Sitkins Group Blog

In most independent agencies, producers typically operate in one of two zones. They’re either in a Red Zone or a Green Zone.

As the name suggests, the Green Zone is all about earning more green (a.k.a. money!). Those in this zone participate in activities and execute strategies that create and retain revenue. It all comes down to Selling More, Retaining More, and Earning More. It’s pretty simple and straightforward.

The Red Zone is about constantly reacting to what we call the inbound arrows—everything that comes at you that distracts you from what’s important. You start most days with good intentions, but at the end of the day you wonder what happened and what you have to show for it. This tells me you spent too much time in the Red Zone.

Assuming you’d like to spend your days productively, you must first understand the difference between Green Zone and Red Zone activities. It’s significant. The Red Zone is focused on No-Growth activities, and...

Recently, an agency CEO asked a great question, and like most great questions, we couldn’t ignore it: Why do some agencies have three times the national average organic growth rate while others struggle to even come close to being average?

Our knee-jerk response was that they don’t have a unique sales approach that differentiates them from their competitors, and on top of that, they have empty pipelines and lack any sort of ongoing training and development program for their team members. The highest performing agencies have these as their way of doing business.

This prompts another question: Why does training fail in some agencies, while others embrace it and make ongoing team development part of their DNA?

The more we researched this and looked at training across almost all industries, we came to an alarming realization: Traditional sales, service, and leadership training models simply don’t work, so stop wasting your money on them!

Studies from numerous sources...

Agency consulting and training firm, Sitkins Group, Inc., names Brent M. Kelly as corporate president.

Brent, a Certified Leadership Coach of the Maxwell Team, motivating influencer, and speaker, joined the Sitkins’ Team in August 2017, as a trainer and private client coach. Brent previously spent 15 years in the insurance industry as a successful commercial lines producer and was named one of the top 12 young agents in the country in 2012. Soon after joining Sitkins, he began hosting the popular Agent Leader podcast and became a frequent author to columns in Rough Notes magazine. Brent's focus to help insurance professionals gain influence, expand their potential, and grow their books of business, accelerated his position within the firm to vice president.

“I am thrilled to now announce Brent as the president of Sitkins Group, Inc. He has earned this role and possesses the leadership and vision needed within our organization. He is also one of the most talented,...

Recently I noticed a roof leak in the covered porch at my vacation home. Even though I knew the roof was in good shape overall, there was some storm damage that needed to be addressed. There were two ways I could deal with it: (1) I could hope it would go away; or (2) I could deal with it as soon as possible. Ultimately, I decided it was time to find the source of the leak and fix it, since it wasn’t going to stop leaking by itself. That’s when I contacted a respected local roofer for help. My goal was to stop the leak before it became a major problem.

That experience got me thinking about the small leaks that occur in so many agencies every day. Much like a leaky roof, there are little things that are noticed but typically not dealt with early enough to prevent a bigger problem. Usually, these leaks are confined to specific areas within the agency, while other areas are completely sound/solid. Regardless, now may be a good time to look at your overall agency to identify...

The greatest challenge for agency leaders today isn’t technology, tools, or competition - it’s focus. I think speaker and author Darren Hardy said it best: “In a daily barrage of distractions, the one who can focus the most wins.”

Obtaining information isn’t the problem. With digital technology, we have access to knowledge and resources in seconds. The problem lies in distilling all of it into a few key ideas that you can execute.

It comes down to clarity on where you’re going, consistency in the critical behaviors that will get you there, and a commitment to stay focused. I believe there are seven core areas that require an agency’s sustained laser focus. To keep things simple, all of them start with the letter P.

Purpose

What’s your mission? Author Simon Sinek asks: “Why do you wake up every morning, and why should anyone else care?” It’s a simple yet powerful question.

What’s your agency’s mission?...

Throughout life, uncertainty is something we all face from time to time. The COVID-19 pandemic is irrefutable proof of this. As I write this, no one is sure when businesses will fully reopen. That has made it extremely challenging, both personally and professionally, to know what to do and how to do it—or whether we should do anything at all!

For most of us, however, paralysis is not an option.

While it’s understandable to feel stymied by uncertainty, there are still things that are within our control. In fact, because of what’s going on in the world, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to succeed as never before by doing two key things. One is to make an investment in ourselves, and the second is to make an investment in others.

Investing in you

When I was 25 years old, I heard the late great business speaker and author Jim Rohn say, “Work hard on your job, make a living; work hard on yourself, make a fortune.” At the time I was really struggling...

GO SHALLOW AND BE AVERAGE OR GO DEEP AND BE GREAT

My experience with agency owners, producers, and other leaders suggests that most of  them want to get to the next level (or at least that’s what they say). We all know, however, saying what you want to do is the easy part; actually doing it is the hard part.

I’ve often struggled to understand what people mean when they talk about getting to the next level. What is the next level anyway? Simply put, I suppose it means getting better than you already are (i.e., improvement).

In today’s rapidly changing and digitally disrupted world, however, just “getting better” is not enough. I believe that getting to the next level is more about becoming your Best Version Possible (BVP) - I’ve written about this several times over the last year or so. You may recall the thought process: Close your eyes and imagine the best version possible of you. That’s who you really are (or want to be). Therefore,...

HOW TO TRANSITION FROM IDEAS TO EXECUTION

When I look at agencies, the reason some sputter or plateau is a performance gap. This is the gap between what we know and what we actually do. If I were to draw it, it would look like two mountains with a valley in the middle. But unlike the valleys found in nature, which take thousands of years to form, the performance gaps I see in agencies develop almost instantaneously.

What causes these gaps? And why do so many agencies and producers fail to execute? Some of the main reasons are:

• Lack of a meaningful, achievable goal. Most agencies really have no end in mind. If you were to ask them, “Where do you want to be in three years?” they wouldn’t have a clear answer, because they haven’t taken the time to think about it. Instead, they just sort of wander.
• Lack of consistent, purposeful behaviors. How often have you started something for a couple of weeks and then moved on to something else because you lost...

TALK BACK TO THE “HEAD TRASH” THAT’S IMPEDING YOUR PROGRESS

One of the key teaching points at our ProducerFit programs is that if you’re going to put the time in anyway, you might as well be great at what you do! Also, you might as well be great sooner rather than later.

Whether you’re an agency owner, leader, producer or whatever, why wait to be great? Assuming you expect to be in this great business for another five, 10, 15, 20 years or more, why not make greatness your goal? (I certainly hope that mediocrity is not your goal.)

As one of my readers, you know that this truly is an amazing business, with so many terrific opportunities awaiting those who take the right actions. So why is it that so many wait to be great? Sadly, the vast majority of those who wait never experience the freedom of greatness and subsequently face the dreaded regrets of mediocrity at the end of their careers.

Previously I’ve talked about Regrets and Regreats....

Why are you failing?

In this week's ProFit Tip, Brent Kelly goes over the three reasons agencies fail to execute. 
Are you guilty of one, or more of these that are holding you back from doing the things you know you need to be doing to perform at a higher level? If so, what is one area in your life, career, etc. where you are failing to #execute?

Access Brent Kelly's new ProFit Tip video and podcast episode on these three areas you could be lacking in that are holding you back from elevated levels of achievement.

The Agent Leader podcast, is available on iTunes, Stitcher or Soundcloud

Registration for ProducerFit is open now!

Thousands of producers have achieved increasing levels of success by attending ProducerFit. Start living as your best version possible. The ProducerFit insurance sales training program will get you better results, guaranteed.