From the Mail Room to Rainmaker with Renado Robinson, Episode #59

In this episode of The Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers and co-host Kyle Houck interview Renado Robinson, the Owner of Crosswinds Insurance Agency and Crosswinds Marine Insurance. Renado talks about his start in underwriting and how that experience helped him in building his own agency. 

Episode Highlights:

• David introduces Renado Robinson. (1:30)
• Renado shares that he worked in Atlanta as an importer and he was responsible for shipping all of the salesman samples of area rugs and curtain throws all over the US. (3:03)
• Renado mentions the time when an underwriter approached him and offered for him to be an assistant underwriter. When he got the job, they placed him in the OSHA marine underwriting unit as an assistant underwriter. (5:10)
• Renado shares how he officially became an underwriter in 2003. (7:08)
• Renado mentions that in 2015, he decided to start his own insurance agency from scratch, and five years later, they already have a main office and two satellite offices. (8:01)
• Renado shares that they write 80% commercial lines and 20% personal lines. Their commercial book consists of contractors, manufacturers, distributors, trucking, limos, restaurants, and a bit of marine business. (9:39)
• Renado explains that having experience in underwriting, allows him to translate an underwriting message to a customer who might not understand the insurance process that goes along is vital. (12:40)
• Renado mentions that when they onboard a carrier or if they already have that carrier and he’s meeting an underwriter for the first time, he usually starts the conversation by saying that he used to be an underwriter. (18:35)
• Renado shares that when he first started the agency, his goal was to be an ocean marine broker. (31:09)
• Renado mentions that over the years, he created their company website, and learned SEO from listening to other agents, other industries. (33:42)
• Renado mentions that once your brain is trained to remove the price from the equation on a commercial account and adapt it onto the personal side, then it’s easier to sell a personal policy. (38:35)
• Renado shares a story about a customer, and it’s one of the biggest customers that he currently has. (52:03)

Tweetable Quotes:

• “Time is money, and no one has time, you know, to waste on money or anything nowadays. And so, by the time we go to an underwriter, we make sure we have at least 85% of what they need. Because we don’t want to spin their wheels.” – Renado Robinson
• “You have to explain insurance to someone as if you’re explaining it to a five-year-old, and not a five-year-old belittling them, but explain it as if you’re trying to give specific instructions on the five-year-old on what they’re supposed to do to where they can understand it. And once you do that, that’s the golden rule. Once someone can understand it, then they’re more comfortable with you.” – Renado Robinson
• “People like to be remembered, people like to be treated as if they’re the best thing since sliced bread, just like I do. We treat people with the utmost respect, and we treat them as if we’ve known them our entire life. Insurance is out of the equation, a lot of times we’re just getting to know someone and we’d rather have them as a referral partner who they can refer us to, even if we don’t get their business and so, a lot of times the cold calling works.” – Renado Robinson

Resources Mentioned:

• David Carothers LinkedIn
• Kyle Houck LinkedIn
• Florida Risk Partners
• The Extra 2 Minutes
• Renado Robinson LinkedIn
• Crosswinds Insurance Agency, LLC
• Crosswinds Marine Insurance