The Agency's Best Version Pyramid “Close your eyes and imagine the best possible version of your agency. That’s what you really want to become. You’ve got to let go of any part of your agency that is an obstacle, anything that’s holding it back from becoming the best agency possible.” The conce...

IF YOU CAN’T RECOGNIZE (AND AVOID) THESE, WE NEED TO TALK When I talk to producers who are frustrated with their results and overall balance in life, I think the real issue is that they’ve lost their freedom. Specifically, they’ve lost the freedom to do what they want to do, when they want to do...

KNOW WHERE YOU WANT TO GO AND HOW YOU’RE GOING TO GET THERE For the last 30 years, international leadership guru John Maxwell, who was my mentor and with whom I’ve had the privilege of sharing a stage, has said that everything rises and falls on leadership. Although I used to question that idea,...

FIND THE GOLDMINE IN YOUR EXISTING RESOURCES The best agency owners and producers are always looking for new opportunities to grow their business. Those that aren’t certainly should be. But when asked why they haven’t become their best version possible, they usually start with “if only” sta...

THE ROAD TO THE MIDDLE IS PAVED WITH NO INTENTIONS Did the title of this article grab your attention? I hope it made you think, “Average? Why would anyone want to be average?” Before I answer that, let’s define average: It’s the best of the worst and the worst of the best; as close to the top...

HOW TO HOLD YOURSELF AND YOUR PRODUCERS ACCOUNTABLE We’ve been doing a lot of research and improving our programs that address what creates great producers and what it takes to cultivate million-dollar producers. It seems that every agency and most producers want to increase their sales. At leas...

“Good is the enemy of great. And one of the key reasons we have so little that becomes great.” Jim Collins Why do some independent insurance agencies hunger for never-ending improvement and growth while others simple settle for good enough?  It’s a question that we ask ourselves all the time at...

LOOK BELOW THE SURFACE TO SEE WHAT DRIVES YOUR SALES SUCCESS We all know the tragic tale of the RMS Titanic, which sank in 1912 after it struck an iceberg south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Of course, it was the mass beneath the surface that caused the lethal damage. That’s no surprise co...

REVENUE AND PROFITS DEPEND ON FULL-TIME PRODUCERS We see that the average producer is a part-timer at best. Even though most of them will still do okay, they’ll never be great, and at the end of their career they’ll have tons of regrets. According to the Organic Growth & Profitability Survey co...

THE RULES OF THE GAME: ROGER’S TOP 10 FOR POWERING GROWTH, PROFITS, AND RETENTION In a recent article, I discussed what I would do if I were an agency sales manager. It got a phenomenal response, prompting a huge number of questions and comments. Although producers weren’t so crazy about it, mos...