Do You Produce or Do You Practice?

My question for you today is do you produce or you just practice? That’s the topic of today’s post.

I hear it all the time from agency owners and sales leaders across the country, how do I get my people to produce? Well, the fact of the matter is you’ve got to teach them how to sell value and sell a relationship. Right now, we’ve got agents running rampant, doing their best to compete on price, and I hate to tell you, that’s like building your house on a foundation full of sinking sand. People want value. They may not realize it at the beginning of a meeting, but that’s your job to show them precisely what you can do that they’re currently not getting. People who sell on price will also lose on price, and people who sell on value will take that business every time.

We have equations that we’ve used over the years. Call 100 people, get 50 people to answer the phone, get 20 people to meet with you, ten will let you quote, and two will end up being your client. That’s insane. Work so much smarter than that. You have to know who your audience is. You have to know the motivating factors behind what drives them to give you the order, and then you have the leverage that every time you meet with them. We don’t need people to be in our organizations that only quote, “trying to earn business.” There’s no value in that at all.

Figure out a way to differentiate yourself. Create a unique process and approach and brand that, with its brand separate from your agency’s. Then go out and define your ideal prospects, put those people in your pipeline, and call on those people and nobody else. Those couple of steps will be one of the things that help you keep from practicing more than producing. If you fill your pipeline with the right people, if you remain relevant by staying in front of them, if you have a value proposition instead of a quoting machine, that is exactly what’s going to allow you to kill it in commercial insurance.

Risk

From InsurTech to Relationship-Driven Risk Management: Lessons for Modern Insurance Producers – A Conversation with Brett Fulmer

In a constantly evolving insurance landscape, commercial producers are being forced to adapt—quickly. Between InsurTech advancements, shifting market conditions, and increasing client expectations, producers must learn how to balance innovation with deep relationship-building and technical risk expertise. On a recent episode of the Power Producers Podcast, industry veteran David Carothers sat down with Brett Fulmer, principal at Newport Beach Insurance Center, to talk about navigating these dynamics with authenticity and strategy. What followed was a roadmap for producers who want to succeed in today’s middle market.

Read More »
Insurance

How Successful Insurance Producers Can Stay Grounded, Build Respect, and Avoid the Arrogance Trap

In the commercial insurance industry, success can come fast—especially for driven producers who are focused on the middle market. The money starts coming in, the book grows, and you find yourself standing in rooms where you once only dreamed of being. But with that success comes a subtle trap—one that’s caught more than a few top producers off guard: arrogance.

It’s not always loud or obvious. Sometimes, it’s the silent erosion of empathy. Other times, it’s the misplaced belief that your way is the only way. In this post, I want to explore how insurance producers can stay grounded even as their careers take off, how they can build respect by honoring where they came from, and how to avoid becoming the very kind of producer people whisper about after conferences for all the wrong reasons.

Read More »

Responses

Killing Commercial Login