The Agent Leader Podcast

In this episode of the Agent Leader podcast, Brent Kelly interviews Mike Malinowski, the president and CEO of EHD Insurance. Mike and Brent dive into the challenges and successes of running a successful insurance agency, with highlights including: the importance of developing a sales culture within the agency the benefits of creating a separate business unit for smaller accounts. the value of continuous learning and personal development for insurance professionals. Listen in for tips on the importance of leadership, culture, and ongoing education in the insurance industry. If you want to Be Like Mike and get outstanding results in your independent insurance agency, visit www.sitkins.com/fasttrack To watch the video recording of this episode or read the full transcript, visit www.sitkins.com/blog/be-like-mike-malinowski-of-ehd-insurance-agency

In this episode of the Agent Leader podcast, Brent Kelly interviews Jim Welsh, the CFO of Winton-Ireland, Strom & Green (WIS&G), a California-based insurance agency. Jim Welsh shares his experience so far working with the Sitkins Group to improve their agency's performance, especially finding value in the holistic approach of our training programs. Get ready to hear how identifying and leveraging their points of differentiation and deepening their relationships with clients through community-oriented events has become part of the culture at their agency. Jim doles out advice for younger professionals on taking risks, exploring opportunities, and finding enjoyment in their work. If you want to join Jim and WIS&G in improving their growth-minded agency, visit www.sitkins.com/fasttrack to find out more about our 90-day program.

The recent Best Practices Study showed that the most critical issue facing independent insurance agencies today revolves around one thing, people. How can you find, develop, and retain the best talent?    This episode is a special replay of a Live webinar with Brent Kelly built to help show you how to: Get your sales & service teams working together; same goal, different roles. Increase productivity to get your Producers in the "green zone" at least 80% of the time. Structure your teams and processes to allow for greater capacity. Free up time for you to actually focus on your agency; not just work in your agency.   Let's face it, with the continual increase of mergers and acquisitions, and producer and team member lift-outs, the issue of people isn't going away any time soon.  Not only is this issue a consistent drain on your time, energy, and effort, but it is also costing your agency millions of dollars in agency valuation.   If you're ready to address this issue head-on, so that your agency can achieve the maximum value possible, we're ready to show you how. https://www.sitkins.com/fasttrack

In this episode of the Agent Leader podcast, Brent discusses the issue of treating everything as an emergency in your insurance agency. He emphasizes that not everything is an emergency, and treating everything as such can cost the agency time, money, and create culture issues. Brent shares insights from conversations with agency leaders in our coaching programs, highlighting the importance of defining what constitutes an emergency and empowering and trusting the team to handle non-emergencies. To read the full transcript or watch the video recording of this episode, visit sitkins.com/blog/this-is-not-an-emergency To learn more about our 90-Day Fast Track program, visit https://www.sitkins.com/fasttrack

In this episode of The Agent Leader, Brent Kelly discusses the importance of becoming more interesting in order to be more successful as a leader or professional in the insurance industry. So how do you become a more compelling and engaging communicator in order to connect with others and build relationships? As Dale Carnegie said "to be interesting, be interested." With that in mind, what is your communication growth plan? It's worth crafting one so you don't look back at a year or three years or five years and realize you haven't grown. Brent offers ideas such as open-ended questions, actively listening, and preparing for meetings and conversations to improve your interest levels. If you're ready to get your agency on the path to more success in the new year, check out our 90-day program called the Best Version Possible FastTrack, which aims to help agency leaders and their teams achieve better results. To read the transcript or watch the video recording of this episode, visit www.sitkins.com/blog/not-interested-or-are-you-not-interesting

The purpose of this episode of The Agent Leader is to challenge you and to encourage you to think bigger than you've ever thought before. As an individual, as a department, or as an entire agency,  so often we don't realize how limited our thinking really is. In fact, our limited thinking creates limited results. But, if we can think bigger, we have better behaviors, and our behaviors drive our results. Get ready to expand your thinking and realize what your "Unless" is as Brent challenges you on this episode. Referenced resources in this episode: Fast Track Training Program 10x is Easier Than 2x

Brent shares areas of impact from his recent three-day Agency Leadership Institute hosted by Cincinnati Insurance and led by Reagan Consulting. Listen in for what great agencies from around the country discussed as their top areas of impact. Get ready to take notes and learn more on: Recruiting and training producers, having a culture of accountability, green zone focus, leading with excellence, and having a sales process or plan that can be reinforced. To learn more about our 90-day training program for independent insurance agencies, visit www.sitkins.com/fasttrack To read the transcript or watch the video recording of this episode, visit sitkins.com/blog/two-impact-items-from-the-agency-leadership-institute

What is the greatest asset your agency possesses?Technology? Data? Insurance carrier relationships? Community involvement? Knowledge? Credibility?While all of these are great assets, the number one asset every agency has is its people.In fact, in the recent Best Practices Study, the concept of developing your people was mentioned 8 times in the opening section - with IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PEOPLE!The problem is that most agencies don't have a true plan or process for developing, growing, and training their most important asset.During this replay of a live presentation, Brent Kelly, President of Sitkins Group, shared the top three impact areas for personal and professional development that will lead to increased organic growth and profit - AND MILLIONS of dollars in agency value.Listen in to learn:1. How to install a training and development program for ALL of your key personnel that actually works2. How to get "buy-in" from your team and get them excited and engaged in the process.3. How to get the greatest agency return on your investment of time and training/development.To learn more about our Fast Track program, visit https://www.sitkins.com/fasttrack

Brent is joined by one of our awesome members, Ben Zimmer, CEO and founder of Ethos Insurance and Risk Management. Ben is an excellent example of the growth-minded leaders we like to work with at Sitkins Group, and when you listen you'll know why. Get ready for an impactful discussion with Ben on what is working in his agency - that's been growing 20-25% YOY. As the episode title implies, Ben's agency is a true believer in the organization of meaningful meetings. Learn how Ben's agency has grown from Vulnerability with Accountability, and many more clues to success, in this episode of The Agent Leader podcast. To attend the Live event with Brent on September 7, 2023, register on LinkedIn. Click here to order a copy of our book, Best Version Possible.

What if team members made mistakes 80% of the time? This discussion highlights the pitfalls of having producers handle service tasks, pointing out inefficiencies and negative client impacts. It advocates redefining roles for better effectiveness. Plus, it emphasizes empowering account managers so producers can prioritize sales and relationship management. The conversation pushes for a reevaluation of agency operations to prevent costly mistakes and enhance overall success.