Harvesting Success Out of Struggles with Vonda Copeland, Episode # 26

In this episode of The Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers and co-host Kyle Houck interview Vonda Copeland, CPIA, CWCU, VP of Operations at Copeland Insurance Agency, and Custom Harvest Insurance, LTD. Vonda talks about the obstacles she faced in succeeding her goals in life, what they have been accomplishing in their agency, how they utilize technology, and how they manage their producers.

Episode Highlights:

• David introduces Vonda Copeland. (1:24)
• Vonda shares her background and her career in the insurance industry. (3:59)
• Vonda mentions that she is currently doing a lot of work with foster kids. (7:00)
• Vonda shares a story about her parents. (9:31)
• David mentions that he would instead teach his kids the right way to guide themselves through a properly calibrated moral compass than a full wallet. (18:14)
• Vonda shares how her offices look like. (18:49)
• Vonda says that they started as a community-based operation. (20:34)
• What was the process that they used to determine what they want to automate and leverage technology? (22:36)
• Along the lines of technology, does Vonda and her team use a CRM? (26:09)
• Vonda mentions that they are currently using Agency Zoom, and they are gradually building a better pipeline system. (26:13)
• Kyle mentions that not all producers are early adopters. (28:25)
• David shares that he’s not advocating the agencies moving to everything fully automated, but sometimes agencies miss out on business because they don’t make it easy for people to do business. (34:04)
• Vonda says that automation exposes your weaknesses. (35:46)
• Vonda mentions that she created her technology stack list. (35:56)
• Vonda shares that she’s always continually looking for something that will integrate, and if it does not integrate, she refuses to make her people do double entry. (37:47)
• Vonda explains why she loves using Podium. (38:26)
• Vonda mentions that they started using the beta testing of Podium’s video chat. (41:57)
• Vonda shares her feedback with AMS 360. (44:38)
• Vonda shares a story about the conversation she had yesterday with a couple of people in her smaller Hangout group. (51:53)
• David talks about his biggest fear. (54:37)
• Do Vonda and her team have it set up on individual policies, or is it a program that they administer as the captive? (59:14)
• Vonda shares that the work comp program is a program that they have put together with a new carrier. (1:00:12)

Tweetable Quotes:

• “It took a while of trying different things. But when you do that, you’re not afraid of change. When you go through that…you’re not afraid to try something and suck at it because it’s like, “Okay, try something else.” And I think that definitely changes my approach to how I work in the office.” – Vonda Copeland
• “You have to really be careful where you’re going to allow that automation into where you feel comfortable to where it’s not going to do more harm than good.” – Vonda Copeland
• “Gratitude is the name of the game.” – Vonda Copeland

Resources Mentioned:

• David Carothers LinkedIn
• Kyle Houck LinkedIn
• Florida Risk Partners
• The Extra 2 Minutes
• Vonda Copeland LinkedIn
• Copeland Insurance Agency
• Custom Harvest Insurance, LTD