In the seventh installment of the “Becoming the Protégé” series on Power Producers Shoptalk, host David Carothers interviews the first set of coaches for The Protégé Season 3: Zach Mefferd, Founder and CEO of ZipBonds, and Mike Fusco, President of Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services. Dressed in costumes (including sunglasses), the trio discusses their coaching strategies, evaluates the current crop of contestants, and strategizes for the upcoming draft. They also dive into the massive opportunity created by industry consolidation, sharing how independent agents can capitalize on the service gaps left when large brokerages acquire local agencies.
Zach Mefferd and Mike Fusco join David to discuss their approach to coaching Season 3. While they keep their specific draft picks close to the vest, they hint at targeting contestants like Sam, Joe, and Jacob, noting Lloyd as a potential “dark horse.” They emphasize that their coaching will focus on building both strengths and weaknesses, treating the competition like a sport to maximize producer performance.
The group agrees that the real prize of The Protégé isn’t just winning, but the “priceless” access to insurance mentorship and industry connections. David highlights the weekly guest mentor calls featuring top industry leaders as an invaluable resource that participants should leverage fully to accelerate their careers, regardless of whether they make it to the end of the competition.
Mike and David discuss the significant opportunity created by rapid M&A activity and insurance industry consolidation. They note that when large brokerages acquire local agencies, service often suffers (“blood in the water”), creating a prime opening for independent agents to prospect dissatisfied clients who feel neglected by the new ownership.
The coaches proudly identify as “minorities” in the industry—independent agency owners who haven’t sold out to private equity. They discuss the strategic advantage of remaining independent and local, especially when competing against national firms that often struggle to maintain the personalized service and community ties that made the acquired agencies successful in the first place.
David outlines the timeline for the season, mentioning the upcoming live draft and the start of challenges, likely ramping up after the holidays to respect everyone’s family time. He reiterates his commitment to providing candid feedback to help insurance producers grow, treating them like members of his own team.
Personal lines has quietly become one of the most competitive segments in the insurance industry. Agencies that once dominated their local markets are now fighting to differentiate themselves against direct writers, digital-first carriers, and large brokers with massive content machines.
The cyber insurance market has always been unpredictable. Over the past decade, we’ve seen it move from an emerging line of coverage to one of the most volatile, swinging rapidly between soft and hard market cycles. But today, cyber has entered one of the softest markets in recent memory—and that presents a rare opportunity for both agents and clients.
For most of my 20-year career, captives felt like something reserved for the insurance elite—the jumbo accounts, the Fortune-level operations, the companies with multimillion-dollar manual premiums and entire departments dedicated to risk management. If you had asked me ten or fifteen years ago whether a $250,000 account was a legitimate captive candidate, I would’ve laughed. I thought captives were reserved for companies so complex and so large that the only rational way to insure them was to build an insurance company around their risk.
Breaking into the commercial insurance industry is never easy—especially when you’re young, new, and entering a hard market where expectations are high and patience is low. But every once in a while, a story comes along that perfectly illustrates what it really takes to survive and succeed as a new producer.
Most commercial insurance producers believe their edge comes from relationships, market access, or quoting speed. Those things matter. But at the middle market level, they are no longer enough.
The producers who consistently win larger accounts, earn underwriter trust, and build long term career leverage all share one trait that rarely gets talked about openly.
We can talk all day about marketing funnels, quoting platforms, and prospecting strategies—but if you don’t have people who can sell, none of it matters. Every agency owner I talk to says the same thing: “We just can’t find producers who can sell.”
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