May 31, 2024 • 18 mins
In today's episode of The Preeminent Producer Podcast, we are talking about when to say "no" to an opportunity. Let's dive in!
...
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/
Also, check us out on Youtube: / @thepreeminentproducer
...
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/
Also, check us out on Youtube: / @thepreeminentproducer
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's going on, guys ?
Welcome to another episode ofthe Preeminent Producer Podcast.
Today, the coaches are going todive into the topic of the
power of saying no and when isthe right time to actually say
no.
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 reallytakes 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 (00:58):
So I think one of the biggest challenges that new
producers face is knowing whento say no to an opportunity.
I know I struggled with thatand even sometimes now I
struggle with it and I need tocheck myself to say, you know,
is this opportunity a goodopportunity and one that we want
(01:20):
to invest time and effort andmoney into going after?
And so I had a situation theother day that is an example of
what I'm talking about.
It was a business that wasreferred to us by a trusted
source, and let me just stop bysaying we have had businesses
(01:42):
referred to us or opportunitiesreferred to us by competing
brokers, which I hope that youknow throws off some red flags
to a new producer, like why inthe world would our competitor
be sending this person to us forinsurance?
And typically there's only one.
Well, there's most reasons.
Are they?
They just don't want to dealwith it?
Or two, they want you to spinyour wheels and go after
(02:03):
something when they're graftingsomething of yours.
But anyway, I digress.
So in this particular case, wewere.
This client, potential clientwas referred to us and on the
face of it, you know, it lookslike a good opportunity from a
new producer's perspective,because it, you know, is a large
property risk.
So therefore there's somepremium, which means there's
(02:25):
some commission involved.
And so, you know, the initialresponse is, yeah, we'll
definitely go after it.
Sure, well, you know, we'llhelp you out.
But the questions then become OK, who's your current provider?
Well, I don't have insurancenow.
Well, how long have you been inbusiness?
I've been in business 20 someyears.
(02:45):
Okay, so what happened?
And it's that kind of slowingdown to find out.
Okay, why is this thing anurgent matter for this
prospective client?
Why is his urgency now becomingours?
Or is it a situation thatperhaps maybe he didn't pay his
insurance premium, maybe he nowhas tenants and he didn't carry
(03:07):
insurance, the place is vacant.
So now he's got to all of asudden produce coverage, which,
if that's the case and I'm notsaying that is the case, but if
it is the case we may be nowplaying in the surplus lines
market, which isn't a bad thing,but it's a lot of spinning of
wheels and we may get it when wego into the surplus lines
(03:27):
market.
Yes, we get commission, but itdoesn't go towards feeding our
lifeblood agent, our carriersand our contingencies.
So, again, as a new producer,how do I want to spend my time?
Do I want to invest my timegoing after business that I know
meets our carrier's appetites,that I know provides some
(03:49):
additional incentives or bonuseson the back end to the agency
that would benefit our agency?
Or do I just want to takeanything that comes across my
desk and so I guess what I'mbabbling about is new producers
to make sure you take the timewhen business comes directly to
you and it's not something thatyou vetted, that you're going
(04:11):
after.
You know you've already doneyour homework because we've
talked before and you're goingand they're coming after you now
.
What's the reasoning behind it?
Ok, it Okay, and just becareful, because when we do spin
our wheels as as producers, ittakes away obviously from our
(04:33):
time that we can put towardsother good business and, as
we've talked about, uh, choosingour clients that we want to
partner with so that we have along, fruitful, enjoyable career
in this business.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
You know, christian uh, a great topic that you bring
up, and I think you mentioned abrand new producer starting out
.
It's a difficult thing to sayno to anybody, and I remember I
did it myself.
You shoot at anything thatmoves at first because you're
just desperate to get someaction going, but it has a lot
(05:03):
of implications knowing when tosay no.
Rick, one thing you've broughtup frequently is the concept of
controlling your time,controlling your calendar, and
that's actually helped mepersonally reinforce that and
I've really been a lot betterabout that over the last year or
so.
And so sometimes you got to sayno the last year or so, and so
(05:27):
sometimes you got to say no justbecause it's not fitting with
your calendar or whatnot.
And then we even share onequick story with you guys.
We even from time to time ifyou've been in this business
long enough we even say no to acurrent client, and by saying no
I mean we ask them to gosomewhere else once in a while,
not often, but once in a while.
(05:47):
You have to do it, and I'llshare a quick story with you.
This is kind of an extremeexample, but many, many years
ago I had a particular client, agood-sized workers' comp
account brought in a lot ofrevenue to my agency and we had
a dispute.
The client had a dispute withthe rating bureau about his
classifications and he gave me alot of information real
(06:11):
detailed information aboutreally what his business was and
what his employees were doing,what their functions were, and
it was a little bit complexaccount.
He gave me a lot of information.
Turns out it was misinformationintentional.
He was basically trying toutilize my expertise I was
negotiating hard with the Bureauand doing some good work on his
(06:34):
behalf.
He was trying to use myexpertise to perpetrate fraud on
the state rating Bureau and Ifound that out through a
different channel and it wasindisputable.
So obviously I asked him to getanother broker.
I didn't want to be involved inanything like that, even though
(06:54):
it was a big account.
So this concept of knowing whento say no has a lot of
different kind of faces to it.
And one last thing that occursto me is I know you guys have
talked before about the conceptof the best day to lose an
account is the first day orsomething like that.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Well that it's an account or a boat, we don't know
, but we think it's the accounts.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
And anyway, we've probably all found ourselves in
the situation we should be oncein a while for doing our job
correctly in that first meetingwith a prospect.
There are going to be timesthat you realize this is time to
walk away and not get involvedwith it for one reason or
another.
That's true.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Yeah.
So I'm sorry, rick, I justwanted to also jump in real
quick and then I'll be quiet asyou speak.
I think it's also important toknow kind of how to say no,
because thinking about saying noit has a negative, very
negative, just by nature has anegative connotation to it.
And again, I've been there, I'mstill there.
(08:05):
There are times where I thinkwe can write everything and
anything and I have to checkmyself.
I have to do what I'm sayingand say is this really?
The dollar signs are great asfar as commission income, but is
it really an account that Iwant to partner with that is
(08:25):
going to benefit us and my teamand everyone involved, because
it's not just one personinvolved with writing an account
, obviously.
So my point here is it alsohappens in our personal lines
and I've seen it happen,probably more in personal than
commercial, but it does happenin commercial and in personal.
(08:46):
I can tell the listeners withabsolute, 100% certainty that,
depending on how you say no, ifyou say no appropriately, it can
actually pay in spades back toyou, and that may sound strange,
but, for example, in personallines, this happened the other
day where we had an opportunityto try to help someone out again
(09:08):
and our carriers weresignificantly off the mark with
what this particular clientneeded and as much as we wanted
to help them, we told the clientwe want to help you, but it's
in your best interest to contactor try to get to XYZ insurance
(09:31):
company.
And the client actually tookthat as a true professional,
knowing when to say no andcoming to them and saying I'm
not trying to take advantage ofyou in this situation of need.
I'm trying to give you the bestadvice and sometimes the best
advice is that we may not haveyou as a client, but I will
(09:54):
sleep well at night by tellingyou this.
And that's what ourrepresentative told the person.
The person came back, actuallysent me an email and said I just
want you to know howprofessional this person was and
greatly appreciate it.
So I know we'll get somebusiness from that person or
their friends or what have you,because we did the right thing.
So sometimes saying no is alsothe right thing in general for
(10:17):
the client.
So sorry, rick.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Oh, no problem, You're right, we probably all
get those telephone calls thatfor someone shopping for
insurance it's below yourminimum account size.
But you should have a minimumaccount size and I just don't
want to mess with it.
It has no account potential.
But I just don't want to justsay go away.
So what I've done?
I've memorized the telephonenumber for one of my competitors
(10:42):
and I say to them why don't youcall these people?
And I give them the telephonenumber.
But because we just don't havemarkets for smaller accounts
like this, we're going to end upcharging you too much money and
I don't want to do that.
You don't want to do thateither.
Call them and if they don'thave a market for you, call me
back, I will find somebody foryou.
So that's great.
(11:02):
The other thing, when you don'tsay no and I had this with my
team recently somebody called us.
They were being non-renewed.
They gave us five days notice.
So their broker has got adumpster fire going on here.
If we get involved in thatfreight now we have a dumpster
fire.
I mean because if they say mybroker has no markets for us,
(11:27):
guess what?
We're on the hook.
So we step away from thosethings as quickly as we possibly
can.
The other thing that youmentioned it is the best day to
lose a sale is the first day,and it's kind of
counterintuitive to some of youyoung producers like wait, I
want to go ahead and tell themhow great we are.
I want to tell them I give goodservice.
I want to tell them all thatcrap that we used to tell
(11:50):
everybody.
I want to waste my time.
I want to spend two weeks onthis and have the guy roll me at
the end.
So no, no, no and Matt, yousaid it in that first
appointment your firstappointment is not to try to
sell insurance.
That's not what it's for.
It's try to build arelationship.
It's try to interview them also.
Are they going to be a goodcandidate for you?
(12:10):
Do they meet your minimumaccount size?
Do they look like people thatare going to be easy to work
with?
Are they going to be the kindof client that really respects
your professional advice andyour counsel or not?
So they're interviewing you asthey should.
What's in it for me?
Why should they buy insurancefrom you?
They're interviewing you asthey should.
What's in it for me?
Why should they buy insurancefrom you?
And you're interviewing them tosee if they meet the criteria
of a client that you want tohave.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
So, in essence, in saying yes to everyone, you
devalue yourself, you devalueyour profession, you devalue
your agency, you devalue yourbrand, which is counterintuitive
because you know we want to beeverything for everyone, we want
(12:53):
everyone coming through ourdoors, but you got to know when
to say no because it devaluesyou and I think that's a.
It's really hard.
It's really hard as a newproducer because, as we've said,
you know you're beating thebushes.
You need income.
We've talked about on priorpodcasts reasons.
You know what's your, why, whydo you do this?
(13:15):
And I talked about four of mineand it's to make money.
And so when I turn someone away, personally I look at that as
that I just bite myself in thetail.
But slowing down and reallyanalyzing the opportunity before
committing and saying yes, Ithink is so important and if you
can get into that habit, you'rejust going to have a stellar,
(13:37):
stellar career.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
Yeah, one of our young team members said
something a couple of weeks agoyou only say yes to the best.
I thought that's a great slogan.
You only say yes to the best.
I thought that's a great slogan.
You only say yes to the bestthings.
Everything else is a no.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Yeah, that's really good.
What you guys are saying is sotrue.
We think about our own careers.
You probably have similarexperience to mine.
There was a time when thingswere going good and I was in my
prime and really you know andeverything.
And there's an insidious dangerof that in that you start
thinking you can sell anyaccount and maybe you haven't
(14:14):
taken the time to analyze aparticular prospect like you
should.
And again, and you realize, oh,here's a couple of red flags of
this and that.
But you know I think I can turnit around and you know I'm
going to.
You know we probably have allwasted, you know, quite a bit of
time over the years doing that.
You know, before you learn,okay, you just, you just got to
walk away and say no if it's notmeeting the criteria that
(14:36):
you've, that you've set youspeak it.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Just I started thinking about you know, Rick
said I love that, say yes to thebest, because you know, getting
into an account there's winnersand losers, and so you know.
One question to maybe askyourself is okay, this person's
coming to me, kind of telling methat they need me, need me,
(15:03):
need me and they need me in sucha short time period.
That's all great and feels good, but someone on the other end
is going to lose this account.
So why are they okay with it?
And that's not always the case.
I'm sure there's exceptions.
But the reason why that stickswith me and I think is an
(15:23):
important concept for newproducers is again, as we talk
about it, if you're going aftera specific manufacturer, you've
done your research.
You're going after them.
Their agent's going to try tohold tight on that account.
We have helped you.
If you've been listening to ourpodcast and listened to us
moving forward.
We've given you the tools tobreak that relationship.
(15:44):
We've given you the tools tobreak that relationship.
We've given you the ways to getin and fight the fight, knock
them out, and now you have theclient that that other agent's
trying to protect.
Now you have that client toprotect so you have the best.
And that's really, I think,what being a producer, a
professional you know goodinsurance producer being the
(16:07):
best is being able to go afterthat, go after the good business
and win it, which does mean youhave to say no many times to
people that are just coming atyou.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
Sure, I think one of the things that every viewer
should remember is we areproducers and we've had long
producer careers and I know inthe agency a young producer will
come up to me and say, hey, didyou ever make this mistake?
And I won't even let him finishthis.
Yes, I did Absolutely.
Whatever you're going to ask,whatever foolish thing you're
going to ask me, yes, I've doneit.
(16:41):
And I think when you getcoaching from us or for anyone
in any career, you want to talkto people who have learned from
their mistakes, who have said Ididn't say no often enough.
I said yes all the time.
So you know, Christians madethose mistakes, Maths, I've made
those, we've made those.
So we're trying to teacheverybody from the bonehead
(17:02):
things that we did and hopefullywe can short circuit and you
won't make the mistakes as oftenand you'll become a preeminent
producer even faster.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
All right, guys.
I hope you enjoyed that.
I hope it gives you new insighton when to say no.
If you guys would like moreinformation about what we do
inside of the preeminentproducer programs, please visit
us at the preeminent producercom.
Check out the differentcoaching programs where you can
personally be coached by thecoaches that you hear on this
podcast.
Until next time, guys.
We'll see you in the nextepisode of the preeminent
(17:33):
producer podcast.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Thanks so much for joining us on this episode of
the preeminent producer podcast.
If you're enjoying the show,please feel free to subscribe,
rate and leave a review whereveryou listen to your podcasts.
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 PreeminentProducer Podcast.
What's going on, guys ?
Welcome to another episode ofthe Preeminent Producer Podcast.
Today, the coaches are going todive into the topic of the
power of saying no and when isthe right time to actually say
no.
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 reallytakes 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 (00:58):
So I think one of the biggest challenges that new
producers face is knowing whento say no to an opportunity.
I know I struggled with thatand even sometimes now I
struggle with it and I need tocheck myself to say, you know,
is this opportunity a goodopportunity and one that we want
(01:20):
to invest time and effort andmoney into going after?
And so I had a situation theother day that is an example of
what I'm talking about.
It was a business that wasreferred to us by a trusted
source, and let me just stop bysaying we have had businesses
(01:42):
referred to us or opportunitiesreferred to us by competing
brokers, which I hope that youknow throws off some red flags
to a new producer, like why inthe world would our competitor
be sending this person to us forinsurance?
And typically there's only one.
Well, there's most reasons.
Are they?
They just don't want to dealwith it?
Or two, they want you to spinyour wheels and go after
(02:03):
something when they're graftingsomething of yours.
But anyway, I digress.
So in this particular case, wewere.
This client, potential clientwas referred to us and on the
face of it, you know, it lookslike a good opportunity from a
new producer's perspective,because it, you know, is a large
property risk.
So therefore there's somepremium, which means there's
(02:25):
some commission involved.
And so, you know, the initialresponse is, yeah, we'll
definitely go after it.
Sure, well, you know, we'llhelp you out.
But the questions then become OK, who's your current provider?
Well, I don't have insurancenow.
Well, how long have you been inbusiness?
I've been in business 20 someyears.
(02:45):
Okay, so what happened?
And it's that kind of slowingdown to find out.
Okay, why is this thing anurgent matter for this
prospective client?
Why is his urgency now becomingours?
Or is it a situation thatperhaps maybe he didn't pay his
insurance premium, maybe he nowhas tenants and he didn't carry
(03:07):
insurance, the place is vacant.
So now he's got to all of asudden produce coverage, which,
if that's the case and I'm notsaying that is the case, but if
it is the case we may be nowplaying in the surplus lines
market, which isn't a bad thing,but it's a lot of spinning of
wheels and we may get it when wego into the surplus lines
(03:27):
market.
Yes, we get commission, but itdoesn't go towards feeding our
lifeblood agent, our carriersand our contingencies.
So, again, as a new producer,how do I want to spend my time?
Do I want to invest my timegoing after business that I know
meets our carrier's appetites,that I know provides some
(03:49):
additional incentives or bonuseson the back end to the agency
that would benefit our agency?
Or do I just want to takeanything that comes across my
desk and so I guess what I'mbabbling about is new producers
to make sure you take the timewhen business comes directly to
you and it's not something thatyou vetted, that you're going
(04:11):
after.
You know you've already doneyour homework because we've
talked before and you're goingand they're coming after you now
.
What's the reasoning behind it?
Ok, it Okay, and just becareful, because when we do spin
our wheels as as producers, ittakes away obviously from our
(04:33):
time that we can put towardsother good business and, as
we've talked about, uh, choosingour clients that we want to
partner with so that we have along, fruitful, enjoyable career
in this business.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
You know, christian uh, a great topic that you bring
up, and I think you mentioned abrand new producer starting out
.
It's a difficult thing to sayno to anybody, and I remember I
did it myself.
You shoot at anything thatmoves at first because you're
just desperate to get someaction going, but it has a lot
(05:03):
of implications knowing when tosay no.
Rick, one thing you've broughtup frequently is the concept of
controlling your time,controlling your calendar, and
that's actually helped mepersonally reinforce that and
I've really been a lot betterabout that over the last year or
so.
And so sometimes you got to sayno the last year or so, and so
(05:27):
sometimes you got to say no justbecause it's not fitting with
your calendar or whatnot.
And then we even share onequick story with you guys.
We even from time to time ifyou've been in this business
long enough we even say no to acurrent client, and by saying no
I mean we ask them to gosomewhere else once in a while,
not often, but once in a while.
(05:47):
You have to do it, and I'llshare a quick story with you.
This is kind of an extremeexample, but many, many years
ago I had a particular client, agood-sized workers' comp
account brought in a lot ofrevenue to my agency and we had
a dispute.
The client had a dispute withthe rating bureau about his
classifications and he gave me alot of information real
(06:11):
detailed information aboutreally what his business was and
what his employees were doing,what their functions were, and
it was a little bit complexaccount.
He gave me a lot of information.
Turns out it was misinformationintentional.
He was basically trying toutilize my expertise I was
negotiating hard with the Bureauand doing some good work on his
(06:34):
behalf.
He was trying to use myexpertise to perpetrate fraud on
the state rating Bureau and Ifound that out through a
different channel and it wasindisputable.
So obviously I asked him to getanother broker.
I didn't want to be involved inanything like that, even though
(06:54):
it was a big account.
So this concept of knowing whento say no has a lot of
different kind of faces to it.
And one last thing that occursto me is I know you guys have
talked before about the conceptof the best day to lose an
account is the first day orsomething like that.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Well that it's an account or a boat, we don't know
, but we think it's the accounts.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
And anyway, we've probably all found ourselves in
the situation we should be oncein a while for doing our job
correctly in that first meetingwith a prospect.
There are going to be timesthat you realize this is time to
walk away and not get involvedwith it for one reason or
another.
That's true.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Yeah.
So I'm sorry, rick, I justwanted to also jump in real
quick and then I'll be quiet asyou speak.
I think it's also important toknow kind of how to say no,
because thinking about saying noit has a negative, very
negative, just by nature has anegative connotation to it.
And again, I've been there, I'mstill there.
(08:05):
There are times where I thinkwe can write everything and
anything and I have to checkmyself.
I have to do what I'm sayingand say is this really?
The dollar signs are great asfar as commission income, but is
it really an account that Iwant to partner with that is
(08:25):
going to benefit us and my teamand everyone involved, because
it's not just one personinvolved with writing an account
, obviously.
So my point here is it alsohappens in our personal lines
and I've seen it happen,probably more in personal than
commercial, but it does happenin commercial and in personal.
(08:46):
I can tell the listeners withabsolute, 100% certainty that,
depending on how you say no, ifyou say no appropriately, it can
actually pay in spades back toyou, and that may sound strange,
but, for example, in personallines, this happened the other
day where we had an opportunityto try to help someone out again
(09:08):
and our carriers weresignificantly off the mark with
what this particular clientneeded and as much as we wanted
to help them, we told the clientwe want to help you, but it's
in your best interest to contactor try to get to XYZ insurance
(09:31):
company.
And the client actually tookthat as a true professional,
knowing when to say no andcoming to them and saying I'm
not trying to take advantage ofyou in this situation of need.
I'm trying to give you the bestadvice and sometimes the best
advice is that we may not haveyou as a client, but I will
(09:54):
sleep well at night by tellingyou this.
And that's what ourrepresentative told the person.
The person came back, actuallysent me an email and said I just
want you to know howprofessional this person was and
greatly appreciate it.
So I know we'll get somebusiness from that person or
their friends or what have you,because we did the right thing.
So sometimes saying no is alsothe right thing in general for
(10:17):
the client.
So sorry, rick.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Oh, no problem, You're right, we probably all
get those telephone calls thatfor someone shopping for
insurance it's below yourminimum account size.
But you should have a minimumaccount size and I just don't
want to mess with it.
It has no account potential.
But I just don't want to justsay go away.
So what I've done?
I've memorized the telephonenumber for one of my competitors
(10:42):
and I say to them why don't youcall these people?
And I give them the telephonenumber.
But because we just don't havemarkets for smaller accounts
like this, we're going to end upcharging you too much money and
I don't want to do that.
You don't want to do thateither.
Call them and if they don'thave a market for you, call me
back, I will find somebody foryou.
So that's great.
(11:02):
The other thing, when you don'tsay no and I had this with my
team recently somebody called us.
They were being non-renewed.
They gave us five days notice.
So their broker has got adumpster fire going on here.
If we get involved in thatfreight now we have a dumpster
fire.
I mean because if they say mybroker has no markets for us,
(11:27):
guess what?
We're on the hook.
So we step away from thosethings as quickly as we possibly
can.
The other thing that youmentioned it is the best day to
lose a sale is the first day,and it's kind of
counterintuitive to some of youyoung producers like wait, I
want to go ahead and tell themhow great we are.
I want to tell them I give goodservice.
I want to tell them all thatcrap that we used to tell
(11:50):
everybody.
I want to waste my time.
I want to spend two weeks onthis and have the guy roll me at
the end.
So no, no, no and Matt, yousaid it in that first
appointment your firstappointment is not to try to
sell insurance.
That's not what it's for.
It's try to build arelationship.
It's try to interview them also.
Are they going to be a goodcandidate for you?
(12:10):
Do they meet your minimumaccount size?
Do they look like people thatare going to be easy to work
with?
Are they going to be the kindof client that really respects
your professional advice andyour counsel or not?
So they're interviewing you asthey should.
What's in it for me?
Why should they buy insurancefrom you?
They're interviewing you asthey should.
What's in it for me?
Why should they buy insurancefrom you?
And you're interviewing them tosee if they meet the criteria
of a client that you want tohave.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
So, in essence, in saying yes to everyone, you
devalue yourself, you devalueyour profession, you devalue
your agency, you devalue yourbrand, which is counterintuitive
because you know we want to beeverything for everyone, we want
(12:53):
everyone coming through ourdoors, but you got to know when
to say no because it devaluesyou and I think that's a.
It's really hard.
It's really hard as a newproducer because, as we've said,
you know you're beating thebushes.
You need income.
We've talked about on priorpodcasts reasons.
You know what's your, why, whydo you do this?
(13:15):
And I talked about four of mineand it's to make money.
And so when I turn someone away, personally I look at that as
that I just bite myself in thetail.
But slowing down and reallyanalyzing the opportunity before
committing and saying yes, Ithink is so important and if you
can get into that habit, you'rejust going to have a stellar,
(13:37):
stellar career.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
Yeah, one of our young team members said
something a couple of weeks agoyou only say yes to the best.
I thought that's a great slogan.
You only say yes to the best.
I thought that's a great slogan.
You only say yes to the bestthings.
Everything else is a no.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Yeah, that's really good.
What you guys are saying is sotrue.
We think about our own careers.
You probably have similarexperience to mine.
There was a time when thingswere going good and I was in my
prime and really you know andeverything.
And there's an insidious dangerof that in that you start
thinking you can sell anyaccount and maybe you haven't
(14:14):
taken the time to analyze aparticular prospect like you
should.
And again, and you realize, oh,here's a couple of red flags of
this and that.
But you know I think I can turnit around and you know I'm
going to.
You know we probably have allwasted, you know, quite a bit of
time over the years doing that.
You know, before you learn,okay, you just, you just got to
walk away and say no if it's notmeeting the criteria that
(14:36):
you've, that you've set youspeak it.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Just I started thinking about you know, Rick
said I love that, say yes to thebest, because you know, getting
into an account there's winnersand losers, and so you know.
One question to maybe askyourself is okay, this person's
coming to me, kind of telling methat they need me, need me,
(15:03):
need me and they need me in sucha short time period.
That's all great and feels good, but someone on the other end
is going to lose this account.
So why are they okay with it?
And that's not always the case.
I'm sure there's exceptions.
But the reason why that stickswith me and I think is an
(15:23):
important concept for newproducers is again, as we talk
about it, if you're going aftera specific manufacturer, you've
done your research.
You're going after them.
Their agent's going to try tohold tight on that account.
We have helped you.
If you've been listening to ourpodcast and listened to us
moving forward.
We've given you the tools tobreak that relationship.
(15:44):
We've given you the tools tobreak that relationship.
We've given you the ways to getin and fight the fight, knock
them out, and now you have theclient that that other agent's
trying to protect.
Now you have that client toprotect so you have the best.
And that's really, I think,what being a producer, a
professional you know goodinsurance producer being the
(16:07):
best is being able to go afterthat, go after the good business
and win it, which does mean youhave to say no many times to
people that are just coming atyou.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
Sure, I think one of the things that every viewer
should remember is we areproducers and we've had long
producer careers and I know inthe agency a young producer will
come up to me and say, hey, didyou ever make this mistake?
And I won't even let him finishthis.
Yes, I did Absolutely.
Whatever you're going to ask,whatever foolish thing you're
going to ask me, yes, I've doneit.
(16:41):
And I think when you getcoaching from us or for anyone
in any career, you want to talkto people who have learned from
their mistakes, who have said Ididn't say no often enough.
I said yes all the time.
So you know, Christians madethose mistakes, Maths, I've made
those, we've made those.
So we're trying to teacheverybody from the bonehead
(17:02):
things that we did and hopefullywe can short circuit and you
won't make the mistakes as oftenand you'll become a preeminent
producer even faster.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
All right, guys.
I hope you enjoyed that.
I hope it gives you new insighton when to say no.
If you guys would like moreinformation about what we do
inside of the preeminentproducer programs, please visit
us at the preeminent producercom.
Check out the differentcoaching programs where you can
personally be coached by thecoaches that you hear on this
podcast.
Until next time, guys.
We'll see you in the nextepisode of the preeminent
(17:33):
producer podcast.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Thanks so much for joining us on this episode of
the preeminent producer podcast.
If you're enjoying the show,please feel free to subscribe,
rate and leave a review whereveryou listen to your podcasts.
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 PreeminentProducer Podcast.
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