Agency Intelligence

You hear it a lot from Jason Cass, but he shouts it out loud, "the independent insurance industry is the best industry that God's ever created."  Today we have the CEO of Applied Systems, Reid French, whose company supports our industry as one of the main developers of another management system.   We've brought to you the CEO of QQ Systems, The VP of Aartrijk, and now the CEO of Applied Systems.  We want you to have the information you need as an agency owner. We want you to enrich your knowledge by giving you the story behind the systems that support our entire business activity. Join us for the another podcast from The Month of Maynagement Systems to learn about the largest provider of agency and brokerage systems in the world.

This is podcast #2 of The Month of Maynagement Systems and we have industry veteran Rick Morgan who is the Senior Vice President of Aartrijk.   Join this unscripted conversation between Jason Cass and Rick Morgan as they discuss why agents need to use an agency management system, and why everyone in the agency must be fully invested and involved in the process of their management system.  

This is podcast #1 of our Maynagement Month series with Mark Malis, CEO of QQ Solutions. Learn about the evolution of QQ Solutions and learn why its history makes it so special. Learn the key difference it has over other agency management sytems.All management systems have the same core features so it's up to each user and how they like "the feel" of each management system.  But if you need access to open API, then QQ Solutions is what makes the entire difference.

Jason Cass is back in action to introduce the next podcast series with an unrelated rant, in true Cass fashion.  You will love it!  The month of may will be a series on Management Systems, but before getting into it, Jason talks about his frustration with people telling him that price is not important to the consumer to whom we sell. Listen to 11 minute rant then email Jason Cass at jason@growprogram.com and tell him what you think about it. Is he wrong?  He bets he's not!

Chris Amhrein is the president of Insurance is Fun, and when you listen to this podcast, you’ll quickly grasp the wit and humor behind the industry expert and history buff himself. Time flies when you’re having fun, and that applies to insurance talk too! Join this insightful conversation where he talks about the industry: historically, generationally, operationally and ‘potentially,’ and see how easily it spilled over to an hour-long podcast. He challenges his listeners on what it means to stay atop of marketing strategy and technique: “If I can find anyone in the world, why you?”Bio:  Chris Amhrein is a veteran in the industry, who like many, stumbled into the business as a post-college graduate.  He spent many years as a full-time educator/VP-Education for the Florida Association of Insurance Agents and VP-Education for the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America which brought him around nationally giving seminars on everything from agency management to the claims made CGL. He is now a spea

If you like tapping into a puddles of theory and enjoy stretching the outer limits of the box, then The Grow Show is the place for you.  Hinging off Jason's podcast from 3 weeks ago, they further discuss John Chamber's forecast of the internet: “In five years ALL business will be digital and just happen to be in the industry they serve or create things for.” – John Chambers, Chairman of Cisco In this recording we have Jason and Joey battling it out in discussing the elimination of insurance companies. Guess who takes the more sober approach and guess who takes it to "church!"

Back from a short hiatus, we have Jason and Joey on the Grow Show unpacking Google's role in Insurance.  How do we as insurance agents need to think about this entry by Google?  Is this dark and dismal?  This is a recording from Wednesday, February 11, and we will sprinkle our weekly podcasts with The Grow Show recordings.  Don't forget that you can stream live on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays at 11a CT/12 p ET.    

“In five years ALL business will be digital and just happen to be in the industry they serve or create things for” – John Chambers, Chairman of CiscoIn this podcast, Jason Cass talks about his weekend epiphany about the internet as he listened to an interview with Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN.   He relates the interview with you, the agent and the insurance professional. It summarizes your business, where we're going, why we're going there, and how we're going to get there. The insurance industry of the future will be nothing like it is now, and how insurance companies will not be a part of it. No insurance companies, just us agents.  Is that possible?Jason says it is actually inevitable.It is outside of the box thinking, but is directly related to the inside of your agency.    

All roads lead to Duke Williams when it comes to payments.  His product is often brought up by industry tech expert, Steve Anderson, and agents all around are eager to find out how this technology can help their agencies save money and run better and easier payment systems for their clients.   Get behind the scenes with a 52-year industry veteran who remains at the forefront of software and technology. His technological expertise and legal background positioned him to lead many “firsts” for the insurance industry including uploading and downloading back and forth between carrier and agency, back in the day when no management systems existed and information was stored in a diskette.   He also had a hand in modifying the Fair Isaac Quotes Scoring Model from banking to insurance and was the cause of credit scores to be factored in automotive underwriting.  -A love and hate for agents! Agents, know your industry’s history, see how far it has come, and how much further it has got to go.

She's younger than most of us, owns more agencies than most of us, and is brilliantly known in her community as the "Insurance Chick."  She has plans on growing her agency by acquiring another in the near future and has been successful in growing her business.  Her agency prides herself on staying on top of technology and implements the type of technology that makes communication with her clients easiest.    

As agents, we often take for granted all the systems, processes, and tools that make our business run. In this podcast Jason Cass interviews the CEO of AgencyPort Software, Curt Stevenson and walks through what it means to adapt a product to the user of today.   Over 100,000 independent agents use AgencyPortal, an innovative platform that allows carriers to brand it their own so we can consider it a behind-the-scenes software. Curt Stevenson reveals the amount of research it involved to so that the user's preference is given the highest priority.  To develop the software, AgencyPort not only takes the carriers' user requirements, but ensures that the platform is usable and ultimately fits the needs of the agent.  This is an example of what it means to adapt to the pace of digital business. Taken directly from their site:  "Engaging outside the walls of the insurance company today means giving users what they want, when and where they want it, quickly and simply. If you don't, someone else will."  

This is podcast #4 in our Big Wig Series with Chip Bacciocco, CEO of Trusted Choice. He had previously been a podcast guest for Grow back in May, 2013 where he talked about ProjectCAP, now known as Trusted Choice.    Chip Bacciocco shares some inside scoop surrounding the Wall Street Journal article on Google’s emergence in the insurance space. Suffice to say, despite the rapidly changing competitive landscape in the last 10 years, Chip still believes that the independent insurance agent is by far the best route for purchasing insurance. But there’s a big "but.” What worked before simply won’t work anymore. It’s not enough to hand out coffee mugs to new clients. Independent agents must take the steps to become as sophisticated as the companies and the captives.

What else is missing from your marketing and operations repertoire can be summed up in this last podcast of the year. Jason ties it all in and breaks down what's been cookin' in DIMA (Digital Insurance Marketing Academy), what's behind the scenes in Insurance Mastermind, and everything else that we've brought to you, the Grow community.  We brought to you topics like . . .  What's digital Darwinism How we pay producers How we make LinkedIn work How to create facebook contests How do we determine what the right retention scores are How to negotiate higher commissions with our companies . . . a good mix of pratical theory.  But we have failed!! Check out this podcast to see how we failed and what to look forward to in 2015, The Year of the Roadmap.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled podcast in the Big Wig Series with the last episode of the year for The Grow Show with Jason and Joey.   Is your website good enough for 2015?  What's the difference between mobile friendly, mobile responsive, and mobile sites?  Is there a difference?  What matters most:  aesthetics of content? To address these web-related questions, we have special guest Chris Langille, Founder of Advisor Evolved and web expert.  

Join us for another interview in the Big Wig Series!Peter van Aartrijk is the CEO of Aartrijk, a boutique communications firm specializing in insurance and financial services.  He is also the branding guru at Chromium, a branding consulting firm. He speaks nationally on issues of branding and marketing and has amassed a wealth of knowlege and experience within the insurance industry.   You do not want to miss this!  This was what we call, "pure juice."  Peter addresses why agents and agencies need a brand and then distinguishes the innovator brands from brands simply of status quo.  

Shane Eastman is the President of i80 Insurance in Vacaville, California, an hour north of San Francisco.  He is a regular in digital communities, like Jason Cass, where agency owners share ideas, solutions and support. Shane talks about his two main streams of marketing, the power of Social Media and what it has done for his agency.  His success story is worth listening to. He started his agency in February of 2013.  In his first year as an independent agent, his agency wrote 650k, by the end of this year, he will have reached 1.5 million. He sees first hand how social media has changed the buying patterns of people. He receives inquiries through internet marketing and social media at least 3-5 times a week.  He’s done phenomenally and he has a lot of heart to share. Failure is not an option.

Agency apps and digital communities are just a couple of things that Dave Jackson has pioneered in his area of business.  He’s a veteran agent but just started his independent agency a year ago.  He’s doing awesome things in Gilbert, Arizona and has taken the reigns on digital and social marketing.   Dave has been on both sides of the fence and compares and contrasts having been on the captive side versus the independent agency owner side in this podcast. Since becoming an agency owner, he’s been able to write more business, and has also had more fun drumming up business. He started a Facebook group for agency owners that’s become incredibly active and has become a consistent resource for convert agents. See what his agency has done on Facebook that's set him up to never have to do marketing for his agency again.  

Jason Cass is back in rotation with a rant to introduce what’s to come for the rest of 2014, and to give a sneak peak of early 2015.  We’ve got Big Wig Season kicking off on Tuesday, November 25 so don’t miss our most popular series! Listen to another passionate Cass rant and discover the steps out of mediocrity. This is your platform so get involved!  

You're getting deep and more involved with your social media platforms, you wonder what strategies and tricks to implement to increase your social proof. What do you do?  Listen to Jason and Joey in the Grow Show as they look at the ethics of asking for and creating reviews and testimonials.  See what else other agents doing and see why it's important to load your sites with social proof.  

  More efficient office operations. Digital tools to optimize your sales and referral process.  Social marketing strategies to create a more personable approach, and social media to clutch client retention.  These are just a few points Jason Cass discusses in this interview by John Carroll.     Join John Carroll as the roles reverse in one of the last podcasts in the Month of Marketing.  Jason Cass also walks through his early beginnings as a salesperson and explains how he became an agent, then an agency owner, and now to one of the most influential insurance agents in the social and digital business space.     There’s no better time than now to be an insurance agent in the independent insurance industry -with tools at your fingertips not only to stand out in your market but to survive in the game. Listen to this podcast if you’re new to the game, and get spurred to transform your agency into a social and digital business.