Using Life Experience to Excel in the Insurance Game with Ryan Keating, Episode #32

In this episode of The Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers and co-host Kyle Houck interview Ryan Keating, Vice President at Keating Agency Insurance. Born and raised in the insurance industry, Ryan talks about his insurance career and shares his knowledge and expertise.

Episode Highlights:

• David introduces Ryan Keating. (1:28)
• Ryan shares his background and his career in the insurance industry. (7:07)
• Ryan mentions that he’s part of the third generation business his grandfather started. (7:14)
• Ryan thinks that San Diego and Tampa have a lot of similarities. (9:15)
• Ryan talks about his kiosk business. (10:44)
• Does Ryan like Forrest Gump? (11:45)
• Ryan thinks that a kiosk is an interesting type of sales and it depends on what product you’re selling and technically, you can sell insurance from a kiosk. (13:21)
• David mentions that he and his friend were planning to buy a chain of barbershops as an investment. (16:54)
• Ryan shares that he had a connection from reading David’s book, regarding Sales 101. (20:11)
• How long has Ryan been working with his father? (23:27)
• Ryan shares that his lawn mowing career became successful to a point where he could have started a landscaping company. (26:19)
• What brought Ryan to Tampa? (27:43)
• Ryan thinks that a lot of sales jobs and companies give people an opportunity, but they don’t give them the foundation in the process, and he has been in situations where there is no process. (30:37)
• David thinks that one of the biggest issues with their industry as a whole, is that only a few places have a foundation in their process. (30:58)
• Ryan shares that one of the challenging areas is providing a better journey and experience to the customer. (32:37)
• Ryan talks about his first CIC class. (33:41)
• Ryan mentions that he studied at Chubb Producer School, and he thinks that it was the best decision he has made so far. (34:46)
• What was better about Chubb Producer School compared to others? (35:27)
• Ryan shares that he would also want to build, hire, and be able to provide people an opportunity to learn. (36:31)
• What was one of the aspects that Ryan learned from dealing with the bigger groups that he’s able to apply to what he’s currently doing? (36:52)
• Ryan shares his thoughts about their agency, being smaller and new. (39:58)
• David shares that in their company, anything that’s going to be below the revenue threshold turns into a small business unit. (41:03)
• Ryan mentions that they have recently acquired an agency for all personal lines. (47:21)
• Ryan shares that event based marketing works well for him because he’s a big fan of bringing people together. (49:26)
• Ryan shares that a lot of people didn’t even realize that their agency has been around for 50 years. (50:23)
• Ryan mentions that they’re currently paying for Better Agency, but it has not been implemented yet. (52:20)
• Ryan shares that he had some great success with selling commercial lines. (53:03)
• David mentions a common myth with regards to commercial lines. (57:50)
• Ryan talks about the three accounts that he wrote in the last two years. (1:01:35)

Tweetable Quotes:

• “I think a lot of sales jobs and companies give people an opportunity, but they don’t give them the foundation in the process.” – Ryan Keating
• “Once they’re a client, it’s really developing that customer journey and experience.” – Ryan Keating
• “I definitely learned that you do need to fine tune and drill down in getting to know people who you’re going to do business with or who’s going to relate to you that’s going to enjoy doing business with you.” – Ryan Keating

Resources Mentioned:

• David Carothers LinkedIn
• Kyle Houck LinkedIn
• Florida Risk Partners
• The Extra 2 Minutes
• Ryan Keating LinkedIn
• Keating Agency Insurance