Agency Intelligence

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Ashley Fitzsimmons, Customer Experience Manager at Ohio Insurance Agents Association. Ashley talks about how we can build and develop stronger relationships inside the insurance industry. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Ashley Fitzsimmons. (1:35) Ashley mentions that she started in the family agency on July 5, 2019, in northeastern Pennsylvania near Scranton. (9:38) Ashley shares that she wants to be the voice for other people, and because of that, she caught the attention of the CEO of the Ohio Insurance Agents Association, at a conference in Pennsylvania. (10:35) Ashley mentions that in her first four years in the industry, she didn’t dare to expand and meet other agents, but eventually she started to learn how to network. (14:47) Ashley shares that the people in their industry truly care, not only about insurance but also about the relationships. (15:06) Ashley shares one of her biggest accomplishments was the IA Circl

In this episode of the Age of Indiependence podcast, host Katlyn Eggar interviews Dr. Billy Williams, Ph.D., CEO of the Williams Family Investment Group, and the President of Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring. Dr. Billy talks about how to successfully grow your agency and the three emotions that stop agencies from growing, the four types of discipline, and the significance of understanding the S4TS model. Episode Highlights: Katlyn introduces Dr. Billy Williams. (1:19) Billy shares that he’s a retired army, and 21 years after serving in the military, he took a Ph.D. in finance. (2:18) Billy mentions what made him leave Allstate after 4 years, was because they were not allowed inside to open an agency, and they were only selling outside. (04:07) Billy shares that he opened his first independent agency in April 2008, and today, they have more than 160 agencies under the Williams Family Investment Group, $1.2 billion in premium, and more than 2,000 members at Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring. (05:06

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Sonny Patel, Founder & CEO of Insurmi. Sonny talks about how he built Violet, a digital assistant for the insurance industry. He also shares his knowledge and expertise in the world of Artificial Intelligence. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Sonny Patel. (2:12) Sonny mentions that he worked at an agency as an office assistant and worked his way up to become a sales director, for about 3 years. (5:28) Sonny shares that the problem in their industry was the way they were selling policies was outdated, and most of what they’re doing in their agency is done offline. (5:43) Sonny mentions that he started Insurmi in 2006. (6:25) Sonny mentions that they built Violet for two primary customer segments, for the enterprise, and the agencies. (9:42) Sonny shares that they built Violet in a way that is tailored for an insurance agency. Therefore, the onboarding and the setup of the product are specifically tailored for a commercial a

In this final episode of the Agency Intelligence podcast miniseries, Age of Independence, host Katlyn Eggar is joined by Jason Cass, giving insights about her interviews and experiences with the rock stars of the insurance industry. Katlyn also discusses how the Age of Indiependence became a huge part of her journey and where that journey is headed. Episode Highlights: Katlyn thinks that one of the greatest factors about guest hosting a podcast is the opportunity to interview such amazing guests and be joined by rock stars in the industry. (2:11) Jason shares one of the reasons why they made Agency Intelligence is because people wanted him to take the interview a bit further than he did on Agents Influence. (3:10) Jason mentions that they will be working with Kelly Donahue-Piro and her company, Agency Performance Partners, at The Insurance Alliance, starting in January 2021. (4:11) Katlyn discusses the podcast episode with Kelly Donahue-Piro entitled, What Your Team Isn’t Telling You Through Big Chang

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Tyler Lessard, VP Marketing and Chief Video Strategist, at Vidyard. Tyler discusses how creating educational and personalized video content is significant in growing your business in today’s world. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Tyler Lessard. (1:19) Tyler mentions that today’s world is all about authority, engagement, and earning trust with our buyers. (2:52) Tyler shares that he was a graduate of the Systems Design Engineering program at the University of Waterloo, 20 years ago. (6:41) Tyler mentions that his first job was at Blackberry as an engineer, but he slowly migrated away from being a developer. (6:51) Tyler shares that when he knew that he was better at working with people, he became a developer relations manager, where he worked with third-party developers to support and educate them on how to build great mobile apps. (7:06) Tyler mentions that he co-authored the book entitled The Visual Sale, with Marcus She

Sheldon Snodgrass, owner of Steady Sales, a CSR focused consulting firm, joins the podcast to share his experience and expertise driving agency growth by helping CSRs overcome sales reluctance. This is a tremendous episode... Get more: https://ryanhanley.com/

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Benjamin Dennehy, Managing Director at The UK's Most Hated Sales Trainer®. Benjamin talks about the sales process and his knowledge, and expertise in being a salesman. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Benjamin Dennehy. (1:42) Benjamin mentions his YouTube channel called The UK's Most Hated Sales Trainer, and it’s about cold calling people live while filming it. (5:34) Benjamin mentions that most salespeople think that it’s the winning personality because they only remember 20% of people that buy from them, and they're selling to 20% of the people that have their personality. (6:56) Benjamin thinks that luck is preparation when meeting opportunities. (8:21) Benjamin shares a story about his job at a company that specializes in setting appointments. (15:07) Benjamin shares that when he was turning into the person he was pretending to be, he started to figure out how selling works. (18:35) Benjamin realized that buyers don’t

Miles Merwin, President and Founder of Advisors Insurance Agency, stops by the podcast to talk about his new program, Producers to Principals. Miles is helping producers (and Agency Owners) take control of their business to become more productive and efficient every day. Get more: https://ryanhanley.com/

Jay Mueller, agency principal at Camargo Insurance, breaks down his power move in 2018 to take control of the future of his agency and build the business he wants to work in. This is an episode you don't want to miss... Get more: https://ryanhanley.com/

In this episode of the Agency Intelligence podcast miniseries, Age of Independence, host Katlyn Eggar interviews Carey Wallace, the CEO of Intell Agents. Carey talks about understanding the functions of utilizing data in our agency valuation and the measurements and methods that impact the value of your agency. Episode Highlights: Katlyn introduces Carey Wallace. (1:53) Carey mentions that she’s been in the insurance industry for over 12 years and her background is in finance. (8:33) Carey shares that they built a consulting, valuation, perpetuation planning services, and data analytics team in order to leverage the data and start to help agents understand what's inside their agency and what they can learn from each other. (10:41) Carey mentions that at present, 50% of the agency owners are at or near retirement. (13:15) Carey shares that Intell Agents started around two years ago in Ohio, and they have over 20,000 agencies in their ecosystem. (14:11) Carey mentions that the main priority in their

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Reid Holzworth, Chief Executive Officer at IVANS Insurance Solutions. Reid talks about the opportunities in insurance technology, data, and how IVANS was built to digitally connect the insurance industry and streamline the flow of insurance across North America. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Reid Holzworth. (1:27) Reid mentions that TechCanary became the number one insurance solution worldwide on the Salesforce platform. (7:33) Reid shares that although TechCanary was originally built as an Agency Management System, it transformed the platform. (7:40) Reid mentions that TechCanary was acquired by Applied Systems in April 2019. (7:54) Reid shares that the tasks that they can do with IVANS and all of the connections that they have today can streamline the overall flow of insurance across North America. (13:30) Reid shares that most people don’t realize that IVANS stands for: Insurance Value Added Network Services, and IVAN

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Hala Taha, the Host, and Producer of Young And Profiting Podcast. Hala talks about how she got into the podcast industry and built her show. She shares her knowledge and expertise in marketing and growing an audience. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Hala Taha. (1:41) Hala mentions that she worked at Hot 97 for free for about 3 years where she had her radio shows with other DJs. (8:01) Hala shares that she decided to get her MBA and went into corporate, then started a young and profiting podcast, and currently, she’s working at Disney. (11:20) Hala mentions that her job at Disney is focused on email and mobile marketing. (11:42) Hala shares that her Young and Profiting Podcast has been running for 2 years, and they’re listed on the top 10 “How To” podcasts on Apple, they have over 30,000 subscribers on Castbox (13:28) Hala mentions that she recently started a podcast marketing agency this summer, and all her clients were t

In this episode of the Agency Intelligence podcast miniseries, Age of Indiependence, host Katlyn Eggar interviews Alejandro Velez, Director Of Strategic Alliances at Quantum Assurance International. Alejandro talks about what agencies can learn from call centers and what call centers should be learning from agencies.  Episode Highlights: Katlyn introduces Alejandro Velez. (0:58) Alejandro mentions that he’s a giant insurance nerd. (2:40) Alejandro mentions that the way he got into insurance was very happenstance, and when he worked at a call center insurance company, he went to the claim side. (8:38) Alejandro thinks that there’s a certain level of criticalness to the understanding of insurance. Because when you're purchasing insurance, what you're literally purchasing is the claims experience and claims protection should the need arise. (9:22) Alejandro mentions that insurance takes a bad day and prevents a bad life. (12:14) Alejandro shares that when he was in claims, he was defending the arbitr

Kelly Donahue-Piro, founder and president of Agency Performance Partners, joins the podcast for a fast-paced discussion where we solve all the independent insurance agency problems. Yup, all of them... Get more: https://ryanhanley.com/

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Rob Galbraith, CPCU, CLU, ChFC, at Insurance Nerds, and Author of the worldwide industry bestseller, The End Of Insurance As We Know It. Rob has been branded the “most interesting man in insurance”, he discusses how the traditional insurance industry is responding to technology, and how his book changed his career in insurance. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Rob Galbraith. (1:13) Rob mentions that he’s been on the carrier side for over 20 years. (10:51) Rob talks about the book he wrote, entitled The End Of Insurance As We Know It. (11:14) Jason thinks that the industry is becoming less siloed because people are realizing that they have to work together, for the betterment of everybody. (11:57) Rob shares that Insurance Nerds focuses on helping people who are struggling in their insurance careers, and it’s all about celebrating insurance and building community. (13:08) Rob mentions how he was named “the most interesting m

This episode is the full audio version of the B Atomic (NEON) launch video released just over a month ago. The goal of releasing the audio version is to give you an opportunity to digest the words and the meaning and purpose behind those words. https://batomic.com https://ryanhanley.com

In this episode of the Agency Intelligence podcast miniseries, Age of Indiependence, host Katlyn Eggar interviews Kelly Donahue - Piro, President at Agency Performance Partners. Kelly talks about the key challenges agencies face, how you should invest in your team, and why it’s helpful to have an outside perspective to help your agency transform. Episode Highlights: Katlyn introduces Kelly Donahue - Piro. (1:39) Kelly shares that she has worked with over 1,000 independent agencies within the US and Canada. (2:34) Where did Kelly get the passion for helping agency owners? (3:24) Kelly mentions that the insurance industry is the most stable business on the planet. (6:10) Kelly thinks that as people go through significant changes, it’s vital to keep in mind three elements. (9:46) When it comes to common threads, what are some of the mindset changes in agencies that Kelly and her agencies have partnered together to tackle? (13:59) Kelly explains that a company’s biggest investment every month is payr

In this episode of Agents Influence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Patrick Romey, Client Partner at Facebook. Patrick talks about digital transformation in the agent community and how agencies can utilize Facebook's free tools and advertising platforms to grow their books of business. Episode Highlights: Jason introduces Patrick Romey. (3:37) Patrick shares that his first job was a hands-on experience with the advertising system that many businesses are using today, and it allowed him to see how the advertising system and the products have evolved. (7:26) Patrick started working at Facebook in 2015. (7:46) Patrick shares that Facebook’s philosophy is that they want solutions that scale to businesses of all types and all sizes. (9:01) Patrick thinks that the major shift that Facebook has seen over the last few years in advertising has been the shift in focus from likes and clicks to giving businesses the tools to be able to measure actual business outcomes. (11:10) Patrick shares that social m

In this episode of Agency Intelligence podcast, host Jason Cass interviews Bob Klee, CPRIA, CPRM, President at Kelly Klee Private Insurance. Bob talks about his in-depth knowledge and expertise as an insurance professional and why agents like doing high-value homes. He also shares a little bit of background into what it's like to be an entrepreneur. Key Quotes: “The root of luck in Latin is happy, for happenstance and you can't control that. But you can control skills because you can study, learn, and get better, and so a lot of athletes that are really good today, aren't necessarily the best athletes on the field. But they've learned, studied, they practiced over and over, and that's what makes them good.” - Bob Klee (8:27) “I wasn't the best athlete, but I worked hard and I had fun doing it and it did okay, and the same thing with shooting, you study and practice, and you know, work harder than the next guy.” - Bob Klee (9:13) “Chris used to buy leads of hometown quotes, we loved him and then he starte

In this episode of the Agency Intelligence podcast miniseries, Age of Indiependence, host Katlyn Eggar interviews Tolga Demirel, the Co-Founder of Agency Zoom. Tolga talks about the power that a highly trained and highly motivated team can have in an agency, and the significance of technology to an agency. Episode Highlights: Katlyn introduces Tolga Demirel. (1:21) Tolga shares that he started his insurance career in late October 2011. (3:35) Where did Tolga get the idea for Agency Zoom? (5:12) Tolga shares that they are where they are today, because of their cultural adaptation. (8:36) What are some of the differences that Tolga has seen in the struggles that agency owners are facing? (11:05) Tolga mentions that the biggest change that he has seen is an increased appetite for technology. (12:54) Katlyn shares that in the insurance world, the agency owner is viewed by the carrier as a distribution point or distribution channel. (17:14) For the agency owner, what are some key elements that they