solution isclient segmentation really
identifying, knowing your bookof business and being willing to
set higher standards foryourself as time goes on and
(05:45):
even do something that's kind ofdifficult at first for people
and that is let go of some oftheir smaller accounts, have
somebody else in the agencyhandle those or whatnot, and
that's all stuff.
We can get into a lot moredetail as time goes on.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Right, matt.
The other thing I would suggestis producers you're there to
sell insurance.
You are not there to service.
If you get trapped in service,then you are on the path to be a
very average insurance producer, the kind of producer that has
a fairly small book of businessbut you're very involved in
(06:19):
service because it feels good.
It feels great Producerssometimes and if you be honest
with yourself, sometimes youhide in service.
You don't want to make thosecold calls, you don't want to go
out and go to that mixer, youdon't want to get out of the
community and network yourself.
A preeminent producer networksthemselves.
They do a service handoff.
(06:39):
They don't get involved inservice.
And I think, matt, you're rightwhen you write a larger account
.
So there was a time in my lifethat I would have said, Matt,
you're crazy.
$20,000 revenue.
Well, I'm at that point now andbeyond.
But to a new producer thatsounds crazy.
Matt is not suggesting that youdo that tomorrow.
(07:00):
We're saying that that's whatyou aspire to and we'll put you
on a stair step on how to dothat.
We'll give you some tools andtricks and things to do.
But I think the best thing youcan do for yourself is try
everything you can to getyourself out of service and into
sales, and we can give you somereally good tips on how to do
that, how you're still involvedwith your account on a regular
(07:23):
basis.
In my situation, I'll just dothis really quickly here.
I don't take changes onpolicies.
I don't do any of that kind ofstuff.
They don't call me when theyneed a certificate of insurance.
My team handles all of that andit leaves me time to sell and
it's allowed me to build a verylarge book of business.
It's very, very.
(07:44):
You have to be very strategicwith your time, very strategic
with what you do with your time.
That's part of what we're goingto coach you up about and how
to do that.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Rick, I'm really glad you mentioned time there at the
end, because that was goingthrough my mind also.
It's just a real phenomenonthat as you work on larger
accounts and spin off smalleraccounts, ironically you'll have
more time, even as your, evenas your book grows right, the
more you develop a BOR mindsetand do less and less, if any,
(08:19):
quoting.
Ironically, you have more timeand your hit ratios go up and as
your book grows, you're finding, if you do it all really right,
that you actually have moretime to do some important things
.
So it's just a contrarian orwhatever are not intuitive
(08:39):
truism, but when you experienceit, it really works, true.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Now listen for your new producers out there.
You've been in the businessmaybe for a year or two, even
three.
You're going to sit there andsay, wow, my book isn't that big
yet.
We want to get you right awaybefore you develop some bad
habits, before you waste yourtime on not doing a service
handoff, that you become tooinvolved in service, that you
(09:03):
don't find out a way to manageyour calendar, that you don't
find a way to meet with yourclients on a regular basis in a
advisory, consultive way ratherthan an insurance salesperson
way.
All of a sudden you go from avendor somebody there to sell
insurance to a trusted advisor.
(09:25):
We want to try to put you inthat position.
That puts you in an entirelydifferent visual place with your
client than somebody who's avendor.
A vendor just comes and sellssomething and they leave.
It's a copy machine, it's aphone system.
A trusted advisor is their CPAand is their attorney.
It should be their insurancebroker.
We say this all the time, bythe way.
(09:46):
They're going to spend moremoney on their insurance, most
likely every year, than theywill with their CPA and their
attorney combined.
My last example would be littleaccounts.
I used to ensure backhoeoperators and every one of them
had a dump truck, a trailer anda backhoe they would go out and
dig ditches.
I'm not sure what they weredoing.
I was a young guy that wouldrun across this town and write
(10:07):
anybody, but they would call meup and say Gregson, I'm thinking
about buying a backhoe that'sthree years newer than my
current backhoe.
How much more is that going tocost me?
Oh God, now, if I have anybodyin that industry one of the
people on my service team justhey, by the way, jerry just
called me and he bought 10 newbackhows.
Oh great, he didn't call andsay how much is it going to cost
(10:30):
for each new backhoe?
They're much more sophisticatedbuyers and it's a much more
sophisticated relationship.
We can get you there.
It's a path, but we can get youthere.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Yeah, it's a path, paul.
Maybe Rick and I just took acircuitous path to your initial
question, but there's just a lotinvolved.
It's a process.
It's not that there aren'tsimple answers Sometimes the
answers are simple but theimplementation of them and
(11:04):
that's where a coaching program,I think, really really comes in
handy.
Hey, rick, you and I stillbenefit, and I know Christian
does too.
We still benefit from coachingprograms.
Oh, absolutely, I learned stufffrom you, matt.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
I learned stuff from Christian.
It's a process and, by the way,maybe we demonstrated to you
accidentally earlier in thisit's a process that can be fun.
We can have fun as coaches.
When it's no longer recording,we have a lot of fun, but when
it is recording, this is such agreat industry and if it's the
right industry for you, you area lucky person and we can work
(11:41):
our butts off and we can havefun doing it and we can make a
great career out of this and wecan help you do that.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
All right, guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode of
the Pre-Imantive Producerpodcast.
As the coaches alluded to morethan once, it is really
important to have a coach inyour corner.
That really will help shortenthe distance and time to success
and really being able to guideyou along and streamline the
whole process.
So if you'd like moreinformation on actually getting
(12:08):
coached by the coaches that youjust heard, check us out at
thepre-imantiveproducercom andfind out more about the
different coaching packages thatwe offer.
You can get coached by theseguys and, again, to shorten the
distance and time in yourjourney of becoming a
Pre-Imantive Producer.
Until next time, guys.
We'll see you in the nextepisode of the Pre-Imantive
Producer podcast.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Thanks so much for joining us on this episode of
the Pre-Imantive Producerpodcast.
If you're enjoying the show,please feel free to subscribe,
rate and leave a review whereveryou listen to your podcast.
That helps others find the showand we greatly appreciate it.
Once again, thanks for joiningus and we'll catch you in the
next episode of the Pre-ImantiveProducer podcast.
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