Today, I’m going to give you some advice that I wish I would’ve gotten really, really early in my career. I’m going to give you three things that every producer should know before they ever get started in the game. But the good news is, even if you’ve been at this for a long time, it’s never too late to change.
What’s going on, everybody? I wish I would’ve known the three things I’m going to share with you today when I started as a producer, and I would’ve saved myself a lot of headache and heartache and, truthfully, probably a few of my mentors and coaches as well. So today, I will talk to you about the three things that every producer must do and be.
The first thing you have to do is be proactive. When you’re going to work with a coach or an agency principal who’s been there, done that, they don’t want to have to deal with teaching you from scratch. Let’s face it, you’ve probably got some basic business skills already, or you wouldn’t have gotten the job, use those. So when you’re asked to prepare a business plan or identify ideal prospects or all of those things, give it your absolute best effort before you meet with that person for advice. Do your absolute best to be proactive in doing that. That will get rewarded through respect. Your agency principal and your coach will respect the fact that you’ve put forth your absolute best effort without them having to force you to do that. Trust me; it’s a big deal.
The second thing I want you to do is to be thorough and diligent in whatever work product you attempt. None of us ever got it right the first time. I still don’t get it right every time, not even close, but what I do is I get better, and I try my hardest. Every single time with everything I do, it is 100% my best effort. Is that always good enough? No, it’s not. That’s why I have people who are better at things than me: my mentors and my coaches who help me make those things better. But if you’re thorough in intentional, in your thought processes as you go through all of your activities, again, you’re going to earn respect.
I want you to be the third thing, and listen up, people, I’m saving the most important for last. You’ve got to be coachable, period. I don’t care if you’ve got a dollar book or a million-dollar book. If you’re not coachable, you’re not somebody that would ever be on my team. You have to be willing to let people give you feedback. If you turn in a work product, and everybody says, this is perfect, this is great, this work product is precisely what we were looking for, they’re lying to you. There’s one thing in every ounce of work product that can get changed to make it even better. And truthfully, if you’re not getting constructive criticism and having your work product shredded so that you can build it back up and be better next time, you’re not getting pushed, and you’re not going to reach your full potential. A lot of the time, though, it’s because agents aren’t coachable. I deal with tire-kickers from all over the country that want to book time on my calendar.
I love talking to other agents, don’t get me wrong. But what I hate more than anything else is when I give people advice that I know works, that I have personally written business with, that my friends in other parts of the country have personally used as tips and tricks. And it falls on deaf ears. People, if you’ve got the mentors in your life if you got the agency principal that’s willing to invest in you. If you’re part of an accountability group, allow yourself to be vulnerable and coachable. And when you can do that, you’re going to kill it in commercial insurance.
In the ever-evolving world of commercial insurance, marketing has become a critical lever for growth. Yet most agencies still struggle to understand what’s actually working. From websites that generate leads with no attribution to CRM systems that silo vital data, insurance agencies are often flying blind.
If you’re a commercial insurance producer trying to grow in the middle market, you’re probably aware that the old-school prospecting methods—cold calling hundreds of businesses, dropping off trinkets, hoping someone is “coming up on renewal”—are no longer enough. In today’s competitive environment, success isn’t about how many people you reach. It’s about reaching the right people at the right time with the right message.
Too many agents stop learning once they’ve earned their license. The bare minimum—meeting continuing education requirements—is not enough in today’s climate. Producers often resort to online forums, asking where they can complete CE hours “as quickly as possible.” This mindset directly impacts their ability to communicate complex subjects like reinsurance or risk modeling to clients in an understandable way. As a result, they struggle to retain accounts and close new business in an increasingly competitive market.
The problem? Too many producers are pitching too soon, to the wrong people, with nothing more than a quote to offer. This article walks through how to close more business by positioning yourself as a trusted advisor, selling Total Cost of Risk (TCOR) outcomes, and using a structured approach to differentiate at every stage of the sales process.
In the modern commercial insurance landscape, trust is no longer built solely through in-person meetings, networking events, or polished brochures. It’s earned digitally—often before a prospect ever takes your call. As sales dynamics shift and competition tightens, the producers who will thrive are those who understand one thing: educational content is the new handshake.
Most commercial insurance producers think of referral networks as an afterthought—something that might generate a lead or two if they attend enough events, shake enough hands, or stay active in their BNI chapter. But the producers who consistently dominate the middle market think differently. They treat referral networks like revenue engines, built with the same discipline as a sales pipeline, and they use those relationships not only to generate appointments but to recruit the next generation of elite producers.
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