SPEAKER_00 0:00

I hired an employee, Craig warned me. Then I found out that she was using my agency as a dating service. I think we started dating him and married him.

SPEAKER_03 0:08

Well, I'm sure he has some idea now.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Oh yeah, uh they're divorced. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 0:14

My only experience with insurance was them being kind of I think the two easiest ways with the life insurance, mortgage protection. They probably don't want to lose the house if they ever die.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

I should sell my life insurance.

SPEAKER_04 0:25

You have to sell life insurance now. We're responsible for the culture, and it all starts with hiring. One person can ruin everybody.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

I was born to be an insurance today, but I didn't know that when I got into the business. It is my blood.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

What really made you so excited about insurance, what you were in?

SPEAKER_00 0:43

My very first appointment. A married couple desperately needed and wanted life insurance. I want to say their premium was a month.

SPEAKER_04 0:53

Everything about McDonald's is an amazing business case. The happy meal is genius. I even heard that some of the toys are selling for like them on eBay.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

My name's Rihannan Ward. I'm with the Phipps Insurance Agency. FIPS is my maiden name. Um I'm in Tucson, Arizona. And the wildest thing that's ever happened to me was I hired against someone's advice. Against Craig's advice. What? What? I hired an employee. Um, she was licensed and she had binding authority, and I was very desperate at the time. And um Craig warned me that she might be a little bit off her rocker. And I hired her anyway.

SPEAKER_03 1:58

By a little bit, I'd like to say that it's like it's like calling um a Lamborghini a little bit like a um Geo metro.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

A pinto.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

A little bit like it.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

I needed a Lamborghini and I got a Geo Metro in her. And uh she spent her first couple of days searching online to find how she could file a complaint against Craig. I can't remember the reason.

SPEAKER_03 2:33

Didn't know about that part.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Yeah, and I and I said, Oh, just I'll take care of it. Give me the complaint, and I will take care of that. And then and then eventually I found out so far.

SPEAKER_03 2:44

It sounds pretty sane. Yes. So I know it's in your agency, but I experienced the same thing. So I think what's interesting was the the amount of makeup that was put on. Yeah. All day long.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:01

Well, I I mean, I don't know much about makeup myself, but it seemed like it was way more than I'd ever observed before, like being done.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Her desk, the reason the reason she couldn't sell anything because she didn't have room on her desk for leads, she had an eyeliner on her on her desk and compact. Oh, it was so gross. So she yeah, so she was interesting. Then I found out that she was using my agency as a dating service. I I didn't know it was I didn't know my my book was tint, was uh a dating service. Um and and I found this out when I answered the phone one day and one of my customers, one of my single, nice homes, lots of cars, customers thought I was older gentlemen too. Older gentlemen thought I was her.

SPEAKER_03 3:51

And she's a younger lady.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Yeah. And he's like, Hey, uh when are you gonna? You said you're gonna go with me on my bike. When you when can I come pick you up in my motorcycle? And I'm like, excuse me. And and then and then it clicked, it clicked that this was Rihanna, not the person he had been talking to. Oh in the end, he she found her, she found her match. Um, a man who was recently widowed, um, had a multi-million dollar beautiful home that she wrote, one of the few items that she wrote. And um uh she started dating him and married him and quit.

SPEAKER_03 4:28

Married.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Yeah, married him, jackpot. And easily easily 25-year difference, and one of the nicest men ever. And poor guy, poor poor soul, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:45

Well, I'm sure he has some idea now.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Oh, yeah, uh, they're divorced, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:51

And we laughed.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

We laughed.

SPEAKER_03 4:54

Oh, because it's crazy. It's so obvious that it would happen.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Eventually, that relationship obviously got rocky because she came back and she actually went to work for another agency that you and I know, Craig. And I got the same call that you got from me, and I said, Don't do it. And the agent said, I'm desperate, I need somebody. She's licensed, and and hired her.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

I would rather just close the front door and you know, roll the dice than do that.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

It it was a learning lesson, and we this other agent and I um we talk about it now. We it was a different mindset back then. You just you felt like you just needed a body, and if they were already licensed, it would work out, and neither one of us were really into like coaching and accountability of our LSPs at the time. And um, yeah, that was it MV?

SPEAKER_03 5:45

MV?

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

Oh yeah, we stopped. She doesn't listen. She always asked, and then she doesn't go with the thing.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Yeah, and she told me, she was like, Re, I I need somebody. You know, it was like fourth quarter, and she was like, I need somebody. She's like, I don't, I know, I hear what you're saying. It was exactly the position I was in when I was talking to you. Yeah, and I was like, I was like, hey, do whatever you want. I oh, I by the way, I had $300, uh, a $300 deposit missing with her as well. And so I told that agent, don't let that's back when we did cash deposits, and I said, Don't let her handle the cash.

SPEAKER_03 6:17

It I uh I think that we had an issue with it too, like one time. Yeah, but there were a couple along the years. Have you had any of that, Jason? Like with them, like it doesn't happen anymore because there is no deposit, but right.

SPEAKER_04 6:31

No, I I haven't, but I also didn't really do cash that much. I kind of ended that. I was uh I was a uh a jet setter before.

SPEAKER_03 6:43

Dude, and in Casa Grande, where it's you know small town, it's just a weird place, but no offense to anybody that lives there. It's very beautiful. Um, so we would like almost everybody would pay in cash. And so we'd have like some there'd be days there'd be 15 grand there in the office.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 7:03

And I and I'm thinking, dude, I mean, this isn't safe, right? Like we stopped taking cash. I just said I'm we're not taking cash anymore. You can go get a money order next door. Yeah, yeah, it's not worth it. I didn't want to. I mean, there's you know, two two dudettes in there working by themselves, and you know, but just for the record, this does not exist anymore. There is no cash in that building.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Yeah, good. No, that was one of the changes that was really awesome. And it it killed our walk-in traffic and right, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

I think this is this is an important story. Like we laugh and it's funny, and you know, it wasn't funny at the time for myself when I went through it, it wasn't funny for you, but we find ourselves in this position where we need somebody, right? Like we're desperate, like and that's an emotional decision, right? Now I'm desperate and I'm making a business decision based on emotion, and look what happens, right? Like, I think that the emotional payment for making that emotional decision is far outweighs any kind of benefit that you're they're for sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Yeah, I and and the crazy thing was I had, you know, a lot most of the time you're hiring people and you don't you don't really know their background, you know what they're showing you, and the little bit that you can maybe find out on Facebook or on you know social media or whatever. But uh with this person, I had plenty of information from you, but it just it didn't matter because I just needed a body, and I would never do that today, ever. I'll I'll do the sales myself before I put a body in.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

Yeah, but it's you know what we make mistakes, and it's okay. But I mean, it's like you learned like, did you learn? Yeah, it sounds you did because you're like, Oh, I would have, you know, but that's the whole idea is like always have people on the deck, you know, you gotta have people on deck.

SPEAKER_04 8:49

That's why we're always interviewing, and we never think about what we lose, we're always thinking about like gaining the extra person, but you lose your culture. Like, we're it we're responsible for the culture, and it all starts with hiring, right? One person can ruin everybody because nobody wants to show up, everybody's in a bad mood, and it's it's crazy, it's crazy, but but we don't think like that. We think, oh, we just need the the they'll add some sales, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Right, that's so true. Yeah, no, never again, never ever, ever again.

SPEAKER_03 9:24

Like, for example, that that that person, I I can't remember what she did with me, but I mean, I'd say she was probably what a $12,000 to $15,000 a month per year.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Yeah, it's yeah, yeah, me, you know, mediocre, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:37

So what less than $200K a year in production, and what does that generate, right? $20,000?

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Right, right. And the headaches.

SPEAKER_03 9:47

Let's say, let's say it generates 20%. So, you know, 40 grand. Is it worth 40,000 of revenue for that? No way. No, no way. After taxes, it's 20 grand. You know, it's like, what?

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Yeah, she's argumentative, and and you're right about the culture. It's I my my office manager who you know, Craig, you know, she's 74 years old, been with you know the company forever, and uh I that she's so nice. That you the thought that I allowed that around somewhere of that caliber. Yeah, that it was a bad decision. Very bad decision. Thankfully, I think it didn't last very long. I mean, I don't even think it was six months. I I don't think it lasted very long. Um but lost money, lost a deposit, lots of arguments, lots of how come you can't get here on time, and then to find out my book was being used to find the next left.

SPEAKER_04 10:50

And we always think about hiring the person that's licensed, but it's like, dude, even if you bring in the right person that's unlicensed, they're gonna amplify all the licensed people, like it's going to raise your agency to the level that it needs to be, rather than even if they don't have a license.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Yeah, it seemed like I was saving money because I wasn't gonna have to spend that time getting somebody licensed. But you know, my my uh my my current sales manager just hit his 90-day mark today, actually. And you know, he I signed him up, he was licensed in one week. You know, I I was doing these other, you know, services where it was a two-week thing, and uh, you know, it it's if you get somebody who's ready um and smart and um wanting the opportunity, he was licensed in one week and started selling the very next week. Well, actually two weeks because of the all the uh binding authority that they have to do. But um love that yeah, anyway, so the money I thought I was saving, it's not even true for an unlicensed person because they could really be up and running in in one to two weeks, um, depending on how quickly they can get through the company's training.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

Right. I think every everything that we do, like if we take look through the lens of everything I'm doing, I'm is is some sort of investment in my business, right? Like I'm either investing time or investing money. Like when we're talking marketing, we're investing money, usually, right? Like, or you can invest time by going to some kind of networking thing, which people get all cuckoo about and think that it's awesome. And but I don't know that that's a scalable you know, if you like going into networking things, awesome, great. That's that's cool, go do it. But you know, it's time. Is the time is is that time worth that, right? Like, and so so to save time, we cut a shortcut, bring somebody on, even against a recommendation, which I've done too. I mean, I've done the exact same thing, right? Oh yeah, um and oh no, they what do they know? I know how to manage this, it's like whatever. Yeah, that's all ego, right? So we bring so we bring them on, and that time that we waste and that money that that it costs us to buy that person leads that there doesn't work out anyway, you know, it's like it's so expensive, it's so expensive, and then the headache, like we are trading our time in our business in order to get a return on it, and and hopefully ultimately create a situation where we don't have to be in the business, right? And that's the opposite. Right person then brings us more into the business, even though it's like kryptonite, we don't want to be there.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Yeah, so it's a while.

SPEAKER_03 13:28

I haven't had one of those in a while. Good, it might have been that that one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:36

Let's go to the beginning. Let's go to the being beginning. What got you into the insurance business? Was it a thing that you wanted when you were young? No. Born to be an insurance dudet.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

The funny thing is, I was born to be an insurance dudet, but I didn't know that when I got into the business. It is, it is, it is my blood. I know I know that, but I got into the business because I answered, answered an ad. Um, I was an office manager for a water softener company, and I um and then I I wanted to make more money. So I was like, hey, can I do sales too? So I was kind of doing both. And then I added, I answered an ad um for an insurance agent trainee. Can I say the company or no?

SPEAKER_04 14:21

Not if it is company, not if it has hands. No, no, yes, then yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

It's uh country financial, uh, they're a smaller company. Some people call it country insurance, but it's country and country financial, and it was an insurance trainee position. And I was like, oh, so an admin, that's what I thought an insurance agent was because my only experience with insurance was them being kind of order takers. I I need insurance, tell me where to sign. And and there wasn't, you know, I so that's kind of what I thought it was. I I definitely did not realize that it was sales and that there was um advisory uh responsibilities. So um I got hired and I got like really great training, really, really great training. They have kind of a their model is, you know, everybody's in one office, and then there's an office manager that would go out with me on appointments. I would do home appointments. And um really literally, my life insurance sales is still from that training. My my life insurance sales presentation is from that training that I got. I learned insurance inside and out. They paid to get me licensed. It was really, really great for somebody just getting in. And then I understood the sales aspect and I understood um the income um opportunities. And so then I was all in. And um I worked for them for eight years, I think. And there's no, you don't own the book, you don't, you know, you're you're you're really an employee. You really are. I I think I I even got some employee benefits while I was there. Um, and then I moved back home to Tucson. This was I was in Washington state state at the time. I moved back home to Tucson, and um my sister worked for the agency that I bought now. Oh, cool. Yeah, and so then it was like, so I feel like I got really, really great training in the in the beginning, and then was able to um turn that into the business opportunity available, you know, here.

SPEAKER_04 16:16

That's super cool. I I think that it's uh that is the best way to get into this is to work as an employee for an agency, get the training where you don't have to wear all the hats, yep, and then become the owner so that you're you understand that hat already. Now you're wearing a new hat and it's not too much. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Oh, for for sure. I it would have been pretty overwhelming because the training when I came here was was not as um extensive for sure. You know, so I'm glad that I knew that kind of stuff. And I I had some business background, my my major is in accounting, so I have some, but not, but this the this was a whole new thing. And I was able to lurk kind of learn that without also trying to understand what comp in collision was. That would have been that it would have been hard, a lot harder, right?

SPEAKER_04 17:05

Yeah, because the the the carriers pretty much provide you the this is what's on a policy. They don't teach you the business, they don't teach you the sales, they try to teach you the sales, but it's from non-sales people, so you can imagine how effective that is. Hey, I'm gonna teach you how to drive, drive a spaceship. Never been in one, but right, I'm gonna teach you how to drive one, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:27

For sure. What yeah, 100%. That's exactly right. So I was I'm yeah, I'm thankful for that. I a lot of the things I say, I'm I am still pulling from that original training that I had.

SPEAKER_03 17:39

That's really cool. So you had to have a win early, right? And that got you fired up about it. What was the first win? Was it the first sale? What what what really made you so excited about it? It's what you were in.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Um, that is a good question. Yeah, I did. It's funny, it was mostly on life insurance sales, which I I mean, I still write life insurance, but I it's definitely not my not my focus. But um, yeah, I had I would I bought mortgage leads and would call on them and then go out to people's homes at six o'clock, seven o'clock at night, and um meet with them. And I met with uh my very first appointment was um a married couple. They were maybe 60. No, I think they were like closer to 70s and um and not very healthy, but desperately needed and wanted life insurance and and bought it, and it was really expensive. I mean, uh gosh, I want to say their premium was six or seven hundred dollars a month to you know combined for the two of them. And I think I I don't remember what product I sold them, but anyway, it was a very nice sale. So in it with with the company that I was with, um, most of my my um bonuses and and um higher commission opportunities were tied to life insurance sales. So it was you know similar, you got to do the P and C, but if you really want to maximize it, you've got to have the uh the life insurance sales. So I was like, oh, well, this is easy. If I'm like selling life insurance at six, seven hundred dollars a month, like I'm gonna be done with my annual goal, you know. So I I I had some success in the beginning and and then later on realized, well, no, usually people spend $30 or $40 a month on it's not seven or eight hundred or what it's $700.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Um that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

So yeah, so that was kind of that was kind of exciting. And then from there, I crossed so really my my model was I would buy the mortgage lead. I didn't buy any PC leads, I'd buy the mortgage lead, and then I'd cross-sell the auto and home. And that's and so I I wrote all of that with those folks. It was a great, um, you know, great sell, and I was energized and ready and kept going.

SPEAKER_04 19:54

That's like the opposite. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

I know. I would do that today, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:01

What year was it?

SPEAKER_00 20:03

It was 2008.

SPEAKER_03 20:06

So there's no Facebook, right? Facebook just started, or I mean nobody's really heard of it. It's probably still MySpace at this point. Yeah. And then and not really internet leads, right? So what leads like you're you get these leads that are on paper or some list, and then you just call them and so when when people would have the phone back then and I know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

I I would call and they would answer uh every time, every time. Um, I so anytime somebody bought a home or refinanced a home, this company would mail them um after they closed um saying, Hey, are you interested in mortgage protection? The bank doesn't pay off the loan. Um, so if you want something to pay off the loan, if something happens, fill this little form out. And they would write their name, their phone number, and maybe their address. Maybe I got their date of birth, I can't remember. And then they would mail it back. And then I would get an email with a copy of that lead, and I would call them and say, Hey, I know you just closed on the home, you were interested in mortgage protection. We want to make sure that we can pay off the loan if anything were to happen to you so that your family can stay in the home, just need about 15, 20 minutes with you. Um, you know, when can I come out? And then I'd I'd go out and I'd do them, uh do the good, better, best presentation, which I still use, where I would show them term. Um, I did whole life back then, and then a mixture, a split of term and whole life, and they'd always buy the term and whole life. And uh not the best, but most of the time they would buy the middle one. And um, and then what I and then I'd wait till I got them through underwriting because our our PNC rates were actually not very, very great. Um, so I would get them through underwriting.

SPEAKER_03 21:52

So it was good practice.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

Yeah, yeah. I would have to, I get the I need to secure the life insurance for the fact that needs to be done before I gave them the price. Yeah. Before I would give them the price on the auto and home because I sometimes if you if you gave them that, then they would start thinking, well, maybe their life insurance is too high as well. So I would finish the life insurance and then I would be like, hey, now that we've got that taken care of, here, you know, here's the auto and home, how does that look? And you know, I had a I don't know, 20% shot of writing that.

SPEAKER_03 22:21

Look at you. You knew all your all your funnel metrics. I did, but I it's so funny because almost 100% contact rate. Then how many, you know, then some percentage you'd get of appointments. And then from the appointments, you knew what you'd sell, and then from what you sold, you knew what you'd get in PNC.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

You're absolutely right, but I didn't know that. Like I knew it, but I didn't have it categorized like how you just said it. And and I knew that if I bought more leads, my sales would go up, but I didn't necessarily, you know, put it in my brain like how you just said it. And I remember watching you guys when I was thinking about becoming a dudette. I remember watching you guys and and on the the onboarding videos that you guys have on there. And I remember it just all clicking, like, oh, that's that's what this is. Because it's it you need to be able to identify it. Because like how how I I yeah, yeah. How can you how can you watch it? And um, if you don't identify it, and and yeah, you're absolutely right. It all clicked once you guys were able to identify it for me.

SPEAKER_04 23:26

I think the two easiest ways with the life insurance, it's so hard to just go in blind, right? Like, like you don't know their needs. You you you need to have a long conversation to find it out. But like, A, if they have a mortgage, mortgage protection, like that's fills a giant need, and that's an easy sale because they probably have somebody, they probably don't want to lose the house if they ever die, you know. So and that, and if they have kids, like it's a no-brainer, like it's an easy conversation to have, to explain, to paint a picture of what it would be like in this situation, and it's easily avoidable.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Absolutely. I I should sell more life insurance. I should because you're you're right. You're you're absolutely right. And we do, we do, it just maybe not at the level because you're right. It's if they have a mortgage, if they have kids, why don't they have life insurance?

SPEAKER_04 24:17

Those are the two paths that I would go down. Those are the only two because I like like like you can create the funnel from that, right? You go into it blind, it's like just call everybody and ask everybody, and then ask them again and ask them again. It's like, oh, like then you're the agency that's that's annoying, right? And then they're just gonna go shopping. Yeah, but like those two needs are very uh are such an easy conversation to to help them. And yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

Yeah, with with each with each desired result, there's some level of activity that you can assign a measurement to, right? Eventually. So, like if if you know, okay, Jason, you have to sell life insurance now. The first thing you're gonna do is go, okay, great. Let me figure out what percent of the people we ask actually say yes to an appointment, then what percent of that, boom, boom, boom, you get your numbers, and now all you got to do is push people through it, right? 100%. Yep. And you'd want to make sure that's a totally different way of thinking, but that's how every business works. Every single business, every right McDonald's works that way, right? It's like, okay, we know if I have if if I have this many key people come through the door, it's gonna yield this many Big Macs and this many fries and this many Cokes, boom. And this is our lifetime value of that person that walked through the door. Like there's there's a way to monetize all.

SPEAKER_04 25:35

The only missing piece is they have to say the same thing every time, otherwise, you will like you're all over the place. So in each part of that funnel, you have to have some sort of um stability on what you say so that you can, yeah. Otherwise, you're not gonna get the same metrics every time. This month's gonna be good, that month's gonna be bad, you know.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Yeah, right. Oh, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. It's funny that you mentioned McDonald's, Craig. I again, I you know, I I watch other businesses' sales processes and either make fun of it or respect it. McDonald's, have you seen their app that they have?

SPEAKER_04 26:13

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

Um, my my I have an eight-year-old, and I mean she would live at McDonald's if I if I let her. And um it's I I when I was pregnant, like my child was never yeah, yeah, now she eats it all the time. But anyway, I know they they say it's real chicken now in the McNuggets. It's not like when I was a kid when it was you know pink slime or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 26:39

It was cat.

SPEAKER_04 26:40

But you leave it out and and and three years later it looks the same.

SPEAKER_03 26:44

And I've left it out for ennobled, yeah, no, no rot. It just no rot.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

It's so bad. But they have an app now. So kind of what you were saying, Craig, about you know, uh being able to um expect certain results, they now have an app. So now they've they're able to actually get personalized data on what me, my age, my demographic graphic, my zip code, and they've made it super easy and like really inviting because it's a reward system. So if I use, if I order through the app, which means I'm not talking to an employee, I'm clicking, you know, I'm clicking an app to order, and it they've made it really easy because my daughter gets the same thing every time. I'm literally just clicking reorder and I can pay on the app and I'm literally just driving through, and then I'm getting rewards that that gives me free stuff all the time, like free happy meals or free whatever. Um, so they're really like they they know me now. They know how many times I'm gonna be there, they know what I'm gonna order, they know what deals to send me that'll get me to go.

SPEAKER_03 27:47

It's it's I respect and you know what's amazing is they figured out like where you are, right? Like they know everybody's on their cell phone. Yeah, so this is the source of traffic. So for them, virtually, the cell phone is the mall, right? And you're walking through your cell phone and you're like, oh, McDonald's, oh, and then you say it, you're like, Oh, I have the McDonald's app, and then your daughter's McDonald's, let's get McDonald's. I want McDonald's, and then you know, all of a sudden it's off to the races. Just because they put that little icon on your phone.

SPEAKER_04 28:19

Everything about Big McDonald's is a is an amazing business case. They are, they are, I would say, probably not the worst fast food. Well, they're definitely not the top-end fast food, right? But they are the most successful restaurant in the history of history. Like they are. So all the business practices to take a subpar product and create the most successful restaurant in the planet.

SPEAKER_03 28:46

A burger stand.

SPEAKER_04 28:47

Yeah, which is amazing. Like, like, so like how did they do that? And it's through all these things. And I love like the happy meal. Like the happy meal is genius, right? The kids love the happy meal. They want to go there, they want the toy, they want to feel happy. They don't like my kids, don't even care about eating the food. They just want the happy meal, they want the box. They call them boxes.

SPEAKER_03 29:09

It's now a little two-sit toy that is probably made out of lead from China.

unknown 29:15

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

That they put in their mouth.

SPEAKER_04 29:18

But now they just came out with the adult happy meal and the and it's going off the off the shelves. And I even heard that some of the toys are selling for like $300,000 on eBay. Something's dude, it's banana what kind of toys?

SPEAKER_03 29:34

Just an old school.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

It's it's their old school uh remember the uh oh my gosh, the the clown and the little purple thing.

SPEAKER_03 29:43

Hamburger. Hamburger, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

It's those things.

SPEAKER_03 29:46

McDonald's is a clown.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

Yeah, so there's a nostalgia.

SPEAKER_03 29:50

Um Oscar the Grouch.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

No, that's Sesame Street.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

I know, I'm just kidding. Making sure you're on your toes. You know, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and it's a total shift of subjects, but I think Electric Company was better than Sesame Street. Oh, that's I was thinking about Electra Electric Company the whole time during Sesame Street. I would say that the people have spoken.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Big bird, snephilophagus.

SPEAKER_03 30:21

Yeah, just go to the YouTube channel and post in the comments which you prefer electric company.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

Maria, we've never seen diversity like that until Sesame Street in the 80s.

SPEAKER_04 30:33

The best. That's true. I still like Sesame Street. My kids don't. I try to get them to watch it.

SPEAKER_03 30:40

Yeah, it's because Oscar is so mean.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

He's the best character. Wouldn't you be mean if you lived in the trash can?

SPEAKER_04 30:51

I guess so. Horrible.

SPEAKER_03 30:52

He's he's uh it's not even a dumpster, it's just a regular round metal trash can.

SPEAKER_04 30:59

What did his parents do?

SPEAKER_00 31:00

Yeah, he's a product. They throw him out.

SPEAKER_04 31:03

Poor guy. They didn't live in a dumpster, they threw him in the dumpster. Probably mentally challenged. All right, all right, let's get back to some insurance. This is good though. This is what we tell our salespeople. Anytime you um talk about insurance, make sure that you don't talk about insurance on the quote. So on the insurance show, make sure you don't talk about insurance. Otherwise, you're gonna bore everyone. What do you talk about? Well, let's talk about the team. I'm I'm so we started off with the team. Let's uh let's bring it back to that. What did your team look like when you started? And what does it look like now? And what are all the roles within your agency?

SPEAKER_00 31:43

When I first started, I gosh, I was by myself for oh, I don't know, like maybe three years, I'm thinking. And then I hired my first person and she was part-time, and I was terrified because I didn't think I could afford her. And um, and then I understood that um her taking on some roles would increase revenue. And I was able to kind of see that. Um, so that was when I, you know, year three or or so, I had a part-time person. And then um, when I bought this agency, um I had one customer service manager, and that was it. It was me and and um one other person, and we kind we didn't have clearly defined roles. I sold, I answered the phone, she sold, she answered the phone. Whatever business came is the business that came. And I wasn't really focused on numbers. It was just like we, you know, we held handheld our customers, we did everything for them. We just a lot of follow-up, a lot of babysitting. And then fast forward to, you know, maybe the last uh, let's see, I probably started transforming that maybe like the last seven or eight years of understanding that some of that babysitting needs to go. And we kind of started training people and putting people on automatic drafts and you know, that whole thing. And that change that changed the game completely. So now I have um one sales manager, I have um one customer service manager, and then I have a part-time customer service manager, and then I consider my um telemarketer a part of my team as well, um, because I was trying to have two sales managers, and I kept hiring three in the attempts of getting two, and then two would quit. I just kept going back to one. I just kept going back to one. So then when I became a dudette, I said, okay, what if I just feed my sales manager um and stop looking for the second one? Which I will get the second one. It's just not as as um necessary because we're doing what we're doing well with just the one. So I have um, yeah, so that's that's my um that's my my team now. And we don't do any hand holding and we teach people how to use the app. And we just recently um said our door is locked now. We actually got a crazy person calling our office and threatening our lives. Um yeah, as a it was not even a customer. Oh, in fact, it was a lead that our telemarketer was calling. He the person had requested a quote and she called and he left us a voicemail saying he was gonna do all these horrible things to us. So that was perfect for me. It was crazy. Yeah, we we you know, with the police, we reported it and everything, and and he says he didn't mean it. Um, but um we were yeah, um he had a bad day, yeah. He was young, he lives, he doesn't even live here, he lives in Phoenix.

SPEAKER_03 34:49

So seems like you could get him. Uh you know, he owes you.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

I know, I know. That's good because the police officer said I had my choice of pressing charges or not. And I go, uh, you know, from what you're assessing of him, I think it's okay. Maybe I should be like, hey, write, you know, write with us and then do it.

SPEAKER_03 35:09

Yeah, get him. Call him and go, hey, look, I decided not to press charges, but here's the deal.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

The funny thing is he wouldn't qualify. He wouldn't qualify. When I looked, when I got the call, I look at the number, I look at the lead, D UI, and and what about some nasty gin? Some what?

SPEAKER_03 35:28

Some nasty gin.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

Nasty gas.

SPEAKER_03 35:30

That's what the sales P. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

I don't know that one.

SPEAKER_03 35:32

Natty gin.

SPEAKER_00 35:34

Oh, I understand, Stan. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we that's a good point. I should have done that. Anyway, I'm happy to. That's funny. Yeah, we don't write very many um with them.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

Yeah, yeah, points.

SPEAKER_00 35:51

Oh, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_03 35:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

Okay. Well, maybe we'll stop turning them away.

SPEAKER_03 35:56

I don't know. Some there's something really or maybe I'm being put together. Maybe they don't get anything.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

I didn't know that they did.

SPEAKER_03 36:02

Maybe I need to pay more attention.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

Well, but yeah, it is through it is through our that brokerage site. So maybe you might be right.

SPEAKER_03 36:11

I know you get something, some kind of credit.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

Oh, okay. I'll have to look into that. Well, anyway, we're happy to not deal with that person. And it was just kind of the push I needed to be like, we're gonna lock our doors. I sent out an email to everybody, you gotta call us or text us first. Um, you know, and and we're really trying to get people to just do things over the phone anyway. Yeah, and so it's kind of a nice little transition um to do that.

SPEAKER_03 36:36

So culture. Culture. We touched on this a little bit, right? Like where we bring in somebody and perhaps they have way too much makeup apparatus on their desk, and then it affects the culture, right? Because they're spending all their time playing Barbie instead of or Ken. Um, and they're they're spending all their time doing these things instead of actually doing the activity that we want to hold accountable for. And that could be a culture buster, right? So what have you done to create a great culture there in your agency with with who you have and and what kind of leadership are you putting in?

SPEAKER_00 37:18

Well, being uh and I'm not just saying this, um, being a dudette really helped that because um I didn't have clear and consistent processes for other people to follow. Like I knew what needed to be done. I could jump in and I could do it. It's a mixture of the.

SPEAKER_03 37:37

Well, you mean daily drills?

SPEAKER_00 37:39

Actually, that's a good point. Daily drills is spectacular because I am not good at daily meetings. I don't enjoy it at all. Um, and having the daily Nobody does. Yeah, it's a it's it's a chore. And so having, and in fact, I had I'm there's like three stories wrapped up in this, but I had my sales manager's close ratio dip down, daily drills was able to help me and speaking with Miguel and having those consistent processes. I was able to really, with no work at all, identify what was affecting the close ratio, which was asking for the sale was not was, you know, was not being done. And so having that training um to be able to um identify the problem, fix the problem. And then of course we had, you know, a massive sales day yesterday just by quickly being well able to identify it. So prior to being a dudette, I didn't have those clear, consistent practices. So when things weren't working, I didn't know where to work to look. I would be like, oh, it's the leads. Oh, it's well, maybe it's you know, because it's holiday. It would be all these other things. And because I wasn't confident in the process, I would listen to the feedback from my LSP and I and I would start kind of justifying what they were saying. Well, yeah, I mean, that person was busy, they were at work, and uh, you know, so it so now I'm super confident in the process. I know it works, I know what should what to expect from the process. So if I have an LSP saying these leads aren't good, well, no, that's not true. I know that for a fact, and let's figure out what's actually not working so we can identify it really quick and fix it. And um, so that yeah, I didn't have that before, I have it now, and it it makes it a lot easier. It makes uh less of an emotional response, it's a data-driven response. You know, here's here's the these calls that I pulled, you didn't ask for the sale, that's why you didn't get it. So let's let's add this this line to your remaining call magically. You get it.

SPEAKER_03 39:45

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 39:46

Yeah, so it's not it's it's not like a fight, it's more of like preaching.

SPEAKER_03 39:50

It doesn't matter, like they're gonna say what they're gonna say. Kind of like telemarketers are always gonna say, I got lots of voicemails and and hangups or you know, mess or uh disconnected numbers, right? Yeah, we know that's why you have a job, right? Right. So it's if you didn't get that, then we wouldn't need you. So it's good that that's happening, right? Like that's and I I mean I don't say that to them, but that's the you know that that's the thing. And so it's the same with the producers. Everybody just wants to not be in trouble, right? Because that's pain. They want to avoid the trouble, but they also don't want to do any work, they want to do as little amount of work as possible. That's just humans, right? I mean, it's the same thing here. We're business owners, we work hard, but we work hard to figure out how not to work and get paid the most for doing that. Like that's our thing. That's the entrepreneur. So with the producers, you take away all of that subjectivity by saying, like, this is the expectation, you got to do these things, we're gonna listen to it. You didn't do it, you didn't do this thing. It's not I like you or don't like you, or you're bad or good, it's just this didn't happen, and it's your job, right? So instead of saying you, it's this, and and then it's you know, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

It's so it's so true. It takes away the and it's crazy because I remember hearing an agent say this years ago. You you have to use data, you have to use data. Data doesn't lie, data doesn't have emotion, and I I didn't fully grasp, I didn't fully grasp it. Um, and I would have these conversations with LSPs that ended up both of us feeling bad at the end of it. This was not a good conversation, right? And and and that's emotional. Yeah, it's uh if somebody would called me and said, Hey, Rihanna, you're you're not getting sales, I'm gonna take that personally, right?

SPEAKER_03 41:38

You know, but you're not trying hard enough, right? You're like what exactly versus they always think they're trying hard enough, right?

SPEAKER_00 41:45

Like that's because they want it, they want it. So it's like I I am, I'm working as fast as I can, I'm doing as fast as I can, versus the conversation not being that way, the conversation being these last three calls, you missed this step of the sales process. So let's get back to the basics and then we'll get your close ratio back up to where it needs to be.

SPEAKER_03 42:04

Yeah, I love that because you can tie uh you like you said, they want it, right? Like as long as we can identify this person wants it, and then they then you can convince them that you have the keys to the car and that you know the ways, like you know the path, right? If you know the path to get there, then you can tie it to their thing, right? Like, I want to get it, why do you want to get it? Because I want to make a bunch of money. Why do you want to make a bunch of money? Because I want to buy a house. Okay, great. So if I show you all of the things that you need to do on a daily basis where you don't even have to think that that will then allow you to buy that house, are you all in? Yes, perfect. So I'm gonna hold you accountable to these things, right? This, this, this. You're gonna have to do the script, you're gonna have to make this many dollars, you need this talk time. If you do these things, you will have the house. Are we in? Yes, great. So when you don't do these things, we're gonna have a conversation and it's gonna be about these things not being met, and then the action plan of what happens next, the consequences of not getting that. Is that fair? Yes, great. Now, when you have that conversation, it's not painful, right? It's just, hey, look, this is the situation. Maybe, maybe you don't want to do this. I Jason is a master at the foist, right? Or not the foist, I guess it's not a foist, it's just the talking them into quitting.

SPEAKER_04 43:25

Yeah, I like that way because it I want them to realize it's like it's not that we don't want you, it's it's it's that it's the wrong fit. Right. And and it's not working for you, and that's the reason why you're not producing the kind of output we want. You're not following the stuff, not because what we're doing is wrong, because that's kind of how it's how it's uh framed. It's because you don't like it. Like you don't want to do it, you're not in it, you're never going to, you don't care. Like if that's the case, then find something that you truly love so that you're that you're super successful at what you're doing. And if you know, I'll I'll help you if you want me to help you.

SPEAKER_03 44:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:05

That's great. That's great.

SPEAKER_03 44:06

Like it should be they wait. Like, I mean, I get up in the morning and I'm excited for the day because we're going to do things. We're going to like I'm going to be on the podcast with Rihanna today, you know, or whatever the thing is. It's like, yes, like I'm all stoked, right? But the the day that I'm not, then I'm not going to do that.

SPEAKER_01 44:23

Right.

SPEAKER_03 44:24

I don't want to do it if it's not enjoyable, right? And passionate. Love it.

SPEAKER_04 44:28

I want to know how do you recruit? And then how do you train them into success in your agency?

SPEAKER_00 44:34

I use um the company has an ongoing. I I don't, it's fairly new, but it's a uh where they're sending me resumes and and they're they're out searching for resumes and then sending them to me. So I probably get, I mean, it's really low volume, maybe one resume a week or something like that. Um so that I mean that's that's pretty much that's pretty much it. That's all I that's all I do. Um I used to use Team Hireds, they have boot camp, which is a uh, you know, to get them licensed. And um I'm sure it works for some people. It did not work uh for me, it was it's too long. Um I just want I only want people to get personal lines and I want them licensed in a week. And um boot camp is prop P and C property and casualty, and it's a two-week program. And I really feel like even with P and C, it's a one-week study, it's one week's worth of study materials. Um yeah, so I just do um Kaplan, I think is what I do, and it's great and it's interactive, you you know, whatever their top tier is, where you can have the online class, the the live class, um, which is super important to take right before they take the test. And it's literally the same. Did you catch it?

SPEAKER_04 45:52

I did catch it, and then it let it go. Yeah, fly, a gnat.

SPEAKER_03 45:59

A gnat is I'm not a big fly in the hand guy. Like that's really close.

SPEAKER_04 46:05

Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_03 46:06

It's my favorite in the drinking days. I probably would have grabbed it, smushed it in my hand.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

I'll be impressed when you do it with chopsticks, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:14

Chopsticks, Miyagi. Oh, that's the next level. Yesterday died, huh? Did he? Yeah, I think he did.

SPEAKER_00 46:21

So that I've only been doing that just this my la my last hire. So, and it worked perfectly. And I'm like, why wasn't I doing this before? There's no reason to stretch it out that long. So um, that's what I'll continue to do.

SPEAKER_03 46:33

One week.

SPEAKER_00 46:34

Um, yeah, one week, and we schedule day one. We schedule your test. So you you know, you get in, you're starting that test on or the study materials on Monday, and we're scheduling your tests for the following Monday.

SPEAKER_04 46:46

I love the clarity. Yeah, it won't get done. Everything gets pushed back. Oh, I can do it later. Like you need to, and and so two things I like about it. One is the clarity, right? You have the definitive date, you're doing it by this time, blah, blah, blah. Right. And then the other thing is you are setting uh uh a pace for your agency. We move fast, you're gonna come in the first week. You're gonna do this, you know, the second week you're gonna do this. And if you start off with that, I mean, that gives them that instant win. Oh my gosh. And then celebrate that. You you just got your a very difficult test within a week, and you know, yeah, celebrate it. And like that's their win. That's a huge win.

SPEAKER_00 47:29

Absolutely. And a little trick that I learned with the testing, because they're they're not as bad as what they were, you know, during the shutdown and stuff, but there are it can be difficult to get the date you want. So you just take whatever the closest date is, and then people cancel their tests. So if you know, for example, this um this last hire that I had, we couldn't get him in on that following Monday or Tuesday. It was like, you know, Saturday was the first one. So we took it, and then I just looked as it got closer and closer because you have to sketch, you have to cancel within a certain time period, maybe three days. So three days prior to the date you want it, you just go in first thing in the morning and you'll be able to. Yeah, it's there because somebody's canceled and they got cold feet.

SPEAKER_03 48:12

No, it won't. No, it won't be because you just gave away the big secret.

SPEAKER_00 48:15

That's true. Don't do that if you're in Tucson. That's only for me and Craig.

SPEAKER_03 48:21

It doesn't work in Arizona, so it you can do that in California. Yeah. Or anywhere else. You touched on this earlier from your and I and I even uh did so much as to write it down because it was it was this this big of a thing. So you you brought up um the training and the onboarding that they had a country for at uh your first place. And it's so interesting because you know that was much longer ago than starting at your current place, but you didn't really bring up anything about the training at the current place, right? Because it just doesn't stick out. Like I think that solid training when you're onboarded is so vital, right? For a very long time in my agency, um, they'd come on and it was like a a cluster F from the day they walked in, right? Like, no processes, who knows, go answer the phone, you know, just a mess, hot mess. And and like the difference, like if you went, if I were to go back to one of those people who obviously no longer work here from 10 years ago and say, what was it like you're onboarding? They they probably wouldn't even remember working here, right? Because it was nothing spectacular. And so talk about that and and how it's played a role in in how you onboard people that you bring on and so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_00 49:45

Yeah, it no, I I agree with everything that you just said, and it's not something that I was always good with with because I I don't like it. I I'm I'm just like I'll do it myself. I mean, that's literally who I am as a person. I just I'll do it myself, you know, and I I've showed this to you once and twice. The third time you're asking too much for me to ask, you know, show you again. That's literally, you know, um my natural state. Um, but I've learned uh that they they they do need that training. And there's people there's LSPs I've had in the past that had I invested in that training with them, they could have done, you know, they could have done a better job. So I've I've learned um that. So yeah, there's a there's a ton of training. They got to get through the training with the company just to have permission to bind. Um, and then I just do one-on-one training with them until they get, I look at their close ratio. If your first step is learning the quoting system, the second step is getting your close close ratio to an acceptable level, which is at least 20%. And so we're one-on-one until you're doing that. And I do daily drills. I mean, it's it's wonderful. It's like a way to for them to start the day and be energized, to be hearing. It's super important for a new LSP to hear other people having success. And other that it this isn't just this job that that nobody can do, that nobody can close, and because you can kind of get in your own head. So it's super important for them to hear other people that are like, no, actually, you can do it. You just need to do this, this, and this. So I do that. And then I still um we have a pretty cool system. I don't know if you if you guys use it, the um sales diagnostic tool, SPD sales performance diagnostic. That's really, really cool. And that has saved me a ton of time because I do still listen and I live listen a lot. I'll just have it on while I'm working so I can hear hear the calls. Um, but the diagnostic tool is really cool because it gives me the analytics of did they ask for the sale? Did they, you know, so I use that a lot to kind of monitor, you know, what how many times are they bundling, how many times are they asking um for the sale or offering using the word discounts, you know, though all those things that are kind of important, it's it's really helped me to be able to identify what is that? It's um I it's SPD. I believe it's spells sales performance diagnostic tool.

SPEAKER_03 52:11

If you go into oh it's it's a it's our carriers thing, yeah, it's our carriers, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:16

It's specific. Yeah. So if you have AAV.

SPEAKER_03 52:19

Never mind. All right, I just get it. I'm just getting it though. Just just joking, carrier. Um, no, I do want to check that out.

SPEAKER_00 52:26

It's cool, it's cool. It's really, really cool.

SPEAKER_03 52:28

That sounds awesome.

SPEAKER_00 52:30

Yeah, and it's because I I do follow the pyramid. And um, so there's, you know, you got to go to like three different reports to get, you know, the the top time and the quotes and the all that kind of stuff. So um that with with this tool, it's um, I still have to do that for the pyramid, but with this tool, it's all in one place. I can put what their goal is, and I don't have to do any math that tells me where they're at, if they're on track. But the biggest part is is I don't have to listen to every single phone call. It kind of organizes it for me.

SPEAKER_03 52:59

Does the pyramid have the Sphinx on it?

SPEAKER_00 53:03

It does not.

SPEAKER_04 53:04

Ah, bummer. So, what are you doing for marketing?

SPEAKER_00 53:07

That's what I'm missing. Um, so I do I still do direct mail. We still actually have success with with direct mail, with mailing the quotes, um, not mailing any letters, but mailing the actual home quote at their renewal. We do that, but really I just buy leads a ton of leads if I'm ever quote. And um that's where we get 90% of our sales.

SPEAKER_03 53:32

Let me ask you this one. Besides listening to this podcast, what do you do to keep yourself motivated, Rihanna?

SPEAKER_00 53:40

Well, I really so I told you all the things I don't like to do, but what I really, really, really, really like doing is I like paying bonuses and commissions. I've always been like that. Like when I was starting out, that's what motivated me, you know, and and um so I what motivates me is having my sales manager be on pace to hit a nice bonus. And so when when I and I I convey that, you know, to him, like this is my this is my goal for you is to receive this at you know, at the end of the month. I have weekly bonuses and I have monthly bonuses. And um, so that I really truly am motivated that by that. I love doing payroll at the end of the month and giving away money.

SPEAKER_04 54:31

So, what are some of the biggest challenges? You as we're going into this post-COVID world of insurance, and uh there's a lot of changes in the insurance industry. What what do you what do you think are some of the biggest challenges that are going to be affecting our agencies?

SPEAKER_00 54:46

Um I think the um I think it's staffing, at least for me, that's always been my that's always been my challenge, and I don't see it changing. Um I do want, I do want to add um another LSP. And when I think about the time and energy it, you know, it takes to put in to get somebody up to the pace that we that we want here. It's it's it's daunting uh to me. So that that is my that's gonna be my challenge. Um I feel I pay a lot. Um, I coach, I train, I do all of those things. Um so it seems like I should be able to find, you know, quite uh, you know, uh somebody that would want that opportunity. Um, but it seems like staffing will be will always be my problem. Getting somebody that I feel like I show them, feel like I show I even have them come in and and uh shadow, feel like I show them, and then once they actually get in and see, you know, um what the job is, you know, I'm not keeping them. So that's that's gonna be my challenge.

SPEAKER_03 55:59

Yeah. How about um the number one thing you'd recommend to somebody that's coming in? Somebody's crazy enough to finish high school or graduate from college, whatever, and they go, I want to go into insurance. What would you tell that person besides run the other direction?

SPEAKER_00 56:16

I know, right? I I mean, I'm not just saying this. I I I would say become a dude or a dudette. Um, it this was like I said, it was just learning kind of this process and putting it written down like on paper, not you know, figuratively, um, changed the game for me. If I had done this years ago, I I a lot of the problems that I've had, I I wouldn't have, I wouldn't have had. Um my telemarketer is never sick, she doesn't miss work, she doesn't quit. She has the hardest job out of all of us, and she's here every day and she's accountable to herself. And then not only do I have a telemarketer, I have a telemarketing manager that if she's there's times that I'm happy with my telemarketer's numbers, but the manager is not. And she's like, hey, this is what we're gonna work on, and then yeah, all of a sudden we're getting a couple extra transfers a day. That is not something that I would be able to go out and hire on my own and get. And I really consider them um an employee. Um, we went if we have, you know, we call them ghost prospects, where they're like, yeah, just call me on Wednesday and you know, and then we can never reach them, we send them back and magically the telemarketer gets them on the phone. And and you know, they we really work interactively like that. Um, and I didn't have that before. So I had thousands of leads just not being worked because uh I, you know, I didn't have a process, I didn't have somebody that um was calling on them consistently. And by having that telemarketer who is literally my best employee, um, you know, every single day making those calls, um I'm not wasting leads. Um, and we and I'm feeding my my LSP. So even if my LSP wanted to be lazy, they they can't because the telemarketer is saying, hey, got a lead for you. And um, so yeah, that that would be my that would be my advice.

SPEAKER_03 58:15

It's so interesting because like you can go into a room full of agents and and and there could be this group sitting there and you know inevitably some group of people will be complaining about their salespeople not doing anything or not trying hard enough or not doing any work, and then and then you could say, What are you what kind of opportunities are you providing for? Oh no, they just have to hop on the phone and right, and it's like that won't work. I mean, maybe that worked for us when we were learning, right? But we're also became the owners. Like these people aren't gonna become the owners, likely, and it's a shitty job. Like that's a tough job to quote all day, right? Yeah, so putting them in a position where they where they have where they can't be lazy. I love that. Like, I'm gonna tell Envy to make that a quote, you're what you said, because it's true, right? If you can't if they can't be lazy because you're giving them too much opportunity, then they have to be successful, right? I mean, there's no other way. Because if they're not, then you're like, okay, look, I I mean, you're over here where I'm just lobbing underhands over the over home plate, you should be knocking them out of the park all day long. Yeah, so right.

SPEAKER_04 59:23

And as a business owner, you're supposed to be eliminating any of the roadblocks in your agency, not just saying, Well, you deal with it. Like, like, as we we need to totally take away all the threats of the agency. And what other industry and what business do they just say, hey, bring me a whole bunch of people? You know, like nobody does that. Yeah, except me your grandma and your family.

SPEAKER_03 59:46

And it's like, no, what is this, Amway? Come on. Yeah, no offense, Amway.

SPEAKER_04 59:52

I'm sure you have great shampoo or something. Well, if you're at the top of the pyramid, you're doing well. Yes, you are. You got a pink Cadillac.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:02

So true. Yeah, I got rid of a lot of the frustration. I would just, you know, sales would be down, and I'd see all these unworked quotes, and uh it just, yeah. I don't have that problem now.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:14

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:15

The leads are work.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:16

There was an employee that worked here. She always gave me a hard, hard time. And like we kind of let her go. Um, well, we kind of let her go. It was one of those conversations, you know. Kind of well, she let herself go, but it was like it was time. Um Jedi. Yeah, we had the we had the conversation, and so she left, and then she called back like six months later and wanted her position back. And and I said we weren't hiring at that time. We weren't, we aren't hiring you, right? Right. So so she uh she so I I I had an another agent down the street that I knew that he wanted an uh some uh sales agent at his agency. So I'm like this this lady, she's good, but you know, she's a little bit of a she's a little hard, hard headed and hard to deal with. But so he hired her, and within at the uh interview, she was going off about because she would always give us a hard time with with the the meetings and the um sales process, like all the stuff. Like she just wanted to do it her way. And then she in that interview, she was raving about how the sales process was so good here, and she didn't realize what she had until she left, and just all like crazy, yeah. Crazy, all the stuff, all the stuff that was that she was giving us a headache about, she was singing the praises of.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:46

Wow, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:47

She didn't work out of his office.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:51

There's a theme here, LS from office to office.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:55

Yes, I wanted to bookend this whole conversation with that.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:01

Yeah. It is, it is a it, it is, it's almost like your own lead magnet of for hires, right? Like you're able to attract people based off of giving them the opportunity. It's it's true. Retains your your hires, so now you're saving money because you don't have that turnover all because you spent the money to make it happen. It's like moving it over, right? The money is not emotional, right? It just does its thing. Yeah, it's gonna go to the place that's gonna make it move the fastest.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:35

It's true. And yeah, and I I feel like when when people are uh when I am hiring, um I'm able to say that, you know, there's no cold calling because uh a lot of times that you know that's what they're expecting. This is a sales, anytime you're hearing the word sales and commission, you know, that's kind of an expectation of what am I gonna have to do, you know. And so I'm able to kind of set my agency apart a little bit and say that we don't we have a full-time telemarketer that does that does all of that. Um, your expect expectation is to know the quoting system to quote accurately and to close at a certain at a certain level. That's the expectation.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:11

Quote 10 households.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:13

Yeah, oh I'm I'm eight.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:14

I know eight, yeah, eight's good too. Eight to ten. Yeah. I like to say 10 because then I get eight. Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:21

Yeah, right. But I do expect it every day, not no no missed days.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:27

Yeah, 100%. Yeah, 10 is where the the wheels start falling off the car. Those quotes get shady. Shady and short.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:38

Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:40

Well, I think there's she's got the distance. She went beyond the distance. We went into overtime. We're in OT right now. All right. We are in OT. Yeah. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:49

We appreciate it. You brought some serious gold today. Um, I think everybody can relate to uh especially some of those things that we spoke about at the beginning. And we totally missed the conversation of the sales guy that we were that we were talking about at the beginning.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:06

We're gonna have to win the wind the window. The windows, you know what? And I was trying to remember how I would tie that into it, so it doesn't matter because we didn't talk about that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:18

No.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:19

We'll have to do a part d. We'll do a part du. Yeah. Yeah. So if you want Rihanna to come back on this show, you better message us and we'll text Craig at 520714. Now you you have three of Jason's cell phone digits. 714. And I'll even throw a bonus in at the very beginning. It's a one.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:48

Easy to find.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:49

Prior to yeah. Plus one for the country code. All right. Well, I am tuckered out now. Thank you. Yeah, thank you, Ren. This is awesome. Yeah, what a good time. And uh, we will see you soon.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:05

I'll see you tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:06

Yeah, yes. All right, Ree.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:09

Okay, bye bye.