Free Online Tools for Producers, Shoptalk Series – Episode #8

In this episode of The Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers and co-host Kyle Houck discuss the benefits of utilizing free online tools that producers should be using, and how online tools can contribute to building better searches.

Episode Highlights:

• Kyle says that they use a fair amount of online tools but he’s sure that there’s more out there to discover. (1:54)
• David says that if the listeners can give them free online tools, they will send a Power Producers t-shirt in return. (2:04)
• Kyle shares that there are many different things that you can glean from Reference USA. (3:20)
• David shares that when he first started in this industry, they could not do all of the search parameters. (3:43)
• David says that Sunbiz is a website run by the Florida Department of State. (5:16)
• David shares that when you have resources like Reference USA and Sunbiz, it’s much easier to formulate the questions that you want to ask the business owners. (7:02)
• Kyle explains some of Reference USA’s features. (7:28)
• David explains the Uniform Commercial Code. (8:16)
• Who doesn’t love a nearby business? (9:14)
• Kyle says that nearby business is something that’s beneficial. (9:17)
• Kyle mentions that Reference USA is an all in one spot easy access. (9:30)
• David explains how you can access Reference USA by using a library card. (9:43)
• David says that he doesn’t want people to think that they are just sitting and preaching that Reference USA is 100% accurate. (10:15)
• David says that if you look at an account for every million they have in sales, you can guarantee there’s going to be at least $1,000 in agency revenue. (10:56)
• Kyle shares another online tool called MailTester.com which verifies if the e-mail address exists. (12:10)
• David talks about his conversation with their buddy, Ricky Hater. (13:30)
• What if there’s a bunch of gatekeepers that are infiltrating and listening to our podcast, are we in trouble? (14:16)
• David shares that political contributions have to be disclosed, but you can also find charitable contributions to religious organizations or nonprofits because it can help spawn conversations. (16:47)
• Kyle thinks that the property appraiser website for the county is a little underutilized or only used when dealing with certain lines of coverage. (17:16)
• Kyle mentions that if you’re going in to discuss Worker’s Comp or Auto, it’s good to know about what’s going on with their building in the property that they have. (17:55)
• David explains the Department of Financial Services website. (18:36)
• David shares his experience when he went to a meeting to collect a down payment from a roofing company. (22:20)
• David shares that he appreciates those people who can take a negative review, and turn it into a positive based on an epic response. (26:18)

Tweetable Quotes:

• “So Reference USA… I don’t wanna beat this horse any longer but that’s kind of where I came up with my quick and dirty rule, for how to gauge the revenue on an account.” – David Carothers
• “Everybody’s going to Google, Facebook, Instagram, and all that stuff. You know, we wanted to kind of give people a little bit of where we can find some more inside info and specifics about the business.. That they may or may not really know, or available to them.” – Kyle Houck
• “I don’t expect any company out there to continuously have five-star reviews, there are too many internet trolls out there. It’s not about whether you get a bad review or not, it’s how you respond to it and pivot off of it.” – David Carothers 

Resources Mentioned:

• David Carothers LinkedIn
• Kyle Houck LinkedIn
• Florida Risk Partners
• The Extra 2 Minutes
• Reference USA
• Sunbiz.org
• Florida Department of Financial Services