August 7, 2025 • 30 mins
Most business leaders treat insurance like a checkbox—until it becomes their biggest blind spot. In this episode of the Business Roundtable Podcast, David W. Carr sits down with Dillon Hawkins of HUB International to tackle the topic nobody talks about—but everyone needs to understand.
This isn’t a boring breakdown of policy types. It’s a candid conversation about how your insurance strategy reflects your leadership, your culture, and your future readiness.
Dillon shares the behind-the-scenes view on how brokers really pitch your business to carriers, the questions leaders should be asking (but usually aren’t), and how insurance can actually become a competitive advantage when it’s used proactively.
Whether you’re a founder, operator, or HR lead, this episode will challenge how you think about risk—and show you how to stop leaving your business exposed.
In this episode:
Connect with Dillon Hawkins of HUB Fort Worth
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dillon-hawkins-hubintl/
Subscribe to the Business Roundtable Podcast
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/business-roundtable--6049255/support.
Watch more episodes on YouTube and subscribe here:
https://www.youtube.com/@steward_your_business
Connect with Steward Your Business:
Website: https://stewardyourbusiness.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwcarr
This isn’t a boring breakdown of policy types. It’s a candid conversation about how your insurance strategy reflects your leadership, your culture, and your future readiness.
Dillon shares the behind-the-scenes view on how brokers really pitch your business to carriers, the questions leaders should be asking (but usually aren’t), and how insurance can actually become a competitive advantage when it’s used proactively.
Whether you’re a founder, operator, or HR lead, this episode will challenge how you think about risk—and show you how to stop leaving your business exposed.
In this episode:
- The “narrative” your broker presents to underwriters—and why it matters
- How to shift from reactive renewals to proactive strategy
- Hidden gaps in coverage that could cost you everything
- Why most insurance advisors don’t ask the right questions—and how Dillon does
- The power of true collaboration between leaders, consultants, and insurance pros
Connect with Dillon Hawkins of HUB Fort Worth
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dillon-hawkins-hubintl/
Subscribe to the Business Roundtable Podcast
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/business-roundtable--6049255/support.
Watch more episodes on YouTube and subscribe here:
https://www.youtube.com/@steward_your_business
Connect with Steward Your Business:
Website: https://stewardyourbusiness.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwcarr
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
All right, welcome back to the Business Roundtable podcast. I
am your host, David Carr of Stuard your Business where
we bring great people together to accomplish amazing things. And
we have an amazing guest here, Dylan Hawkins, another colleague
from Success Champions Network. You guys know that I'm a
big part of that network and have met some amazing people.
Dylan has coming on and he's going to share us
(00:54):
at his experience on insurance, but we're going to get
it in a different way. He's got a wealth of
experience of commercial insurance broker. I know that may not
be super exciting, but we're actually going to go in
and that make us fun. From crashes to come back.
How do we protect your business before it becomes too late? Dylan,
Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
David, thank you for letting me, Thank you for letting
me join today.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I'm humbled beyond absolutely so, Dylan.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I like to always start our podcast with our guests,
especially new guests that are coming on, to give us
a little bit of background before we jump into the
topic of insurance.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Why it is so important.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
But you know what got you into this space. You're
with Hub International now and you know, just take us
back a little bit of your journey as a man
in business and stepping into this particular arena.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Yeah, of course, so I'll take you back. I'm from Aledo, Texas.
I played football many many months ago, and I was
fortunate to play at the collegiate level at a Division
two school called linden Wood at Lyndon Wood, I originally
wanted to be a coach, and so I have undergrad
(02:05):
and sport management and then I have my master's in
supply chain management. And backstory before, while I was working
on my master's, like I told you, I wanted to
be a coach, and so I was. I was a
grad assistant. I was coaching my former teammates and I
was loving it. But I realized very quickly how difficult
(02:28):
that lifestyle is, both on your families and just the
time commitment in that space, and so I.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Quickly kind of changed.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
And my father in law worked for FedEx, and so
I was wanting to get a job with the FedEx team.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
And so that's why I got my master's in supply
chain management.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
And then the FedEx gig did not work out, which
was a blessing in disguise, and so I got hired
on coming out of college with JB. Hunt and which
is a big supply chain company. There's four different divisions
within JA behind I was on what they call the
DCS side, the dedicated contract services side, and so I
worked there for three years out of college and I loved.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
What I did.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
I kind of worked my way into a leadership role
where I was on site with our customer, Chicken Express.
It was our customer at the time, and so I
had a fleet of twenty six truck drivers, three supervisors
and I ran ran that operation, did all the p
and LS on site with the customer. It taught me
a ton of what it's like to own the business.
What I explained to people was I was pretty much
(03:30):
the business owner of that operation without the investment, and
so it was.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It was awesome.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
I loved being able to get on an account and
see some weaknesses, see some strengths, and really start targeting
those weaknesses and then seeing that you know, directly correlate
in the p and L statements over the months to come.
Seeing that positive impact was just intoxicate for me.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Honestly, I loved it.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
And then after three years there to get into the
role I'm at now. I've got a brother that works
on the employee benefits side of our company, and he
had keep He kept trying to pull me away from
my transportation business for years and then finally took an
(04:18):
interview and the rest was history.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Started starting my career completely over. UH took a large pay.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Cut, and here we are, so UH there there were
many bumps and bridges like what you alluded to on
the way. But you know, I've been been in this
UH career now for six and a half years and
I'm super fortunate to UH to have founder whenever.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I did well, I'm great grateful you're here, Dylan. I'm
excited you. You mentioned you have a diverse background literally
the grid iron going and playing sports, and and I
think you know, having this unique background with that and
then and then playing into this whole supply chain, you know,
literally dispatching eighteen wheelers in the high stakes of client
(05:02):
support and all of the logistics there. I feel like
you've been in the trenches. So there's a difference there,
at least from my perspective, when you're coming from talking
about the area of commercial insurance of like you've seen
some of the things you've seen some of the gaps
if you fail, and so you've seen what's been successful
and maybe probably not was successful. We're going to get
(05:22):
a little bit into that. But I think, you know,
I think that you know, this is where we want
to get business owners on this podcast listening in leading.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
A little bit, because let's be honest with the insurance.
I know isn't always what most founders are thinking about.
But if we ignore, we're not going to have a
business maybe lead next year. So we need to be
cognizant of that. And I you know, you never know
where we're going to find ourselves. And so Dylan, you're like, Okay,
here's this journey and now here you are, you know,
six plus years in uh you know, like I never
thought i'd be here, but you know, I for me too,
(05:52):
started your business with something that shifted and I'm like, Okay,
this is the opportunity for me to serve and use
my discounsel abilities.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
And I see you're doing the same.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
And that's what we love to have folks like you
on the podcast to share maybe walk us through a
little bit. You know, here you're seeing some of the gaps,
like you know, the MYSS that maybe costing businesses. You've
you've lived this out a bit for a while now,
and you know we're are you seeing some things where
(06:23):
where you were before, like, hey, I'm running these things
and now I'm in the other seat. I'm like, oh, man,
I didn't even consider these things. Like I thought we
were recovered, but we weren't really covered. Like what are
some of the myths that are costing business in the
space of ercial insurance.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Yeah, and so so the most common insurance answer that
that you'll receive is it depends, uh, but you know,
to to dig into it. Really, it's It's one of
the favorite things that I like to do whenever I'm
meeting somebody new and I'm talking to them about their
insurance program, is it's it's really getting to know that
(06:57):
person and what risks they're willing to take on, because,
as you'll find, you'll find some business owners are hardcore
with their risk taking. They want really high deductibles, They're
okay with self insurance.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Some of the things. And what I like to do is,
you know, I'm very grateful, like what you alluded to
with my background in sports and all that stuff, I'm
used to working with a.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Lot of different personalities and that helps me just kind
of you know, my joke is like, hey, you can
yell at me, it's not going to hurt my feelings
at all.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
That I'll be able to like understand what you're trying
to tell me and then we'll process it move on.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
But really, it truly is just getting to know that
particular business owner, walking them through what coverages they do
have in place, what some of the gaps that they
might have, and then seeing if that's important to them
or not, because sometimes.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
They're like, hey, thanks for bringing me that awareness.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
I didn't know that I didn't have products completed coverage.
But but you know, now let's talk about what the
premium is and then does that make sense or not?
And you know, they may still say, yep, I'm okay
with self reasuring it, and that's that's my conversation with them, is, hey,
it doesn't hurt my feelings one way or another. All
(08:08):
I want is for us to have these conversations proactively,
so that way, whenever you call me and there is
a claim, you already have a good idea if you do.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Have coverage for it or you don't.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Because that's the last thing that we want as an
agent on our side is for you to give us
a call with.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
A claim and then you find out that you have
no coverage.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And you're sorry, that's nothing there. Well, I want to
get you.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
You brought up a great point, Dylan, because in today's world,
I see so many people selling product or service without
building a relationship with an individual, particularly for us that
we're in the professional services world, and I agree with you.
We want to understand what is it your what is
your needs? What are your problems? We're the ones you
(08:52):
meet or uncover them, like you said, maybe they're unaware,
like did you know that? And then they can make
an informed decision on how you and everybody like you
said level of risk like reminds me of like investing
in the stock Marke that I would say, what do you
want to invest in?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Where your what's your risk level? Right?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And so helping them even do you help them deal
and like when you look at that, like what is
your risk? What is your exposure?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Because they may not understand like how risky is this? Right?
You look at that and helping right.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
And and you know that's where I it's always fun
to bring up funds maybe not the right word, but
to bring out past experiences, right, and you know, for
for some that uh, you know, there's this coverage called
EPLI coverage and that that helps you with any discrimination
or sexual harassment claim and things like that. And so
(09:40):
you know, a lot of the companies that I work
with are family owned and operated and they're like, oh,
we won't have that that type of issue in here.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
And once again it's it's I just bring awareness, and so.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
I share, Hey, one of my other family owned, you
know companies, they dealt with this problem. And you know,
the bigger you get, the less family that you have
in there. And now you're just starting to get more
people in there, and it's just still painting the picture
of hey, this is.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
What could happen. And if it does, are you are
you okay with that?
Speaker 4 (10:11):
You know, are you going to be able to handle
potentially one hundred to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars loss.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
That you may not have coverage for.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
If you are and you don't want to pay that
ten thousand dollars in printing for it, once.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Again, then we're good to go. But just proactive.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Communication is key, is you know, because really Yeah, as
a broker, we help place businesses, we help we help
find the best carrier with the best coverage at the
most competitive rate. But you're also really just an advisor,
and you really are. You're just part of the business
and you're helping them walk through other circumstances that might
(10:49):
not even be insurance related, but still.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Maybe, hey, you've got an.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Opportunity here to enhance your contracts that then we'll be
able to limit any other further claims down the road.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
So well, and I know the reason why you and
I met because we have centered synergy together.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
We're parallel with the other.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
I just had another colleague of ours, Been and Carryer
on our podcast recently talking about HR issues, right, and
it's complementary what you said, Like she brought up an
issue with an employee the company, not outrights. They just
were alluding to like at my last company, I got
such and such fired our last company, had this happened,
it was like, oh, these little things started creeping up,
(11:27):
not they were doing anything bad, but to your point
of like, oh, man, I wasn't I wasn't prepared for
this person that do uh you know, right, turn on me,
Like what the heck is going on here, right, and
then they didn't have anything in place, like you said,
So you know, you're pairing up with other experts like
myself in the leadership space. I work with HR, like
with Shannon and others because we're looking holistically. And what
(11:50):
I love about you Dealan and those that are coming
outside of the company, right, there may be just they
just have blind spots. They are not aware. So you're
and you have somebody experienced so much experience because you're
working with all the different companies. You're like, here's what
I've seen across different companies, different industries. I'm sharing all
this with you that you wouldn't get otherwise exactly.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Yeah, and that and that's the really one of the
most fun parts about my job is just to to
share those experiences and to help them at least better
at least really feel that pain before it actually happens,
because then they can you know, it's just it's.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Proactive versus reactive. You know. Another thing that that you
made me think of is I've got.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Several clients with a big auto fleet, right, We're talking
forty or fifty trucks. Are some contractors type type risks
and I can think of a renewal. Last year, I'd
noticed we've gotten several auto claims pretty consistently, and you know, sometimes.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
With with other competitors, if you're.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
With a firm that's that's not proactive, they may just
take those claims, file them, handle the claim, and then
wait till renewal to give you the bad news of hey,
if you don't get this cleaned up now, this renewal
is not going to be looking very pretty for the
next year. And so that's what we did is we
had a meeting said, hey, we've had several rear incollisions,
(13:18):
basically what's going on. Let's get a risk control team
out here, because this is what your renewal could look
like here six months down the road if we don't
get a grip on this in a hurry, or it
could be a non renewal, which could be even worse.
And so once again, just proactive communication on really you know,
helping them feel the pain before the pain's really there,
(13:40):
so then we can minimize.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
The pain if you will.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Wow, that's super valuable, Dylan. I mean, the fact that
you're paying attention to these things. You know, you're just like, well,
I don't have to say anything and just give them
the bad news instead of saying, look, I'm on your
team and I'm trying to help you. And then it
actually made me think, because I work with clients Dylan
sometimes too, is it you know, thinking about is it
smarter for me to buy a vehicle or rent a
(14:06):
vehicle and use the you know what, what's the insurance
and how how what's what's the risk and how do
I want to bounce on that?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Right? So giving them guiding them is to like a
strategy here.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Yeah, And I just had you made me think of
one other one other topic.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
This was two weeks ago. I had a client ask me.
They said, hey, you.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
Know, we're thinking about we're not going to give them
a vehicle, but we're thinking about either increasing their pay
or just giving them a stipend for a vehicle. What
what do you recommend? And I said, well, if we
increase their pay, then now your liability insurance is going
to go up because that's based off payroll, and your
workers comp insurance is going to go up as well
because that's based off payroll. So if you can do
(14:47):
a stipend and then that's not part of their pay
then that's not going to be factored in and so
that could you know, those little type.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Of things that it's really not an insurance conversation, but
it just you know.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Kind of was able to highlight some impact of what
that could look like help them make their decision of
oh that let's let's just do a stipend instead.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah. No, it's just a different strategy. That's great, Dylan
super valuable.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
These are like additional add ons to, like you said,
the insurance. But that's because the relationship they're having with you, right,
and they're sharing these things. But you like, Okay, maybe
we should talk with Dylan and get some inlights here.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Yeah, and that's uh, I know you and I talked
about this offline, but you know, my favorite parts of
the conversation that I have with my insurance is really
once the insurance conversation is over, renewals wrapped up, that's
all put to bed, and now we're just having conversations about,
you know, how their business is doing well, what's struggling with,
(15:42):
what are some you know, what are some opportunities.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
That you see that you could be able to help improve.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
And that's where you know, we're able to use our
se in network, just our other network outside of our
services that we provide, and just having it's just being curious,
having real conversations and being in relation, being relational with
your clients. That's where I'm like, you know, insurance, it's
(16:08):
it's the nature of the beast.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
That's that's what I'm hired to do.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
But the true value that I feel is having really
getting connected with my clients.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
And absolutely, and again Dylan, that's why you do not
share the same passion like how do we do this
because the same thing I'm looking at, like you said,
I'm looking at the people, I'm looking at the organizational.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Health, I'm looking at developing the leaders.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
But I'm saying, hey, you know what things come up
like I just mentioned you about this whole fleet or
other things. I'm like, Okay, this is not my expertise,
but I know somebody that I know, I trust.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
That's why we're the whole business round people.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Podcasts is then as you as a listener, here, you
have one more resource that you can say, look, it's
in vetted.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
I hear them there there. This is not just some
yeah I junk that's put out there.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
But you know what I mean there's stuff out there
just putting out there is like how do I know
this from anybody else? And that really wants to get
to know me? And Dylan is one of the people
that help you hear loud and clear. That's why I'm
having him on the podcast is because it is one
of the philosophies I have dealing the same with you,
is relationship before opportunity, Like how do we know and
trust you that you're actually looking after my best interests?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Exactly?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
No, I guess yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
I want to ask you this because this is important,
like how would because how do we vet in insurance broker?
Like one of the things that we're kind of talking
a little bit about this, but I want to go
a little deeper, is like, as a business owner, what
questions should I be asking of somebody like you, Dylan,
so that I can know that this person gets me
(17:37):
or knows my maybe industry or business model or whatnot.
Can you just walk us through a little bit about
what I should be thinking about?
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Of course, So one of my favorite questions that I
ask any any new new client that I'm having a
conversation with is is first of all, I let them
know you know, Hey, I don't sell to you. That's
not what I'm doing. I'm selling to you. I'm selling
your company to the marketplace, to the carriers. And so
(18:05):
one of my favorite questions to ask him is, hey,
what's the narrative that your current broker is is sharing
with the marketplace. And a lot of them will kind
of look at me and be like, well, what are
you talking about. I've got the court apps and some
other stuff that I've signed. I'm like, Yeah, what's the narrative?
And so, you know, tell me the background. When when
did your business start, how did it start? What what what?
How did it grow? How do you got five divisions? Now,
(18:26):
how did all those take off? And then what are
you focusing on? What are your future plans? And then
talk to me about your risk safety program. I mean,
the list can go on and on from there, but
it really is that's that's what. And that's how I've
been able to help some recent recent new clients here
lately is.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
I sat down with them.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Got the narrative, really got a better understanding of what
they're what they're currently doing, what they're trying to get into,
shared that with the marketplace. On some carriers that had
seen the risks several years prior that declined it, and
they actually reverse their stance on the declination because they
had a better understanding of the risk. The more information
you can share with the carriers, the more comfortable they're
(19:08):
going to be. The more carriers that you have trying
to write the risk, then you're able to get the
prices down. So you know that that really is is
one of the most important things that we do as brokers.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
And so if the insurer doesn't know what.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
That narrative is being, and what I'll do with my
clients is I'll show them this is the narrative that
I have for you so far, tell me how I
need to enhance it, because nobody knows your business better
than you, so you know, and then we can then
they can really see the work that we've done so far,
and then they can also help us highlight some additional
things that you know, only they're going to know.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Yeah. No, well that's a good point.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yeah, because I've seen enough people I think business owners
again not being this is where I think you really
need to be hands on what you're saying, Dylana, like,
get that narrative, like how.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Much oh, I'm so busy. I got these things on.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
It's like they can't you can help them, like help me,
help you right kind of things. So give me this
stuff that I can be your advocate. But if you
don't give me it, you're kind of hurting yourself here,
like what I say, And that's a really unique way
you just put it, Dylan, Like you're selling this company
to the marketplace, You're trying to get the best you know,
coverage for the best price, all of these things. But
(20:18):
if you're not helping me, you're not being proactive in this.
I'm like, you're.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Kind of limiting yourself. So business owners take this and
I really like this narrative idea, like what is it?
What is that narrative?
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Because honestly, I work with business owners on this vielain
of like what is what is your overall vision?
Speaker 3 (20:34):
What's your mission? How are you what are the things
that you value?
Speaker 1 (20:37):
And it's kind of out there and sometimes they're really
dialed in, but honestly, most of them are not dialed
in as sharp as at least in my experience. I'm like,
let's be really clear, because this in the reality is
to me, Dylan, if it's really clear to the insurers,
and hopefully it's gonna be clear to your marketplace if
your ideal clients, as people are like, I want to
work with this, this company is for me, right versus
(20:58):
I don't know. I'm not quite one hundred percent clear
about what what it is you're doing or what's going
on right.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Right, No, that's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
And then, uh, this just made me think of some
of my earlier years. You know, I would get I
would try to help as many people as I could,
and you know, definitely, whenever relationship is huge, and so
whenever you're starting a new relationships, sometimes in year doesn't
want to share as much information with you. And and
I've gotten to the point of my career now where
(21:27):
I'm happy to share with them and go, hey, I've
done this long enough that if I don't have all
the information that I need, I'm not going to be
able to help you.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
And people hire me because I was.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Able to help them in such way or another, and
so you know, I can I can save us both
a lot of time here. If if you're not willing
to provide me that information, then I think you're in
a good spot. And if you want to then I'm
happy to continue to go along with my due diligence,
but I've got to got to have your buy in.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I need all the information I.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Can get, right, Yeah, I mean we want to help.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
It's like, if you're going to hold withhold, like you said,
I may not be the best fit for you. I
don't want I mean, I want everybody to feel served
and not feeling like, oh, well, this person took advantage
of me about well, you know, I know we're not
taking advantage of anybody. We want to make sure that
we're helping you and getting what you what you really need.
But if we can't, we can't get to the facts
of things. You're right, Dylan, Yeah, we're kind of Yeah,
(22:18):
we're not gonna be able to help you. Not gonna
make it much as much difference, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yeah, And.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
That's my favorite thing to tell them is, hey, I'm
going to be in this industry for a long time.
I'm going to continue to do what I'm doing, and
you know, I'm happy to be here if you change
your mind later on down the road and it's.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Not, I'm not.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
That's the funny thing I was I was hoping we'd
get to this earlier. But if you would have told
me out of college that I would be in a
sales role, I would have laughed at you. You know,
I'm an operations background. That's that's my blood, that's who
I am. And really I don't view myself as a
salesperson at all. It's really just a consultant and you know,
(22:57):
once again, awareness and experience.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
And what I can do.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
And there are many conversations where you know, we shake
hands and it's uh, it's you.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Uh, you know, go go your way, I'll go.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Mine for until until our past meet again. So it
really is it's not a it's not hard hard sales.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
By any means.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Well, I think you and I before we started recording,
where we were talking about the five voices, the framework
that I use and interesting in leaders voice, I think
you know both of you are connectors and it yeah,
I'm with you in the sense of quote unquote selling.
I feel like you and I are a vector for
people to invest in themselves in their company too. That's
(23:38):
what hopefully that that it comes across because I'm with
you one hundred percent, Dylan. I love operations, the production
side of things. I mean, that's that's where I really thrive.
But I've realized that I have to provide a space
by helping people to I'm a vector, like you said,
two for them to come through you to then get
(23:58):
the coverage whatever the resource that they need. And so
you're providing that and you're you're helping them get it quicker,
and you're you're doing the due diligence. You're resourceful, you know,
And I think that's so so important. So nobody wants
to be sold. Everybody wants to buy and with confidence,
right and feeling like, hey, this isn't my best interest.
(24:20):
I've done the work and I know that here I've
got somebody on my team that is actually helping me
run my business well better, right.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Right, Yeah, an asset that's right, that's right. And asked
what we want to be we want to be an
asset to the company.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Absolutely, Well, you know, I think you know the company.
My company's name is Stewart or Steward, Stewart, your business, stewardship.
You know, we're looking at risk management, and I think
that's so important about protecting what matters most. I'm looking
at the people. Ultimately, what you're doing is protecting the people.
You know, but really what you're providing, what I hear
you say, Dylan, is it isn't just you know, it
isn't just about a policy, but it's really peace of
(24:58):
mind for the leaders.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
The people that they employ.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
You're looking at this holistically and really coming from a
place of advocating for the business, all right, not just owner,
but the whole the everybody in the company.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah. And one thing I didn't share earlier, but I
was part of originally. Whenever I left.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Jabehind to get in the insurance world, I worked for
a small family owned shop and that was such a
great experience.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
I was there for a year.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
HUB acquired the small family owned shop in July of
twenty twenty, and I'm so grateful for that experience because
it's helped me appreciate what it's like.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Hub's the fifth artist brokeer in the world. We've got
a lot of very very smart people all over the.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Place, and so now I don't have to be a
specialist in all these different things to still be able
to help my insurance. I'm just I was a defensive
guy whenever I played football, So I'm not the quarterback.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I'm the linebacker. The operation and I just plug in
all these people and so you know, one.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Of the coverages, it's a professional management liability policy called
Directors and Officers and so that's for all the board
and that's a very important coverage that that many of
my clients do have. And whenever they've got really specific
questions on that, then we have a team called the
product team.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
That's all they do is they place dn O coverage
and same thing with cyber.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
And we've got a property specialist and we have a
worker's comp specialist and so anything I know enough to.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Be dangerous in all these.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
But whenever we really want to get in the weeds
on it, I just loop in the right contact and
then I help facilitate that.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I'm part of the conversation. Be insured.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Its still getting you know, all the expertise that they need,
and it makes uh, you know, it's just it's nice
to be that asset, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
No, I think that's so important to what I hear
you saying, Dylan was being this broker. You're you're going
and finding all these different whether it's cyber, all all
these different elements of policy, and so you know, maybe
it's all one carreer, but maybe it's different carriers depending
on what it is, right, and so you're figuring out, Okay,
what is what's the mix that we need, and then
(27:02):
you have the team that goes.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
In it because it's hard to stay on top of
all these things.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Absolutely, even you know, I've been a background environmental consulting
for twenty plus years.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
I don't know everything about There's a ton of areas.
I'll tell you about wildlife and nature and outdoors.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Don't ask other elements, right, So, I mean, it's great
that you have this network. And that's why again Dylan
comes on here because you guys can compare and see, Hey,
get on a call with Dylan and find out. So, Dylan,
as I know, we're getting close to the end of
the podcast, what's the best way for folks to connect
with you? I know you and I are connected on LinkedIn,
but what's otherways that they can find you?
Speaker 4 (27:38):
I mean really yeah, LinkedIn and you know, just my
email and then I can provide that for you and
my phone number and.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
We'll put it.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
We'll make sure all of your at least your LinkedIn
links and everything's on our show notes.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Because a Dylan, like I Saidylan.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Are connected and you've just got a great wealth of
a network.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
I know, again, we're getting close to the end here.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
I love just I love to always have our guests
share kind of a key takeaway or just thoughts as
as we wrap of the podcast. If we've covered a
lot of things here in a short period of time.
But you know, what would you say as a business owner,
a leader in a company like you know, they should
be considering thinking about the insurance and making sure that
(28:20):
they're not leaving any gaps as we talked about earlier,
open and minimizing their risks.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Right, And then you know, I guess so I would
answer that by saying, are you working with an agent
or an advisor? And what I mean by that is,
you know, an agent will just take all, right, here's
a complete supplemental. I'll send this to the marketplace, I'll
get you the information back. Or an advisor is going
(28:46):
to look at that supplemental before they even send it
to the carrier and say, hey, I saw you answer
this question.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
You know, I wanted to get a little.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Bit more color as to what you mean by that
because I think, you know, we may need to update this.
This this doesn't accurately reflect what your business is and
and so many more things. But if you're not getting
a lot of the questions back on on these conversations,
it may be worth having a conversation with somebody else
and not don have to be me and just somebody
(29:15):
else in your in your network. But you know, an
advisor is really going to be asking questions that you're
not necessarily thinking about.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
And that's okay because this is what we do all
the time. You're a business owner, you go do what.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
You specialize in and we will help you kind of
integrate all those gaps in place.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
So that's a great, great point.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
So here's another advisor that you guys can listen to
and check out, ask the questions.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Uh, happen to meet with you.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
You're a villain this.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
New Dylan, thank you for being here on the podcast
with us.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Thank you so much enjoying it.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Yeah, absolutely everybody. Of course, we love when you like
and subscribe, leave comments. We'll make sure that Dylan gets them.
Your feedback is great and share this if you find
it valuable with others. I come back again and join
us on the next episode of the Business Roundtable podcast.
Thanks everybody for listening in until then, take care, be well,
All right, welcome back to the Business Roundtable podcast. I
am your host, David Carr of Stuard your Business where
we bring great people together to accomplish amazing things. And
we have an amazing guest here, Dylan Hawkins, another colleague
from Success Champions Network. You guys know that I'm a
big part of that network and have met some amazing people.
Dylan has coming on and he's going to share us
(00:54):
at his experience on insurance, but we're going to get
it in a different way. He's got a wealth of
experience of commercial insurance broker. I know that may not
be super exciting, but we're actually going to go in
and that make us fun. From crashes to come back.
How do we protect your business before it becomes too late? Dylan,
Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
David, thank you for letting me, Thank you for letting
me join today.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I'm humbled beyond absolutely so, Dylan.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I like to always start our podcast with our guests,
especially new guests that are coming on, to give us
a little bit of background before we jump into the
topic of insurance.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Why it is so important.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
But you know what got you into this space. You're
with Hub International now and you know, just take us
back a little bit of your journey as a man
in business and stepping into this particular arena.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Yeah, of course, so I'll take you back. I'm from Aledo, Texas.
I played football many many months ago, and I was
fortunate to play at the collegiate level at a Division
two school called linden Wood at Lyndon Wood, I originally
wanted to be a coach, and so I have undergrad
(02:05):
and sport management and then I have my master's in
supply chain management. And backstory before, while I was working
on my master's, like I told you, I wanted to
be a coach, and so I was. I was a
grad assistant. I was coaching my former teammates and I
was loving it. But I realized very quickly how difficult
(02:28):
that lifestyle is, both on your families and just the
time commitment in that space, and so I.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Quickly kind of changed.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
And my father in law worked for FedEx, and so
I was wanting to get a job with the FedEx team.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
And so that's why I got my master's in supply
chain management.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
And then the FedEx gig did not work out, which
was a blessing in disguise, and so I got hired
on coming out of college with JB. Hunt and which
is a big supply chain company. There's four different divisions
within JA behind I was on what they call the
DCS side, the dedicated contract services side, and so I
worked there for three years out of college and I loved.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
What I did.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
I kind of worked my way into a leadership role
where I was on site with our customer, Chicken Express.
It was our customer at the time, and so I
had a fleet of twenty six truck drivers, three supervisors
and I ran ran that operation, did all the p
and LS on site with the customer. It taught me
a ton of what it's like to own the business.
What I explained to people was I was pretty much
(03:30):
the business owner of that operation without the investment, and
so it was.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It was awesome.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
I loved being able to get on an account and
see some weaknesses, see some strengths, and really start targeting
those weaknesses and then seeing that you know, directly correlate
in the p and L statements over the months to come.
Seeing that positive impact was just intoxicate for me.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Honestly, I loved it.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
And then after three years there to get into the
role I'm at now. I've got a brother that works
on the employee benefits side of our company, and he
had keep He kept trying to pull me away from
my transportation business for years and then finally took an
(04:18):
interview and the rest was history.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Started starting my career completely over. UH took a large pay.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Cut, and here we are, so UH there there were
many bumps and bridges like what you alluded to on
the way. But you know, I've been been in this
UH career now for six and a half years and
I'm super fortunate to UH to have founder whenever.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I did well, I'm great grateful you're here, Dylan. I'm
excited you. You mentioned you have a diverse background literally
the grid iron going and playing sports, and and I
think you know, having this unique background with that and
then and then playing into this whole supply chain, you know,
literally dispatching eighteen wheelers in the high stakes of client
(05:02):
support and all of the logistics there. I feel like
you've been in the trenches. So there's a difference there,
at least from my perspective, when you're coming from talking
about the area of commercial insurance of like you've seen
some of the things you've seen some of the gaps
if you fail, and so you've seen what's been successful
and maybe probably not was successful. We're going to get
(05:22):
a little bit into that. But I think, you know,
I think that you know, this is where we want
to get business owners on this podcast listening in leading.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
A little bit, because let's be honest with the insurance.
I know isn't always what most founders are thinking about.
But if we ignore, we're not going to have a
business maybe lead next year. So we need to be
cognizant of that. And I you know, you never know
where we're going to find ourselves. And so Dylan, you're like, Okay,
here's this journey and now here you are, you know,
six plus years in uh you know, like I never
thought i'd be here, but you know, I for me too,
(05:52):
started your business with something that shifted and I'm like, Okay,
this is the opportunity for me to serve and use
my discounsel abilities.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
And I see you're doing the same.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
And that's what we love to have folks like you
on the podcast to share maybe walk us through a
little bit. You know, here you're seeing some of the gaps,
like you know, the MYSS that maybe costing businesses. You've
you've lived this out a bit for a while now,
and you know we're are you seeing some things where
(06:23):
where you were before, like, hey, I'm running these things
and now I'm in the other seat. I'm like, oh, man,
I didn't even consider these things. Like I thought we
were recovered, but we weren't really covered. Like what are
some of the myths that are costing business in the
space of ercial insurance.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Yeah, and so so the most common insurance answer that
that you'll receive is it depends, uh, but you know,
to to dig into it. Really, it's It's one of
the favorite things that I like to do whenever I'm
meeting somebody new and I'm talking to them about their
insurance program, is it's it's really getting to know that
(06:57):
person and what risks they're willing to take on, because,
as you'll find, you'll find some business owners are hardcore
with their risk taking. They want really high deductibles, They're
okay with self insurance.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Some of the things. And what I like to do is,
you know, I'm very grateful, like what you alluded to
with my background in sports and all that stuff, I'm
used to working with a.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Lot of different personalities and that helps me just kind
of you know, my joke is like, hey, you can
yell at me, it's not going to hurt my feelings
at all.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
That I'll be able to like understand what you're trying
to tell me and then we'll process it move on.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
But really, it truly is just getting to know that
particular business owner, walking them through what coverages they do
have in place, what some of the gaps that they
might have, and then seeing if that's important to them
or not, because sometimes.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
They're like, hey, thanks for bringing me that awareness.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
I didn't know that I didn't have products completed coverage.
But but you know, now let's talk about what the
premium is and then does that make sense or not?
And you know, they may still say, yep, I'm okay
with self reasuring it, and that's that's my conversation with them, is, hey,
it doesn't hurt my feelings one way or another. All
(08:08):
I want is for us to have these conversations proactively,
so that way, whenever you call me and there is
a claim, you already have a good idea if you do.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Have coverage for it or you don't.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Because that's the last thing that we want as an
agent on our side is for you to give us
a call with.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
A claim and then you find out that you have
no coverage.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And you're sorry, that's nothing there. Well, I want to
get you.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
You brought up a great point, Dylan, because in today's world,
I see so many people selling product or service without
building a relationship with an individual, particularly for us that
we're in the professional services world, and I agree with you.
We want to understand what is it your what is
your needs? What are your problems? We're the ones you
(08:52):
meet or uncover them, like you said, maybe they're unaware,
like did you know that? And then they can make
an informed decision on how you and everybody like you
said level of risk like reminds me of like investing
in the stock Marke that I would say, what do you
want to invest in?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Where your what's your risk level? Right?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And so helping them even do you help them deal
and like when you look at that, like what is
your risk? What is your exposure?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Because they may not understand like how risky is this? Right?
You look at that and helping right.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
And and you know that's where I it's always fun
to bring up funds maybe not the right word, but
to bring out past experiences, right, and you know, for
for some that uh, you know, there's this coverage called
EPLI coverage and that that helps you with any discrimination
or sexual harassment claim and things like that. And so
(09:40):
you know, a lot of the companies that I work
with are family owned and operated and they're like, oh,
we won't have that that type of issue in here.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
And once again it's it's I just bring awareness, and so.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
I share, Hey, one of my other family owned, you
know companies, they dealt with this problem. And you know,
the bigger you get, the less family that you have
in there. And now you're just starting to get more
people in there, and it's just still painting the picture
of hey, this is.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
What could happen. And if it does, are you are
you okay with that?
Speaker 4 (10:11):
You know, are you going to be able to handle
potentially one hundred to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars loss.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
That you may not have coverage for.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
If you are and you don't want to pay that
ten thousand dollars in printing for it, once.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Again, then we're good to go. But just proactive.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Communication is key, is you know, because really Yeah, as
a broker, we help place businesses, we help we help
find the best carrier with the best coverage at the
most competitive rate. But you're also really just an advisor,
and you really are. You're just part of the business
and you're helping them walk through other circumstances that might
(10:49):
not even be insurance related, but still.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Maybe, hey, you've got an.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Opportunity here to enhance your contracts that then we'll be
able to limit any other further claims down the road.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
So well, and I know the reason why you and
I met because we have centered synergy together.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
We're parallel with the other.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
I just had another colleague of ours, Been and Carryer
on our podcast recently talking about HR issues, right, and
it's complementary what you said, Like she brought up an
issue with an employee the company, not outrights. They just
were alluding to like at my last company, I got
such and such fired our last company, had this happened,
it was like, oh, these little things started creeping up,
(11:27):
not they were doing anything bad, but to your point
of like, oh, man, I wasn't I wasn't prepared for
this person that do uh you know, right, turn on me,
Like what the heck is going on here, right, and
then they didn't have anything in place, like you said,
So you know, you're pairing up with other experts like
myself in the leadership space. I work with HR, like
with Shannon and others because we're looking holistically. And what
(11:50):
I love about you Dealan and those that are coming
outside of the company, right, there may be just they
just have blind spots. They are not aware. So you're
and you have somebody experienced so much experience because you're
working with all the different companies. You're like, here's what
I've seen across different companies, different industries. I'm sharing all
this with you that you wouldn't get otherwise exactly.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Yeah, and that and that's the really one of the
most fun parts about my job is just to to
share those experiences and to help them at least better
at least really feel that pain before it actually happens,
because then they can you know, it's just it's.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Proactive versus reactive. You know. Another thing that that you
made me think of is I've got.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Several clients with a big auto fleet, right, We're talking
forty or fifty trucks. Are some contractors type type risks
and I can think of a renewal. Last year, I'd
noticed we've gotten several auto claims pretty consistently, and you know, sometimes.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
With with other competitors, if you're.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
With a firm that's that's not proactive, they may just
take those claims, file them, handle the claim, and then
wait till renewal to give you the bad news of hey,
if you don't get this cleaned up now, this renewal
is not going to be looking very pretty for the
next year. And so that's what we did is we
had a meeting said, hey, we've had several rear incollisions,
(13:18):
basically what's going on. Let's get a risk control team
out here, because this is what your renewal could look
like here six months down the road if we don't
get a grip on this in a hurry, or it
could be a non renewal, which could be even worse.
And so once again, just proactive communication on really you know,
helping them feel the pain before the pain's really there,
(13:40):
so then we can minimize.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
The pain if you will.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Wow, that's super valuable, Dylan. I mean, the fact that
you're paying attention to these things. You know, you're just like, well,
I don't have to say anything and just give them
the bad news instead of saying, look, I'm on your
team and I'm trying to help you. And then it
actually made me think, because I work with clients Dylan
sometimes too, is it you know, thinking about is it
smarter for me to buy a vehicle or rent a
(14:06):
vehicle and use the you know what, what's the insurance
and how how what's what's the risk and how do
I want to bounce on that?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Right? So giving them guiding them is to like a
strategy here.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Yeah, And I just had you made me think of
one other one other topic.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
This was two weeks ago. I had a client ask me.
They said, hey, you.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
Know, we're thinking about we're not going to give them
a vehicle, but we're thinking about either increasing their pay
or just giving them a stipend for a vehicle. What
what do you recommend? And I said, well, if we
increase their pay, then now your liability insurance is going
to go up because that's based off payroll, and your
workers comp insurance is going to go up as well
because that's based off payroll. So if you can do
(14:47):
a stipend and then that's not part of their pay
then that's not going to be factored in and so
that could you know, those little type.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Of things that it's really not an insurance conversation, but
it just you know.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Kind of was able to highlight some impact of what
that could look like help them make their decision of
oh that let's let's just do a stipend instead.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah. No, it's just a different strategy. That's great, Dylan
super valuable.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
These are like additional add ons to, like you said,
the insurance. But that's because the relationship they're having with you, right,
and they're sharing these things. But you like, Okay, maybe
we should talk with Dylan and get some inlights here.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Yeah, and that's uh, I know you and I talked
about this offline, but you know, my favorite parts of
the conversation that I have with my insurance is really
once the insurance conversation is over, renewals wrapped up, that's
all put to bed, and now we're just having conversations about,
you know, how their business is doing well, what's struggling with,
(15:42):
what are some you know, what are some opportunities.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
That you see that you could be able to help improve.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
And that's where you know, we're able to use our
se in network, just our other network outside of our
services that we provide, and just having it's just being curious,
having real conversations and being in relation, being relational with
your clients. That's where I'm like, you know, insurance, it's
(16:08):
it's the nature of the beast.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
That's that's what I'm hired to do.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
But the true value that I feel is having really
getting connected with my clients.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
And absolutely, and again Dylan, that's why you do not
share the same passion like how do we do this
because the same thing I'm looking at, like you said,
I'm looking at the people, I'm looking at the organizational.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Health, I'm looking at developing the leaders.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
But I'm saying, hey, you know what things come up
like I just mentioned you about this whole fleet or
other things. I'm like, Okay, this is not my expertise,
but I know somebody that I know, I trust.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
That's why we're the whole business round people.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Podcasts is then as you as a listener, here, you
have one more resource that you can say, look, it's
in vetted.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
I hear them there there. This is not just some
yeah I junk that's put out there.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
But you know what I mean there's stuff out there
just putting out there is like how do I know
this from anybody else? And that really wants to get
to know me? And Dylan is one of the people
that help you hear loud and clear. That's why I'm
having him on the podcast is because it is one
of the philosophies I have dealing the same with you,
is relationship before opportunity, Like how do we know and
trust you that you're actually looking after my best interests?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Exactly?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
No, I guess yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
I want to ask you this because this is important,
like how would because how do we vet in insurance broker?
Like one of the things that we're kind of talking
a little bit about this, but I want to go
a little deeper, is like, as a business owner, what
questions should I be asking of somebody like you, Dylan,
so that I can know that this person gets me
(17:37):
or knows my maybe industry or business model or whatnot.
Can you just walk us through a little bit about
what I should be thinking about?
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Of course, So one of my favorite questions that I
ask any any new new client that I'm having a
conversation with is is first of all, I let them
know you know, Hey, I don't sell to you. That's
not what I'm doing. I'm selling to you. I'm selling
your company to the marketplace, to the carriers. And so
(18:05):
one of my favorite questions to ask him is, hey,
what's the narrative that your current broker is is sharing
with the marketplace. And a lot of them will kind
of look at me and be like, well, what are
you talking about. I've got the court apps and some
other stuff that I've signed. I'm like, Yeah, what's the narrative?
And so, you know, tell me the background. When when
did your business start, how did it start? What what what?
How did it grow? How do you got five divisions? Now,
(18:26):
how did all those take off? And then what are
you focusing on? What are your future plans? And then
talk to me about your risk safety program. I mean,
the list can go on and on from there, but
it really is that's that's what. And that's how I've
been able to help some recent recent new clients here
lately is.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
I sat down with them.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Got the narrative, really got a better understanding of what
they're what they're currently doing, what they're trying to get into,
shared that with the marketplace. On some carriers that had
seen the risks several years prior that declined it, and
they actually reverse their stance on the declination because they
had a better understanding of the risk. The more information
you can share with the carriers, the more comfortable they're
(19:08):
going to be. The more carriers that you have trying
to write the risk, then you're able to get the
prices down. So you know that that really is is
one of the most important things that we do as brokers.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
And so if the insurer doesn't know what.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
That narrative is being, and what I'll do with my
clients is I'll show them this is the narrative that
I have for you so far, tell me how I
need to enhance it, because nobody knows your business better
than you, so you know, and then we can then
they can really see the work that we've done so far,
and then they can also help us highlight some additional
things that you know, only they're going to know.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Yeah. No, well that's a good point.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yeah, because I've seen enough people I think business owners
again not being this is where I think you really
need to be hands on what you're saying, Dylana, like,
get that narrative, like how.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Much oh, I'm so busy. I got these things on.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
It's like they can't you can help them, like help me,
help you right kind of things. So give me this
stuff that I can be your advocate. But if you
don't give me it, you're kind of hurting yourself here,
like what I say, And that's a really unique way
you just put it, Dylan, Like you're selling this company
to the marketplace, You're trying to get the best you know,
coverage for the best price, all of these things. But
(20:18):
if you're not helping me, you're not being proactive in this.
I'm like, you're.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Kind of limiting yourself. So business owners take this and
I really like this narrative idea, like what is it?
What is that narrative?
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Because honestly, I work with business owners on this vielain
of like what is what is your overall vision?
Speaker 3 (20:34):
What's your mission? How are you what are the things
that you value?
Speaker 1 (20:37):
And it's kind of out there and sometimes they're really
dialed in, but honestly, most of them are not dialed
in as sharp as at least in my experience. I'm like,
let's be really clear, because this in the reality is
to me, Dylan, if it's really clear to the insurers,
and hopefully it's gonna be clear to your marketplace if
your ideal clients, as people are like, I want to
work with this, this company is for me, right versus
(20:58):
I don't know. I'm not quite one hundred percent clear
about what what it is you're doing or what's going
on right.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Right, No, that's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
And then, uh, this just made me think of some
of my earlier years. You know, I would get I
would try to help as many people as I could,
and you know, definitely, whenever relationship is huge, and so
whenever you're starting a new relationships, sometimes in year doesn't
want to share as much information with you. And and
I've gotten to the point of my career now where
(21:27):
I'm happy to share with them and go, hey, I've
done this long enough that if I don't have all
the information that I need, I'm not going to be
able to help you.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
And people hire me because I was.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Able to help them in such way or another, and
so you know, I can I can save us both
a lot of time here. If if you're not willing
to provide me that information, then I think you're in
a good spot. And if you want to then I'm
happy to continue to go along with my due diligence,
but I've got to got to have your buy in.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I need all the information I.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Can get, right, Yeah, I mean we want to help.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
It's like, if you're going to hold withhold, like you said,
I may not be the best fit for you. I
don't want I mean, I want everybody to feel served
and not feeling like, oh, well, this person took advantage
of me about well, you know, I know we're not
taking advantage of anybody. We want to make sure that
we're helping you and getting what you what you really need.
But if we can't, we can't get to the facts
of things. You're right, Dylan, Yeah, we're kind of Yeah,
(22:18):
we're not gonna be able to help you. Not gonna
make it much as much difference, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yeah, And.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
That's my favorite thing to tell them is, hey, I'm
going to be in this industry for a long time.
I'm going to continue to do what I'm doing, and
you know, I'm happy to be here if you change
your mind later on down the road and it's.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Not, I'm not.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
That's the funny thing I was I was hoping we'd
get to this earlier. But if you would have told
me out of college that I would be in a
sales role, I would have laughed at you. You know,
I'm an operations background. That's that's my blood, that's who
I am. And really I don't view myself as a
salesperson at all. It's really just a consultant and you know,
(22:57):
once again, awareness and experience.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
And what I can do.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
And there are many conversations where you know, we shake
hands and it's uh, it's you.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Uh, you know, go go your way, I'll go.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Mine for until until our past meet again. So it
really is it's not a it's not hard hard sales.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
By any means.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Well, I think you and I before we started recording,
where we were talking about the five voices, the framework
that I use and interesting in leaders voice, I think
you know both of you are connectors and it yeah,
I'm with you in the sense of quote unquote selling.
I feel like you and I are a vector for
people to invest in themselves in their company too. That's
(23:38):
what hopefully that that it comes across because I'm with
you one hundred percent, Dylan. I love operations, the production
side of things. I mean, that's that's where I really thrive.
But I've realized that I have to provide a space
by helping people to I'm a vector, like you said,
two for them to come through you to then get
(23:58):
the coverage whatever the resource that they need. And so
you're providing that and you're you're helping them get it quicker,
and you're you're doing the due diligence. You're resourceful, you know,
And I think that's so so important. So nobody wants
to be sold. Everybody wants to buy and with confidence,
right and feeling like, hey, this isn't my best interest.
(24:20):
I've done the work and I know that here I've
got somebody on my team that is actually helping me
run my business well better, right.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Right, Yeah, an asset that's right, that's right. And asked
what we want to be we want to be an
asset to the company.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Absolutely, Well, you know, I think you know the company.
My company's name is Stewart or Steward, Stewart, your business, stewardship.
You know, we're looking at risk management, and I think
that's so important about protecting what matters most. I'm looking
at the people. Ultimately, what you're doing is protecting the people.
You know, but really what you're providing, what I hear
you say, Dylan, is it isn't just you know, it
isn't just about a policy, but it's really peace of
(24:58):
mind for the leaders.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
The people that they employ.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
You're looking at this holistically and really coming from a
place of advocating for the business, all right, not just owner,
but the whole the everybody in the company.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah. And one thing I didn't share earlier, but I
was part of originally. Whenever I left.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Jabehind to get in the insurance world, I worked for
a small family owned shop and that was such a
great experience.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
I was there for a year.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
HUB acquired the small family owned shop in July of
twenty twenty, and I'm so grateful for that experience because
it's helped me appreciate what it's like.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Hub's the fifth artist brokeer in the world. We've got
a lot of very very smart people all over the.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Place, and so now I don't have to be a
specialist in all these different things to still be able
to help my insurance. I'm just I was a defensive
guy whenever I played football, So I'm not the quarterback.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I'm the linebacker. The operation and I just plug in
all these people and so you know, one.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Of the coverages, it's a professional management liability policy called
Directors and Officers and so that's for all the board
and that's a very important coverage that that many of
my clients do have. And whenever they've got really specific
questions on that, then we have a team called the
product team.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
That's all they do is they place dn O coverage
and same thing with cyber.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
And we've got a property specialist and we have a
worker's comp specialist and so anything I know enough to.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Be dangerous in all these.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
But whenever we really want to get in the weeds
on it, I just loop in the right contact and
then I help facilitate that.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I'm part of the conversation. Be insured.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Its still getting you know, all the expertise that they need,
and it makes uh, you know, it's just it's nice
to be that asset, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
No, I think that's so important to what I hear
you saying, Dylan was being this broker. You're you're going
and finding all these different whether it's cyber, all all
these different elements of policy, and so you know, maybe
it's all one carreer, but maybe it's different carriers depending
on what it is, right, and so you're figuring out, Okay,
what is what's the mix that we need, and then
(27:02):
you have the team that goes.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
In it because it's hard to stay on top of
all these things.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Absolutely, even you know, I've been a background environmental consulting
for twenty plus years.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
I don't know everything about There's a ton of areas.
I'll tell you about wildlife and nature and outdoors.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Don't ask other elements, right, So, I mean, it's great
that you have this network. And that's why again Dylan
comes on here because you guys can compare and see, Hey,
get on a call with Dylan and find out. So, Dylan,
as I know, we're getting close to the end of
the podcast, what's the best way for folks to connect
with you? I know you and I are connected on LinkedIn,
but what's otherways that they can find you?
Speaker 4 (27:38):
I mean really yeah, LinkedIn and you know, just my
email and then I can provide that for you and
my phone number and.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
We'll put it.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
We'll make sure all of your at least your LinkedIn
links and everything's on our show notes.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Because a Dylan, like I Saidylan.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Are connected and you've just got a great wealth of
a network.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
I know, again, we're getting close to the end here.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
I love just I love to always have our guests
share kind of a key takeaway or just thoughts as
as we wrap of the podcast. If we've covered a
lot of things here in a short period of time.
But you know, what would you say as a business owner,
a leader in a company like you know, they should
be considering thinking about the insurance and making sure that
(28:20):
they're not leaving any gaps as we talked about earlier,
open and minimizing their risks.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Right, And then you know, I guess so I would
answer that by saying, are you working with an agent
or an advisor? And what I mean by that is,
you know, an agent will just take all, right, here's
a complete supplemental. I'll send this to the marketplace, I'll
get you the information back. Or an advisor is going
(28:46):
to look at that supplemental before they even send it
to the carrier and say, hey, I saw you answer
this question.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
You know, I wanted to get a little.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Bit more color as to what you mean by that
because I think, you know, we may need to update this.
This this doesn't accurately reflect what your business is and
and so many more things. But if you're not getting
a lot of the questions back on on these conversations,
it may be worth having a conversation with somebody else
and not don have to be me and just somebody
(29:15):
else in your in your network. But you know, an
advisor is really going to be asking questions that you're
not necessarily thinking about.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
And that's okay because this is what we do all
the time. You're a business owner, you go do what.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
You specialize in and we will help you kind of
integrate all those gaps in place.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
So that's a great, great point.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
So here's another advisor that you guys can listen to
and check out, ask the questions.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Uh, happen to meet with you.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
You're a villain this.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
New Dylan, thank you for being here on the podcast
with us.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Thank you so much enjoying it.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Yeah, absolutely everybody. Of course, we love when you like
and subscribe, leave comments. We'll make sure that Dylan gets them.
Your feedback is great and share this if you find
it valuable with others. I come back again and join
us on the next episode of the Business Roundtable podcast.
Thanks everybody for listening in until then, take care, be well,
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