The Growth Matrix with Bob Paskins, Episode #33

In this episode of The Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers and co-host Kyle Houck interview Bob Paskins, Corporate Consultant, Sales Coach, and Keynote Speaker at Bob Paskins Enterprises. Bob talks about his journey in the insurance industry and his transition from being a commercial insurance agent to being a professional speaker, motivator, and consultant. He also discusses the benefits of utilizing the Growth Matrix to develop salespeople, processes, and overall performance.

Episode Highlights:

• David introduces Bob Paskins. (1:34)
• Bob shares his background and his career in the insurance industry. (2:02)
• Bob mentions that he’s been kind of an insurance geek all of his professional career. (2:03)
• Bob shares a fun story about his sales training. (6:23)
• What was Bob’s reaction, when they asked him to train producers? (8:32)
• Bob shares that as soon as he became an owner, most of his conversations changed. (9:32)
• Bob shares that he loved working with clients, but the vessel of insurance wasn’t right for him. (11:00)
• Bob mentions that at this point, he has helped insurance brokers look to drive their sales, and business growth. (11:19)
• What were the obstacles that Bob faced when he had to take on a new role inside of the agency, where he was working? (11:54)
• Bob thinks that one of the reasons they chose him over his peers is because of his growth, which was organically based. (12:06)
• David shares that he wouldn’t change anything in the way he started his career. (14:14)
• Bob shares that organic growth is vital to increase the bottom line and the profitability of the agency. (16:15)
• In David’s opinion, it’s significant to understand that prolonged production magnifies the value of the assets that they’re building, in addition to the income that they’re building. (17:28)
• Bob shares one question he asks insurance agency owners that tells him more about the owner than anything else. (19:45)
• Bob thinks that it’s significant to perpetuate within the organization to have control, and your clients also have trusted in what’s going to happen with them. (21:55)
• How was Bob’s transition, from being a producer to consulting programs? (23:09)
• Bob shares that through his 20 years of experience in trying to figure out exactly how to sell, he came up with areas that he considers to grow his book of business. (23:25)
• Bob shares that the Growth Matrix analyzes the six different components around your business that help your business grow, and you must focus on each one of the components to get the most effective growth strategy. (23:41)
• What is the most common shortfall that Bob has seen? (25:58)
• David shares a quote that his friend Bernie Borgess is always using. (28:50)
• David mentions that they are a huge ZyWave agency, and they have built their business around using most of their products. (30:10)
• Bob shares that when it comes to CRM and AMS, he sees them in two different areas. (35:35)
• Bob mentions that one of the things about his Growth Matrix is finding money and finding opportunities. (36:52)
• When Bob’s going in and working with agencies, does it also revolve around the sales function? (37:02)
• Bob shares his opinion about revenues. (37:16)
• Kyle shares that most of what they’re talking about reminds him of his days when he used to sell office supplies. (39:11)
• Kyle thinks it’s necessary that when you have a process, it should be simple and the current person who has no insurance knowledge can pick up on it. (39:47)
• Bob mentions that most insurance brokers have to work on their sales culture. (40:21)
• Bob shares one of the first things that he likes to do when he’s meeting with businesses. (45:09)
• How long does Bob typically engage with his clients? (47:12)
• Bob mentions that there are a lot of businesses and good-hearted people, who are willing to save producers that have received criticisms from other agencies. (50:32)
• Bob explains his Breakaway Consulting Program. (51:41)

Tweetable Quotes:

• “Well, confidence has never been my problem, or maybe another way of saying that is ego hasn’t been my problem.” – Bob Paskins
• “I honestly believe that when people get to the 60 or the 65 years old, they’re looking around and their mindset shifts from this is what I did, to now. I want to have this legacy that I‘ll leave behind, and if they have not put the steps in place for that, by the time they’re that age, it’s really difficult for them.” – Bob Paskins
• “Creating a good agency culture is another huge variable. Because if you don’t have that good culture in place, then at some point people are going to have the look over the fence. Maybe the grass is greener somewhere else.” – Bob Paskins
• “You can have that one rotten apple and that one rotten apple could be in production, or I’ve seen that one rotten apple is on the account management side, and if they start poisoning the well against the company or the ownership of the company, it creates all sorts of problems.” – Bob Paskins
• “You are in the goal to protect your business and to grow your business. You are not in the goal to rescue people. If you are, okay fine. But you’re going to create a whole bunch of additional problems when you should be focusing on actually growing that business.” – Bob Paskins

Resources Mentioned:

• David Carothers LinkedIn
• Kyle Houck LinkedIn
• Florida Risk Partners
• The Extra 2 Minutes
• Bob Paskins LinkedIn
• Bob Paskins Enterprises, LLC