Crushing Comp in Cali with Eli Gillespie, Episode #31

In this episode of The Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers and co-host Kyle Houck interview Eli Gillespie, Owner of Gillespie Insurance Services. Eli talks about his career in the insurance industry and his knowledge and expertise in Workers Compensation. He also discusses the significance of utilizing the dynamics of sales.

Episode Highlights:

• David introduces Eli Gillespie. (1:24)
• Eli shares his background and how he got into the insurance business. (2:17)
• Eli mentions that he kept having a reason to stick with insurance because he enjoyed it. (5:22)
• Eli realized that it was more fun for him to talk to business owners because it was more fascinating. (5:28)
• Eli shares that when he started grasping Worker’s Comp, he liked it a lot because the premiums were high, there was very little chance of improperly insuring someone, and having a gap in coverage that leaves an uninsured claim. (5:57)
• Eli shares that at this point, his main focus is to lead with Worker’s Comp. (7:18)
• Does Eli still play the piano? (7:32)
• What does the prospecting process look like for Eli? (13:29)
• How did Eli make the transition to go out and start developing business for himself? (13:46)
• Eli talks about the importance of referrals. (14:06)
• Eli shares that he wanted to be more productive, and get the lines of business in the industries that he wants. (14:25)
• What kind of acquisition costs does Eli have on painting contractors? (17:10)
• What are Eli’s niches? (17:32)
• Eli mentions that his current favorite is contractors. (17:38)
• Eli shares that he loves agribusiness and it’s very stable, but there’s so much going on with it right now. (17:43)
• Does Eli have employees who negotiate with the carrier to make the payroll adjustments? (20:12)
• Eli explains the purpose of the special COVID form. (21:02)
• Eli explains what the Four Cards are. (30:16)
• How does Eli respond when trying to differentiate himself or figure out a foothold to start carrying the account across the finish line? (32:08)
• David mentions that he did a live kind of deal on killing commercial on one of their calls for the people that are in the program. (33:23)
• David shares that throughout his career, he learned how to pivot on the fly and how to develop street smarts when it comes to people who don’t necessarily appear to have a problem. (34:35)
• David mentions the three things that he tends to gravitate to if you’re a producer and you want to go lead with workers comp. (34:58)
• Kyle mentions that David’s security on the pipeline is top-notch. (53:41)
• Eli found out that the more he says no and does not entertain a whole host of types of businesses or prospects, he gets more opportunity to write on ones that he wants to write. (53:59)

Tweetable Quotes:

• “A lot of it is just a relationship you know, you click with someone, and you kind of catch them at the right time where they’re not getting good service, and you just make a good impression.” – Eli Gillespie
• “I try not to just gather info, I’m gonna have to gather info, but I try not to make it like, I go in, I sit down and start going down the list of info I need. So, it’s a conversation where I’m sneaking info gathering, and I’m just talking, trying to make it real conversational, personal, and making a good impression.” – Eli Gillespie
• “I try to not get in too deep with my time because my time is valuable.” – Eli Gillespie

Resources Mentioned:

• David Carothers LinkedIn
• Kyle Houck LinkedIn
• Florida Risk Partners
• The Extra 2 Minutes
• Eli Gillespie LinkedIn
• Gillespie Insurance Services